My lunches

Living overseas alone means you have to watch your expenses. Especially when you are just a poor postdoc who earns a miserable salary. Complaints aside, that didn't really stop me from buying comfort items at times. I got to find ways to keep my sanity, right?
Besides the occasional spending spree, my main expenses would be the accommodation, which already accounts for 22% of my take-home salary. Yes, now you know how little I earn. Besides the accommodation, food would constitute the next portion of my monthly expenses. I try to save by cooking my own food. A good meal at the cafeteria or restaurant would cost approx 9 dollars. And I can't afford to eat it for every meal. Plus, they don't serve enough greens.
From the initial conscientious effort of packing my lunch on the night before, I have adopted the lazy habit of cooking once-off all my lunches for the entire week on Sunday. For example,


Monday : Rice with two side side dishes (i) Bean sprouts and tofu, and (ii) dark soy sauce pork stew.

Tuesday: Probably a sandwich I bought from supermarket, plus a salad.


Wednesday: Rice with (i) bok choy (ii) dark soy sauce pork stew (again)


Thursday: Rice with excess (i) bean sprouts and (ii) bok choy,and (iii) dark soy sauce pork stew (AGAIN!). Plus a NEW dish! Egg with diced green beans.

Friday: Dine out!

Saturday: Korean instant noodles and whatever vegetables and meat left over from my previous week of grocery shopping. I then go out for my new groceries.

Sunday: Depends...most likely instant noodles too. But fresh groceries today!

The good thing with this workflow is that you solve the problem of having to cook small portions. Cooking small portions don't make sense to me. It's not cost-economical and time-efficient. Of course, the only way this workflow can work is when you have a pretty strong and robust gut system.