IGPI Food Stamp Challenge

Hi everyone, this is Rachel again. Things have gone alright. I find my challenge is the not taking free food thing since I usually thrive on this. Just like one of the other bloggers mentioned, not having time to prepare your food puts you in a bind sometimes. I had a bag of granola that I got on clearance that is in my school bag because it was the only thing I could see to grab with the five minutes I had to leave the house this morning. I find that I have to eat way less healthy because I don't have time to cook and prepare food as often as I need to. I can see the awareness that this exercise is building, but I don't think that a lot is accounted for. I also feel cranky sometimes because I don't think I should be depriving myself of my free coffee or my free lunch at school or my free anything given the fact that I never seem to have enough groceries to get through the week. Not only do we have less choices because we have less time to cook, but I think that this breeds a sense of desparation among the family members so that they fight boldly over the last cookie or devour a box of cereal in one day. Even though I bought so much, they eat it up very quickly. This is something I think should be a consideration when looking at the effects of living on a limited budget or foodstamps.

- working families and single parent homes have less time to prepare food which results in pre-packaged foods and less healthy alternatives.

- having limits put on food amounts breeds a sense of urgency in people to eat the "good stuff" before others get it all which causes over eating in conjunction with bad food choices.