Friday, January 31, 2014

SNAP Challenge Day 4

Lydia ate the following:

Breakfast
Apple, 1/2 grapefruit, coffee, mate

Lunch
Panera salad (work lunch - provided by work)

Dinner
Lentils with broccoli and yogurt

Zach ate the following:

Breakfast
Apple slice, 1/2 grapefruit, coffee, leftover bagel from Lydia's work

Lunch
Soup (week + old)

Happy Hour with New Genesis: 2 glasses of ice water and complimentary appetizers (Mary Spaulding did not buy me a beer! Nor did Fritz.)

Dinner
Lentils, rice, broccoli (roasted), yogurt
This was a very tasty meal!


Wednesday, January 29, 2014

SNAP Challenge Day 3

SNAP Day 3 - Wednesday.

Breakfast

Repeat.  See days 1 and 2.  Today we added a smoothie to breakfast made of one banana ($.30), coconut milk ($.50), and flax seeds ($.25).  Results, drink deliciousness.


Lunch

Zach consumed leftover lentil soup with some freshly made rice. Eating like the rest of the world.

Lydia also enjoyed some of the leftover lentil soup from last night, but scored half of a veggie sandwich as part of a company catered lunch. The soup/sandwich combo hit the spot:


Apparently, there was a catered breakfast at work today too, so Lydia snagged a leftover bagel for Zach; perhaps he will have it for breakfast tomorrow.


Dinner

Zach, once again, was the beneficiary of a generous companion. After explaining to a friend our SNAP challenge and inviting him over for a simple dinner, Zach was instead treated to dinner by the friend who was willing to pick up the tab to ensure Zach stayed within his budget. Dinner at The Kitchen Next Door in Boulder was a treat for Zach - roasted chicken, smashed potatoes and a hoppy, brewed beverage (or 2).  Zach closed his evening with a cup of hot cocoa at the home front; nothing purchased for this item, but costs appx. $.60.

Lydia stayed on the SNAP track, consuming items purchased at Whole Foods on Sunday and making dinner for her friend.  Sauteed two potatoes, roasted cauliflower ($1.95), poached eggs (free from our chix), and 1/4 of a red onion (appx. $.50).  The friend contributed 4 mushrooms that were in dire need of consumption.  Tasty and inexpensive; a theme is developing.

We are now three days into this SNAP challenge, and neither Zach nor Lydia is feeling deprived, hungry, or bored with meals so far this week.  We have observed that participating in this challenge is nothing like being in poverty: friends buy you lunch or dinner; company food is plentiful, esp. when you have access to the executive kitchen and leftover catered meals; and, access to good food at excellent supermarkets (Whole Foods) means that healthy, delicious food can be easily provided at $4.40 per day/person.

We have also noticed how this experience impacts day-to-day relationships (social, professional, and others) that involve food. Lydia has been sharing with co-workers what we are doing this week; co-workers' responses have been to offer food to ensure that we have sufficient food for the week.  A large bowl of pasta salad was offered as a goodwill gesture; it was declined.   Also, friends are willing to tolerate $4.40/day as part of a week long challenge.  What would happen with those friends if this was our norm? I hope that they would still be there, but perhaps the socializing would decline because of an inability to do those things we normally take for granted (a $5 beer at a restaurant or making a delicious meal after spending $20-30 on provisions).

We are grateful for this experience, recognizing the challenges of those living in poverty, when food and money are scarce (and chickens don't run in your backyard).  We are grateful for this experience because it reminds us of all we have to be grateful for and how lucky we are.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

SNAP Challenge Day 2

What's shaking SNAP fans?  It's Tuesday evening and...

Day 2 went like this:

BREAKIE
Porridge, banana bread, and coffee.


(The banana bread was baked on Sunday night from leftover bananas, 1.5 c flour, .75 c sugar, some butter, vanilla & baking soda.  All costs will be tallied and included in our SNAP budget.)


LUNCH
Zach sort of cheated and had his lunch bought for him by a friend he was pre-arranged to meet (prior to SNAP Challenge). I ordered the cheapest item on the menu: Grilled cheese $6 and water.

Lydia packed the same lunch as Monday, but forgot tortillas. So, it ended up looking like a random assortment of hodgy-podgy misfits. She also snagged some random office condiments (sort of cheating). So we both sort of cheated.
Here's what hodge-podge looks like:



DIN-DIN
Zach ate some left over pasta (from a week + ago) at 4:45p. It will be deducted from the overall budget (but minimally - a week + old, gimme a break).
Lydia made a dinner from items purchased at Whole Foods Sunday eve for a grand total of $3.75 maybe $4. It was scrumptious, served 3 people + leftovers, and wowed one of the most discerning palates in Boulder.

Red lentil soup with brown rice and yogurt:
Recipe c/o 101Cookbooks blog: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/red-lentil-soup-with-lemon-recipe.html (but we skipped the spinach, as it was not in our budget).



2 Days down and we're totally satiated and screaming through this thing.




Monday, January 27, 2014

SNAP Challenge Day 1


Lydia and Zach decided to join with Central Presbyterian in eating for one week at the poverty line: $4.40 per person per day. For ease of planning we are working from a budget of $52.80, as we are participating for 6 days and will spread that cost over the 6 days - day-to-day costs will fluctuate, but the goal is to live on $52.80 for the five days, an average of $4.40 per person per day.  

We asked ourselves:
How do you eat well and also for very little money?

Our response: 
Eat like the rest of the world eats. 

We went to Whole Foods to shop. Yes, Whole Foods. You'd be surprised how competitive they are on certain items. You may not be surprised how much more costly it is to buy packaged items at King's or Safeway versus bulk lentils and beans and rice at Whole Foods. 


Here's what we were able to purchase for $27.56 at Whole Paycheck (aka Whole Foods):


  • A large container of organic 365 brand whole milk yogurt.
  • Various produce items: a large yellow onion, a small organic cauliflower, organic broccoli, yellow organic potatoes, and a large organic yam.  Oh, and one pink grapefruit, the one piece of fruit we added to our purchase, an expensive indulgence at $1.79 for one!
  • Lots of bulk items, many of which were on sale, including dried black beans, organic red lentils, organic french lentils, organic brown rice, and organic rolled oats.  
  • Two packages of tortillas; 2 dozen for just under $2.00.

We learned a helpful tip at WF: they will cut off your broccoli stems or cut out the core of your cauliflower (or at least our produce person did), reducing the weight and the over cost of these items sold at price per pound.

And, we bought the least expensive coffee we could find:



This can of coffee was $2.00. 

MONDAY'S MEALS:
Breakfast
A simple breakfast this morning of oats and coffee.  We did use some leftover milk and brown sugar in our house, but we are tracking the costs of these items and will total them at the end of the week to see how we fare.




Zach's Lunch


This was my plate of food for lunch (1/27). Two tacos: 1/16 of my leftover Indian meal from Sherpa's ($.75 cents added to our budget). Three thin slices of sharp cheddar cheese from a block of cheese we already had in the fridge (add $.20 cents to budget). Half of an avocado. Sprouts (add $.15 cents to budget). Dollop of plain yogurt. Ramekin of black beans (cooked in a Crock-Pot the previous night). 

Lydia's Lunch
Abiding by the $4.50 per day becomes tricky when you go to a workplace overflowing with free food and beverages.  Here are some of the FREE items I encounter at my office: teas and coffee; coke, diet coke, and gatorades; various bowls of candy; a bowl of mixed nuts; small bags of chips; half of a cookie that my boss offers to me after his lunch; and, sometimes leftover lunch or breakfast items from catered meals.   All of this plentiful food for just showing up at work.  Amazing the items we take for granted in an average day and week.   

Often, as mentioned above, I have lunch at work for no cost, but to immerse myself in our weeklong commitment, I brought my lunch to work, and it was quite delicious -- two tortillas, black beans, sprouts, hard boiled eggs, and mustard and mayo.  To be fair, I found the mustard and mayo packets in the kitchen at work (leftover from a previously catered lunch) and the eggs were free from our backyard chickens.  Lunch was great and probably one of the cheapest that I've eaten in years.  


Dinner



Natty Light is approximately $.60 cents a can. We just happen to have a few cans leftover from New Year's Eve party (one of our beer savvy friends brought it to the party).  Add $1.20 to the budget (Lydia and Zach both had a Natural Light with dinner - Lydia added a lime to hers add $.05 to budget). 


Tacos for dinner. Two times in one day? You bet!


Tacos included: Corn tortillas, sauteed red onion (1/4 of an onion used; add $.25 to budget), 4 crimini mushrooms (add $.50), black beans, rice, yogurt, 8 peppercinis (add $.25), avocado (used 1/2; add $.50 to budget), 4 slices of cheese (add $.30 to budget). 

That's a day. We're satiated.