Challenge Completed

Well, the Food Stamp Challenge is complete and we made it!  Sunday was a looooooooong day when it came to food, though.  We were all so tired of leftovers and really just wanted to go to Cracker Barrell or Puleo's.  Neither my husband nor I ate breakfast on Sunday, so we were starving by the time we got home for lunch and then the unthinkable happened......the chicken and rice that was supposed to cook for 3 hours took almost 7 hours to cook completely!  I got home from church and when I removed the aluminum foil, my heart skipped a beat and my stomach started growling - the rice wasn't even cooked!  It was back to leftovers until supper when we ate the chicken and rice.  Although we certainly didn't go without food last week, I missed the flexibility of eating whatever we wanted and not having to worry about every dollar spent!

Wrapping-up the Week

Well, I am tired of Manwich and peanut butter sandwiches.  I really, really want something chocolate and I would give my right arm for grilled fish with wild rice.  Oh, a nice juicy peach would be really great right now too.  I have money left in the budget and we certainly haven't gone without, but I miss the extras and the flexability to change my mind altogether and not stick to the overall menu for the week. Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge! 

Noddles or Cardboard - Overview of Day 3

I always make menus in advance but what I usually find myself doing is switching up days and making meals out of order but at the end of the week, I have prepared all the meals.  Yesterday was no exception. 

Breakfast was sausage balls for all of us.  My husband and I both had leftovers for lunch.  For supper, I prepared spaghetti with whole wheat pasta noodles and ground turkey breast.  We were supposed to have salad but instead of buying all the produce separately, I bought the cheapest bag of salad I could find.  Well, I purchased groceries on Monday morning and by last night, the salad was slimy in appearance even though it still had several "Eat By" days left according to the package.  More money wasted. 

I thought supper was terrible last night.  I didn't add the extra Parmesan to the sauce because I didn't purchase any for use this week, so maybe that affected the taste of the sauce.  What I couldn't stomach was the Great Value whole wheat noodles.  I almost always use whole wheat pasta but I generally purchase a more expensive brand.  I felt like I was eating cardboard.  The noodles just did not have a good taste to them.  No one else complained but Ashton was sick with a fever and not feeling well, so I'm not sure how that affected his taste buds; Maura will eat anything and only complain when she runs out of food (malnourished child, remember, we are still working through food issues); and Jason ate much later than us do to his work schedule and I was at Walgreen's buying fever medicine so I wasn't around to hear any grumbling from him.  I don't generally notice a lot of difference between generics and name brands but I will tell you this, Great Value whole wheat noodles definitely are sub par according to my taste!

Guess what, I'm hungry today and did NOT eat any spaghetti leftovers for lunch!  Instead, I ate the last of the grilled chicken breasts....getting old since that made my 3rd sandwich but it was better than cardboard!

My Son Wants to Loan Me Money

Well, Ashton hasn't forgotten about the taboo pudding that he can't eat this week because it wasn't purchased with funds allotted to the challenge.  As soon as he came home today, he said that he had a plan - he would give me money to pay for the pudding and I should just pretend it came from the government....hmm, I wonder if this is the same rationale that people on welfare who don't report income to the government make to excuse the lie - and it is a lie regardless of the rationalization.  I again tried to explain that it wasn't allowed but he just became frustrated.  I think I'll wake him up at 12:01 a.m. on Monday morning and offer him the pudding!

Overview of Day 2

Yesterday went pretty well for us.  I was crazy busy with work, so lunch didn't get eaten.  Needless to say, by the time supper came, I was more than ready for the grilled chicken sandwich!  Ashton couldn't understand why I wouldn't allow him to eat a chocolate pudding and he looked completely puzzled when I launched into an explanation of the food stamp challenge and how I bought the pudding last week and not this week so we couldn't consume it.  By the time I was done, he just turned and walked away without another word - I truly tried to explain things on his level (he's 5), but I think he got so bored with the discussion that all thoughts of pudding went out of his head.  Now, don't get me wrong because Ashton truly knows what starvation is - his baby sister almost died from it - and it is a topic we have discussed over and over again but the concept of our government giving people free money to eat on had him confused.  He couldn't understand why they just didn't go to work and make extra money on their own since America is having a hard time paying its bills too (my job primarily consists of court-appointed work, so that means I get paid by the State of Tennessee and we frequently go weeks and months before they pay my claims so he has heard us talking about the State being broke).  Actually, Ashton's questions and comments are some that I am mulling over right now too.

To fill you in on how I did at the luncheon yesterday, I survived without anything but a free glass of water!  The bread was free but I stayed clear of that too.  The aromas were absolutely tantalizing, though!  I did leave the luncheon with conflicting thoughts and feeling slightly deflated.  When asked why I wasn't eating, one of my colleagues pointed out that the challenge wasn't a true reflection of the welfare system.  He said that based upon my having children, I wouldn't have to be buying items that WIC pays for and which I did pay for out of the budget.  He also stressed that there are numerous food banks and churches that frequently provide assistance to welfare recipients, so I was totally surviving with far less than what welfare recipients actually survive on.  He is right in that there are other programs and benefits out there, and although I did admit to that, I couldn't seem to convey that the purpose of this challenge was for us to realize how short the allotted $21 per person per week falls in terms of providing for adequate nutrition and that the welfare recipient does have to rely on other programs and non-profits.

Jason came home yesterday and said that he was really trying to stick with the program and then asked if I was proud of him for not cheating - as he pointed out that he could clearly eat at work and I wouldn't be any wiser unless he confessed.  Apparently, there has been food brought-in to work and he knows that based upon the rules of the challenge that we can't eat food unless we purchase it.  I asked if he explained why he didn't eat anything and he said no because he didn't want anyone to be offended if they didn't understand the purpose of the challenge.  He also said that he was asked if he wanted to put some money towards a southern meal of homemade fried chicken on Friday and he also turned that down - I'm sure his coworkers think he is sick or something because I am always sending baked items with him to work to share with his co-workers and he always participates in dinners. 

Oh, my husband did ask me if the school was going to provide us with any of that great government cheese that comes in a box.  He said that a friend of his grandmother used to give her their family's cheese and that it was the best cheese ever.  To top the day off, my sister-in-law asked me about the cheese last night too!  I've never had the government cheese but apparently it is really, really good.  Their comments about cheese brought back a memory from my high school days when a group of boys came through the cafeteria one morning chanting:  Welfare (Repeated by another group), Government Cheese (Repeated), Give me a leg of turkey, I ain't hard to please (Together).  I didn't have a clue what those guys were chanting about but here it is 15 years later and I finally understand!  I don't know that this last part has anything much to do with the challenge but it finally brought together the meaning of that chant I heard so long ago (and why I am remembering that now, I have NO idea). 

Food Emergency in the form of a Lunchable

Well, I was waiting to see who was going to need an additional food item this week and it turned out to be Ashton.  He had to bring a Lunchable to school due to a post field trip snack.  Oh, and the Lunchable couldn't be the $2.00 selection but had to include a juice drink and be packaged in the neat, factory sealed box.  That cost us $3.29, so now my remaining budget is $10.72.  I am so thankful for the refund that we received from the taxes that I initially calculated (remember, SNAP receipients don't pay taxes on food), and I am even more thankful that I didn't eat at the restaurant yesterday or we would have been all but flat broke today! 

Getting Ready for Day 2

This morning, my husband chose to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (I know, so nutritious - especially for breakfast) and my son chose to eat oatmeal.  I've had a busy early morning, so I didn't eat breakfast with them but just got finished cooking sausage balls for my family to consume over the next two days.  I counted the sausage balls and then estimated how many my son and husband would likely eat and then I had 3 of the extra ones with some orange juice.  Maura has breakfast at daycare, so she's still sleeping when we are eating at 5:45 a.m. each day.

Today lunch will be a little more difficult for me.  I have a lunch meeting at an Italian restaurant with some colleagues.  It's going to be weird not eating when they do, but I will sip on some ice water and engage in conversation.  One thing that I have reminded myself over and over again is that I shouldn't be too disappointed that I don't get to eat because I did get poisoned after eating a salad there about 2 years ago but then the other part of my brain is screaming, "but the manicotti is sooooooooo good!"  I'll make it through the luncheon and my observation of the meal will likely lead to some questions about the challenge, so this may prove to be a good opportunity to talk to some of my colleagues about the importance of this challenge.  We all work together in representing indigent clients and are frequently involved in their financial struggles, so maybe this experience can help open their eyes to the hurdles so many of our clients face in feeding their families - nutritiously feeding them not just the run through the drive-thru type. 

Jason is eating leftovers from last night for lunch.  My family proved quite hungry last night, so there were less leftovers than we generally have, so I made sure to put all the leftovers together for Jason to take to lunch today.  His job is very physical and he's working a lot of overtime, so he definitely needs the energy more than I do!  He doesn't know that I didn't keep any out or he wouldn't have taken it but he needs it more than I do.  I'm not sure what I'll eat for lunch today as my stomach isn't jumping at the idea of another PB&J.  I would like a nice piece of grilled chicken on a toasted bun, but that's what we're having for supper and then again for lunch tomorrow, so I don't think I want to go grill a piece for lunch and have it 3 times as opposed to twice.  What I would really like is a gourmet chicken salad sandwich on a croissant with a side of strawberry pretzel salad from Good Gracious Cafe but no room in the budget as it is $7.99!

I wish I was eating lunch there today!

Oh, and I just found out that welfare recipients do not pay tax on food, so our funds have increased by $5.61!  We now have an extra $14.01 for emergencies!  I guess I could technically eat lunch today but then what if my kids need something later this week and we don't have any more allotted money?  My kids win.  I'll survive without manicotti for another day.