Challenge Week: Day Seven

Here's what we ate today, Day 7:

• Breakfast: challah with peanut butter and honey for the adults; the last of the cereal and milk for the kids (their choice); bananas.
• Morning snack for kids and Eric: walnuts and apple slices. 
• Morning snack for me: a spoonful of peanut butter.
• Lunch: the last of the challah, plain; tuna fish and black beans for the kids (one also had some more walnuts; the other had the last of the yogurt); leftover bean soup with tuna fish in it for the adults; grapefruit. 
• Afternoon snack: popcorn.
• Dinner: chili pasta (that is, pasta mixed with leftover chili), topped with the last bit of cheese; the last of the corn and broccoli; pineapple for the kids. (After watching the kids all day while I caught up on my work, Eric also decided to have a beer with dinner even though it wasn't part of the food stamp budget.) 

At the end of the challenge week, we have this food left: 

Also left over: one grapefruit (I forgot to put it in the photo), part of the bag of popcorn, about half the container of coffee, and about half a bag of frozen peas. We also have a few leftovers and some pasta sauce in the fridge, but not a whole meal's worth of food. 

Interestingly (and despite Eric's concern at the start of the week), enough food is left that if we really were broke, we would not starve in the next few days, although our meals would be quite limited in variety.

Eric said he missed having meat this week and found the meals to be a bit repetitive, but we did not go hungry anytime. In fact, our meals were pretty similar to what we usually eat. As for the kids, I don't think they noticed all that much difference besides not having a variety of cereal to choose from and not having juice boxes for one kid's lunch (I put juice in a Thermos instead). But I don't expect these results to be typical. 

As I said to Eric last night, in a way I've been preparing for this challenge for three years. Since we started trying to cut down on artificial ingredients in our food in 2009, I've been reading food blogs and learning how to cook things from scratch. Along the way, I've developed a knack for repurposing leftovers in creative ways.

I really am tempted to retake the challenge eating only what someone might be able to prepare in a motel room without a kitchen, and without making a grocery list before hitting the supermarket. An alternate challenge might be to eat only what can be purchased in a convenience store in a food desert. 

I'm looking forward to attending the closing meeting of the food stamp challenge tomorrow morning and hearing about other participants' experiences. 

Challenge Week: Days Four and Five (and Plans for Day Six)

Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, organizer of the food stamp challenge for Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, posted a detailed reply to my post "What Does the Challenge Prove?" on the food stamp challenge participant blog. With her permission, I'm posting her comment here:

Hi all
Karin asks an important question in her post – what does the Food Stamp Challenge prove? Let me suggest a few answers, I’m sure there are other, equally valid and important ways you might respond to this question. When the board of Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice considered sponsoring this Challenge, we talked about the goals we had for this project. We did not intend it to prove anything. What we hope is that this exercise will give us at least a taste (pardon the pun) of what it might be like to rely on SNAP to supplement, or in many cases to be the sole source of, your weekly food budget. In this way we hope to build awareness of issues of hunger and food insecurity, to educate participants about the benefits of the SNAP program in addressing hunger in America and the limitations of the program as it currently stands to meet all of a family’s nutritional needs. Finally, we hope to inspire participants to advocate for increased funding to raise the benefit level of the SNAP program, to reduce the stigma that may be a barrier to eligible citizens’ applying for the program; and to educate eligible citizens so that all who are eligible to receive SNAP benefits will take advantage of the program.

I also want to mention one other thing – while SNAP is a great program that helps people feed their families and frees up money in their family budget that can go toward other necessities such as rent, medical bills, gas and car insurance, utilities, etc, it does not address the core issues of hunger and poverty that lead people to need programs like SNAP. That is why, in addition to the list of suggested direct-service organizations on our website that you might want to contribute to such as food banks and food pantries, we also list a number of national and international organizations that are not direct-service, but that work on programs and public policies that address these root problems and try to end hunger and food insecurity entirely. See the list at the bottom of our Food Stamp Challenge page –http://wisconsinfaithvoicesforjustice.org/Food-Stamp-Challenge.php

Bonnie

---

And now, here's my update on Days 4 and 5: 

Day 4:

• My morning snack: carrots with peanut butter. 
• Dinner: chili (black and white beans, chicken, corn, a can of diced tomatoes, chili powder, and water), topped with a bit of cheese; avocado; rice; broccoli. I was afraid the chili wouldn't taste good without additional spices, but it turned out fine. (I put the chili in the Crock Pot during the work day, which not everyone would be able to do.)

Day 5:

• My morning snack: popcorn.
• Kid lunches: For one: leftover tuna pasta from Day 2, yogurt, corn, broccoli. For the other: leftover pocket from Day 1, raisins, walnuts, corn, broccoli.
• Eric's lunch: leftover chili with a bit of cheese and avocado; carrot sticks; walnuts and raisins. Hard-boiled egg for his afternoon snack.
• My lunch: part of a leftover pocket, some chicken and broccoli. 
• Afternoon kid snacks: fruit cups (pineapple packed in juice). This was a big hit since I don't usually buy these, but pineapple's on the Clean Fifteen and I was lucky to find them on clearance ($1.56 for a pack of 4) when I made my return trip to Target the day before. 
• Dinner: chicken pizza (including two small heart-shaped ones) made with monterey jack cheese (a bit unusual, but it was fine); carrot sticks.

Plans for Day 6 (today):

• My morning snack: banana with peanut butter.
• Kid lunches packed: leftover pizza (without chicken for one kid); peas; apple slices. I added a piece of my daughter's Valentine's Day candy received at school yesterday to her lunch. 
• Eric's lunch: leftover mac and cheese, with more chicken and extra peas and corn added; apple; walnuts. Hard-boiled egg for snack.
• My lunch: chickpeas and frozen veggies with a bit of cheese and tomato sauce; maybe a grapefruit.
• Afternoon kid snack: pineapple cups again.
• Dinner: challah; black bean soup topped with a bit of cheese and chicken (for the kids I will deconstruct it and serve black beans, cheese, and chicken separately); green beans. 

Notes on tonight's Shabbat dinner: 

• No wine in the budget this week, so we'll use orange juice instead (just a bit since we're almost out of it). 
• I had thought about whether to economize more for the rest of the week to include something special for Shabbat dinner (e.g., saving the chicken for tonight or making a special dessert), but since everyone in our family likes challah so much and we usually don't eat bread with dinner, that's really the special treat for Shabbat every week. 

Other thoughts:

I've been especially glad for the popcorn I bought this week. I've been snacking on it a lot, and we've hardly made a dent in the 2-lb bag of kernels. 

I've been thinking about whether to retake the challenge (just myself) but limit my use of cooking utensils and equipment. It would be quite a different story to eat only what I could prepare with, say, a single burner or a hot plate. No microwave, no slow cooker, no coffee maker . . . perhaps just a can opener and one pot. If I did this, what do you think the rules should be? 

Challenge Week: Day Three

I posted "What Does the Challenge Prove?" today at the Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice Food Stamp Challenge participant blog. Please click on the link to check it out!

----

Here are the details on Day 3 (yesterday):

• My morning snack: carrots with peanut butter.
• Afternoon snack: banana bread that I brought to the meeting, and some for the kids at home too. (In the end, I "cheated" and used 3/4 tsp of my existing baking soda rather than risk an inedible result.)
• Dinner: Mac and cheese with added beans, chicken, and green beans; carrot sticks; grapefruit.

Lunches prepared for Day 4:

• Adults: mix of chickpeas, rice, and frozen broccoli, with a bit of pasta sauce on it; carrots; for Eric, walnuts and raisins. Eric's snack: a hard-boiled egg. 
• Kids: leftover mac and cheese (without the chicken for one kid), frozen corn, apple slices.

Eric recently had a work dinner scheduled for today that he has to attend, and it would be inappropriate for him not to eat there, so I am thinking of extending the challenge through Day 8 lunch to make up for it. 

I am also realizing that although we will definitely have enough food for the week, I misjudged a few quantities. I did not buy enough cereal and may be a bit low on fruit by the end of the week, and I have more canned tomatoes and pasta than we need. I will return some of the extra pasta and tomatoes to Target to pick up another box of cereal and maybe some more fruit, if I can afford it (maybe frozen fruit?). I was hoping to avoid this extra trip.

Objections to the Food Stamp Challenge: Part Two

In my last post, I wrote about some right-wing objections to the food stamp challenge. Here's one from the left—and my reaction to it.

Left-Wing Objections

A few days ago I came across this Daily Kos article, which objects to the food stamp challenge from a Foucaultian angle: Is the growing trend of both prominent and ordinary citizens undertaking the food stamp challenge actually reinforcing the power differential it was intended to address?

The Daily Kos writer compares the food stamp challenge to the sensitivity-training exercises conducted in university and corporate settings to encourage members of our society’s privileged classes to understand the barriers faced by others. The author argues that these exercises don’t give us an accurate picture of what it means to be poor in America, and—worse—if more and more people take the challenge and claim that it shows them what poverty is like, the result marginalizes the actual voice of the poor.  

While acknowledging that “[w]hen done right [these exercises] can make a person think outside of their comfort zone,” the writer calls the challenge “a moment of politically correct self-flagellation” and concludes with the hope that those who undertake the food stamp challenge and similar exercises “do not dare to consider themselves authorities on what it means to be poor in America. If so, the food stamp challenge and other such exercises, while well-intended, are actually reinforcing the systems of inequality and privilege they are ostensibly intending to overthrow and challenge” (emphasis mine).

Can We Take the Challenge without Claiming to Experience Poverty?

Certainly, the writer is correct that these exercises don’t give us an accurate picture of what it means to be poor in America (as I hope I’ve made clear throughout this blog, and as one person commented on the Daily Kos article while also mentioning the book Nickel and Dimed).

In this blog, I intend only to point out some food-related hurdles that many people of my socioeconomic status don’t normally think about in our daily lives. If I get one or two more people thinking about hunger—even just realizing they don’t understand what it’s like—then I’ve accomplished something.

Also, food stamp challenge participants are encouraged to donate the difference between their usual grocery spending and the challenge budget. If I take the challenge, and I find it’s quite manageable thanks to the nonmonetary advantages I acknowledge having (time, transportation, cooking knowledge, kitchen equipment, etc.), then why not do this once a year, or more often, and donate that sum each time? That way, I’d be putting that knowledge and those advantages—and all the extra time I’ve spent planning for the challenge this year—to good use. And what if everyone reading this did the same once a year, too?

As long as we realize we’re not truly experiencing poverty, and we don’t claim to speak for those who do, then is the challenge acceptable? Through this exercise, can we help to lessen the power differential in our society, not increase it?

Is the Challenge Disrespectful?

On the other hand, I've had a nagging doubt since the first days of considering the challenge: Is the challenge disrespectful of those who experience poverty for real?

I wrote the following draft on 1/29/13, along with the notes on the conservative objections from my last post, but did not publish it then. (Interestingly, both the Daily Kos writer and I compare the food stamp challenge to the exercises used to raise awareness of other people’s situations.)

Should I not take this challenge, out of respect for those who don’t have a choice about it? Or at least not be writing about it?

Let’s think about it this way.

Is it OK to do the game where you gather people around a table, then apportion a hundred grains of rice according to the worldwide division of resources among nations? That’s clearly a teaching tool. I can’t see any objection to it.

Would it be OK to blindfold oneself or limit the use of one’s legs for an entire week to learn about the situation of those with physical differences? That doesn’t seem right at all. It might come across as making fun of people, even if it wasn’t intended that way.

On the other hand, if attendees at a conference were told to, for example, close their eyes and attempt to write with their nondominant hand for ten minutes in order to understand other people’s situation, it would be a vivid example. I don’t see any problem with that one.

So is the duration the key? Ten minutes = OK, one week = not OK?

Or is it the nature of the example? Food insecurity can be changed. It’s not a permanent situation. It’s something that nobody should have to experience. And (I’m guessing, though even on this I could be wrong) it’s something nobody wants to claim as a part of their identity in the way that many in various disability communities choose to embrace their differences.

So, am I being respectful enough? Or am I actually—intentionally or not—trampling upon those whose situation I am imperfectly simulating, and in the process increasing the power gap between our positions in society, by “using” their situation to move toward an increased awareness of my own privilege?

Does it matter what I’m planning to do with the saved money at the end, or is this minor practical benefit (even if multiplied by encouraging others to do the same) outweighed by the negative risk of stifling the voice of those with less power in our society?

Does the hope of using my voice to “speak” on behalf of others, while not claiming to speak for them, mitigate this risk at all? Or am I still falling into the trap? Ultimately (as many have noted before me), how can we ever speak respectfully, even in the most general terms and with the best of intentions, about experiences other than our own?

Then I come back to the question: Is the act of writing about the challenge the problem? Should those who take the food stamp challenge do so only in private?

Objections to the Food Stamp Challenge: Part One

Not everyone agrees that the food stamp challenge is a good idea. Objections come from both sides of the political spectrum. This started out as a single post but quickly grew too long, so I'm breaking it into two parts. Here's the first.

Right-Wing Objections

A few weeks ago, when I was first considering the food stamp challenge, I came across this article from a clearly conservative-leaning source.

The article contains some interesting points, regardless of one’s political leaning: First, the challenge is a gimmick, not a realistic scenario. The writer notes that food stamp benefits were never intended to be the sole source of food for the week. Instead, as the name (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) implies, they were meant to be supplemental benefits, with food banks, free school lunches, and other programs making up the difference. The writer argues against “making martyrs out of” those who rely only on these benefits. 

Second, the writer suggests that by taking the challenge we are lauding those who use food stamps whereas we should be “applauding . . . those who work their way off them.” I would argue that “applauding” is the wrong word—I don’t think most people taking the challenge are doing it to praise those who live on the food stamp budget.

But I find the second point worth considering further, albeit from a liberal point of view: Should we be focusing on programs that help people work their way out of poverty rather than those that simply provide food benefits? (It’s the old “give someone a fish” versus “teach someone to fish” question.) Rather than donating to a food-related organization during this challenge, should the money we save go elsewhere? And would it make more sense to attempt for a week to live on minimum wage and/or find a job without relying on my existing qualifications, education, and connections? 

---

As I wrote that last question in a draft of this post, the book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (2001), in which the author recounts her attempts to live on minimum wage for a month in each of three US cities, came to mind. At that point, I stopped writing and reserved the book at the library. I’ve been reading it over the past week or so while preparing for and taking the challenge.

Although the author writes about much more than food, here's one sentence I keep thinking of while I'm cooking this week: "I [can't] see any expenses to cut. True, I haven't gone the lentil stew route yet, but that's because I don't have a large cooking pot, potholders, or a ladle to stir with" (p. 28).

Challenge Week: Day 2

Today's meals (except breakfast and lunch, which I wrote about yesterday): 

• My midmorning snack: apple (that was going to be part of my lunch) with peanut butter. 
• Afternoon snack for kids and me: a couple of leftover pancakes. 
• Dinner: Pasta with tomato sauce, tuna, chickpeas, and onion; broccoli; grapefruit.
• Snacks for Eric: raisins and walnuts this afternoon; salted chickpeas later tonight.

I soaked the chickpeas last night and cooked them in the slow cooker this morning. Without a slow cooker, this would not be possible for someone who is away at work all day. I could have soaked them yesterday and cooked them on the stove yesterday evening, but I was tired of cooking by then! 

Lunches prepared for tomorrow: 

• Kids: Leftover pasta, apple slices, and yogurt (or half a leftover pancake for the one who doesn't like yogurt). 
• Eric: Leftover pasta, raisins and walnuts, apple. 
• Me: Leftover beans, rice, peas, and corn, like yesterday. 

As I write this, a chicken is roasting in the oven. When it's done, I'll remove the meat from the bones for later meals and put the carcass into the slow cooker to make broth overnight. (Again, this could be cooked on the stove if one has a large pot, but having a slow cooker gives me more flexibility that not everyone has.) 

I will also bake banana bread tonight to take to the meeting I mentioned in my meal planning post. However, I forgot to buy baking soda, so I'll have to substitute baking powder and hope the result is edible.

So far, we're finding that we have plenty of food, but to make this work, I'm having to do a lot of extra cooking. It would be very hard for me to keep this up every week. 

Challenge Week: Day 1

Day 1 of the food stamp challenge is over. Here’s what I purchased this weekend to last us through the week, for a grand total of $114.24:

At Target:

At Woodman’s:

Complete lists are at the end of this post. A few notes on the shopping:

• You might notice that there is a LOT of pasta here. I had debated whether to buy it at Target or at Woodman’s, and by mistake, I bought it at both places! (If we end up with extra boxes of pasta at the end of the week, we’ll eat them eventually, or maybe I’ll donate them to Second Harvest in the spirit of the challenge.)
• After I got it all home, photographed, and put away, Eric asked, “I guess you’re not including the dog in the challenge, are you?” Hmm . . . I hadn’t even thought about the dog. No, her expensive prescription dog food was not included in my challenge budget. But that’s something else to think about, anyway: Not everyone who might enjoy the companionship of a pet can afford to feed one.
• As Rabbi Biatch of Temple Beth El noted in his post about shopping for healthy groceries, all of this shopping and planning requires access to the supermarket in the first place, while many people on limited incomes live in food deserts, without easy access to a full-service grocery store. To me, it seems that Madison’s Freshmobile (covered in this article in the Wisconsin State Journal) may offer one promising strategy to address this problem. While finding the link to post here, I learned that the Freshmobile is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. I’m adding it to my donation list.

Day One: Our Meals

• Breakfast: granola cereal mixed with plain puffed millet cereal to “stretch” it; milk; banana for Eric and 1/2 banana for each kid; coffee for the adults. Note: This will be our breakfast throughout the week.
• Morning snacks for kids were provided at religious school (supplied by parents on a rotating basis; I should have budgeted an allowance for this as I did for the preschool snacks, but since we came in about $1 under the total, that should take care of it) and Tots ’n’ Tunes (free food, but I’m not being so strict with the challenge as to not allow my kids to eat what the others are eating!).
• Lunch: whole wheat peanut-butter banana pancakes (some are left over for kid snacks and lunches later in the week); honey instead of syrup on the pancakes; one grapefruit sliced and divided up among us; water to drink.
• Afternoon snack for everyone: yogurt and apple slices.
• Dinner: “pockets” made with whole wheat pizza dough, stuffed with cheese, broccoli, and great northern beans and, for adults, seasoned with chili powder; mix of frozen corn and green beans; orange juice or water. Some pockets are left over for two school lunches and for Eric’s dinner on the run that he will have to eat on Wednesday.
• Evening “munchies” for grownups: plain popcorn (popped in a paper bag in the microwave).

All of these are things I've made before, but I don’t usually cook from scratch this much in one day!

Also, as I mentioned before, I will not be using our existing spices and condiments except salt, pepper, and possibly ketchup. (I purchased the chili powder at Woodman’s to make our meals this week more appetizing.) 

Packed Lunches for Monday

For the kids:

This is a leftover pocket, corn and peas (straight from the freezer, they thaw by lunchtime), and raisins and walnuts (raisins and popcorn for the other kid).

Eric and I will each have a mix of rice, beans, corn, and peas, seasoned with salt, pepper, and chili powder; an apple; and, for Eric, yogurt. Fortunately, he has a refrigerator and a microwave available at work. (Not everyone does, which would make lunch packing more difficult or would mean resorting to PB&J.)

Grocery Shopping Details

Target:

diced tomatoes, 4 cans	$1.22 each (minus one coupon for $1 off)
brown rice, three 1-lb bags	$0.92 ea
100% whole wheat pasta, 4 boxes	$1.17 ea
pasta sauce, 2 jars	$2.49 ea
coffee	$2.99
cereal	$3.29 (minus one coupon for $1 off)
yeast (3 packets)	$1.14
banana chips (this will be one child’s class snack contribution)	$1.39
walnuts, 8 oz bag	$3.84
vegetable oil [note: olive oil was not within the budget!]	$1.92
(credit for bringing 2 of my own bags)	(0.10)

Target total: $29.77

Woodman's:

black beans, two 1-lb bags	$1.39 ea
raisins, organic, 15 oz	$2.65
100% whole wheat pasta, 3 bags (16 oz versus Target’s 13.25 oz)	$1.59 ea
puffed millet cereal	$1.29
lentils, 1 lb	$0.99
great northern beans, 1 lb	$0.95
Hodgson Mill 100% whole wheat mac and cheese, 3 boxes	$1.59 ea
chickpeas (garbanzos), 1 lb	$1.29
whole wheat flour, 5 lb	$3.69
honey, 12 oz	$3.09
chili powder	$0.89
chunk light tuna, two 6.4-oz pouches	$2.39 ea
popcorn kernels, 2 lb	$1.59
baking powder	$1.09
peanut butter, 12 oz	$2.69
chicken, “Just Bare” brand, whole, 4 lb	$6.99
carrots, organic, 2 lb	$1.69
apples, Braeburn organic, 3 lb	$3.49
3 small yellow onions	$0.31
5 grapefruit	$0.40 ea
avocado	$0.69
19 bananas ($0.45/lb)	$2.99
eggs, organic	$3.69
milk, 2 half gallons of 2% (they didn’t sell gallons of the nonorganic but rBGH-free milk I wanted) and 1 half gallon of 1%	$2.19 ea
cheese (rBGH-free monterey jack)	$6.92
frozen broccoli, two 1-lb bags	$1.09 ea
frozen corn, two 1-lb bags	$1.09 ea
frozen green beans, organic, 1 lb	$2.29
frozen peas, 1 lb	$1.09
frozen orange juice concentrate, 16 oz	$1.79
yogurt, 32 oz vanilla (rBGH-free)	$2.79 (minus a coupon for $0.50)

Woodman’s total: $84.47

Grand total: $114.24 

(The remaining $2 goes toward my budgeted amount for school snacks that are provided by parents on a rotating basis.)

4 Grocery Stores, 5 Hours, 1 Spreadsheet, and a Headache

I spent about 5 hours last weekend comparing grocery prices for our food stamp challenge week, which begins Feb. 10. I didn’t think this task would take nearly so long, or I wouldn’t have started it.

Of course, in real life, few people on a limited income would have the time or inclination to do such a detailed comparison. Clearly they wouldn’t go to four grocery stores in one weekend, as I did.

I ruled out Metcalfe’s and Copps from the start, based on prior observations of prices for items I typically buy. Whole Foods (“Whole Paycheck,” as I’ve heard it called) would clearly be out of reach. I usually pick up a few items at Trader Joe’s every couple of months, but it’s less convenient geographically. So that left Aldi, Woodman’s, Target—and Willy West, where I typically do most of my shopping.

For the challenge, I decided to limit myself to two stores. (For someone on food stamps, even going to more than one store might be impossible due to time constraints or transportation costs.)

The Goals

Before going further, I should clarify what I mean by wanting to eat mostly real, unprocessed foods. Normally, we try* to eat the following:

1. whole grains
2.  no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives
3. organic meat, dairy, eggs, fruits, and vegetables (or items free of antibiotics and hormones and low in pesticides even if not certified organic)

*Note: We’re not fanatical about these rules. We even eat at McDonald’s once in a while.

On the food stamp challenge, the first two goals should be manageable, I hope. As for the third, chef Mario Batali quickly noted that organics didn’t fit his own food stamp challenge budget. With a quick estimate of weekly costs, I found the same thing.

So for the challenge, I won’t be buying organic for most items. I still want to attempt to buy meat and dairy products that are antibiotic and hormone free. I also want to avoid nonorganic produce on the Dirty Dozen list. That will probably mean not buying much of those items this week!

Warning: The rest of this post is extremely detailed and geeky. Feel free to skip to the conclusion if you want. 

Comparison Shopping

I started the comparison with Aldi. I had never shopped there but had heard of its low prices. I went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. While the selection was limited, my note taking was easy: prices were clearly posted on large signs, and only one brand of each item was offered, generally the Aldi store brand. Unfortunately, many items on my list were not available.

Next I headed to Woodman’s, also known locally for its low prices (to keep costs down, no credit cards are accepted) and vast selection. The store itself is overwhelming. Eric shopped there once and vowed never to set foot in it again. I lasted a few more times before finally giving up on it last summer. But I knew this wouldn’t be a valid attempt at the challenge without including Woodman’s.

When I emerged 90 minutes later, I had a headache and was more confused than ever.   

The next day, I went to Target and then did my usual weekly shopping at Willy West, noting prices for the items on my challenge list. At Target, I was pleasantly surprised by the prices on many items, although some items I wanted were not sold there.

Back home, I organized and compared my notes.

The Spreadsheet

Before I did the analysis, I thought I would end up shopping at Target and Willy West. I was feeling optimistic that the staples in the Willy West bulk aisle would be cheap enough, with the 10% discount offered to people in financial need, to counteract the store’s generally higher prices. But the numbers showed otherwise.

In a spreadsheet (yes, I was that obsessive about it, and no, most people wouldn’t do this, of course), I listed the items and their prices, with a column for each store. I noted package sizes and adjusted the prices where needed—keeping in mind that I would have to buy one discrete package of something even if it contains 9 oz in one store and 8 oz in another.

Then I highlighted in yellow the best option for each item.

The color bars balanced pretty evenly between Aldi, Woodman’s, and Target. Willy West only got three “wins”: frozen organic green beans (on the Dirty Dozen list, but reasonably priced when frozen), thanks to a sale; organic eggs (thanks to the 10% discount, which pushed it slightly lower than Woodman’s); and canned tuna in a BPA-free can (compared to the Starkist tuna pouches elsewhere, since I wanted to avoid cans that might have BPA).

I was still confused, so I looked at the list another way. How could I get all my desired items by shopping at only two stores?

• At Aldi and Target, I would not be able to get dried chickpeas, rBGH-free yogurt, organic raisins (grapes are in the Dirty Dozen), and antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken.
• At Aldi and Woodman’s, or at Woodman’s and Target, I would be able to get all my items, except I would pay more for the eggs and milk I want than at Willy West.

Granted, some of the items from Willy West would be higher quality. For example, bananas, dried beans, and popcorn kernels are available only as organics. For a person committed to eating nearly all organic food, even on a limited income, Willy might be the best option. But otherwise, I would be paying more for things I had decided to accept as nonorganic.  

Conclusion

In any case, I think it’s settled: I’ll have to brave Woodman’s again.

As for the second store,  it’s a toss-up between Aldi and Target. I calculated that Aldi would be about $0.50 less than Target in total. (Although some items were much cheaper there, by going to Aldi instead of Target I would miss out on some other items that are cheaper at Target than Woodman’s.) Yet that advantage isn't clear-cut since $0.50 is within the margin of error of my estimates. 

Finally, I also estimated that I would spend $7 to $10 more to do all my shopping at Woodman’s, avoiding a trip to Aldi or Target. That difference would push me over the weekly budget. If I had limited time or transportation, as someone on food stamps might, I’d have to do all my shopping at one store. In that case, I would have to forgo some items on my list in order to afford the others.

And of course, most people—on food stamps or not—would not have the time or inclination to do this comparison at all. If you’ve even read this far, thank you! My next post will be less geeky, I promise. 

Preparing for the Challenge: My Post at the Food Stamp Challenge Site

The organizers of the Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice food stamp challenge have a blog for participants to share their experiences. I posted over there today about preparing for the challenge. Please click on the link and check it out!

One Correction

In response to my first post, the challenge organizer, Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, emailed me about the budget for kids:

“Just one note of clarification - the $116.28 monthly allocation is per adult in the household.  If your family was actually applying for SNAP benefits, there are calculations you would go through based on family income, assets, number of people and ages of the people in your household, and then what your family's expected monthly contribution toward your food budget would be.  Basically, if you multiply the $116.28 times 4, or the weekly $29.07 times 4, you would get a good approximation of what your monthly or weekly SNAP benefit would be for the whole family.”

Therefore, to be accurate, I am adding the word “approximately” to the challenge description in the sidebar of this site.

In fact, I had wondered about the kids’ allowance when first considering the food stamp challenge: the guidelines said $29.07 per person without mentioning age. Even if the SNAP amount for kids would actually be lower, we reasoned that it could be balanced out by free school breakfasts and lunches as well as other benefits such as WIC, making $29.07 an acceptable approximation. 

Meal Planning Woes

Last night I spent an hour and a half planning our meals for the food stamp challenge week. That's in addition to the 15 minutes I previously spent on it when we first considered the challenge.

And I'm not quite done yet. I need to do some price comparison at various stores and then make a few revisions based on the results. I also realized I left out a crucial item: after-school snacks. Plus, I have a meeting next week where bringing food would be a nice gesture and might increase productivity. I have to fit that into the plan somehow. (Note: Eric thinks this should be outside of the budget because realistically, someone on food stamps would not choose to bring food to this meeting.)

Normally, when I plan our dinners for each week, it takes me about 30-45 minutes, including making a grocery list, which I haven't yet finished for this week.

Here's the difference: on such a tight budget, I have to plan everything. Every breakfast, every lunch, every snack. Normally, I plan the dinners, then just pick up our usual staples: bread, cheese, yogurt, hummus, tortillas, cream cheese, bananas, other fruit, cereal, milk. And I only plan out the veggies for about 50 percent of our dinners. For the rest, I just buy what's on sale or in season.

That approach usually works fine. I've gotten pretty good at estimating our weekly food needs. Occasionally I end up with too much, and other times I need to make a midweek stop for extra or forgotten items.

This week, there's no room for error. For this to work, every mouthful has to be planned in advance.

If I were working two jobs to make ends meet, I probably wouldn't have the time or energy to do this kind of planning. Certainly not every week. And if I did have the time, I would have to wonder about the best way to spend it: meal planning, or moonlighting to bring in more money, or studying to improve my job qualifications, or even just relaxing after a stressful week of living paycheck to paycheck.

Rules and Exceptions

Here are the official food stamp challenge guidelines:

1. Each person should spend a set amount for food and beverages during the Challenge week. That amount is $29.07 for all food and beverage for the week.
2. All food purchased and eaten during the Challenge week, including fast food and dining out, must be included in the total spending.
3. During the Challenge, only eat food that you purchase for the project. Do not eat food that you already own (this does not include spices and condiments).
4. Avoid accepting free food from friends, family, or at work, including at receptions, briefings, or other events where food is served.
5. Keep track of receipts on food spending and take note of your experiences throughout the week.
6. Invite others to join you, including co-workers, reporters, chefs, or other elected officials.

Source: “Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice Invites You to Take the Food Stamp Challenge!” http://wisconsinfaithvoicesforjustice.org/Food-Stamp-Challenge.php

In fact, I’m planning to do a few things differently.

First, a person using SNAP benefits would be unlikely to have amassed our current collection of spices. So I’m going to try to limit the use of our existing spices and condiments to salt and pepper—and maybe ketchup for the kids.

Second, it would be unfair to expect our children not to partake in the classroom snacks at school.

For our son’s preschool, families take turns buying the weekly snack groceries. I estimate that the items typically can be purchased for roughly $20 to $25 and that we provide snack about 2 times per school year. As an approximation of our weekly contribution, I will subtract $1 from our food allowance for his snacks.

Snacks for our daughter’s elementary school class are provided on a less formal basis. Parents contribute snack items whenever they want to (if they can), and when supplies are getting low, the teacher sends home a note requesting more. To contribute our fair share, I will try to purchase one snack item within our budget this week.

The related question of school lunches is open to debate. Some buy school lunch outside of the challenge budget under the logic that households receiving SNAP benefits would also be eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. In our case, I’m going to include our daughter’s homemade school lunches in the challenge budget because (a) it’s not her usual routine to buy hot lunch every day, (b) I believe the lunches we pack are generally healthier than the school lunches, and (c) I have to pack our son’s lunches anyway.

Finally, I’m going to keep track of how much time I spend on feeding our family this week, apart from blogging about it. I have a feeling the total time will be much greater than someone living on a minimum-wage job (or jobs) would have available. I’m also going to note whenever I do food-related tasks at times of the day that are convenient for me but would likely be impossible for others.

One more note: Participants are also advised to donate the difference between the challenge budget and their typical weekly grocery spending to a hunger-related organization. We will be donating ours to Second Harvest.

  

What do you think of the guidelines and my variations on them? And more importantly, will you join us in the challenge?