Okay, here are the meals for days 2, 3, and 4 of the Food Stamp Challenge, with totals, arranged by meals.
Our remaining total from Food Stamps Challenge Day 1 was $34.64 and so far we aren't doing too bad.
Breakfast Menus
Day 2 and 3 we had coffee and tea. Since we still had that from day 1, breakfast was FREE!
Day 4 we had coffee and tea. I also had a piece of fruit leather for .50 because I was actually hungry when I woke up.
Total for breakfasts: .50
Remaining Food Stamps: $34.14
Lunch Menus
Day 2 we had leftover tortillas and chicken so that meal was free.
Day 3 we split a bag of veggies from the store for $1.49 and added seasoning to it (which is free for the challenge)
Day 4 (Today), I made a pot of cabbage soup. The head of lettuce (.89/lb), 2 carrots (1 pound at .69/lb), spaghetti sauce ($2.39) totalled to $5.75. Wow, cheap deal! Adding that to my list of cheap meals!
I added 1/2 a packet of Uncle Dans Ranch Mix
for flavor and then I was torn. Is that considered seasoning/ spice or a condiment? Or do I add it into the total? I decided that it was seasoning/spice and not to add it in. If I was adding it to the total, my soup would cost $7.25 which is still cheap, even for the Food Stamp Challenge.
Total for Lunches: $7.24
Remaining Food Stamps: $26.90
Dinner Menus
Day 2 for dinner, we had a slice of cheese each for .79 a piece. We weren't really hungry.
Day 3 for dinner, we each had a bag of mixed veggies for $1.49 each.
Day 4 (today), we are still eating cabbage soup. We had a fairly big pot. It might be lunch tomorrow too LOL.
Total for Dinners: $4.56
Remaining Food Stamps: $22.34
Food Stamps Challenge Overview
So far, we are doing good. We haven't had much of an appetite this week though. If this was a hungry week, we would have to eat a lot of soups or something. I can see I will have to get creative towards the end. I plan on buying rice and eggs too. And if I have enough, some rice flour for pancakes.
I'm also getting ideas from my readers! Thanks so much you guys! I am going to do a series after this for Food Stamps friendly recipes with all the tips.
Until tomorrow!
6 comments:
We are struggling with grocery prices, especially since I am having to eat gluten free.. Plus have a very small under the counter refrigerator so can't store much. Unfortunately we don't qualify for food assistance anymore, so it is all out of pocket for us. I am looking forward to seeing your tips :)
I will make some posts on that for you when I am done with the Food Stamps Challenge.
You know, I can't help but look at this and say there is no way you are eating eating enough to sustain life. Seriously, put your food consumption into FitDay and you will see you are WAY below your RDAs and calories for health... your metabolism can literally shut down when this happens, causing weight gain, lethargy, illness and more!
I think you are definitely proving the point of this challenge! It's really impossible to eat HEALTHY and sustain yourself on this low of a budget!
And unfortunately, toward the last week of the month, this is the way we eat while we wait for the next round of food stamps to hit the card. Then my ex sends child support 5 days before the card and we get to feel like we ate again. This has to be wrecking my health. It's no wonder I am always tired! I think I will sit down and figure out my food count. I also had a request to post a week of "what you really eat like" so he can compare. I think I will be doing that next week. NO! It's not enough to sustain anyone!
While I'm doing my month-long challenge my goal will be to eat healthy and eat at or near/above the RDAs for nutrition, and I think it's going to be very, very hard to do that.
I'm writing a book to go along with this challenge. Can I count on you to be included as one of the people I interview in the book about living on food stamps and doing this challenge?
When I do the challenge, I'm including some cash for the food... the reason being, the federal government insists that SNAP is meant to 'supplement' your food budget, but not be your entire budget. So I'm allowing for $6 per day per person for food instead of the average of $4 per day that is paid here in Texas. That will cover the 'supplement' that we're supposed to kick in some of our own money, like you're saying you do with the child support. But see, my child support, when I got it, was sporadic. The fathers of my children would go weeks, months and one of them even went years without paying... I could never depend on that to eat or I'd have starved!
Off to read about your last day! I would definitely be curious about a comparison to how you eat normally!
I would love to help with that! Sure, you can interview me! I think the supplementing cash to add to the food stamps is more realistic. Let me know and I will post a link on here for your book and for when you blog about the challenge.
I am starting to feel more human now that I am eating better again too! Man, that was tough!
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