This is the second post in a nine-part series on my experiences with eating on $4.50 a day as part of September's Hunger Action Month.
I'm going to have to rethink my plan if I want to feel more full while I'm taking the SNAP Hunger Challenge organized by Feeding Illinois. This I can tell after my first day on a carefully crafted plan to eat nutritious food and honor the daily budget.
Breakfast was very filling and held me until lunch. I found the recipe on The Hannah Cafe, a blog created by the general manager of the Common Ground Food Coop who is also taking the SNAP Hunger challenge, and slightly modified it.
Homemade Apple Monkey Oatmeal
½ cup organic rolled oats from bulk bins at Coop ($0.14)
1 scant cup water
A pinch of sea salt
2 T Plank’s apple butter from Arcola, no-sugar-added variety ($0.20)
2 T walnuts from bulk bins, diced ($0.16)
¼ tsp cinnamon powder from the bulk bins ($0.01)
1.5 T cashew butter from bulk bins ($0.14)
7 organic dark vegan chocolate chips from the bulk bins ($0.20)
1.5 cups home-brewed organic coffee, black ($0.10)
Total cost: .95 cents
Nutrition value: excellent
Stoamch fill value: excellent
I see there's more recipes posted today at The Hannah Cafe for breakfast options. Yea!
My lunch also held me well until snack time at 2pm.
2 cups of Homemade Barley Vegetable Soup
Organic barley from bulk bins at Coop ($0.13 cents)
Cabbage from IGA ($.05 cents)
Celery from Schnuck's ($.11 cents)
Organic carrots from Coop($.16 cents)
Organic zucchini from Coop ($.13 cents)
Vegan veggie broth ($.26 cents)
Organic peach ($0.58 cents)
2pm snack-- ½ cup 2% Daisy Brand Cottage Cheese from IGA ($0.42 cents with 45 cents off coupon)
Total cost: $1.84
Nutrition value: excellent
Stomach fill value: excellent
On my way home from work today, that jar of 99-cent Skippy peanut butter advertised on the marquee at my local IGA store looked tempting. That price is one-third what I paid (on sale) for natural peanut butter in a jar. I'm not willing to eat the hydrogenated oil and sugar in the Skippy but I might have to buy bulk peanut butter from a bin at the Coop instead.
Dinner was:
Homemade eggplant parmesean
Eggplant ( $0.43 cents from IGA and two free ones from EM's parent's garden)
Organic olive oil ($0.10 cents)
Fresh parmesean cheese ($0.29 cents)
Mozzarella cheese ($0.22 cents)
Organic yellow onion ($0.11 cents)
Garlic ($.04 cents)
Tomatoes and basil – free from our garden
½ T organic valley butter ($0.13)
1 organic banana ($0.20)
1 cup Organic Valley Unsweetened soy milk ($0.57 cents)
Total cost: $2.20
Nutrition value: very good
Stomach fill value: medium
Total for day: $4.99
I'll have to dig deeper to eat well and feel full tomorrow and stay within the budget. I can only eat $4 worth of food tomorrow. I could pick fruit for free using the Urbana Champaign Fruit Tree Map. If I am hungry, I will ask people I know (or don't know) for food.
If you have any tips after reading this post, please offer them.
Thank you. See you tomorrow.
The first of my eight blog posts is here: Keeping Hunger Away on $4.50 a day
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8 comments:
Home made polenta can be really tasty and inexpensive. It's just cornmeal and water! I like it with a fresh tomato grilled on top of it, sprinkled w Parmesan.
Baked brown rice. (2 cups water, 1 cup rice, covered 375 degree oven for 1 hour).
Thanks, Sandra! I'll make the brown rice tomorrow.
So, what about the time required to make "ends meet" with healthful foods--a cup here, a tablespoon there? Some will have time, others will not. And what is the "learning curve" on that healthful deal, and, what if it is not like anything I've known before, or not to my taste?
What can you get for a buck, or two, at a walk-up/drive-thru?
Sounds delicious and healthy! I wish we had bulk barns here. Those things you listed sound really cheap. Another thing you can do is ask people to pay you in fruit/veg instead of money. E.g. I asked one of my yoga students to pay me in fruit & veg per class since she's currently not employed. You can offer to do things for people in exchange for a meal. Prepare in bulk (e.g. lentils, beans) and eat over a few days, etc. If I think of anything else, will let you know.
Thou Art Yoga--You raise an interesting issue--how does one barter for food, other goods, and services? Is it at all similar to what we all do in the daily "commerce" of our lives?
Great post, Kimberlie. I was working on my recipes for this challenge last night and so far it seems clear to me that I can make it work for one grown woman who is only moderately active (that would be me) but as I research the number of calories needed by an active teen boy or man with a physical job, I am realizing it is undoable on food stamps. Its raising some very interesting questions I am dancing with this morning.
Thanks Kimberlie. Depending on Wednesday's haul in my CSA share, I can bring you some veg. Am going a little mad trying to figure out how to use all the squash, for the umpteenth week! I do have a fab zucchini taco recipe; might be a good fit for the challenge. Will bring it in, too!
It is so nice to meet all of you here together in this space! Danda, I would love some zucchini on Friday when I return to work, if you have any extra. The "official rules" of the SNAP Hunger Challenge say one is to count the price of donated food in daily allowance, but I am not going to. One has to reach out to others in certain cases. I know that solving hunger will take a community effort and that can look like one person giving another a meal or foos. So, thanks.
Sandra, the brown rice was great.
Jacqueline, I can see your point and agree with it. If one does real strenous work or is growing, $4.50 is too little.
Sally, it is taking WAY TOO much time to plan all of this in order to eat well, be mostly full and buy locally. The best I can do at McDonald's is a doble cheeseburger for a buck. Sounds good but I'd go hungry. Usually spend $4 on just one fast food meal.
Though Art Yoga, where do you live that you do not have a food coop? Love the idea of bartering. Thanks!
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