It’s the first day of my Food Stamp Challenge, and for now, things are going smoothly.
I must be honest and put out a disclaimer: Today, I have access to select free food from a relative’s house. The rules state that we should try avoiding food at friends’ houses, so I guess one could say that while I’m not breaking a rule, I’m not following it, either. I have snacks and homemade foods available to me, when this challenge is to put myself in the shoes of someone who doesn’t.
To counter this, I’m going to eat the available free food in smaller portions that I usually would, so I won’t have the luxury of devouring however much I want.
The food I have consists of:
- macaroni and cheese–ingredients include pepper, Promise butter, varieties of Kraft cheeses, elbow macaroni, and several McCormick spices
- Mahatma white rice; and,
- baked chicken wings seasoned with several McCormick spices
I also have some leftover brand foods that I purchased last week before the challenge, such as Quaker oatmeal and Odwalla organic juice. I wanted to outline what food I do have to make a point that those ingredients are expensive, and I would not be eating this food on a $21/week budget without someone else providing it for me. The organic fruit juice cost nearly $4.00 alone at the nearby Whole Foods Market.
But, in an effort to adhere to the rules of challenge, I will not purchase any food that I can’t afford on the food stamp budget and last night, I got a taste of the difficult challenge grocery shopping poses.
First of all, I had to go to Wal-Mart, which I personally don’t shop at due to all the negative news I have continued to learn about the store over the last few years. But, if I’m limiting myself to spending no more than $3.00 per day on food, how can I opt to visit Giant Food or CVS over Wal-Mart?
I don’t get newspapers that sometimes include coupons, so I don’t have coupons to benefit me at one of the more expensive stores.
In the food aisle, I started thinking, "Okay, these prices aren’t too bad, maybe I can do this,” but, as I started picking up products and calculating, I realized that this budget would be tougher than imagined. I didn’t have a pre-made list, I just knew I wanted products that were cheap and filling. Ramen noodles, pasta noodles, pasta sauce, oatmeal, milk and bread were among the main things on my mental shopping list. I didn’t plan on buying fresh fruit, because it would be too expensive. Maybe I will price a few bananas this week at Giant. (No Wal-Mart is near my house, I just happened to be next to one yesterday).
I picked up some whole grain pasta noodles that were moderately priced (a little over $1.00) but the pasta sauce (Ragu) was too expensive, so I put the noodles back. I found the Ramen for 14 cents, and I was happy about that. Looking at the sodium (over 700 mg) on the nutrition facts didn’t make me so happy. My sister suggested cutting the seasoning pack in half to reduce some of the salt intake. That will help, but now it will be more bland than it already tastes.
As I stood in line with two packs of chicken noodles, I decided to go back for peanut butter and jelly, and wheat bread. It’s filling, easy, cheap, and tasty! The store brand white bread was the cheapest, a little over $1.00, but I just couldn’t bring myself to buy white. I bought the cheapest wheat bread pack at $2.34. The cheapest peanut butter was the store brand which cost $1.47. The household I am staying in already had jelly on hand, whew! (The rules allow for usage of condiments already in stock.)
At the register, I learned that I already went over my budget! I didn’t want to spend more than $3.00, but that’s fine, I will have to adjust by spending under $3.00 the next time I buy food. The noodles, bread, and peanut butter came to $4.09, and actually, while writing this blog, I just realized that the cashier made the mistake of not charging me for tax.
Leaving Wal-Mart, I came to the conclusion that shopping on this amount of money leaves one with a not-too-colorful taste palette, and an unhealthy body.
I think you can eat enough to survive, but I couldn’t pick any of the tasteful, more nutritious foods I would usually opt for. I had to bypass the Kellogg’s cereals (that were on sale), General Mills cereal bars, and pasta for spaghetti. Those items would have been almost $3.00 each with tax, and they aren’t filling by themselves.
All the spices I usually buy to season foods with in the kitchen are such a privilege, but I take them for granted as a regular part of my life.
At the beginning of the work week, I typically pay at least one visit to Au Bon Pain or Corner Bakery to get an iced cinnamon bun or cinnamon crumb muffin, but that will not be happening this week. No delicious treats like that are coming my way!
And I thought dieting seemed hard!
This time it’s not self-restraint for the sake of toning up, it’s real-life fiscal restraint. Whereas there is some form of personal control in dieting, it is almost nonexistent on $21.00 a week.
