WE’RE PARTICIPATING in the Sept. 4-10 Michigan Food Stamp Challenge, which asks people to live on $21 dollars a week (like food stamp participants), to raise awareness of the challenges faced by food stamp participants in light of proposed cuts to the food stamp program.
OK. Here’s what we bought for the coming week, with prices:
2 lbs. chicken legs, Dos Hermanos: $2.49
2.89 lbs. ground beef, $11.36
12 oz. bacon, $2.59
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, $.99
1 bag curry powder, $.99
1 bag cayenne, $.99
1 box chicken bouillon, $.89
1 1-lb. box spaghetti, $.89
1 1-lb. bag split peas, $.89
1 2-lb. bag brown rice, $.99
1 1-lb. bag black beans, $.89
1 1-lb. bag lentils, $.89
Total: $24.95 thus far. We planned on not spending the total $42 so that there would be some cash for extra food expenditures. So right now, we have $17.05 for extras. So far, so good. Looking forward to the Food Stamp Challenge (thankfully, it’s AFTER the bratwurst-o-thon my family and I are planning for Labor Day!
Next week’s menu:
1. Split pea soup with a little bacon, bread (no butter!) on the side (start with a bang!–I love split pea soup)
2. Spaghetti with tomato sauce (mostly from garden)and a touch of ground beef
3. Collard greens (from garden) cooked with a little bacon, lentil-brown rice mixture flavored with a bouillon cube on the side
4. Chili with beans and remaining ground beef–cayenne to purchase
5. Curried (curry to purchase) lentil sauce with carrots (from garden) over brown rice with tomatoes on the side (from garden)
6. Baked chicken legs with rice flavored with drippin’s
7. Rest of package of spaghetti with sauce and, if any is left, meat.
3 comments ↓
Are you not going to eat breakfast or lunch?
Lunch is always leftover dinner. Breakfast is always oatmeal, which we haven’t yet figured into the equation. Dinner drunk is usually water. Breakfast drinks are usually coffee and guava juice, but also water for just this week.
Preparing for the Challenge
(Sorry if this is hard to read)
Purchases for the week of Sept. 4-10
can red beans .99 beets farmers market) 1.00
can tomatoes .79 prunes (bulk) 1.00
can corn .50 1 large apple .35
1c. brown rice (bulk) .75 milk (1/2 gal) 1.89
lentils (bulk) .45 can peaches 1.00
oatmeal (bulk) .24 can mandarin oranges 1.00
canola oil (bulk) .11 fruit yogurt .40
raisins (bulk) .36 plain yogurt .40
spices (3 kinds–bulk).50 whole grain bread .49
onions 1.25 cabbage (farmers market .50
carrots (2) .38 jam 1.09
honey (bulk) .57 cinnamon swirls 1.00
tea .40
Pending (I’ll see what I’m missing most):
More tea
Something sweet
Local apples from farmers market
Fresh tomato from farmers market
Coffee???
My situation is pretty ideal: I figure I’m in about the best position one can be in to take on this challenge. I’ve had times in my life where I needed to pay close attention to what I spent so it’s not an unfamiliar experience; I don’t have a very large appetite; I eat a primarily vegetarian diet, so I can easily skip meat for a week; I have transportation, so I can shop at a variety of places, looking for things on sale etc.; it’s farmers market time, so some fruits and veggies are less expensive; I have the coops so I can buy a little bit of the spices I want rather than a whole container, a few raisins rather than a package, etc. Also I am doing this on my own and don’t have to satisfy anyone else’s tastes, and I already am careful not to waste food—and that feels like a pleasure and not a burden. Still, taking this on has given me pause and made me think about a lot of things as I prepared.
Difficulties: I anticipate that the hardest things in doing this for only one week will be missing certain snacks—dried fruit and nuts; certain sweets; fresh fruit when I feel like it—and maybe coffee. But if I were to live on this kind of budget for an extended period, the limitation in choices would be hard, knowing that there were a large number of things I could never—or almost never–have.
I realized when I cooked the first dish (which I anticipate eating for at least three or four meals) that if I burn or otherwise ruin something, that will have consequences beyond annoyance and wasted time. I can’t just easily replace it with something else I have on hand. In addition, I caught a virus this weekend and wasn’t sure I would feel good enough to cook what I had planned. And again, it wouldn’t be a question of just pulling something ready-made out of the cupboard or freezer instead.
I’m also aware that if I were sharing this food with others in a family, I would probably be worried that someone would eat more than their share, and that could create a lot of tension—particularly if some of the people sharing the food were growing teenagers.
Health: Also, although I think my diet this week will be pretty healthy, I have had to choose some things I would not choose ordinarily such as milk containing bovine growth hormone, simply because it was cheaper. I decided to draw the line at trans fats and did finally find some pastries on sale that didn’t have trans fats. That was also illuminating—I thought most manufacturers had eliminated trans fats from their products, but not when it comes to cheap cookies and other cheap bakery products. Amazingly, I was able to buy a loaf of whole grain bread for 49 cents—but I had to make a special trip to an outlet, and I had to go on Wed., which is senior day.
Fruits and vegetables are also a challenge—I got a couple of things cheaply at a farmers market, but those are obviously seasonal. I got some canned fruit on sale, but even so I will be eating less fruit and vegetables than usual this week—and we know how important that is for good health.
Positives: In addition to the learning and consciousness raising aspects about the difficulties of this process and the impact we hopefully can have on our Congress people, I feel like the experience is also making me conscious again that one can eat more simply than most of us do and still do it in a healthy and delicious way. Although I think it would be very difficult to do this continuously on $21 a week, it still feels like a good reminder that I could eat more simply than I do and enjoy it.
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