Wow, I have 3.5 days left of this challenge, and little to spend. The first grocery shopping trip totaled $4.09 from my Wal-Mart purchases of sandwich ingredients and Ramen, but since then I’ve spent about $11.00.
Honestly, I’m a little disappointed in the lack of willpower I’ve exhibited in the last three days. The estimated $11 worth of food eaten doesn’t come from a shopping receipt. It comes from me succumbing to food around my house. I’m not as hard on myself for the morning of the fourth day; I needed an aspirin and that doesn’t go well on an empty stomach, and I’d left the PB&J stash at work.
Even though I’ve eaten smaller portions of the available free food than I usually would, I’ve decided to count yesterday’s divulgences as purchases. Here’s a list of what I already had in my refrigerator that I have partially eaten or drunk with estimated prices (no receipt):
-$3.80 Organic Valley half gallon of organic milk (Wal-Mart)
-$0.79 Low Fat, Strawberry Yoplait Yogurt (Purchased at a commissary- grocery store for military families located on an army base. Prices are lower than “outside” grocery stores.)
-$3.50 Personal Pan Cheese Pizza Hut Pizza (price includes a military discount)
-$2.50 Large Orange flavored vitamin water (contains vitamin C)
-General Mills Cereal: Cinnamon Toast Crunch (probably a little over $3.00 from the commissary)
Technically, I need to make about $3.00 work until Monday afternoon- whew.
Thoughts of food, like what to eat, when, how much it will cost, etc., have been running through my mind since early this morning. On my way to work, I thought about McDonald’s. Last night, as I was browsing through blogs of other Food Stamp Challengers, I noticed that one woman had factored in the McDonald’s dollar menu. So, this morning, I reminisced about the $1.00 McChicken sandwich that I used to love and eat at least twice a week as a freshman in college. I was already planning that I could munch off the food I have already been rationing, continue finishing the peanut butter and jelly, and have one item from the dollar menu for the next three days.
But, ever since watching the documentary Supersize Me, I have stayed away from it for the past two years, and it was a bit odd for me to realize that I was actually considering going back. It would be so convenient. It’s cheap, fast, and it tastes good, but I’m still a little leery about what’s in there to make it so good.
It brings home how given my limited budget, I have to think first about staying under the $3.00 than to watch for nutrition.
I keep asking myself, if I can’t even stick to this one week challenge what does it say about me and my relation to food and money?
In addition to being slightly disappointed with myself for not adhering to the suggestions in the Food Stamp Challenge guidelines, there have been times where I’ve felt a little disheartened by some people’s skepticism towards me taking part in the challenge. The family and friends that knew I would take part in this were very quizzical of the challenge, and freely expressed their disagreement and lack of empathy. Most of them began with “Why?” and, if it was said in person, their face scrunched up and almost read, “Okay, whatever.”
On the third day of the challenge, I even almost got into an argument with my mother. (In a goodhearted way). But, it really was frustrating, because I told her on more than one occasion that I couldn’t spend more than $21 on food for the week, yet when I come home, there’s food waiting. Then I proceed to eat some, and add it into my sinking budget. I guess I might be getting frustrated with myself and using her as an accessible path to channel the guilt. She takes my talk of the Food Stamp Challenge in one ear and out the other.
The bigger picture I want to start digging into after this week is people’s reactions to my decision to take on the challenge, and why most let the information go in one ear and out the other. Except for my co-workers, most people listened to me for no more than thirty seconds before moving on to another topic.
Being hungry and not being listened to…it’s all a little saddening, but a good learning experience for me to go through.
