Passport gods, please allow for the safe and speedy return of my passport...

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One turkey, one week's worth of meals

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Whole turkeys were on sale before the Easter weekend, and with humane-certified birds available at Safeway for CA$1.47/lb, we hauled back two 5kg turkeys to store in the freezer while I pondered what to do with them. I'm no fan of high-density CAFOs with their negative impacts on the environment and animal well-being, so if we do eat meat, we buy it from the farmers' market or those labeled as humane-certified. It does mean that meat is the most expensive protein in our grocery list, thus it is an occasional treat or supplement to our regular meals. In this case, I was pretty happy with the bargain price of $16 for a 5kg turkey.

Cheap, but would it be edible? Turkey breast meat has a bad reputation after all. DH says that he sometimes needs to dip turkey breast slices in water in order to be able to chew and swallow them. I had good results with a roast spatchcocked chicken, so time to move on to a bigger bird! Steps with photos courtesy of Serious Eats. I used regular kitchen…
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Habitat Day 1 & 2

We finally made it! We were officially saturated as of this morning, and are now full fledged aquanauts. Took a little while to get in yesterday, as the ARB crew were prepping the Habitat, so we hung out on the Research Diver and breathed in as much surface air as we could. Finally got the go-ahead at 12pm, and splashed in. This was my very 1st time inside the Habitat, so it was pretty cool stuff. Otter gave us the grand tour, ate our first packs of freeze-dried Mountain House gourmet entrees (I had the Chicken Polynesian), and set off for our first 5 hour dive to the Deep S4 site. With much efficiency (haha), we hammered in 80 bases, and cable tied on most of the cages, taking care to stay above 95ft. Came back with the fading twilight (no shiny vampires anywhere) to a hot shower and more MH goodness. If you're watching on the creepy mainlock cam, you'll think we are a bunch of pigs. We're always eating.

Not much nightlife here, though the 'live TV' was pretty inte…
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Meal-planning

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One of the best ways to eat well on a budget is to plan out the meals for the week, so you buy only what you need at the grocery store, reduce food waste, and cut back on the daily stress of wondering what to prepare for dinner. If you are fine with it, cooking a bigger portion and eating leftovers for meals over 2-3 days save a lot of prep time (and stress, for me). Here are some general principles to help with meal-planning:

1. When cheap, buy in bulk and store properly*. Look for what's on sale, or in season. During the Easter sales, I bought two turkeys and stored them in the freezer. Post-Thanksgiving is another good time to get cheap turkey. Rather surprisingly, I got a reasonably priced 3-lb bag of quinoa at London Drugs early this year, and am still cooking from it. Foods that last include:
Dried goods, e.g. rice, flour, pasta/noodles, beans, lentils, quinoaFrozen foods, such as meats, seafood and vegetables. Frozen in meal portions, meats and seafood can last for months. T…
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