Day Seven: The end of our life on SNAP-like benefits.

This process has been an eye-opener, at the same time it feels somewhat familiar.  My family has experienced poverty, but we have never been welfare program participants.  I remember eating baked potatoes for a week straight when I was between jobs. I come from a long line of working class poor and border-line poor.  My grandparents were farmers feeding eight children and living in a very cramped two room house.  My parents did a bit better and we have just about matched them.  However, with an MSW under my belt, the future looks bright.

I'm proud of my family for experimenting with this challenge. It's certainly not easy living off $21.00 per week, that's for sure, but we did it with $1.17 to spare!  Total amount spent to feed a family of five for one week is $103. 83.

Today I even had my parents over for dinner.  I served baked chicken, corn, potatoes, carrots, salad, sourdough bread and cantaloupe.  We were limited to two meals for the day, breakfast and supper, but it worked out. My kids were starving by 7:00pm so we popped in a flick and air popped some popcorn ($0.83). It was a great dinner, a relaxing evening, and a good time was had by all...I'm glad it's over!

Day Six: Same old food

Another day, same old food with an addition of junk food!  It's amazing how much I dislike the repetition.  I think if I were just cooking for myself it wouldn't be so bad, but I'm not sure.  Nutritional value is going out the window.   I feel bad cooking the same foods over and over for my family.  Unfortunately, we have what we have! We already paid for it and there isn't enough money for variety.  Today my husband and I even opted out of dinner.  We bought two kids pizza ($5.48) and fed one whatever was available. (I know this sounds cruel, but pizza has soy and my son doesn't seem to care one bit if he eats something different.)  I'm really looking forward to normalcy.  I actually even experienced a hint of anger about the food challenge today.  I was thinking, "We've worked hard so that we don't have to live with these limitations.  We struggled for many years without any help".  I also started thinking about all the people I know of that are on food stamps and eating poorly, but they chose to smoke $400.00 worth of cigarettes, or they had a nice computer, decent car, cable etc.  It seems that everyone I knew had at least one luxury item, that I as a social worker could not afford.  Today I say ARGGGGGHHH!

I did not buy rice milk, so my total allotment for tomorrow is $14.23.  I'm cooking dinner for my parents.  I have a few dinner items left (eight corn cobs, broccoli, okra, salad), but I need rice milk and a main dish.  No problem...I think?

Day Five: Ready to be done

Our food choices are so repetitive, and everyone is ready to be done with the challenge.  It seems a little pathetic that we want to be done already.  I miss Starbucks (or as my husband calls it, "Fourbucks,"). Yesterday's menu was monotonous so I spontaneously changed it. My excuse: We were really busy.  I had six children with me throughout the day and went to Aikido, horses, taught school, and did my own school work.  I succumbed to spending $8.91 on Little Caesar's for three people and Burger King (soy free) for one.  My husband ate a salad from home.  That brings my total left to spend this weekend to $ 23.71.  I'm out of rice milk, so I'll have to creative, do without, or spend $3.99.  Ugh!  It's amazing how many social events/goodtimes are surrounded around food.  My husband invited my parents to eat with us this weekend.  I'm thinking lasagna....I'm dreaming of Indian food!

Day Four: Change in nutrition

Okay, one thing that is a huge drag about living off $21.00 per week is the availability of fresh foods.  I'm used to purchasing large quantities of fruit and veggies.  This isn't possible on such a low budget.  In addition, I can't take advantage of most canned or packaged foods because of all the family allergy issues.  Two people can't have MSG, soy (which seems to be in everything), legumes, or nuts.  Three people have difficulty with dairy, so we have to pay around $10.00 for lactaid if dairy is consumed. This means cheese can not be served often.  In general we stick to fresh fruit, veggies, eggs, pasta, fish, venison, buffalo, and some beef (meat is eaten in small quantities).  We don't buy soda and juice is a rarity: . Two people have sugar sensitivities.  The most indulgent we get is occasional ice-cream and soy free tortilla chips with salsa, and popcorn.  In addition,buying soy free food costs twice as much as regular items, so we often have to make most items from scratch.  For instance one bag of soy free bread cost almost four dollars, while regular wheat is two. 

Food sensitivities are very common (allergies are a bit less).  It appears as rashes/eczema, behavior changes after exposure, head congestion/runny nose, headaches, and stomach/intestinal problems, and sleep issues, dark circles under the eyes, etc.  It definitely effects a persons overall health and mental vitality. 

I wonder how many people at this moment are forced to eat low grade food that is causing mild to severe problems in their life.

I know that if my son has soy in his diet regularly, he exhibits autistic behavior.  If we hadn't figured out his behavior was caused by food allergies, what type of mind altering medication would he be on.  How many kids are diagnosed as having ADHD or autism spectrum disorders that are merely trying to digest food that acts like a poison in their body.  If you are living in poverty, you really don't have the luxury to be concerned about the quality of food you eat.  You are really just trying to satisfy hunger.

Day Three: Thanks to Aldi's

Okay, today is much better.  I'm no longer sick and I actually made it to the store.  Thank goodness for Aldi's and there low prices.  I know I must sound like a commercial, but it is what it is.  Today I spent $30.38.  That brings my total to $72.38 minus $4.00 that was previously added in for tax.  My total expenses are $68.38.  I feel fantastic.  My plan was to be very conservative, because the weekends are always the hardest to save money and I was afraid I would be out before we made it there.  One thing I have been aware of throughout this challenge is the nagging stress that is ever present.  Far away, yet present in my mind is this constant murmur about food: "Will there be enough? Is Leo, my 38 lb five year old getting enough food?  Will we make it through the weekend?"  I can imagine what someone feels like dealing with this on a regular basis...stressed! 

Again, I am thankful for what I have and I wish everyone could have a full belly.

Day Two: The Learning Continues

This day was difficult, not so much because of the challenge, but in addition to it.  I awoke in the middle of the night with a stomach virus.  I felt terrible all day.  I was supposed to do more shopping, but couldn't make it and had to utilize the rations I already had.  We didn't have as many fruit and veggies and I had to serve spaghetti for dinner.  None of my kids love spaghetti, so they left the table a little hungry.  They immediately became aware of the absence of snack food. to make up for a barely touched dinner.  My ten year old, Sam, desperately wanted to use his own money to buy "better food."  I felt like I let them down.  Overall they are being pretty good sports about the whole thing.  It's bringing up discussions about who in this world gets to eat and the other three "W's"; what, when , and where.  They are now more aware of those that don't get enough, which brings up a point my husband had.  There is a Chinese saying "It's better to have not enough than too much."  This brought up a good point on the concept of consumerism.  He went on to observe, Maybe we don't really need to eat more than $21.00 worth of food per week.  Maybe we just think we do because of our consuming habits."  Considering most of Americans are overweight, this is probably true.

Feeling better, so tomorrow I will shop again.

Day One: Reflection

It felt like a normal day with the exception of kid snacks.  Fortunately they didn't ask for any.  For those of you who saw today's menu, you may have been surprised to see steak as the main course.  This was only possible because of our minuscule meat eating habit.  I purchased one flat iron steak today (1.20 lbs) for approximately six dollars. We split the steak five, yes five ways.  This is how we have always done it so no one knows any better.  We even had three slices left over for my husbands lunch tomorrow.  I see single people eating for twenty one dollars a week, which seems nearly impossible.  I guess the ration of food is smaller for kids, so we can afford more food using their benefits.  I think this would not be possible if I had three teens in the house.  I notice that I cut my ration to ensure that our kids will have enough food for the week.  Although he never mentioned it, I observed my husband doing the same.

Tomorrow I visit money saving stores such as Aldi's and Easy Way to complete this weeks meals.