Day 5: Getting used to the new reality

We both cheated last night. We were having friends over for dinner, an event that we had arranged before we had signed up to take the Challenge, and decided we couldn't force them to eat rice, beans, tortillas and tap water, the only food we had enough of to stretch to feed six people.

So, my husband went to the store to buy ingredients for dinner--a Chinese feast of Szechuan chicken, spicy beef stir fry and egg drop soup. (He is a chef by training..... which, I realize, has been an unfair advantage all the way through, since he can make tasty meals out of practically anything, or almost nothing, as the case may be.) The bill for these groceries? $53. $11 more than what we're supposed to live on for a whole week. And that doesn't even include the wine we drank, the nuts we set out for an appetizer, or the dessert our friends brought.

Once I got over the shock of the price differential, it was a really good meal. And just having that little break made a big difference to me. For the first time, I'd been hungry much of the day Friday but knowing we were going to have a nice dinner had allowed me to get through the day. And this morning, it was a lot easier to accept going back to our limited menu (nothing for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch, chicken, potatoes and onions for dinner). I was very hungry by the time we sat down to dinner tonight, but I didn't spend the day in an irritable or depressed mood. If we hadn't already had a good weekend meal, I probably would have; social occasions, as Robyn mentioned, really do revolve around food, and it's hard to imagine having friends over without feeding them.

We'll see how long that halo effect lasts. We still have two days to go. And not all that much food left.