Wifeless Survival Archives

I began the journey of Wifeless Survival two months ago and it finally ended last Saturday. My wife and daughter came back after a two month trip to visit family. Unfortunately, my record keeping skills weren’t very good during those two months, but I did learn a thing or two.

1. It’s possible to eat well and eat cheap.

I never went hungry. I mean never. Google whatever food you want and you’ll find a recipe for it. Yes, my diet was a little plain, nothing fancy. But I liked it. It was easy to prepare, easy to cook ahead of time, good for me, and good for my pocket.

90% of my foods are listed below:

Eggs – About 30 a week. Mostly hard boiled but also as omelets, frittatas, and scrambled. By the way, do you know about Frittata Gainz?

Chicken – Pounds a week. I’m not really sure how much. As drumsticks, thighs, and breasts. Always baked or grilled.

Dairy – I know. Many Paleo people don’t eat dairy, but I’ve incorporated it back into my diet and I’m glad I have. It’s a good source of protein and fat. For dairy, I stick with mozzarella cheese and nonfat plain Greek yogurt. That’s it.

Water – About half a gallon a day.

Coffee – Black, no sugar. All day every day.

Steak – Just a couple steaks a week, nothing fancy. Lightly grilled.

Veggies – Mostly celery, radishes, avocados, cucumbers, and spinach. The more the merrier. Always raw.

Fruits – Mostly bananas, blueberries, and apples.

Protein Shakes – Combat protein from Muscle Pharm. Once or twice a day.

All of the food ran me about $30 per week on average. I could’ve kept it cheaper, but it’s still not bad. I will say this, going organic would have easily tripled my budget. During the two months I ate out three times. Once with a friend after church, and the other two times at my work cafeteria. You’re not going to believe what I ate, though. How could you pass this up? During my out of town trips it was impossible to keep the same diet, so I just tried my hardest.

2. Work extra when you can, don’t when you can’t.

I put in a lot of extra work during Wifeless Survival. On my blog, on my side gig, at work, and at the gym. Just about every area of my life received extra attention. I also jumped at the opportunity to travel for work as much as I could. I took trips to Colorado Springs, Puerto Rico, Kansas City, and a vacation to the Holy Land (blog posts coming!).

On the flip side. When my family is here, the extra work significantly slows down. Who has time for 2 a day workouts or to take on extra clients when my family is home? Not me. My extra time goes towards my wife and daughter.

3. Get rid of the costly extras.

You know that professional membership to Devex that you pay $99 a year for? Oh, it’s just me? I cancelled it. Don’t get me wrong, Devex is great, but it’s a costly extra. What about Amazon Prime? I got rid of it. I originally got it for all the schoolbooks that I needed. Now, I don’t need it so much. I also canceled our cable TV and reduced our internet speed. I didn’t need it. Now that Wifeless Survival is over, we have our cable TV and high speed internet back. After all, my daughter needs to watch Doc McStuffins.

These are just a few of the many lessons learned during Wifeless Survival. I didn’t even talk about my awesome new cooking skills. What kind of survival have you gone through?