Have finally taken the time to map F5 to insert the current date in vim; now I'm off emacs for good (I was using it only for my meal plan because of org mode's pretty cool calendar/timestamp insert feature).
Looking back, it's a real shame I didn't keep a food log right from the start. 4 years of data would have been cool to look back on. I did make meal plans, but in temporary text files whose contents I deleted once the groceries had been done.