One Week on food stamps completed... these are my confessions

I have reached the end of the 7th day of living on a $30 budget for one week. I have a good amount of food left, but not enough to make actual nutritious meals. I have learned a lot throughout this week that I hope to carry through my shopping, cooking, and consuming decisions moving forward. 

What I am going to do do now that my week on Food Stamps is over? I am going to go out to dinner with my boyfriend Dave, and  I am GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! But really, I am, I am going to the Disney Marathon for work in one day, visiting the happiest place on earth feels like an odd way to end this week.

But first, I must confess, for I have sinned.... not everything this week was by the books, I used some flexibility to the best of my judgement. If I were to visit confession (which I probable wouldn't because I am a Jew), this would be my list:

What is left of from the challenge!

- Jolly Rancher was in my desk at work, I made him my victim
- Gum in my car was fair game
- Sprinkle of Parm Cheese (it was in the fridge near the condiments, so I categorized it as one)
- Tea
- Vitamins/medicine
- I put some no calorie flavoring that I had in my house in my water
- I was 'offered scotch' on Saturday night, I figured this was like a date, so I accepted graciously
- Dave bought me a tootsie roll and offered me a few sips of hot chocolate
- I was a Coffee Ninja, and found it where ever I could, work, Dave's parents....
- At Dave's parents I had an ice tea and Hershey kiss candy
- I used sweeteners and common kitchen items like salt, pepper, garlic salt. I tried to not go to crazy with these extras but used some mustard and mayo in my tuna one night, and a dollop of dressing on my chickpeas. I did however resist reaching for the sour cream all week, I know that is expensive and not necessarily a kitchen staple.
None Food 'Cheating':
-I drove to the grocery store, I should have taken public transportation
-I am very lucky that I live near a cheap grocery store

I am not super religious anymore. I celebrate holidays because I like to be around family and friends, and to gather and to enjoy different seasons of the year. However, when I used to run with Back on My Feet, we would start each run with the Serenity Prayer, a prayer known by many who go through AA. I really do feel touched by the Serenity Prayer, so will end the blog with these words.

God grant me the serenity  to accept the things I cannot change;  courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Thank you for reading.

On the 6 day of food stamps....

The end is near, and today is a day filled with emotions and oatmeal. I figured to make things interesting I would break down (my car and myself) again in Philly, and have to be towed to a mechanic. I had a food stamp approved snack in my purse, but with a long night of breaking down, towing, driving to bucks county to get my sisters car, leads to emotional eating- yes please. Oh never mind, I'm stranded and eating a bag of popcorn and a chewy bar. If I make it to a wawa I am totally going to cash in my remaining $1.74! I just took this challenge to the next level!!!

Here are photos of my snack for dinner while in the car, what is left of my oatmeal and peanut butter (that went fast!), and the coffee bar at the car service dept ('oh you want me to give you $3,000 to fix this? I will drink ALL you coffee!)

Day Five

Food insecurity is a simple idea. A food insecure household sometimes doesn't have the financial resources to provide food for all of its members. It’s a more common problem than you think. In 2010, nearly 50 million American households were listed as food insecure. As you can imagine, when you’re worried about having enough money to buy food for your family, whether or not the food you do manage to buy is making you fat is probably not a top concern. Bad food is better than no food.

– Morgan Clendaniel from Co.EXIST on the idea of food insecurity.  

While yesterday was a  harder day, since I was hungry from riding so much, today was easier because I was so busy... clean house, wash, ride, shopping for upcoming trip, dog training, wash, clean, work...food???? The problem is when I am running errands I need to make sure I pack a snack. If I get hungry, I am screwed, I don't have a budget to buy food out. When I get hungry, I get cranky fast!

Chickpea and Rice cooked in skillet, YUM!

For breakfast I had oatmeal, banana, peanut butter and my left over pancake. Dave, while I was mad at you initially for making me only 4 big pancakes out of all that batter, I take it back, those pancakes were bomb. For lunch I had some ground chickpeas and rice, which was delicious. I am onto something with these ground chickpeas. I am going to have a chickpea wrap for dinner again, and maybe until the end if I can stretched the chickpeas that long. I snacked on some popcorn and a chewy bar during the day.

Workouts: Indoor trainer bike ride for 1:45. Pretty typical ride that I would do mid-week, so I wasn't ravenous during the day.

Less Decisions: One thing I have noticed, not having much food to choose from has saved me some time in the decision making process. For breakfast it is oatmeal or... oatmeal. It reminds me a lot of when Sheldon from Big Bang Theory starts to roll dice to help him make decisions. <- click to see what I mean.

The Stash

Running low: I am sad to report that I am starting to run low on some foods, and have been turned off from eating other food. It also seems like I bought a lot of things in 6's (eggs, bananas, granola bars), so day 7 might be an all oatmeal day!
Popcorn: Two bags left
Apples: gone
Chick peas: running low
Granola bars: 3 left
Corn and Tuna: I can not stomach again
Rice, oatmeal, tortilla: I have a lot left

Dear Sweet Potato in can, I am nervous to open you!

A little spilled rice is nothing to cry over...

Learning moment:
I have been really good about trying not to waste food, something I really think I am going to take away from this challenge. Even one silly thing I noted was that I stated adding the ends of the bananas to my oatmeal, when I would usually cut them off and either throw them away or give to the dog. Today I was really mad at myself because I wasted a lot of rice,  I dropped it out of the fridge.



Tomorrow I am not in the office again so I will be eating on the road and without coffee... Onward to day 6!

Day 4 Dinner

Dinner today was great!!! Got a little creative and ground up the chickpeas. It taste like a falafel, totally makes up for yesterday's disaster of a dinner.

DAY 4

Ride Snacks

THE WEEKEND: Today I had a 3:42:00 hour ride (over 1600 calories) which started at 8am in the cold 30-ish degrees and wind. I packed this.. A tortilla cut into two with a table spoon of peanut butter and a chewy bar. I didn't eat any thing for 3 hours of the ride, more or less because I had a lot of cold weather gear on, and we moved fast for a good portion of it. I usually put protein powder in my bottle during cold winter rides, it helps when I can't get to food easy, and it forces me to eat and drink, but not today. Once Dave and I left the group I ate one of my pb wraps, and then proceeded to nearly bonk in the wind riding home, I really could have used a gel or something with some more sugar in it. I was really crabby, and Dave was good to put up with me. I HATE the wind, soooooo much. Pure head wind on the way home.

BIG/THICK PANCAKE!!! I went back for more!

I got back for lunch and had my chewy bar, 3 pancakes, and an egg. Pancakes and eggs were made by the wonderful Dave, but what I thought was going to be many pancakes turned into 4.... oppps. Dave apologized for making them so big, I got really cranky about it when I saw only 4 came out of the batter. Less pancakes came out of that pack than I thought.

Tonight's dinner will hopefully be better than yesterdays, which I am still scared from. I snacked on my other PB wrap and popcorn during the afternoon.

It is harder to manage what I eat on the weekend because there is less structure than my work days, and people all around me eating whatever they want.

Pretty low energy right now with  a long COLD ride, so no video blog today! Cold and windy rides drain me!

DAY THREE...again

MY DINNER STUNK: After my rough day, I felt like I couldn't close up the computer without mentioning my dinner sucked. I have had pretty good luck with liking my meals so far, but tonight was bad. I had a tuna wrap with chickpeas and corn on the side. But, but the tuna was not good, like really bad and fishy. The corn was the same. Vegetables are tasty, fish is tasty, but when buying the lowest quality, and not having much to mix it with, its not tasty. I can only imagine a kid not wanting to eat their veggies when they are always out of a can. I probable would have rather had oatmeal for dinner. I have been munching on chocolate pieces because the dinner I forced down stunk, and now I feel a little scared to eat the tuna and the corn. Chick peas, rice, eggs, you will have to be my friends for a few days. Or, I will just move on to breakfast for dinner, I still have pancakes, lots of eggs, and oatmeal. However, I am sad to report I am all out of apples! 

Peanut Butter wraps and granola bar all ready to go for tomorrow mornings ride, good night!

DAY THREE

DRIVING TO THE STORE: On one of the earlier posts, an insightful friend commented on the fact that I drove to the grocery store to pick up my food stamp challenge grub. A brilliant tid-bit provided by someone who 'get's it'. I figured I should address the issue of driving to the store, and the grocery store itself.

 People living with assistance from food stamps/SNAP (new name for Food Stamp program) would have probable had to go through greater efforts to get to a less expensive store like Bottom Dollar Foods. In many neighborhoods affordable grocery stores are not a staple. Javier said it best, so I hope he doesn't mind me quoting him:

"One thing to keep in mind is that you have much easier access to food. BDF is right by your house. If it wasn't, you have access to a car. There are many people in North Philly who have neither. Imagine trying to carry your groceries on the bus for a half-hour. It's no wonder why people just resort to what's easiest to obtain."

If I planned better, I would have taken the bus to the grocery store, and had to manage getting my food back home. Thanks Javier for bringing this up. On my cheater list, which I will be posting at the end of the challenge, I will be sure to add driving to the store, and that I was lucky to have a cheaper store near my house.

THE CORNER STORE: Many of youth and families that I have worked with only have access to the corner store, not the grocery store.  That is, easy access. The corner store doesn't carry healthy items, organic, fresh, and isn't cheap. But it is convenient.  These kids have also not been taught how to choose the healthier items at the corner store, so they choose the tasty items: taquitos, chips, soda, huggies, donuts. They are not looking for the trail mix... trail mix is bird food. Or, they don't eat at all. I would  have kids come to practice with no food in their stomach, or with shit food that wouldn't sustain them through practice, and they would inevitably bonk during our workout. You can't ride a bike when you are powered by Doritos. The schools would try to help and provide after school snacks, but they also have tight budgets and would provide... you guessed right, chips. Why? Because chips in bulk are cheap and are 'food.' And we wonder about the obesity epidemic, particularly in our youth... In short, nutritious and inexpensive food is not easily accessible for many. Hell, nutritious food isn't really inexpensive if it is accessible.  Additionally, without knowledge of what is healthy, or why to choose nutritious foods, many go for what is cheap and convenient, this is why fast food store are in business.

_____________________________________________________________________________
TODAY has been eventful to say the least! The day started with my car breaking down and having to get towed, in that process was a comedy of errors. My car was towed home to NJ, and I went to work with my Manager in the city, dropping off some promotional information for an event. I ended up having to take the train back to NJ, and get picked up from the train station. How does food play in? I emotional eat, so I ate my snack for the day while sitting in the car waiting for AAA, just because I was pissed. Then the remainder of the day was so hectic that I didn't eat my lunch until 4pm. During work, while walking around the city, I was too frozen to be hungry, but I wanted COFFEE! I was so cold and lacking in caffeine  I could have bathed in coffee! During our walk around the city we stopped in a veg friendly spot called HipCityVeg, and I was so sad I couldn't have lunch there, I will have to go back! Is smelled great, and the menu was of course vegetarian friendly and delicious looking. At the end of this day I  need a coffee and a glass of wine. I guess I will have to be okay with a tuna wrap, corn, and a piece of 50% off Christmas chocolate.

Update: Another fabulous friend just shared this with me: Philadelphia's Healthy Corner Store Initiative....
http://www.thefoodtrust.org/php/programs/corner.store.campaign.php

I video blogged while FROZEN and waiting 

for my broken down car to be towed, Enjoy!

DAY TWO

Today was a pretty easy day, I was full and satisfied for most of the day, which is very different from just being full. I really like my oatmeal/apple lunch, yum, it might roll over past the challenge. I have been missing products like sour cream and the sweeteners, my foods have been pretty bland, brown looking, and carb filled (my stomach is a little bloated). Today's food intake was similar to yesterday, even though I had two workouts today.

Today is the first day that someone actually asked me why I am doing this... I think most people think I will be offended if they ask, they get it, or maybe they just don't care (large possibility). After working with underserved populations in Philadelphia, Camden, and Wilmington, I know about food insecurities and how they effect families, and mostly youth. I guess I feel like I WANTED to take on this challenge because it is what some HAVE to do. And, if I can motivate some people to think harder about how they eat, prepare food, waste food, and how unfair it is that the healthy food is priced so high, than that is great too. I will be changing my opinion on all these things at the same time.

The Video for Today....The first freeze frame never fails to be absurd looking 

Coffee NINJA strikes again, Day TWO, coffee before 9am, score.

Dinner is similar to yesterday, but I fried an egg in there. I would LOVE for some sour cream!

Day 1

DAY ONE

I look pretty silly in this freeze frame, but please watch to hear about my first day on food stamps. Hopefully with practice these videos are more entertaining. Uno the dog even makes some cameos. I have been spending a lot of time prepping all my food, so being able to save some time and video blog should be helpful. I would LOVE to hear your comments and suggestions!

Dinner: Since I didn't include this in my video, here is my dinner. Pretty filling and delicious. However I would have loved some lettuce with this and sour cream, two items that were not in my budget. You will see from my food tomorrow that I am eating more carbs and shade of brown than I really want too.

Calories, lunch and work snacks. I did some popcorn miscalculation, and that made me hungry! I will probable net  1300 for the day.

Lunch! More Bird Food

COFFEE, finally! I am going to have to be a coffee Ninja this week to get my intake on time!

Shopping for the Challenge

A Cyclist on Food Stamps for a Week!

Happy 2013! I can't think of a better way to kick off the new year than to focus myself on the Food Stamp Challenge for a week. Shopping day has arrived, and I headed to Bottom Dollar Food with my $30 budget. I figured with a name like Bottom Dollar, they must be onto something, and I enjoy their piglet mascot.

I went to the  Bottom Dollar Foods with a small but not concrete plan. I knew types of food I wanted. On my list were budget staples, but also things I enjoy to eat every day. Peanut butter, eggs, apples, bananas, potatoes, rice, beans, oatmeal, tuna fish. By now you may have realized that I am a also vegetarian (I eat fish though). I have been raised this way, and as an athlete am pretty good an making sure I get the nutritional values I need sans meat.

I must admit, this challenge may be a little easier on me than others. I generally use portion control and weigh my food. I eat pretty bland staples every day like oatmeal, potatoes, beans (I will miss my Greek Yogurt though!) I never go out for lunch, and rarely get dinner out. I also prep a lot in order to make sure my breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks are available and premade. I think the biggest thing in my end purchase that I don't usually eat is rice. I bought it because I got nervous and felt like I needed it because everyone kept preaching 'rice and beans!' to me.

Everything that I will be eating this week is from Bottom Dollar Foods, excepts for oatmeal from Shoprite, which was a steal.

Cycling: I am lucky that I was off work the past two days, so got some of my bigger rides out of the way. These longer rides usually make me more ravenous, where I find myself trying to eat the entire contents of my fridge. Stay tuned this week to see how I fare juggling the food I purchased with my workout routine. I feel confident with my grub, and that I will be able to use the tortillas, pancakes, oatmeal, peanut butter, and granola bars to fuel me during rides.

Bottom Dollar Foods: $24.26
ShopRite: $1.99 (OAMEAL!)
Total Spent: $26.25Money Left: $3.74 - I got really nervous and wanted to have some change left, I think this will end up as coffee money





From a week of Holiday Cookies ...

The Swag (I think I did well!  I am less nervous about my week ahead):
Chewy Granola Bars: $1.58 (for riding or a snack before the gym or at the office)
12 whole wheat tortillas: $3.16
2 bags of brown rice $1.54
2 cans of tuna: $1.28
2 cans of black beans $1.90
on sale Can of Corn $.49
on sale Can of Corn  $.49
Chick Peas, 3 cans: $1.90 (I love chick peas!)

...To $30/week (missing oatmeal)

Can of sweet potatoes (this was cheaper than the fresh) $1.79
6 Bananas $1.18
3 Apples $2.26 (a bit of a splurge, but I have been on an apple kick lately)
Pancake mix $.69 (looking back I should have gotten another of these, only add water)
Eggs came up as $.81 and $.31, I am not sure what happened there, but I got 6. I eat a lot of eggs so these will go quick.
Popcorn: $2.18 (this was one of my splurges but is a great snack for lunch and night time)
Peanut Butter: $2.29.
Oatmeal $1.99

Things I wanted but couldn't get:
-Spaghetti Squash: I really wanted this Squash, but in the end couldn't make him work.
-More fresh fruit
-Healthier items.
-Coffee k cups and hot chocolate

Splurges:
Peanut Butter, Apples, Microwave Popcorn. I made the cashier ring up my total before these items were added, they were my splurges. We just bought a microwave for our house for the first time, and I have been craving microwave popcorn forever, so I am glad it made the cut. I think the peanut butter will be helpful to add to oatmeal, pancake batter, and in tortillas as a sandwich. I was bummed by how expensive the apples were and only got three, but I cut them up and baked them, so they will last me a few days as a topping in my oatmeal.

The shopping experience:
There was a lot more math involved than I was ready for. I kept having to stop and take out my calculator and note pad to make sure I was on the right track and within budget. I also had to think a lot more about actual meals, and what they are going to look like. There is no point buying a stand alone item, you want to be able to incorporate it into a meal. For example, if I buy peanut butter but have nothing to put it on or in, it doesn't really make sense.

Noticeable:

Wheat vs. White

- I had to buy higher caloric items since they were lower in price. I really want the 100 calorie pre portioned snack, but not for $3.00 more.
- Wheat bread is way more expensive than white, so I stuck with whole wheat tortillas. Tortillas were about the same in price as the whole wheat bread, but more versatile in meals.
- Cereal is a bank buster.
- It is easy when you are only thinking about your diet, but if you have to shop for others, I feel like some decisions are harder to make. I can go with out peanut butter, but could a kid if that is their favorite food?
- You have to think a lot when shopping! It is no longer you stomach driving you, it is your income and how far you can stretch it.
- A little extra work in cooking and prep in the kitchen can save you a substantial amount.
- I only have one thing than needs to be in the fridge, eggs, and a lot of non-perishables.
-Now is the time to really pay attention when you cook. Burnt food is wasted food that you can't get back. Same goes for your dog trying to steal one of your precious apples. (While writing this post I definitely got some rice stuck to a pan, an dropped chick peas on the floor!)

Problems... COFFEE!
I still haven't figured coffee out. I am hoping that there is coffee brewing at work when I get there tomorrow.

Stay Tuned. With Breakfast and Lunch ready to go for tomorrow, I am going to pay attention to the caloric intake of foods, run in with foods I want but cant have, and what I end up doing about my caffeine problem. I'll report back!