A Quarantine Food Diary
Introduction
Since lockdown started and I was told to start working from home, I have been keeping a daily food diary. I log my breakfast, lunch and dinner, but not any snacks I have (I generally don't snack during the day anyway, I only tend to have a snack before bed).
I thought this would be interesting to share, as people in different places and with different lifestyles have wildly varying diets. I love home-cooking and I enjoy making bulk meals, I am also someone who is fine eating the same thing multiple days in a row. Feel free to take inspiration from my food choices, or offer advice on what kind of recipes you have been using during the lockdown.
I will note, I am experimenting with intermittent fasting, as such I quite often skip breakfast. On day 51, I got a recumbent bike that I could use at home, which I now work out on regularly, doing about 21km each time. I started to log my daily calories on day 51 also. Since then my daily caloric deficit is between 200-300 calories. I will not be posting my daily calories for each day, as I believe that there are more important things than calorie counting, especially during times like this. This diary is not a model diet and I am not recommending it as a method of either losing, gaining or maintaining weight. I am sharing purely as a matter of interest, and to give others an insight as to how others have coped.
Day 1
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Chicken and mushroom noodles
- Dinner - I snacked rather than eating a sit-down meal, I had instant mashed potato and Pringles
On this day I did a grocery shop. I do not drive so I am limited as to what I can carry back from the supermarket. I usually get my groceries delivered but due to lockdown delivery slots were unavailable, so I needed to walk to and from the shops on my own. I spent £42.27.
Day 2
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Sweet chilli chicken noodles
- Dinner - Cottage pie with sweet potato mash
Day 3
- Breakfast - Thai green curry noodles
- Lunch - Protein bar and ginger nut biscuits
- Dinner - Home-made slow cooker butter chicken, with mushrooms, green beans and egg noodles
Day 4
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Curried noodles
- Dinner - Home-made slow cooker butter chicken, with mushrooms, green beans and egg noodles
Day 5
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Chicago Town microwaved pepperoni pizza
- Dinner - Home-made slow cooker butter chicken with mushrooms, green beans and a slice of white bread
Day 6
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Chicago Town microwaved pepperoni pizza
- Dinner - Home-made macaroni and cheese
Day 7
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - English muffins with butter, marmite and a cup of tea
- Dinner - Home-made macaroni and cheese
Day 8
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Cheese and broccoli pasta
- Dinner - Sweet chilli chicken pizza. I had dessert this day, Vienetta ice cream with chocolate baileys
Day 9
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Cheese and broccoli pasta
- Dinner - Home-made sloppy joes
Day 10
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Salted crackers and a cup of tea
- Dinner - Home-made sloppy joes
Day 11
- Breakfast - A glass of pineapple juice and a packet of cheese and onion flavoured crisps
- Lunch - Skipped
- Dinner - Cheesy beans on toast
Day 12
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Cheesy mushroom pasta
- Dinner - Frozen chicken pizza
Day 13
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Cheesy mashed potatoes
- Dinner - Cereal and milk, and a protein bar
Day 14
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Curried noodles
- Dinner - Home-made sloppy joes
On this day I did another grocery shop. My last grocery shop lasted 2 weeks, which means I spent £3.02 per day on food. I aimed to do the same again here with this shop. This time I spent £30.24. Once again I was limited to what I could carry home.
Day 15
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Sweet chilli noodles
- Dinner - Homemade chicken and vegetable pie, with root veg chips
Day 16
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Homemade baked potato with cheese
- Dinner - Homemade chicken and vegetable pie, with root veg chips
Day 17
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Protein bar and a cup of tea
- Dinner - Homemade chicken and vegetable pie, with root veg chips
Day 18
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Protein bar and a cup of tea
- Dinner - Frozen sweet chilli chicken pizza
Day 19
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Skipped
- Dinner - Frozen deep dish pepperoni pizza
Day 20
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Chicken noodles
- Dinner - Chicago Town microwaved pepperoni pizza
Day 21
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Chicken noodles
- Dinner - Chicago Town microwaved pepperoni pizza
Day 22
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Cheesy pasta
- Dinner - Takeaway - Chicken tikka hoagie
Day 23
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Leftover takeaway, chicken tikka hoagie
- Dinner - Plum tomato soup with creme fraiche and white bread
Day 24
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Homemade smoothie: kale, spinach, mango, pineapple juice and coconut milk
- Dinner - Homemade corned beef and potato pie (recipe here) with baked beans
Day 25
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Homemade smoothie: kale, spinach, mango, pineapple juice and coconut milk
- Dinner - Homemade corned beef and potato pie with bakes beans
Day 26
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Skipped
- Dinner - Homemade corned beef and potato pie with peas and gravy
Day 27
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Salted crackers
- Dinner - Homemade macaroni and cheese
Day 28
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Skipped
- Dinner - Homemade macaroni and cheese
Day 29
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Salted crackers
- Dinner - Homemade macaroni and cheese
Day 30
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Skipped
- Dinner - Takeaway - Cheeseburger and chips
On this day I got a takeaway as a treat for submitting a research project that I was supposed to be presenting, but could not due to lockdown.
Day 31
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Skipped
- Dinner - Homemade chicken korma and chips
On this day I went shopping again. My previous shop lasted me 17 days, which means I spent £1.78 on food per day, much less than the previous shop. However, I used much much more from my cupboards. I knew that this grocery shop was going to be big but I wouldn't be able to carry it all home on my own, so I split the shop over 2 days. Part 1 of my shop cost £22.71.
Day 32
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Chicken noodled
- Dinner - Homemade chicken korma and chips
Day 33
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Chicken noodles
- Dinner - Homemade chicken korma and chips
Day 34
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Soba noodled with veggies
- Dinner - Homemade chicken korma and chips
Day 35
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Skipped
- Dinner - Homemade baked potato with cheese and beans
Day 36
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Skipped
- Dinner - Homemade baked potato with bean and cheese
On this day I did part 2 of the shop mentioned previously, this time I spent £28.01. This brings the combined total to £50.72, but it allowed me to stock up the cupboards too which I had not done for almost 2 months.
Day 37
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Skipped
- Dinner - Mushroom and cheese omelette with chips and spaghetti hoops
Day 38
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Protein bar
- Dinner - Homemade bolognese with homemade garlic bread
Day 39
- Breakfast - Protein bar
- Lunch - Chicken noodles
- Dinner - Chip buttie
Day 40
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Chicken noodles
- Dinner - Homemade bolognese with homemade garlic bread
Day 41
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Chicken noodles
- Dinner - Homemade bolognese with homemade garlic bread
Day 42
- Breakfast - Curried noodles
- Lunch - Skipped
- Dinner - Homemade bolognese with homemade garlic bread
Day 43
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - BBQ noodles
- Dinner - Homemade bolognese with homemade garlic bread
Day 44
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Curried noodles
- Dinner - Takeaway - Papa John's pizza. Half 'The Works', half 'Garden Party'. With garlic pizza bread, cheesy jalapeno bites, and cinnamon scrolls for dessert.
On this day I ordered a takeaway as a celebration for getting my dream job.
Day 45
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Left-over takeaway pizza
- Dinner - Left-over takeaway pizza
Day 46
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Chicken noodles and salted crackers
- Dinner - Shepherds pie with cheesy mash and buttered white bread
On this day I did another shop. My last shops lasted me ~11 days, meaning that I spent £4.61 per day on food. On this shop, I spent £38.23.
Day 47
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Teriyaki noodles
- Dinner - Chicago Town microwaved pepperoni pizza
Day 48
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Chicken noodles
- Dinner - Homemade baked potato with beans and spaghetti hoops
Day 49
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Bacon noodles
- Dinner - Homemade chicken and vegetable pie with cheesy mashed potato
Day 50
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Instant mashed potatoes
- Dinner - Homemade chicken and vegetable pie
Day 51
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Marmite on toast with a cup of tea
- Dinner - Homemade chicken and vegetable pie
Day 52
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Skipped
- Dinner - Homemade chicken and vegetable pie with baked beans
Day 53
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Marmite on toast with a cup of tea
- Dinner - Heinz tomato soup with bread
Day 54
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Marmite on toast with a cup of tea
- Dinner - Homemade slow cooker chicken tikka masala
Day 55
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Fruit and protein shake
- Dinner - Homemade slow cooker chicken tikka masala
Day 56
- Breakfast - A slice of dry white toast
- Lunch - Homemade turkey salad wrap
- Dinner - Homemade slow cooker chicken tikka masala
Day 57
- Breakfast - Skipped
- Lunch - Homemade turkey salad wrap with a protein shake (using unsweetened almond milk)
- Dinner - Homemade slow cooker chicken tikka masala
Thanks for Reading
Thank you for reading my food diary. As you can see I have some good habits and some bad habits, but I love my food! I will keep this diary updated, so feel free to comment below with your thoughts and recommendations.
Once again this is not a recommendation of a diet to follow for weight gain, loss or maintenance, it's simply what I have been eating. I hope that this can give you all some ideas on how to keep your own diet varied and healthy.
Share Your Opinion
Have you been making homemade meals more or less in lockdown?
© 2020 VerityPrice
