Anti-Inflammatory April

 I totes made that up.  But I'm doing it.

Sugar and crap food binging, even just eating, is expensive up front and in the long run.

Up front because sugar and crap is a bad deal.  Maybe I can get more calories per dollar, but my arthritis/bursitis flair up and my guts rebel which is annoying and costs, time, productivity and $$ in the form of diarrhea meds, probiotics, and the the like.

Up front, sugar and crap food have no real food benefit so should probably be under the "entertainment" line in the budget, or a new line called "self-sabotage"...actually, I might do that.  It might work!

Anyway, I plan to eat whole foods, cook from scratch, largely with ingredients I have with infusions of  some fresh fruit and veg.

To prep, I went to the local grocery store today and bought a farewell candy bar (a big one), along with some good fruit and veg at good deals. Apples for 89cents/lb.   Cantaloupe for 79cents/lb.  There weren't any over ripe bananas (25cents/lb) but I have a few in the work freezer and can check back. Also a few garlic  bulbs at $5.99/lb.  Not super cheap but good and help with bland veg. 1 package of organic celery hearts for $1.89, there is 1.5lbs in the bag.  It didn't hit my $1/lb target but it is pretty close and the full amount in the package is edible.  With cantaloupe I don't eat the skin or guts (I do eat the seeds and the worms eat the skin and guts).  With apples I eat all but the stem and seeds which go in the wormery.  With celery though, usually the butt end is dirt and the tops are past it so there is trimming.  The bill for everything was about 9$.  2$ of that was the candy bar.  I got about 6.5lbs of veg and fruit for 7$, 2$ for the candy bar.  At the local store there is no tax, elsewhere in Idaho there would have been 6% added to the total so I can pay a bit more locally and save the tax and the gas $$ since I walk from my office to the store.

Tonight I am making a Lentil Quinoa Pilaf for tomorrow.  I sweated an onion in a tablespoon of coconut oil, added 2 carrots, some sweet pear herb leaves (no idea if that's a good idea but I did it), and it's boiling now with a quarter cup of dry lentils in it.  I didn't even sort them to see if there was a rock.  I like to live on the edge.  In a minute, I add a half cup of quinoa and let it finish up, then pack it in my 3 tier tiffin and put it on the porchfridge to cool.  Done and done.

At work for breakfast I have a banana thawing to make banana eggs for breakfast with a tablespoon of my anti-inflammatory spice mix.  Turmeric, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  The balance is a bit turmericky this time but it's still good.

I have plenty of tea and coffee (no sugar, no additives, no milk, I take it all straight) and water to drink.

Some people say coffee is inflammatory, others say not.  I figure without the sugar and keeping the amount reasonable (with the price of beans going up I am cutting back on coffee even homemade, 2T of ground coffee perday, I can rebrew it as many times as I like) it has not bothered me in the past.

I know this is also going to save me $$ because cooking at home from scratch and from what I have always does.  Inflation on basics has been not too bad so I'm fine, but this will help free up $$ for other life goals as well.  April always has some expenses in it.  A couple of annual bills are due and I do save for them each month, but still hate to see the big amounts leave all at once.