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.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Meal habit changes
Things are going well. I've been setting aside a little more time to cook so I can make lunch the night before, or cooking more for dinner to have leftovers for lunch. I'm also trying to be more creative with my cooking since my variety of veggies is less than usual (and no meat!).
I've noticed that I'm eating smaller meals but I'm eating more meals a day (4-5). Is this because I'm eating mostly bread, cereal, and pasta (carbs) so I fill up faster but burn through it more quickly?
- grace
I've noticed that I'm eating smaller meals but I'm eating more meals a day (4-5). Is this because I'm eating mostly bread, cereal, and pasta (carbs) so I fill up faster but burn through it more quickly?
- grace
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
today was whack i didn't have time to make my lunch so i was hungry all day until i got back to my apartment and breakfast did not tie me over. dinner was whack too tv dinners don't hit the spot at all. so basically I'M STILL HUNGRY. i ask myself why am i even doing this challenge? i have money in the bank to order food and on top of that i grew up on welfare I know exactly what its like to live on food stamps I did it throughout my childhood and the only way we made it was because of handouts from family, church, whomever. Maybe I will take back something so I can get some pasta since apparently that's fills you up pretty easily. Then I'd be a lot less cranky.
~JLC
~JLC
$5.71 to spare - for now.
I think the hardest thing for me about the food stamp challenge is that I like to eat out a lot - or I like to at least have to option to go out to eat, if I'm invited. So I tried to save a little bit of my money to have that option. I went to the Dollar Tree so I could get a little variety for cheap. When I was separating my food items from my other items, the cashier asked if they were on the food stamp card. I was already filling the role of a food stamp recipient, I guess. Anyway, here's what I bought (don't judge):
- a good sized box of cookies
- strawberry cereal bars (when I opened these up, they were gross. The package made them look like nutri-grain bars. They're not. I'm eating them anyway.)
- a small container of milk
- four single-serve cups of apple sauce
- a box of peanut butter ritz bitz
- a small bag of shredded cheese
- instant coffee (7 single-serving packets, perfect)
- a can of spaghetti sauce with mushrooms
- a can of green beans (deal! only 50 cents, not a dollar. It's a big can too, so I'll have leftovers.)
- a box of pasta
- a bottle of orange juice (I'm picky about my juice, so I had to go with the smaller container to get 100% juice)
$10.50 for all that. I made some pasta with spaghetti sauce and cheese for dinner today, which was quite good and I had lots of leftovers. That'll get me by.
I also calculated the price of some items I had on hand:
- a box of macaroni and cheese
- half a jar of peanut butter
- part of a container of margarine
- 3/4 loaf of bread
- half a bag of carrot sticks
$8.50 was my estimate for all that... I usually buy the store brand anyway, so it didn't set me back too much.
I already spent $4.24 today on a bagel, cream cheese, and coffee at Panera because I had plans to meet a friend there. So worth it.
So, I'm at $5.71 and realized that I had a prior potluck engagement this coming Sunday. I'm thinking I should be allowed to eat there provided I'm bringing something too. Fair? I don't know, but I'm doing it anyway. I guess my $5.71 will go toward that, not going out to eat again.
- Sarah
- a good sized box of cookies
- strawberry cereal bars (when I opened these up, they were gross. The package made them look like nutri-grain bars. They're not. I'm eating them anyway.)
- a small container of milk
- four single-serve cups of apple sauce
- a box of peanut butter ritz bitz
- a small bag of shredded cheese
- instant coffee (7 single-serving packets, perfect)
- a can of spaghetti sauce with mushrooms
- a can of green beans (deal! only 50 cents, not a dollar. It's a big can too, so I'll have leftovers.)
- a box of pasta
- a bottle of orange juice (I'm picky about my juice, so I had to go with the smaller container to get 100% juice)
$10.50 for all that. I made some pasta with spaghetti sauce and cheese for dinner today, which was quite good and I had lots of leftovers. That'll get me by.
I also calculated the price of some items I had on hand:
- a box of macaroni and cheese
- half a jar of peanut butter
- part of a container of margarine
- 3/4 loaf of bread
- half a bag of carrot sticks
$8.50 was my estimate for all that... I usually buy the store brand anyway, so it didn't set me back too much.
I already spent $4.24 today on a bagel, cream cheese, and coffee at Panera because I had plans to meet a friend there. So worth it.
So, I'm at $5.71 and realized that I had a prior potluck engagement this coming Sunday. I'm thinking I should be allowed to eat there provided I'm bringing something too. Fair? I don't know, but I'm doing it anyway. I guess my $5.71 will go toward that, not going out to eat again.
- Sarah
Living on oats, rice and lentils
It is the end of my second day on food stamps. Things have gone well, and I have mostly lived on oatmeal, apples, rice, lentils, broccoli and tofu. This was extremely cheap, and I liked the food. I think I have to add some dairy and some other fruits tomorrow to make my nutrition more balanced. I have also been wondering how I should price cayenne peppers and herbs that we have grown in our garden. I will probably use some herbs tomorrow to add flavor to my meals. Are they free?
Yesterday, I was at two events where food was free, but I avoided taking any. This was a little awkward. I missed being able to snack during the day. But what affected me most was that the tea bags that I am using to make my tea do not give me as strong tea as I usually get from the coffee shop. I suffered some symptoms of caffeine withdrawal. I woke up this morning with a headache that I attribute to the caffeine withdrawal. The headache went away later, and today this seems to have gone better than yesterday, either because I timed my tea better, or because the body has become used to the lack of caffeine.
I had some interesting conversations with my kids where they calculated the price of their breakfast and compared it to the price of my breakfast. My son thought that he was "winning" because his breakfast was more expensive than mine.
Tilman Borgers
Food Stamp Memories
Since I am "chronologically advantaged" (i.e., OLD) I actually remember the early days of the food stamp program. Currently, as you probably all know, food stamps are provided on a debit card. Some types of food cannot be purchased with food stamps- hot foods and prepared foods are generally not allowed, for instance. In the early days, there were many more restrictions.
( For those interested in a more objective history of the Food Stamp Program, Wikipedia has a nice article. )
I applied for food stamps in 1968, when I was a 17 year old single parent (in those days, we were called "unwed mothers." ) Although the current application process is quite intrusive (I hope you will all have a look at the online application) in those days it was much more so. My living situation was quite unstable- my daughter and I lived in tent her first summer and slept on various floors when it got cold- so the first challenge was finding someone who was willing to let me use their address and, worse, to allow a caseworker in to check to see that there were cooking facilities. (In those days, certification for most social welfare programs required at least bi-annual home visits.) Also, since I was not related to anyone in the household, I had to prove that I was paying "rent" for a "room with cooking privileges." Eventually, one of the families for whom I occasionally babysat agreed to do this.
There were more challenges to come. First, foodstamps had to be purchased at one of two banks in town at a special, and clearly labeled, "food stamp window" that was open only once a month for a few hours. Food stamps in those days were not free. You paid a small amount dtermined by your income and received a larger amount of stampts, which was, again, determined by your income.
A second challenge was findnig stores that took food stamps. The town where I was living had 2 big locally-owned grocery chains with multiple branches. One of these supermarkets was locatd in the black community: That was the only one that took foodstamps.
Food stamps were actually paper coupons in those days. They came in books. Each book and each coupon had to be signed before it could be used. "Loose" coupons - coupons detached from the book- were not accepted. Cash change was given only up to 50 cents. A food stamp identification card had to be presented and checked each time.
Since this slowed the shopping process and required additional cashier training, the supermarket that took food stamps had a special-clearly marked- lane for food stamp shoppers. However, at busy times "ordinary" customers also used these lanes. I was living in quite a conservative community, so my visits to the store with food stamps were often marked by individuals behind me critiquing my purchases, commenting on "food stamp people" and so forth.
Because food stamps were part of an agricultural subsidy program, they could not be used to buy imported food. Unfortunately, my purchases tended to include things like brown rice. Some cashers regarded this as "imported" food; some didn't. Early on, I tried pointing out the US origins on the labels of foods that I was purchasing- ths usually set off calls to the manager, and comlaints from angry shoppers behind me in line. Eventually, I found ways to get cash to pay for questionable items.
Food stamps could also be used in those days to buy vegetable seeds. Eventually, I found a trailer on a commune out in the country, saved my food stamps to buy seeds. and grew a garden. Eventually, the garden enabled me to get off food stamps.
Amanda
( For those interested in a more objective history of the Food Stamp Program, Wikipedia has a nice article. )
I applied for food stamps in 1968, when I was a 17 year old single parent (in those days, we were called "unwed mothers." ) Although the current application process is quite intrusive (I hope you will all have a look at the online application) in those days it was much more so. My living situation was quite unstable- my daughter and I lived in tent her first summer and slept on various floors when it got cold- so the first challenge was finding someone who was willing to let me use their address and, worse, to allow a caseworker in to check to see that there were cooking facilities. (In those days, certification for most social welfare programs required at least bi-annual home visits.) Also, since I was not related to anyone in the household, I had to prove that I was paying "rent" for a "room with cooking privileges." Eventually, one of the families for whom I occasionally babysat agreed to do this.
There were more challenges to come. First, foodstamps had to be purchased at one of two banks in town at a special, and clearly labeled, "food stamp window" that was open only once a month for a few hours. Food stamps in those days were not free. You paid a small amount dtermined by your income and received a larger amount of stampts, which was, again, determined by your income.
A second challenge was findnig stores that took food stamps. The town where I was living had 2 big locally-owned grocery chains with multiple branches. One of these supermarkets was locatd in the black community: That was the only one that took foodstamps.
Food stamps were actually paper coupons in those days. They came in books. Each book and each coupon had to be signed before it could be used. "Loose" coupons - coupons detached from the book- were not accepted. Cash change was given only up to 50 cents. A food stamp identification card had to be presented and checked each time.
Since this slowed the shopping process and required additional cashier training, the supermarket that took food stamps had a special-clearly marked- lane for food stamp shoppers. However, at busy times "ordinary" customers also used these lanes. I was living in quite a conservative community, so my visits to the store with food stamps were often marked by individuals behind me critiquing my purchases, commenting on "food stamp people" and so forth.
Because food stamps were part of an agricultural subsidy program, they could not be used to buy imported food. Unfortunately, my purchases tended to include things like brown rice. Some cashers regarded this as "imported" food; some didn't. Early on, I tried pointing out the US origins on the labels of foods that I was purchasing- ths usually set off calls to the manager, and comlaints from angry shoppers behind me in line. Eventually, I found ways to get cash to pay for questionable items.
Food stamps could also be used in those days to buy vegetable seeds. Eventually, I found a trailer on a commune out in the country, saved my food stamps to buy seeds. and grew a garden. Eventually, the garden enabled me to get off food stamps.
Amanda
Monday, November 10, 2008
Thank God Kroger had a ton of items on sale this week!! Well that and coupons. So I bought some yogurt for the week. Luckily with my coupon I got $1 off so that came to $2.50. Some kiwi for the for my yogurt to add some flavor $1.00. Then I got some turkey bacon which was 2.99. Like I said luckily this week Kroger had a tight sale if you bought ten of these selected items you got them for like dollar so I took the liberty to stock up. so i got a ton of Stoffers entrees 5 to be exact for $7.50 of course i mixed it up with the paninis, flat breads, and mac and cheese, rigitoni with chicken, etc. But to maintain being healthy I got 2 healthy choice steamers for $4.00. I had one for dinner tonight and let me tell you that thing only had 3 pieces of meat. I was highly upset. Any who I also got scalloped potatoes for $1.50, cheerios for $1.50, a bag of these rice cake things for a whopping $.50, milk for $1.39, an enchilada kit for $2.00 and by then I could only afford some frozen chicken for $4.42 bringing my total to $29.3o. So my plan is simple breakfast yogurt and turkey bacon, lunch cereal on the days when i can go back to my room otherwise I'll have to heat up one of my tv dinners to take with me. For dinner my enchilada kit with chicken for one night. Use the leftovers for one of my lunches. With the remaining chicken cook that and the scalloped potatoes. As a snack I have my rice cake things. So hopefully this gets me through.
JLC
JLC
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