Variety? absent. Ramen? present.

How is it that Ramen noodles are so cheap anyway? I feel like I'm being ripped off whenever I buy any other noodle package (that doesn't even include a flavor packet!)  Or, perhaps I should be wary about what those Ramen curly strings are made out of in the first place.

Regardless of any cheap noodle misgivings, I made Creamy Chicken noodles tonight for dinner.  I only bought a few days worth of groceries before, and haven't been back to Kroger since.  All I have left are vegetables and tortillas.

Considering I had a tortilla containing all the pictured above vegetables for lunch, and last night for dinner I gorged myself on scrambled eggs since I was absolutely starving after work, Ramen was my last option.

I am definitely facing the "variety" issue.  On a budget, you not only are barred from a high quality/high flavor food options, you don't have a lot of food around the house to choose from.  If you have a limited amount of money to purchase food, which is a problem a lot of people have when they live paycheck to paycheck, you can't go on big shopping trips and stock up.  You only buy what you can eat now.  That leaves you with scanty options and an even less positive outlook on the next meal.  It's disappointing, frustrating, and disheartening when you know that all you have left are half eaten vegetables and three eggs, but you open the fridge and cupboards with a hope to just maybe find some tasty, filling option you forgot about.

Noodles and water.  It's dinner time.

Peanuts and Obesity

Not only am I earning peanuts (read: low wages) at my job, I am eating them too.

Lunch on my first day of the Foodstamp Challenge:

My lunch with a friend at Subway was canceled, so I stuck with my peanut stash for sustanance.   And when I say stash, I truly mean that I keep baggies of peanuts and wheat thins in my desk drawer for my snacks.  I feel like one of the older ladies from church when I was growing up, they always had a drawer in their house with some hidden stash of goodies.

So now my snacks have become my meals, which I think is also a relevant concept for those trying to buy food cheaply.  Some people may see a disconnect between obesity and hunger, but I believe (and bet you can find many more reports on) they are linked.  Compare the price of a gallon of milk and a liter of soda.  If you were strapped for cash and had thirsty children, what would you do?  Some people would consider pop, junk food and fast food special treats, but to others it becomes a regular diet.

With this challenge, we are limited to one dollar per meal.  Where would you go to get a meal for one dollar?

How many of you thought of the McDonald's Dollar Menu as your solution?  When I worked at the Boys and Girls Club in Hamilton, parents (strapped for cash and time) would send their children with McDonald's takeout for lunch.  While I grew up with my mother packing chipchop ham sandwiches, carrots, a Little Debbie snack, and a thermos of chocolate milk, some kids' bodies have to deal with processing McDonalds, pop, and other foods that can be very filling but very unhealthy.  Hence hunger + no money = obesity.  Kind of strange, but it looks like the reality of the situation.

I am making the decision to truncate this train of thought on hunger.  It's cruel to record and analyze food in society when I am hungry.

Foodstamp Challenge, Commence!

nourishedkitchen.com

The Foodstamp Challenge begins today at the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks.

Which means that I am only allowed to spend $3 per day on food, the same amount that someone surviving on social services would spend.

Which means that I am going to have some trouble finding a $3 Subway sandwich when I meet a friend there for lunch.  Which means I'll have to spend $5 for a footlong (are you singing that jingle in your head now? *evil laugh* What a catchy song...), which means I can essentially only spend ONE dollar tomorrow.  The rules say I am allowed to use condiments and spices that I already own.  Ranch dressing has a lot of fatty goodness, right? 

This is just like the 30 Hour Famine.  I'm hungry already.

Hopefully this will raise awareness and encourage policy makers and other people who may not be aware of the difficulties people have with food insecurity to try the challenge themselves.  It's been done before in a couple instances, like back in 2007: Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries

http://www.ashleycecil.com/