Sunday, September 12, 2010
Day 1
So today is day 1 of the Hunger Challenge. It's 12 noon and I haven't even eaten yet because I have yet to go shopping for my $28 of weekly groceries. I already think I am going to fail big time. This morning I woke up and wanted nothing more than pancakes from St. Francis Fountain and then I remembered I couldn't go. Then my boyfriend gave me a home made carmel which I also can't eat.
I'm not pleased. So now I guess I'm gonna go to maybe Safeway or maybe some fruterias on mission and see what I can get for cheap. I have $28 for the whole week but I'm not sure I'm going to spend it all today because I'm worried I won't ration properly for the week and then I will run out. I am going to try to have some fruit and veggies this week even though I'm sure that will take all my money.
It's gonna be a beans and rice kind of week I guess.
But I also just saw this video, I bet if you're on Food Stamps you don't have a couple hours a week to coupon clip but I'm going to give it a try and just use coupon that maybe I can find in the store or something. This lady is inspiring.
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Dana, I am loving this blog. Excited to read more entries. This is a public health experiment in action, btw:)
ReplyDeletei want to go to st. francis. i also kind of want to eat for only 28 a week. this is great :)
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I'd like to wish you good luck on your challenge, although with a bit of clever shopping you shouldn't need any luck. I'm sure SF has higher food prices than most places, but even so, $28 for one person is not exactly roughing it if you don't eat out and you buy food carefully.
I live in Atlanta and I'd venture to say I don't spend much more than $28/week on food. Now I'm a cheap-stake and I shop at Wal-Mart (horror of horrors) but I also don't bother coupon clipping. I like to eat healthy and I buy lots of fruits and veggies, as well as meat, whole-wheat bread, OJ, milk, yogurt, eggs, etc. Off the top of my head, this morning I bought two large bananas for $0.48, a 1/2 gal of OJ for $2 (fresh kind), and a dozen eggs is I think $1.50. Sure I buy pop-tarts, cookies, sugary cereal and other not-so-healthy stuff but I could cut that out if I had an even tighter budget than I do currently.
In fact, my wife and I keep track of expenses and I sometimes total up the money spent on groceries. The last month I added it up it was $251 for a month, which works out to around $30/week per person. Sure, that doesn't account for going out to eat once or twice that month, but there are also a lot of extra luxuries that could have been cut out to lower the money spent.
On another note, I'm an airline pilot, and my first year salary qualified me for food stamps, but sadly since my assets exceeded $2000 and I did not qualify. I'm serious about this too; there was a notice in the pilot's lounge instructing pilots "not to apply for food stamps in uniform."
Hey guys! Thanks for the messages! I hope it's not too hard but I already think it will be. I have to check but I think I have about $20 or $21 for groceries this week and it really isn't a lot of food at all! And it certainly lacks the diversity I usually have (I usually eat veggies and fruit everyday) and so far contains no dairy or meat products.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the hard part is that food prices here are very high.
I guess the big bummer is to actually qualify for food stamps you have to be so poor that your options in general are really low. Its not that you are choosing to be frugal as you and your wife are, its that you literally have to be. Your entire life is difficult, your job is menial, money is tight and food isn't really an enjoyable thing...it is just another thing to try to purchase on your meager income. This challenge is kind of enlightening in that its not just that $4 a day is a tight amount, its that if you had only $4 a day it would be just one of many challenges that you face daily.
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