Day 15: The Unfortunate End

Ever since yesterday afternoon until today, the stomach pain has not gone away. I am now diagnosed with severe gastric problems. To put into perspective how severe the pain is, I've taken a whole packet of gastric pills, the chewie ones, and they did not help one bit. Even the stronger ones, which were only supposed to be taken once a day, did not help much either. The pain can be quite unbearable at times, especially when I'm driving. 

Thus, with a heavy heart, I would have to forfeit this challenge until I recover from my ailment. This is also the reason why I could not update this blog daily as I had to concentrate on my recovery.  

I would not blame my diet for the past two weeks as the cause of my gastric, as those meals are as filling as any ordinary meals. This is also the reason why I could not update this blog day as I had to concentrate on my recovery.

However, I would have to take more precaution and this would mean that for the time being, I would have to take heavier and much more solid food in order to recover faster. 

I hope to be able to get well quickly and continue with this challenge in the soonest time. 

Day 14: Hunger Pains or Something Worse? [FAIL]

After a quick recovery from yesterday's flu, I felt really hungry the whole morning. It was by lunch time when I felt sharp pain from my stomach. At first I just thought that it was just hunger pain but the pain did not stop even after having my meal and stuffing my face with more Weetbix. The pain was so bad that I felt like fainting and vomiting every time it struck.

Later that evening, I came down with a fever. Unknown to me, the worst part is yet to come. 

Todays expenses

Main meal - Popiah, RM2.30

Snack - Butter raisin bun, RM1.60

Dessert - NZ Zespri Kiwi fruit, pre-purchased

Total spent = RM3.90

Total saved = - RM0.40

So, my maths has failed me again. I have overspent on today's meal, thus this would be counted as a fail day. Booooo.

Day 13: The Kiwis & The Beginning of The End

I know when I'm coming down with a flu. The symptoms are quite obvious, really — runny nose and aching jaw. And it happened on this day. What I did not foresee was that this flu would be the beginning to the end of this challenge.

So, as mentioned on Day 12, I've bought myself some kiwis as dessert for the rest of the week. Immediately, I could feel the financial restriction in my daily budget due to these kiwis. Nevertheless, they were on offer so I could not pass up on that opportunity.

However, as I headed back up to the office, I walked past a lady pulling a cart of fruits. Deep down, I gave myself a kick as I could have saved more money and had a better selection of fruits if I had noticed this lady earlier. It was too late. This lady would have to wait until next week.

Todays expenses

Main meal - Pork bun, RM1.60

Snack - Milo bun, RM1.40

Dessert - NZ Zespri Kiwi fruit, RM1.50 x 3

Total spent = RM7.50

Todays spending = RM4.50

Todays saving = RM0.50

Day 12: Here Comes A New Challenger!...& Some Wafer Chocolate

I'm absolutely excited for this week's new item — kiwi fruit. Without a doubt, this would be the item that I will be buying in advance for the remaining of the week, partly because it's on promotion for these couple of days. The only down side is that I'll have to peel them primitively because i don't have a knife and spoon in my office.

However, the price of a kiwi fruit isn't cheap. At RM1.50 each, my budget for the snacks have been greatly reduced. I will have to find a way to get through the week without breaking any more rules. This would make for another interesting week.

Today's expenses:

Main meal - Popiah, RM2.30
Snack - London Cereal Bite (chocolate) wafer, RM1.10
Fruit - NZ Zespri Kiwi fruit, RM1.50

Total spent = RM4.90
Total savings = RM0.10

Day 11: The Ice Cream & The Long Queue

Today I kind of rushed through my shopping because of two reasons — the extremely hot weather and my melting ice cream.

Also, I have confirmed that the 7-11 near my workplace is purposely refusing to stock any 5 cents change in their register so they can earn that innocent looking amount of change. I only realized this when I noticed that almost all the prices of the items sold have 5 cents in the prices, yet they do not carry enough 5 cents change in their cash register, despite the bank is only 5 minutes walk away. I wonder if this is a case that I can bring up to the consumers association. 

Anyway, back to the story. Due to the hot weather, my ice cream did not stand much of a chance unless I consumed it right on the spot but I decided otherwise and rushed to the supermarket to buy myself an apple. This is where it gets interesting. I've bought enough apples over the past two weeks to know that it will be a very fast process. However, today, the supermarket decided to under staff the floor and I ended up waiting for 5 minutes for someone to work the scales and print me my label. Deep inside I was feeling very anxious as I felt my ice cream quickly melting away. The cashiers couldn't help me either because strangely enough, everyone decided to make today their shopping day. So I just jumped into the queue and hoped that they would have another barcode at the cash register for the apple. All that was going through my head was "Of all the days to buy an ice cream, it had to be today". Finally, after that long and suffering ordeal, I quickly rushed up to my office to snap a photo of today's meal and when I opened my ice cream wrapper, it was more iced milk than ice cream. 

Lesson of the day, buy ice cream during a storm. Especially in a tropical climate like this. 

Today's expenses:

Main meal - Roti canai telur, RM2.00

Snack - NZ Fuji apple, RM0.80

Dessert - Tropicana Lime & Vanilla ice cream, RM1.15

Total spent = RM3.95 + RM0.05 (insufficient change from 7-11)

Total savings = RM1.00

Rewind: Week 02

At the start of Week 2, things were progressing quite well. Choosing and matching items to buy was getting easier and I was saving working quite close to the RM4.00 limit. Then it all went downhill.

Towards the end of the week and through the weekends, I've been spending a lot on food due to several lunch and dinner invitations. What annoys me is that as much as I want to enjoy the food served, I couldn't help to be reminded how expensive and unbalanced these meals are. From now onwards, spending on food outside shall be kept to the minimum meaning that the glass of ice lemon tea I just ordered will have to last twice as long as it used to.

Also, it is a common knowledge that packing your own lunch is a much cheaper and healthier option but one thing that I've managed to prove through this challenge is that you are able to buy a healthy and cheap lunch if you search and plan well enough. 

Day 09 & Day 10: Eating out is expensive [VOID]

I've decided to combine both days into a single post because these past two days I've been having lunch outside due to unavoidable circumstances, and I was too tired last night to post anything. 

After eight days into the challenge, going out for lunch has given me a fresh perspective on the amount of money spent on the quality and value of the food consumed. Over the past two days, I would have spent RM25 on lunch alone, if it wasn't for my friends who were generous enough to pay for my meals. That amount spent is equivalent to 5 days worth of lunch. 

So, how does it feel like to be having lunch outside again? Well, one thing is for sure. It is expensive but not so much in the monetary term. Despite having a huge lunch yesterday and a fairly decent one today, the meals didn't felt satisfying or whole. Sure, I was stuffed but it wasn't the same feeling as to what I felt from the lunches bought over the past eight days. I felt more satisfied from having a small main meal, accompanied by a snack and finished off with a simple dessert. 

I guess in a way, I have found the answer to my question last Friday on whether to complete the 20 days challenge or cut it short to 10 days. My answer is to continue on the experiment and finish it after 20 days, but the difference is that I no longer feel burdened by this challenge but have taken comfort and confidence that this is a much more healthier and inexpensive method of having lunch, compared to having a typical lunch meal outside. 

My goal for Week 3 is to purchase something that I can have over a few days by spending on an item or two over the normal daily budget but still within the weekly total amount allocated. This would be the next step of the experiment to see whether this method would help in saving more money compared to the method that I'm currently using.

Also, as mentioned in the guidelines, these two days will be replaced, hence the experiment period for the moment will be lengthen by two extra days.

Day 08: Almost Yogurt & A Chiffon Cake

I think the staff at the supermarket below thinks I'm sort of a nutter not because I shop there almost everyday but I always make multiple rounds through the aisles as if searching for some secret treasure hidden in the shelves. I guess you can say thats almost true because I do want to find that sweet deal that fits into my daily budget, but the truth is that I'm terribly indecisive. 

Case in point: I felt like having yogurt today so I head over to the refrigerated aisle and searched for some yogurt. While I was busy picking which flavour that I wanted, I spotted a slice of seedless watermelon on a nearby shelf. Thus, began the cycle of indecisiveness. The yogurt was much more expensive than the watermelon but I already have an apple in my drawer so buying another fruit wouldn't make much sense. But then, the watermelon was cheaper and bigger compared to the yogurt. After a few rounds of walking up and down the aisle, I did what I usually do when I face this kind of dilemma, I'd buy something else that never crossed my mind, and in this case, it's a chiffon cake. Most of the times, the decision to buy something totally random would result in some kind of satisfaction but today's purchase was not such.

In a way, I suppose today's lesson is about confidence and be ready to jump into the deep end and take whatever consequences that come your way, rather than being indecisive and lose precious time and wonderful opportunities.

Take that, moral lesson!

So, today's expenses:

1. Main meal - Popiah, RM2.30

2. Snack - Chiffon cake, RM1.10

3. Dessert - NZ Fuji apple, brought forward from yesterday

Total spent = RM3.40

Total saved = RM1.60

BTW, they re-stocked the apples and I feel like an idiot for buying old apples yesterday. That has to be a lesson for another day.

Day 07: More Apples & Less Sweets

Today's meal is quite predictable, with the instant cup noodle, which I bought yesterday, being the main meal, two apples as snacks, and a pack of salted peanuts as dessert.

The apples down in the supermarket were down to the last ten, so I decided to buy an extra apple for tomorrow's meal just in case they stop selling those cheap NZ Fuji apples. There was also a slight deliberation between buying honey coated peanuts or salted peanuts but the salted peanuts came out on top in the end.

I've had my eye on a packet of sweets which was on "promotion" while waiting in line at the cashier. I'm so tempted to buy it but I've promised myself to reduce the amount of sugar intake. I hope I am able to keep my sweet tooth in control tomorrow.

One thing I've realized from shopping in a few different shops is that 24 hours convenience stalls are the most overpriced, followed by chain supermarkets, and the cheapest is still the tiny little tuck shop run by an old couple.

Today's expenses:

1. Main meal - Instant cup noodle, from yesterday's purchase

2. Snack - NZ Fuji Apple x 2, RM.080 each

3. Dessert - Salted peanuts, RM1.60

Total spent = RM3.20

Total savings = RM1.80

Day 06: Instant Noodle & Sweets

This is it. 

The start of the second week of this challenge. 

In an effort to be more creative and daring, I've decided to purchase a cup of instant noodle for lunch. However, fearing that a simple meal like that would not be enough, I also bought a meat bun just in case. So for today, I've actually bought two main meals, a snack and no dessert. The reason why I've not bought any dessert is because I still have a stick of Sugus from last Friday's meal waiting in my drawing. 

The thing about today's meal is that I've managed to save more in one day than I ever had compared to what i've bought last week. Plus, I did not open the cup of instant noodle and that will be my first stockpile of the week.

Today's expenses:

1. Main meal A - Instant cup noodle, RM1.50

2. Main meal B - Meat bun, RM1.30

3. Snack - Sponge cake, RM1.00

4. Dessert - 1 stick of Sugus sweets (apple flaovur), brought over from last Friday

Total expenditure = RM3.80

Total savings = RM1.20

On another note, I've tried very hard to stop my sweet tooth. Quitting alcohol and cigarettes is easier than stopping my love for sweets. I'll need a new alternative to dessert other than sweets and chocolates from tomorrow onwards.

Rewind: Week 01

The first week of this experiment is over and I'm glad to say that it has been a very educational week. Below is a list of what I've learnt over the week:

1. It is possible to live on RM5.00 a day for lunch.

A lunch meal in Kuching would cost around RM3.00-RM5.00 depending on where you eat. Of course, coffee shops would be much cheaper while restaurants, fast food chains, and food courts would easily cost you RM10.00 and above just for a simple meal. But the goal of this experiment is not as much as to see if you can get a decent meal for less than RM5.00, but to be able to eat healthily by having a variation of food rather than a single dish and overpriced drinks. So far, I think I have managed quite well. I've had surplus food despite spending less than RM5.00 and having fruits and nuts as part of my lunch is pretty healthy as far as I know. However, I should cut back on the dessert and probably replace it with something healthier instead.

2. Three course lunch is too much on some days

I know I've set the rules to 3 items each meal but on somedays, 2 items are more than enough and I end up spending on buying extra food just to meet the challenge's criteria, rather than saving money. On a non post-workout day, my appetite is small enough that a simple popiah and an apple is enough to get me going for the rest of the day but there are also my post-workout days where I just feel hungry the whole day and am glad that I bought some extra food from the day before to control my hunger before lunch time. That said, despite my hunger, the 3 items are still enough to fill my stomach and keep me up until dinner.

3. Its good to plan your meals

Before this challenge, I've never planned for my meals. Everyday for lunch, I'll just pop down to the shops below and have a random meal without giving much thought. Now, I'm learning how to piece my meals together to make it more balance and interesting everyday. I'm actually having fun with this experiment. Sure, there was one time that I failed but I'll take it as a good lesson in planning and maths. 

Those were the main points that I've learnt over the week. I'm sure theres more to that than those and I hope to learn more as I continue on with this challenge.

Day 05: A Sneeze & The End of The Week

It's Friday, which means it is the end of Week 1! It has been a very educational week. I'll probably do a summary of what I've learnt over the week this weekend. So far, I'm quite happy with what I've managed to achieve this week.

Today's meal is quite similar to Monday's meal except for the slight variation of fruit and dessert. I've been really hungry the whole morning because of last night's super exhausting 10km (nearly!) workout on the rowing machine so I decided something with more greens and a bit of meat, hence I opted for the popiah. So I hopped onto the lift and went down to the restaurant on the ground floor to pick up a popiah. While I was waiting in line to pay for my food, the man in front of me let out a huge sneeze away from his food on the counter towards my direction, which was behind him. I got worried about my food being contaminated as it was not fully wrapped in plastic. Both ends of the wrapper are open. Also, not to mention that this was in a restaurant that had food exposed on the shelves. If that did not put you off your meal, I don't know what would. Due to my severe hunger, that thought quickly faded out of my mind and into the call of replenishment.

The apple is a natural choice as I've procrastinated on buying it yesterday, and to add a bit of glucose into my diet, I bought two packs of chewys. I've decided to put one pack aside for Monday. I'm beginning to like this idea of purchasing slightly more for the next day but then it does mean that I'm saving less than what I would like to.

Yesterday, I mentioned that I had some leftovers which would be incorporated into today's meal. Well, that didn't really work out as plan. I was severely hungry today that I ate all my leftovers, and a bar of Weet-bix for morning tea and I was still famished by lunch.

So, that's the last meal of the week and I can't wait to start the next week although I am still deciding if I should cut the length of the experiment from 20 days to 10 days. I'll have to make that decision over the weekend.

Today's meal breakdown:

Main meal - Popiah, RM2.30
Snack - NZ Fuji apple, RM0.80
Dessert - Sugus stick x 2 (Blackcurrent, Apple), RM0.90 + RM0.80
Total spent = RM4.80
Savings = RM0.20

Day 04: Shortchanged & Leftovers

Note: I apologize deeply if today's post doesn't make much sense. I'm extremely exhausted and just trying my best to keep awake to finish this post. I'll see if I can improve on it over the weekends. 

Learning from yesterday's mistake, I decided to take things one notch down and shop carefully. I've been feeling really hungry and exhausted this morning due to the intense workout I had on the previous night. In order to keep myself awake and energized, I decided to have a bar of Weetabix. These bars are almost magical as a serving was enough to keep me active throughout the morning without feeling fatigued, but the side effect from that is the feeling of dizziness by lunch time. I knew I had to have a hearty lunch in order to survive the rest of the day. 

I had my mind set on a cheap snack from 7-11, which was below RM1.00. In fact, it's the only few items you can get from 7-11 for below RM1.00. The reason why I wanted to get this blueberry roll was because I ordered a simple onion and egg canai, which I thought was scarcely enough for lunch. I couldn't have been so wrong again. However, lets get back to the story of the blueberry roll and 7-11. After I paid for the item and as the cashier returned my change, I was confused as why he gave me 5 cents less than the correct amount. Politely, I told him that there was a slight mistake in the amount returned and he explained that they were out of 5 cents in the till. I was quite surprised because this is only the middle of the day and this shop is operating for 24 hours everyday. I felt terribly shortchanged as I imagined the total amount of 5 cents they could have accumulated for the rest of the day by telling customers that they're out of them. 

After I picked up my order of egg and onion canai from the stall, I went down to the supermarket to buy myself an apple but I ended up buying a packet of roasted peanuts instead because I needed something that can provide me with some energy for tonight's gruelling workout. 

Then, it was time to dig in. As hungry as I was today, after finishing that piece of canai, I felt comfortably full and opted to have some peanuts instead of the blueberry roll. Now, I have leftover food for tomorrow and this would then allow me to spend comfortably on tomorrow's main meal and dessert. 

Main meal - Egg & Onion canai, RM 2.50

Snack - Blueberry roll, RM 0.85

Dessert - Roasted peanuts, RM 1.30 

Change - RM 0.30, short of RM 0.05 due to lack of small change in the cash register.

Day 03: The Case of The Fuji Apple & The Miscalculated Crown Pear [FAIL]

That's right, I failed. Three days into the challenge and I've already failed. Slow clap, please, kill me softly.

When you thought that this would be a walk in the park, BAM! FLYING LARIAT! FOLLOWED BY A GERMAN SUPLEX! To be honest, it was really a case of miscalculation or perhaps being overly ambitious.

After purchasing my main meal for the day, I had RM3.00 left for the snack and dessert. The supermarket was selling Fuji Apples at RM0.80 each, which is quite a bargain, but I opted to take the riskier option of purchasing a Crown Pear that costed RM9.29 per kilogram. Despite my vain effort to remove the soft polystyrene sock from the pear to reduce the total weight of the fruit, it still cost me RM2.90.

Reflecting on today's meal, despite the failure to meet the 3 components criteria, I don't think that today's lunch is any worse than the previous two days. Perhaps, its even better because I manage to avoid buying some very bad candy. Nevertheless, today is counted as a fail day and I'll have to try harder tomorrow.

Lesson of the day — Sometimes, failures are necessary to keep things interesting. Learning from failure is just as good as learning from success.

Meal breakdown:

Main meal - Pork & egg bun, RM2.00

Snack - Crown Pear, RM2.90

Dessert - None

Day 02: Fears & The Dark

Day 2! Unlike yesterday's meal, today's meal was slightly too much for me to handle. I have not taken into account that this may be one of my fears throughout this challenge — excessive food. However, I do fear that I may be taking into way too much carbs during this challenge and today's meal may just prove that.

Main meal - Roti canai (2pcs), RM1.00 each

Snack - Sponge cake, RM1.00

Dessert - 'Choco Mucho' chocolate wafer bar, RM1.20

As you can see from the list of food, there's been an overload of carbs in this meal. I actually had a hard time finishing that sponge cake. As I was trying my best to stuff that piece of cake down my throat and into my full stomach, a thought popped into my head. What if I bought excess food, such as that chocolate bar. Am I allowed to bring it over for the next day? Because the goal of this challenge is to eat healthy with a very low budget and not so much as eating until you're too full.

Hence, I do believe that this is enough chocolate for the week.

Spending wise, today's meal is much cheaper and filling compared to yesterday's meal as the total amount spent is RM4.20.  There's no receipts to go with today's purchase as I bought the cake and chocolate bar from a very old convenience shop tucked in a corner, which I have almost forgotten about until yesterday, and the roti canai from a nearby coffee shop.

However, the conclusion for today is that despite today's meal being very substantial, it is not as balanced as yesterday's meal and I shall have to think carefully about my purchases for tomorrow's lunch.

Also, I am literally in the dark. My room's light just went kaput while I'm typing this.

Day 01 - Cheesecake & Weetabix

Today is the first day of the challenge and I've already started it on a wrong foot.  In order to avoid having a heavy meal during lunch, a big breakfast is necessary to keep me going for at least half a day. 

However, because it was Mum's birthday yesterday, all I had for breakfast was a slice of cappuccino cheesecake.

Later this morning, temptation struck. The furniture guy came over to unlock my mobile pedestal (I lost the key about a week ago) thus freeing the box of Weetabix that has been waiting for me. I knew that if I had taken a piece, it would be counted as cheating as having that as morning or afternoon tea would just defeat the whole purpose of this challenge. Hence, I have decided that Weetabix shall be only consumed as emergency rations due to extreme hunger and unless I am able to justify my hunger, that day will be nulled and counted as a failure. I've not thought about the consequences of a fail day but I hope I won't have to go through that anytime soon.

Perhaps, I'm being too harsh on myself. I have a bad feeling about this. I'm gonna die.

Anyway, here's what I had for lunch today:

1. Main meal - 1 Popiah (spring roll)

2. Snack - 1 Royal Beauty Apple

3. Dessert - 1 pack of Cream O Sandwich (vanilla)

Despite starting off with a bad breakfast, this meal managed, albeit barely, to get me through the afternoon without having to dip into the Weetabix box of shame. Also, today's spending is RM4.80 in total, RM0.20 below the set limit.

I hope tomorrow will be a better day. Come on, 19 more days to go!