Food Stamp Challenge: Reflections

Today I can buy and eat food with reckless abandon again!  Well, not quite, but at least the Food Stamp Challenge is over for my organization.  I am still on a very strict budget, still relying on the Direction card for assistance, but the weight of this challenge has been removed.

The light at the end of the tunnel is something that helps me plow through these challenges (I found this similar to my experiences with the 30 Hour Famine).  To steal a line from A Knights Tale, "Hope guides me. It is what gets me through the day and especially the night."  I only have to do this for a week, and then I'm home free.  I absolutely cannot imagine the psychological weight of living this life (with food insecurity).  The stress day in and day out from thinking about food:  how much you have or don't have, how much you can afford, where your next meal is coming from.  When something is deliberately taken away from you, like your freedom to buy what you want when you want it, that something consumes you.  It seemed to be a fairly common topic in the office this week:  We can't eat normally, so we think about eating a lot.  We can do food stamp challenges, work alongside people and hear their stories, but there is not way to add the most critical piece of the puzzle: hope (or the debilitating lack thereof).  I am so blessed to always have a way out, to have family and friends to fall back on in times of need.

For the people that don't have that support network, who have lost hope, who are burdened daily with food insecurity, I can only keep coming to work.  Life isn't fair, but I believe in making certain parts of life more fair, and attempting to even the playing field one Ohioan at a time.

The last supper. Err, suppers.

I had to drag myself to Kroger after work yesterday, I was so hungry and exhausted that all I wanted to do was go home and eat. Since I don't have the storage space where I am currently staying, I can't stock up on food for the week, so for this challenge this will be my second trip to the store (I surprisingly stretched a little over 6 dollars from my first trip to 5 days, relying on free meals and creative planning.) I spent 3.99 with the help of a Kroger plus card on a couple days worth of food. That is, if I don't mind eating the same thing for days at a time.

Grocery list:

• Broccoli (note to self: "chopped" broccoli is NOT the same as broccoli florrets.  "Chopped" broccoli are tiny bits of broccoli stem in a bag.  For 89 cents.)
• Celery (for dipping in my peanut butter jar)
• Rice (brown rice.  That takes 45-50 minutes to cook.  I was impatient.  My rice was crunchy...)
• 3 red potatoes (my Dad showed me this awesome way to fry red potato slices in olive oil, with garlic powder and dill.  SO YUMMY!  Don't forget the ketchup with this dish.)

Everything cooked, it made two full meals with plenty of the rice/broccoli left over.


This is the last post about buying/cooking/budgeting food, as the Food Stamp Challenge is OVER TOMORROW!  yay!

The Chicken Wrap

I went out and bought $6.46 worth of groceries for two days, attempting to spend 3 dollars per day in the Food Stamp Challenge.  I planned a chicken wrap meal for two meals, so here is the first preparation.  I mainly photo-documented this because I was so intrigued/grossed out by the bagged chicken.

Step one: dump chicken in pan.

Step two: add diced onions and taco seasoning.

 Step three: Place a portion of the mixture into a tortilla, saving the rest for another meal.  Add lettuce that's been in the fridge for an unidentified period of time.

Yum!  Be thankful for you ingenuity and success in creating this cheap and surprisingly delicious meal.

I should note on here as well that the next night, the family I am staying with cooked pizza for dinner.  PIZZA!  I politely declined, as I had my leftovers to attend to. 

Food Stamp Challenge: Grocery Shopping

I went grocery shopping Friday night, armed with research from my fellow challengers of the past, outlining purchasing and saving strategies.  I most notably discovered that chicken is the cheapest source of meat/protein, and that you shouldn't be afraid of leftovers to stretch your budget.  Considering I love chicken and a I grew up in a very fiscally minded family (read: fridge is full of leftovers), I didn't think this shopping/eating experience would be that difficult.

Until I got to the canned chicken isle. 

Canned chicken?  My grandpa is a farmer and I grew up in rural Ohio, so I have seen chickens all the way from chicken coop to church chicken BBQ.  But in a can? It just seems wrong.  I opted for chicken in an airtight, sealed bag, which seemed less unnatural to me than canned chicken.  Lesson 1: Exploring different packaging options is important in saving money.  Especially if I am just shopping for myself, I can't buy expensive fresh chicken or a big bag or frozen chicken breasts as I usually would. 

From the bagged/canned chicken aisle I grabbed some Taco seasoning and tortillas.  I couldn't pass up Ramen, at 18 cents a packet, as it seems like the quintessential cheap food purchase.  Planning for breakfast, I grabbed a half carton of eggs, and decided an onion would supplement my chicken tacos AND my eggs wonderfully.  After navigating the "peeled onions" (how nice of them! how expensive of them!) and avoiding the ever sneaky organic labels, I found a cheap white onion.  Off to the checkout to see how I did, purchasing enough food for two days.  Lesson 2: Purchasing taste boosters like Taco seasoning and onions will drastically help improve cheap food quality.

This is a pseudo-challenge for me, considering I already use the Ohio Direction Card (aka SNAP, aka food assistance, aka food stamps).  It is a work SUPPORT program and food ASSISTANCE, so I'm not always constrained to the 3 dollars a day regulation.  I use it, as hopefully others do, as a leg up to self-sufficiency during my time of low wage employment.

It also helps (at least at Kroger) to bring your own bag.  I believe it's a 3 cent credit on your total.  I have a couple big bags from Kohls that I keep in my car and use whenever I shop.

With my Kroger card discount, I totaled out at 6.46.  That's a little over my budget for two days...

It all evened out in the end, as I got a meal Saturday afternoon at the Lifting the Families Back to School Event.  I was working this event with a volunteer who is on cash assistance, meaning he is earning 50% or below the FPIG.  I told him about the food stamp challenge, and we both concluded as people on strained budgets, that we would accept free food whenever we got the chance.  I guess that's not part of the official challenge, but I think letting go of pride and being creative in ways to attain food is a part of the challenge in any capacity.  Lesson 3: Know when to follow rules and when to bend them, especially when free hot dogs and cookies are involved.

See my latest post to view how I cooked what I bought!

Food Stamp Challenge!

Despite the fact that I am already on food assistance, I am participating in an office-wide "Food Stamp Challenge."  Here is an overview:

Everyday individuals all of Ohio call the Ohio Benefit Bank hotline, come into the Site Support Office for the Ohio Benefit Bank, or visit an Ohio Benefit Bank counselor because they find that they are having difficulty surviving the difficult economic circumstances.  Unemployment benefits are expiring for many Ohioans, and they will turn to Food Assistance and other programs to meet their basic needs.  In an effort to show solidarity with the people whom we seek to serve, we are challenging the staff of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks to live off of a food stamp diet. 

For one week, starting August 13^th, we are challenging you to take part in the challenge and live on the nationwide average food stamp benefit.  According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nationwide average benefit in FY2005 was $94.05 per month, per person, or approximately $3 a day.  

Do you think you can do it?  Do you think you can:

1.       Only spend a total of $21 on food and beverages during the week

2.       Follow SNAP rules as to what can be purchased and only shop at stores that accept EBT cards. (No prepared foods, no dining out)

3.       During the Challenge, only eat food that your purchase for this project.  Do not eat food that you already own (except for spices and condiments)

4.       Avoid accepting free food or beverages at work.

5.       Please keep track of receipts on food spending and take note of your experiences throughout the week

The office will be recording their experiences on the intranet, but I'll keep blogging  on here about the Challenge.  If YOU want to particiapte starting August 13, I would love to include some guests posts or your thoughts about your own experience trying to live on the above guidelines, even if just for one day.

“Change will not wait for some other person or some other time. We are the one’s we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek!”

-President Obama