I would love this! I think people may want some guidance/resources/templates for how to track, though, because it may seem intimidating.
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I don’t think so. You could even say people can track their whole day or just a part they want to increase or decrease or just measure. Like I would definitely track the whole day but some people might just want to know how much time they spend grocery shopping or something.
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I would probably do this, not because I need to be more efficient (I am done maximizing my productivity) but because I know I waste a lot of time doing stupid shit, and if it was in my face how much time I waste (or spend doing mindless things) I would be more likely to change habits. This was exactly what happened when I started tracking food costs and I realized how much I was wasting money on fast food mochas and I immediately put a stop to that because it was not even good (just like the wasted time).
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This sounds intimidating but valuable. 
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My only concern is that I have one of her books out from the library but won’t be able to finish it before February because other books are due first
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Yes. Especially because I have a toddler and NONE of my days are standard, plus I have trouble getting to a phone etc to track stuff, but I need someone to already have a paper system set up so I’m not scribbling random bits and trying to categorise on my own afterwards.
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Also this; I need to actually time how much certain things that I procrastinate on actually take me so that I can say to myself “it only takes X minutes, you have enough time, do the thing now”.
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I would be interested but would need guidance in easy ways to track reliably? I need to cut down on my mindless social media time but don’t seem to be able to track it accurately so suggested resources or apps or something could help.
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Week 3 Update:
- Eat down freezer Not much progress since last week. I did get rid of some ice packs from Hello Fresh that were taking up space.
- Eat that Trader Joe’s lentil soup that’s been in my cupboard for 6+ months Done.
- Buy snacks from bulk section with reusable containers Done. It was much easier than I expected, and the cashier was very helpful.
- Drink 1 cup of tea a day I missed a few days due to travel and a couple irregular work days.
- Make pitcher of iced tea Not yet
- Bring lunch and snacks to work, and bring utensils, reusable napkins, reusable containers, etc when doing so I bought lunch at work one day, but otherwise successful.
- Avoid buying from cafeteria and vending machines at work (I put a container of oatmeal in my desk in case I run out of packed food. I will bring a spoon and jar tomorrow to leave at my desk so I don’t use single use cups or plastic). See above.
- Bring my own mug and tea to work Successful so far.
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I’m really disappointed that my housing and kitchen situation isn’t going to change anytime soon, so I need to adjust my food plans to accommodate.
Needs:
- Stove top meals (oven is sadly a disaster)
- Meals that don’t take an hour or more to prep and cook
- Meals that can be left over but not enough to feed 6+ people
- Shelf stable food for office/car if I can’t go home after work right away
I’m actually wasting food by meal prepping for the week which is such a disappointment.
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Week 3: I made bread again this weekend and have continued to not buy any. Even D didn’t buy any bread this weekend.
This week for breakfasts I am having @anomalily-inspired black bean tacos.
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If breakfast tacos is the only lasting impression I leave on the world, I would be happy.
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More of the endless hamburger parties from the freezer gone - one into husband, one into dog.
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If you make a too-big meal, can you freeze half?
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I really can’t, sadly. I do not have enough dishes or available freezer space. I moved back into my childhood home and my dad is not a good housemate and takes up a lot of physical space.
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Week 3 check in
Making great strides in my eat-up-the-perishables-before-they-go-bad goal. This week I:
- Found a recipe for pasta with onion, roasted grapes and feta! Also used some turkey stock that wasn’t on my list but needed to be used.
- Made mac and cheese with the smoked cheddar and most of the remaining salami
- Made lentil salad with onion and carrots (and some frozen beets and new feta)
- Did not eat any apples
- Didn’t toss any food
Finished, week 3:
7. about 2 pounds of grapes, green and red. used the remaining red and half the green in pasta sauce, ate the rest of the green as snack
14. most of a bag of baby carrots - put the rest in a lentil dish for potluck dinner
18. a tub of feta cheese crumbles. finished, then had to buy more!
19. a small block of smoked cheddar, from mid-November used in mac-n-cheese, with salami
28. Lentil soup. ate some and froze the rest, as planned
Remaining:
2. an opened tub of sour cream. just one serving left, will use on quesadillas this week
5. half a package of hard salami. just a bit left
9. 5 apples (one golden delicious, the remainder honeycrisp)
10. the rest of the bag of clementines still two left
13. a bag of sweet onions - 2 remaining. May not need to chop and freeze
15. two pounds of potatoes 3 small potatoes left
16. about a cup of cranberry sauce - finished the scones, so now ???
24. 2/3 package of graham crackers
26. most of a bag of Aldi ginger cookies
27. dozen eggs, bought 1/5, best by 1/21 - 3 left
New:
29. feta crumbles (won’t go bad during the challenge, but need to remember to eat them)
Previous weeks
Finished: .1. a small amount of lemon pie filling. finished 1/3, ate on honey bread
4. a few slices of sharp cheddar cheese finished 1/2
8. one pear eaten 1/5
17. two eggs, best by 12/24 used 1/5
22. a small loaf of honey bread, gift from a neighbor finished 1/5
23. about half a head of broccoli, cut up eaten 1/4
25. half a box of triscuits - finished 1/6
6. prosciutto finished week 2
11. grape tomatoes finished 1/8
12. three ribs celery - used in lentil soup, week 2
20. about a pint of OJ, exp 12/31. week 2
21. bacon, exp 12/23/19 week 2
Wasted, week 1:
3. about 6 egg whites. decided not to risk it
unnumbered: a tub of hummus that I’d thought was unopened. It was partially eaten, and fuzzy.
Plan for the week:
- Keep eating fruit daily; start on the apples - I mean it this time
- One more round of potato-onion hash with scrambled eggs and maybe salami
- One more quesadilla
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Snack plan continues well, I’ve been using up some beef jerky I found on sale.
Anyone have good recipes to use up leftover cooked rice? I can’t eat fried rice with an egg every night. 
Think arancini would work with non-arborio rice?
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Ugh the restaurant budget is fine but I bought and then ate and am eating too many snacks from my last grocery store trip to Chinatown.
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I bet arancini would be fine with regular rice esp if it’s moist enough!
what about making some “onigiri” with other leftovers (esp meats) inside? or spam “musubi”? or veggie rolls?
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I have two go-to meals for leftover rice, and sometimes I make rice just to have them. 
I usually use medium grain rice for these but honestly anything works (I’ve used jasmine and even sushi rice before).
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Dolsot bibimbap
If you like Korean you should get yourself some gochujang sauce and make yourself some bibimbap. I bought the special bowls because I love it so much so I can make it dolsot style (which crisps the rice) but it is still good without that. The key to good bibimbap is the sauce and to use sesame oil when reheating the rice. You can make gochujang yourself with guchujang red pepper paste and a few other ingredients for very little money but if you don’t know if you like it just buy some already made and try it. It’s so good, I use it on other things too (especially roasted potatoes and on eggs). You can make it with meat or no meat (or tofu), egg or no egg, and although there are “traditional” vegetables you can make it with pretty much anything you have laying around. I like cabbage (or kimchi, it is really good with kimchi), carrots, mushrooms, sliced water chestnuts, tofu sometimes. I always include an egg if I have one available. -
360 Burrito bowl knockoff
360 Burrito is a chain of restaurants in California (maybe other places too, IDK) that is like fast dining, not quite fast food (because they make it after you order) but it takes only 5 or 10 minutes. They have burritos and bowls mainly, and it’s the model where you pick a protein pick a cuisine “style” (like Cajun, southwest, Thai, whatever) and off you go. They generally come with lettuce and sometimes other add ins depending on the style (maybe avocado, sour cream, etc). I always got the cajun style, usually salmon. Oh, and it comes with tortilla chips. This is very important. And one of the sauces they have is Thai sweet chili sauce. I started duplicating it at home and it is sooooo good, even though it sounds very weird. I do bowl style, and usually I do NOT use black beans (but occasionally I do If I already have some cooked). It is shredded lettuce (YES, I KNOW), reheated (or freshly cooked, lol) rice, protein if you want (although I often don’t bother), pico de gallo if I have any (if not, maybe just some chopped tomato), avocado if I have any, a little bit of chopped red onion, and then you drizzle it with Thai sweet chili sauce. And then scoop it up to eat with the tortilla chips (preferably thicker ones (so they don’t break), if you can get them). If I do put protein I use salmon or tofu usually (maybe shrimp) and I pre-cook it with a homemade cajun-style seasoning, which adds more depth to the dish, but is not necessary. I KNOW it sounds weird but it is soooooo good. There is something about the combination of the soft rice and slightly crispy lettuce (you can use cabbage too but lettuce is traditional) and Thai sweet chili sauce and the crunchy salty corn that is just perfect. And, you can also make your own Thai sweet chili sauce, the key “unique” ingredient in the sauce is fish sauce, but if you don’t have any you can sub soy sauce and it is not quite the same but still good and then it is vegan if that matters to you. The other ingredients in the sauce are just common things like sugar, vinegar (although I always use seasoned rice vinegar you don’t have to), garlic, maybe a few other things.
Note: Both of these sauces (gochujang and Thai sweet chili) and pretty spicy, so when just getting acquainted you should start with a little and increase from there. There’s nothing worse than a dinner you can’t eat because you put too much hot sauce. Though I suppose you could just add more rice…
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