Food Stamp Challenge - Wednesday > Rexroad.com

So today was not too bad actually -- except for being sick of bland food. Things were rolling right along until I read the Yamada e-mail posted below.

I simply could not eat any more bland food.

I skipped breakfast as I bought breakfast for two people in a business meeting and watched them eat in front of me. Joy.

Then I ate my broccoli stems on my way to Stockton. That was a joy. In Stockton I sat there and watched thirty women eat lunch in front of me while I was speaking about the November elections. Joy again. I drank water.

Around 3:30 I had a plate of rice and beans. It was ok but bland. Very bland.

Then I watched my kids eat in front of me.

Finally, I read Yamada's e-mail and had enough. I was going to spend some money. So I went back to Food 4 Less and bought 3 things of Top Ramen for $0.20 each and a jar of peanut butter for $1.78. My wife is ticked. "Those are so bad for you. You are not a good shopper." She is right but I am happy. Tonight was about being happy with my food consumption. I wanted something tasty. The Top Ramen was great - Beef Flavor.

Let the beating commence.

Comments

By rstown @ Wednesday, November 19, 2008 9:54 PM

You know, I am really impressed with how you are both sticking to this! So, even though you know you can do this, does it give you more empathy for families trying to make it on this? Think about trying to get creative and convince your kids to eat when the “choices" are so limited!

I think to get a real taste of how it truly is for a family, you should talk your better half into doing this for a week for the whole family (that would give you 84.00 for the week). Although I am sure she would do better than you for being creative etc, it would still be very eye opening. Do you see my point about how the foods you can afford in larger quantities (mac and cheese, white rice, potatoes etc) are not healthy choices that will really fuel a person for having high energy? This is a great, balanced article on the topic that takes into account multiple factors:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/November08/Features/AffordHealthyDiet.htm

Read the link to the summary of the new SNAP plan "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program". Under the new guidelines it states:

"In June 2008, the cost of the USDA food plans for a family of two adults and two elementary school-age children ranged from $588.30 per month for the Thrifty Food Plan to $1,151.40 per month for the Liberal Food Plan."

You can see that a family of 4 would not be able to eat minimally healthy on 3 dollars per day per person (which comes out to roughly 336.00 per month). So if the USDA is saying this (that a family of 4 would need at least 588.30 per month, how can we disagree with them-they have really studied this and they are the national food experts! These kids don’t stand a chance against their better fed peers. It is a proven fact, kids with empty tummies perform substantially lower on tests etc. Teachers can tell you that without studies. I am a former elementary school and preschool teacher-I know this for a fact! That is why Head Start gives kids a nutritious breakfast, lunch and snack. When I ran a Head Start for 6 years, it was more often the norm that this was the only healthy food (and sadly quite often the only food) a child would have all day!

I am thinking about trying all three-the week on 3 dollars a day and then the 2 plans the USDA talks about.

IT WOULD BE REALLY COOL AND INFORMATIVE TO HAVE INTERESTED MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY TRY THIS AS A VOLUNTARY CHALLENGE AND THEN POST THEIR RESULTS HERE?? Think of all the publicity it would bring to this very worthy topic!

Food for thought anyhow (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Keep up the good work Supervisors!

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