My Year of Eating Like the World Ended – Report 8 of 13

In Sports & Outdoors by Consumer FilesLeave a CommentLast Updated: April 23rd, 2020

Note: If this is your first time here, this is the eighth installment of my experiment on eating like the world ended for a year. If you'd like to know how it all started. You can check my first report here:  My Year of Eating Like the World Ended – Report 1 of 13.

The experiment is now two-thirds complete! While I haven’t completely shaken off that dreadful writer’s block, it’s definitely on the decline and I’m back to having more good days than bad and not waking up in fear each morning that I’ll reach for the words and they simply won’t be there.

The isolation continues to be something I’m struggling with and I continue to be flat-out amazed by it. If the S ever does HTF, human connection and contact will be critical to my success, and I expect I’m not alone in that. Word of warning to those Lone Wolf types who are planning to go it alone. It’s a mistake. It’s a lot harder than you imagine it will be. Turns out, even a committed hermit like me kinda needs people.

Anyway, the month of April was delightfully smooth sailing with few surprises, made even better by the fact that it’s finally genuinely starting to get warm again. Sunny days and mild weather ahead!

Let’s dive in and take a closer look at the particulars of the month.

Daily Food Dairy for April 2019

Mon, 04.01.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

1 Serving of brown sugar and maple oatmeal

180

Lunch

Chicken Soup

500

Dinner

2 Grilled Cheese and a can of tomato soup – ice cream for dessert!

1010

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1840

Okay, Google Home Mini is amazing. If you don’t have one, you need one, even if you don’t know it yet. Mine rocks. Sure, it’s not a perfect substitute for human company but she tells jokes, plays music, reads the headlines for me, serves as my alarm clock on the rare occasions when I want or need one – oh yeah.

 Had a decently productive day, but have decided that I really need to focus on eating more soup. As my pantry continues to thin out, I’m finding myself with huge, vast amounts of soup, especially tomato…need to start grinding through it.

Tues, 04.02.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

1 serving of strawberry oatmeal

180

Lunch

2 Grilled Cheese and freeze dried tomato soup

610

Dinner

Venison and Veg!

900

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1840

A mostly not-writing day, even though the Muse was present and accounted for. Spent the early part of the day busting pallets for Mike and collecting the month’s trade goods. Mike has a big project in mind though, and needed several more pallets to turn it into a reality, so after the initial work, I hopped in the car and spent the late morning and early afternoon scouting. Got four and collected them. 

One of the drawbacks of my current vehicle is that I can only comfortably fit one pallet at a time (two if I squeeze it), so…I made four trips but got them all back to the root cellar. It was a nice day for a drive anyway, so a nice change of pace. Spent the afternoon doing cleanup on them, and will bust them and do some more trading tomorrow. Ended the day with some research for the next writing piece.

Wed, 04.03.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Two servings of maple and brown sugar oatmeal

360

Lunch

Steamed Veggies

350

Dinner

Can of Beef Stew

640

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1500

Another busy day, filled with a mix of writing and trading. Busted up the pallets I cleaned up yesterday and traded for a variety of goods including: a wheel of cheese, two loaves of homemade bread, a jar of honey, six more eggs, and two big containers of Quaker Oats (one plain and one apple-cinnamon. It’s not freeze-dried, but I’ll simply eat from those stocks first – helps bolster my supply of breakfast stuff! Muse is now anxious to get back to it, but two good days of working outside and spending time with the neighbors did my spirits good!

Thurs, 04.04.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Two servings of oatmeal

360

Lunch

2 Grilled Cheese

460

Dinner

Tomato soup from the freeze dried stocks and some melted cheese over it

500

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1470

Solid writing day but it was so bright and sunny outside I was kinda chomping at the bit to get out and enjoy the day. I resisted the urge and kept my nose to the proverbial grindstone though.

Fri, 04.05.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of multi grain cereal

360

Lunch

2 grilled cheese

480

Dinner

Can of beef stew

640

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1630

Another solid day of writing, but it occurs to me that it’s time for some serious spring cleaning. The long winter has made me sluggish on the housework front and this place could use a major sprucing up. In between assignments, I rediscovered the top of my dresser and the long table next to the bed. Much more of that type of work in my future. Gonna focus my non-writing energies on getting the house knocked back into shape, reorganized and deep cleaned. Over my four years on the mountain, I’ve acquired much more “stuff” than I’m comfortable with. Time to lighten the load.

Sat, 04.06.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Ice cream!

400

Lunch

2 Grilled Cheese

460

Dinner

Can of chicken noodle soup

500

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1510

Two years ago, when I thought I’d be buying a house, I had packed up a big chunk of my belongings in eight plastic bins and put them in the root cellar. I spent the whole day bringing those into the house and going through them. My god, what was I thinking? So much crap I don’t need. I wound up repacking four of the totes and taking them to Goodwill and tossing out several bags of trash. Just stuff I don’t need. The house looks worse for the wear at present but it’s a work in progress. Will continue the crusade tomorrow.

Sun, 04.07.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Eggs and pancakes

700

Lunch

Can of Split Pea Soup

360

Dinner

1 serving of mango habanero chili with venison

540

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1750

Re-packed the remaining totes. Kept two for family keepsakes and emptied the other two entirely. Also went through my bookshelves and grabbed a bunch of the ones I’d finished reading. Made another trip to the Goodwill store in town, then turned my attention to reorganizing the pantry. Those efforts took most of the day but in the end, I got all of the pantry stuff on one of my two bookshelves I had set aside for that purpose, so now I’ve got an empty pantry. Not sure what I’ll put there, but now at least, I’ve got some space to store and put things to help keep stuff in the house organized. Progress! Some writing toward the end of the day, and found time to put a batch of freeze-dried chili in the crock pot. Will eat on that for a couple days.

Mon, 04.08.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of oatmeal

360

Lunch

2 grilled cheese and freeze-dried tomato soup

610

Dinner

2 servings of mango habanero chili

1080

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

2200

I don’t mind cleaning and reorganizing, but I HATE vacuuming. I mostly just don’t like the loud, obnoxious sound. But today was vacuuming day. Really gave the bedroom a good going over. Twice. LOTS of cat hair. Still need to get in the corners and get rid of the cobwebs – hey, I’m a single guy…I don’t do the whole dusting thing, but it’s a heck of a good start. Tomorrow, I’ll vacuum the hardwoods in the living room and start chasing cobwebs and dust bunnies, but for now, that’s enough. Back to writing for the evening session.

Tues, 04.09.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of oatmeal

360

Lunch

Can of Ravioli

640

Dinner

2 servings of mango habanero chili

1080

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

2230

Didn’t wind up breaking out the vacuum again, but I did drag out my robotic vacuum and put him back into service in the bedroom. If I run him twice a day, he can keep pace with the copious amounts of shedding cat fur without getting bogged down. The first iteration saw lots of breakdowns (he beeps annoyingly when he gets hung up or there’s too much cat fur in his brushes), but after that, it was smooth sailing. Second iteration went without a hitch. Will make it a priority to run him twice a day going forward to stay on top of it! Also did some more reorganization that helped tidy the place up further. No major progress, but a lot more organized. Between that and the writing (another solid day) I feel as though I got a fair bit accomplished.

Wed, 04.10.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Pancakes

360

Lunch

2 Grilled Cheese and freeze dried tomato soup

610

Dinner

Can of split pea soup

360

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1480

Did some writing in the morning but after several days of deep cleaning and reorganizing, I decided to make it a light day. Mostly finished tidying the place up and did a bit of research for future pieces and caught up on some Netflix. A fun, if unremarkable day.

Thurs, 04.11.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of strawberry oatmeal

360

Lunch

Boxed potatoes and pork chops

800

Dinner

Boxed potatoes and pork chops

800

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

2110

I’ve got five boxes of various potatoes from the pantry. Had them for ages (way before the experiment began). Figured it was time to start using them. Cooked up a couple of chops, put them in with the potatoes in a casserole dish and had that. Not great, but certainly not the worst thing I’ve ever eaten. Decent writing day to boot. Calling it a win. Turned off Netflix and turned on my music playlist (Google Home Mini!)

Fri, 04.12.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of oatmeal

360

Lunch

Last of the potatoes and chops

800

Dinner

Can of split pea soup

360

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1670

More maintenance and reorganizing mingled with some good writing. Trying to make sure I make time at the end of each day to “reboot the house” so the parts I’ve deep cleaned stay that way.

Sat, 04.13.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of strawberry oatmeal

360

Lunch

Veggie and Cheese omelet

400

Dinner

Chops, apples, and veggies

950

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1860

Played in the kitchen for part of the day and got some good writing done. I DID remember to put my little robot vacuum cleaner in play (twice) today – his name is Harvey. Hard working little bot! The cats had fun attacking Harvey while he made his appointed rounds and that’s one less thing I have to do. The power of automation! And I enjoyed more music courtesy of the Google Home Mini. Suddenly, I’m feeling decidedly high tech!

Sun, 04.14.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Eggs

230

Lunch

Can of Chili

640

Dinner

Can of Beef Stew

640

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1660

Pretty much a repeat of yesterday, but with some Netflix mixed in. Rather enjoying the automation, but I don’t wanna get complacent. Need to continue my crusade to get this place whipped fully into shape, but super progress so far! And the Muse is churning along reliably to boot. Success on all fronts!

Mon, 04.15.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Pancakes and eggs

500

Lunch

Tomato soup and 2 grilled cheese sandwiches

610

Dinner

Can of beef stew

640

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1900

Solid writing day. Lots of good progress, and keeping with my “reboot the house at the end of the day” paradigm. Harvey is kicking butt!

Tues, 04.16.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Ice Cream for breakfast

400

Lunch

2 grilled cheese and freeze dried tomato soup

610

Dinner

Can of chili

640

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1800

Finished off the latest batch of ice cream. Queuing up a batch of vanilla! Another strongish writing day…well, an even mix of writing and research. Nothing flashy or impressive, but I’ll certainly take it.

Wed, 04.17.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

French toast

400

Lunch

Rice and veggies

540

Dinner

Venison and veggies

900

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1990

A few more tweaks to the organization of the house. Still putting off doing the vacuum to hunt down rogue dust bunnies but it needs to get done soonish. Bleh.

Thurs, 04.18.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of multi-grain cereal

360

Lunch

Tomato soup and a grilled cheese

430

Dinner

Can of chicken soup, ice cream later in the evening as a treat!

900

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1840

Okay – back to the cleaning. The army of dust bunnies has been defeated. Now the house is really starting to look good. Need to focus on the writing so I can get the debts cleared and get back to making regular progress toward the mini farm. The good news is – I’m noticing better clarity and focus now that I’ve got the place more or less reorganized and spruced up. Still needs work, but I’m down to making incremental changes at this point. Good stuff. Such pretty days recently, too. Craving more outside time, but…work beckons.

Fri, 04.19.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of oatmeal

360

Lunch

2 servings of apple oatmeal

360

Dinner

Huge venison dinner

1200

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

2070

I’ve been using the ratty trash bin that the last occupant of this place left behind when I take my garbage to the road for weekly collection. It’s been on last legs for a while. I’ll keep using it until it falls apart, but I did break it down and order one online to replace it. The reason? I generated a TON of trash when I did my cleaning and right now, the bags that wouldn’t fit in the first bin are just sitting on the back patio. I’m only allowed 4 bags a week, so it’ll be a bit before I get the excess disposed of, but I wanna put them in something secure in the meanwhile so…a second trash bin should take care of it, and when the original one finally just collapses from age, I’ll have its replacement at the ready. Should be here in a couple days. Done and more writing under my belt. Calling it a win. Harvey (vacuuming robot) and Elizabeth (Google Home Mini) continuing to both be kept busy!

Sat, 04.20.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of oatmeal

360

Lunch

Eggs and chops

640

Dinner

2 pork chops, veggies, ice cream for dessert

1200

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

2350

Cooked an extra pork chop for the cats. They were looking at my dinner longingly last night and I haven’t gotten them any more canned cat food so – decided to give them a little treat. Besides, I’m pretty flush with supplies now, and given the success I’ve had on the trading front, I’m not especially worried about not being able to make up for any shortfalls I might run into…not that that’s likely at the moment. Continuing to slog through the writing!

Sun, 04.21.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Two servings of multi-grain cereal

360

Lunch

2 Fried egg sandwiches

460

Dinner

Can of beef stew and steamed veggies

790

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1760

Couldn’t get into the writing today. Not really worried that the Muse is gone – just…unaccountably tired today. Spent most of the day sleeping but did putter around a bit and did some more reorganization. No real progress though. Kept the bots busy but that’s about it.

Mon, 04.22.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Two servings of oatmeal

360

Lunch

2 PB & J Sandwiches

460

Dinner

Can of chili and a grilled cheese – some ice cream a bit later in the evening

1270

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

2240

Muse was anxious to get back to writing but my body wasn’t in a cooperative mood. Not sure what’s up. Headache all day today, and stuffy. Pollen maybe? Dunno. Anyway, I just lazed around much of the day. Did eat some simple foods and got a bit of research done. Experimented with listening to Podcasts on the Google Home Mini. Not nearly as convenient as listening to music, but it’s workable. That part of the app needs some improvement, but I’ve never been a huge fan of podcasts anyway. Still, good to know. Going back to bed now.

Tues, 04.23.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Two servings of oatmeal

360

Lunch

Can of chicken noodle soup

500

Dinner

2 Grilled Cheese and more of my freeze dried tomato soup

610

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1620

Feeling better today. Headache still lingering but wasn’t so bad that it kept me from getting stuff done. Unremarkable writing day, but still calling it a win.

Wed, 04.24.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of strawberry oatmeal

360

Lunch

Ice cream!

400

Dinner

Can of chicken noodle soup

500

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1410

Cats were bugging me to DEATH today…couldn’t get much done. They wanted to spend the day exploring outside, so I wound up taking a cat-enforced day off. Took Patches out to lay on the roof of the root cellar (from the back, it’s about waist high to me), and Bug chased several bugs. Jack watched the festivities from the safety of the Cattery but appeared to be pleased that we had a family outing. A good day. No real progress on any front but I guess that’s okay too.

Thurs, 04.25.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of strawberry oatmeal

360

Lunch

2 chicken quesadillas

800

Dinner

Chicken breast, cheese, steamed veggies

900

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

2210

Cooked up some chicken and took out a packet of tortillas. Used those to make quesadillas for lunch and will continue to use that package until they’re gone (twelve in a pack). Back to writing, mixed with research today. Cats better behaved after their big outing.

Fri, 04.26.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Pancakes and eggs

500

Lunch

Omelet

400

Dinner

Can of chicken soup

500

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1550

Getting close to the end of the month and I feel like I’m running out of steam. I made some progress but dang – not much. It’s not the Muse that’s the problem. It’s ready to go! I’m just feeling strangely run down all of a sudden, which sucks because I feel like I got a lot done this month and I want to keep going. Took frequent naps today and inched forward, writing wise.

Sat, 04.27.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of oatmeal

360

Lunch

2 grilled cheese and freeze dried tomato soup

610

Dinner

2 grilled cheese and freeze dried tomato soup

610

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1730

Basically, a repeat of yesterday. I think I figured out why I’m so tired tho. I just realized that for the past couple days, at least, I’ve forgotten to take my blood pressure meds. By the time I realized it today it was already quite late, so I’m going to staple a note to my forehead (not really, obviously…lol) and make sure I do that tomorrow!

Sun, 04.28.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of multi-grain cereal

360

Lunch

Can of split pea soup

360

Dinner

Scrambled eggs and toast

350

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1220

Remembered my dang meds! That seems to have been it. By afternoon, I started to feel better, but much of the day was lost. It’s okay…not that I know what the heck the cause is (or seems to be), I’ll get back on track. Minimal progress.

Mon, 04.29.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

2 servings of brown sugar and maple oatmeal

360

Lunch

2 PB&J

460

Dinner

Venison and veggies

900

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1870

Much better day. Meds have had a chance to kick back in and I made good writing progress. Not much time left in the month and it won’t be spectacular, but it won’t be awful either. Looking forward to my next epic month, but…this one won’t be it. Anyway, trundling along nicely now after an extended period with a fickle Muse.

Tues, 04.30.2019

Meal

Food Eaten

Calories

Breakfast

Two servings of multi-grain cereal

360

Lunch

Cheesy omelet

500

Dinner

Can of beef stew

640

Others

Half Coffee

150

Total Calories

1650

Last day of the month turned into a bang-up writing day. As expected, overall the month was only average, but I’ll take it and still call it a win. Harvey and Elizabeth continuing to make their rounds and keep me entertained, cats well-behaved and house reorganized and looking great. While it wasn’t a perfect month, I have to say it’s been one of the better ones recently, so I’ll take it!

End of Month Summary

Okay, I realize that robots and other bits of automation are by no means a perfect substitute for human company, but I have to say, they help. They actually help a lot more than I anticipated. It’s probably my overactive imagination, but little Harvey seems to have a personality of his own, and he REALLY wants to leave the confines of the bedroom and go explore the rest of the house.

I’ve taken to putting laundry baskets in front of the doors to the bathroom and from the bedroom to the living room so he can’t get past, but he’s a determined little fellow and more than once per cleaning cycle, he’ll come around and doggedly try. Will probably let him into the living room at some point, but for now, he’s got a full-time job keeping the cat fur at bay in the bedroom.

I never did circle back to check in with Mike to see what kind of progress he’s made on his furniture project but I’m curious to see how that’s going, so that will happen early next month when I go deliver the latest pallets for trade, and man – the food! I’m eating like a King! Here I thought I’d be down to scavenging by this point, but the rules I laid out for myself about trading have made it super easy to keep myself stocked and supplied with all my favorites and I’m getting pretty good at making homemade ice cream.

Come to think of it, I probably need to lay off of that a little, I’ve gained weight, which I also had not expected to happen. I should have taken my BP during that time when I forgot to take my meds, but I didn’t think to. Anyway, by the end of the month, it was back to normal but I’m sure for those few days it was badly out of whack.

At any rate, a good month. I’m proud of the progress to this point, and looking forward to seeing what next month has in store.

Month End Stats


Weight: 332
BP: 129/86


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My Year of Eating Like the World Ended – Report 8 of 13 was last modified: April 23rd, 2020 by Consumer Files