Ok, be honest, are you still enjoying the Challenge at this point? Tired of rice and beans? Craving a little Ben and Jerry’s? Your family complaining at the dinner table?
What You Can Do: While 3SquaresVT benefits are intended to supplement a household’s food budget, the reality is that many families rely solely on 3SquaresVT for their food money, and it often runs out before the end of the month, forcing them to visit food shelves, borrow food or money, or find other ways to get food. Donate money or food to your local food shelf – they often run low on nutrient dense foods. Don’t know how to find your local food shelf or when they are open? Call 2-1-1 or search the 2-1-1 database.
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I really want another cup of coffee....
ReplyDeleteI think we will have enough food this week, however despite that, the Challenge has been a struggle for my 13 year old son. As an active, growing young man, he feels often feels hungry anyway, so the idea of limiting food has been quite stressful for him. My husband and I have noticed that the psychological aspect of rationing our food has affected our feelings about the Challenge just as much as the food itself.
ReplyDeleteHave folks seen the media coverage on the Challenge? There's been quite a bit...
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm glad it's gotten coverage and the main message of awareness around hunger is getting out there, I'm even more grateful to those of you who have shared your personal experiences on the blog. It's heartening to hear about what you are learning and how this experience is helping us all think about hunger in new ways... Thank you!
I am so hungry for lunch! - can't wait for my leftovers as my stomach growls...
I'm not hungry. I am feeling a little ill. Could be allergies. Could be a cold. I snuck a vitamin C from the pantry yesterday. That's probably a violation since I think vitamins are food. But are they condiments? I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy day two of black beans for lunch. With some leftover rice from last night's stir fry and some Brother Bru Bru African hot sauce, it remains interesting. It was a little hard to watch the other folks in the office enjoying takeout from New Moon. Nice looking food. Really nice. Salads and sandwiches. One looked like roasted eggplant. I love that stuff...eggplant. And a nice salad with some interesting dressing that had nuts and, and. No, really. I'm fine. Thanks anyway. No, you go ahead.
All credit for this thing working at all goes to my wife, Otie. She is the one who crunched the numbers and has been guiding the budget for the week. But it's still a bumpy ride. We had allowed ourselves one pound of (Vermont Coffee Company) coffee for the week. We've been brewing it a little weak, but yesterday and today we just needed a little more so we made an extra half pot each morning. I realize now, we only have enough left for about 1 1/2 more pots. Can't do Saturday without coffee and it looks like we will have enough budget (and the pantry) slush to get some more, but again, just thinking about that is an exercise that is stressful.
And stress does seem to be the common denominator amongst the fellow participants that I've spoken to. Everyone seems to be getting a little more cranky as the week goes on--maybe that's why bonus pots of coffee are required? Definitely more tired, irritable and a little slower on the uptake. I don't think it's from lack of food, but more a matter of the extra thinking required.
I'm quite certain that this will change my relationship with food. I'm hoping it will be for the better. We take so much for granted. The other morning I had 30 minutes to kill between meetings. Ordinarily, I would have gone to the bakery for a cup of coffee, but that wasn't allowed, so I sat in the library--which has great wifi but no coffee.
Maybe I'm really just all about coffee.
Well, I don't think ENJOYING it is anything anyone would expect, but to be honest, I don't feel I'm suffering greatly and I'm not sick of rice and bean because that's not what I'm eating!! I'm a bit surprised in fact, because I thought it might have to be more "mac and cheese, rice and beans" kind of diet but in fact with careful planning I have found that not to be the case. My family is three people (all adults). I cooked a small whole chicken on Sunday and had enough leftover for a casserole on Tuesday (so at $1.00/lb. that's $4.50 for meat for 2 meals). Monday I cooked up a pot of chili ($3.50 for a lb. of ground beef) and then 2 of us had the leftovers for lunch a couple of days later. Wednesday we had cheese omelets--eggs are an incredible bargain--with 1/2 package of sausage--about $2.00 worth(froze the rest). Last night was a mexican casserole with canned beans (no rice!) and frozen corn layered with cheese and tortillas. Veggies with these dinners: $1.00 for 3 potatoes (10-11 spuds per $3.00 bag) and less than that in carrots with the roasted chicken; a salad from salad bar for $4.00 with the chili; 3 sweet potatoes for $1.35 with the casserole. For dessert we've had apple crisp (pretty cheap to make) and brownies from a $2.00 mix. And yes, I even bought some ice cream--granted it was not Ben and Jerry's but I don't usually have that anyway. Breakfast has been our usual cold cereal or oatmeal--we have watched our portions there as cereal is not very economical actually....the last few days may need to be oatmeal for sure. Lunches have been the main "sticking point" for me as I'm not used to bringing my lunch to work every day--it's definitely not as interesting and varied and requires extra time in the morning. Lunch has mostly been sandwiches (cheese, p.b. and tuna once) with leftover chili once. As several people have mentioned, good planning seems to be the key (and math skills don't hurt either!), but I honestly think this is do-able. I agree with another writer that perhaps giving people some really good planning tools (menu planners, shopping lists, price tracking lists etc.) and/or hands-on guidance in how to cook cheaply would be a good idea. I also recognize that there is a certain economy of scale at work here with a three person family and this would be harder if we were only one or two people.
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