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[ZennoSaji]

1-pot curry or cream stew has been my go-to until it got hot this summer, when I switched to salads and sandwiches. When the other teachers were ordering bentos I was bringing sandwiches and light snacks. I don't buy the dirt cheap bread, but look for the reduced price bags, of course. I used to have lettuce on it but that was before it was $3 for a wilted head...

As for the curry I'd brown my protein of choice and then cook my vegetables of choice... Cabbage and other leafies are still cheap. Carrots and sometimes eggplant make their way in, too. One package of roux and I have enough curry to last the entire week, and I spent maybe $8?

Same with salads: I found a recipe for Okara and crab (imitation) salad, and I combine that with a package of shredded cabbage, and other veggies and I have maybe 3-4 meals for, again, less than $10.

[rxk22]

Yeah I don't get it. I've had coworkers who would either eat out, get a bento, or get take out everyday. That's easily 2000yen a week. Easily.

[ZennoSaji]

I have a married couple for sempais through the program I'm in and they "can't cook" so they pretty much only eat out...
Average bentos my coworkers order are Y500, usually more like Y600, so that's Y2500 to Y3000 a week, just on lunches. ;| Fortunately they eat the school lunches like the kids during the term, but I still question the health factor with a lot of these lunches. I think I'm going to stop eating all my rice from now on, especially when it's served with potatoes or pasta.

[rxk22]

[water rat]

TokyoLiz wrote:[quote]"I'm not too worried about more than getting on with neighbours. I live in suburban Chiba where the collective age of my neighbours is about eight centuries. Nice people, and they've seen it all (think flower children with subtitles)"[/quote]

That's hilarious, Liz!

To the OP: I lost enough weight to require new clothes by following the paleolithic diet, and I did it in just six weeks. Then I got to missing bread, cheese, yoghurt and chocolate, so, you know...

When I was on it I would eat a breakfast of either fresh or boiled carrots, and boiled or fried eggs (two). I had a non-stick frying pan so required no oil, which is an agricultural-age convention. At work I would have only tea or coffee - not strictly paleo, but everyone has their exceptions. With many people alcohol (the quintessential agro-age substance) is the exception made, but as I was in Saudi Arabia at the time, and have never been much of a drinker it was easy to do without beer or wine.

Then, twelve hours after breakfast, I would boil some frozen broccoli or Brussels sprouts or peas (fresh is difficult in Riyadh) and fry up some lamb or beef burgers, or frozen fish in my non-stick pan and dispose of the grease. Or I could broil my meat.

One time, several weeks into the diet I got extremely peckish at work and borrowed a Snickers bar. Boy, did I regret that! I felt bloated and nauseous for an hour.

So, going paleo may not be cheap except that you only eat twice a day. (You can eat three times if you want. Japan is generally colder than Arabia, innit?) and you save on rice, noodles, bread etc. You may even have to go out shopping less as much of what you eat is frozen and can be bought in bulk. (Bread you have to get every two or three days).

The principle of the paleolithic diet ([i]apologies to the creationists among you[/i]) is that we (and [i]dakara[/i] our digestive tracts) evolved millions of years ago on a foragers diet of roots that need not be boiled, birds' eggs, meat, fish and wild fruit and vegetables. (Fruit is expensive in Japan, but [i]mikan[/i] are totally paleo). Agriculture is a fairly recent innovation going back, at most, a mere 8,000 years. Humans have not evolved to the change of wheat, rice, corn and potatoes, what have you... (Potatoes being a root that require boiling). So an agricultural diet is bound to make you fat with all the stored carbs. If you must have something starchy eat carrots, parsnips or any root you could eat raw (So I think [i]daikon[/i] is out). You don't have to eat them raw, just like you don't [i]have to[/i] raw just like you don't have to eat fish Smeagol-style, you just have to be able to eat it raw for it to qualify as paleo.

You will feel lighter and more energetic too. I felt ten or fifteen years younger and lost 20 kilos, and mostly only felt excessively hungry for the first week.

[Maitoshi]

I wonder how long it would take our metabolisms to move over to a strict diet of grain alcohol. I know a couple older gentlemen who seem to survive on little else. They eat sashimi and other small snacks with it (like nuts or dried squid), but say that they prefer to drink their rice.

[rxk22]

[Maitoshi]