The Hunger Challenge: eat for $7/day for a week, as if you are receiving food stamp benefits. Easy, I thought. I’m frugal, I’m mostly vegetarian, and I’ve been a student or volunteer more often than a person with an income. Ha! When do I ever eat for more than $7 per day? (Morning coffee trips and happy hour bar visits excluded.) I have come to believe that sell-by dates are really just suggestions (suggesting that you should buy it for 50% off). If it smells fine, it is fine. I can (and will) eat off anyone else’s plate at the table—germs make you stronger. I’ve shared many a meal sitting cross-legged on the floor with my students in the slums of Cambodia and never had any GI issues, and have eaten at more suspicious food stands in foreign countries than I care to remember. Here in the land of Big Brother FDA, I’m sure that “expired” yogurt and a little bit of foot popcorn* is not going to do me in. Half price? Free? Count me in.
As it turns out… I’m less frugal than I thought. Last week alone, my “just this one treat for final exams” coffee and snack bill was $30, on top of $40 in groceries, $40 at restaurants and bars, plus any other food I might have snagged from or shared with friends. I love grocery shopping, but didn’t think I was really buying that much food. So I did some inventory of my cupboards. I apparently am stocking up for the cereal, chocolate, and pasta apocalypse. Whoops. Maybe I’m less ready than I thought.
Back to basics: I figured I would start with an envelope of $35 and just buy a few essentials at my nearest grocery store, Safeway. Here we go.
United Way ground rules:
*$7/ day for 5 days.
*No free samples (not even from Costco) or food from friends and family.
*No using any spices, condiments, or other extra ingredients except salt/pepper.
*Eat 3 meals a day, and include fresh produce and protein sources each day.
My ground rules:
*Must shop at stores in walking distance or on normal bus routes.
*Maximize healthy cooked meals. Minimize packaged meals and snacks.
*No beverages allowed besides what is purchased for the HC.
* No foot popcorn or garbage pizza unless specifically purchased for the HC.
*No cheating.
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