Monday, November 18, 2013

Shopping without the stress


Good Foods Market & Cafe
One week after starting my challenge, I got to go back to the grocery store. No calculators, no intricate menu plans, no worrying, no stress. I carried out my regular routine of planning out a few dinner ideas and then making a shopping list on Sunday. That night, I had restocked our shelves with the food hidden away upstairs and incorporated the few items I had left from last week. Our shelves were looking much better, and I was looking forward to filling them even more.

Dinners this week are planned to include that chickpea, red lentil, and squash stew; refried bean tacos on corn tortillas with cheese, scallions, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, and cilantro; meat and bean chili; and our usual Friday night pizza.  I also wanted to make some granola, pumpkin muffins, cornbread, and chicken stock.

Normally as I said in my first post, I divide my shopping between Kroger and Good Foods.  I get the bulk of our food at Kroger and reserve the dairy, meat, some bulk items, and eggs for Good Foods.  I decided to see what would happen (how much money I would spend) if I only shopped at Good Foods.  Skip over the next part if you don't want the details:

.92lbs of ground beef  $5.51
Cured Smoked Bacon  $7.49
Organic sour cream  $1.49
JD Farms Skim Milk  $3.99
French Vanilla yogurt  $4.49
Banilla yogurt  $4.49
Tortilla chips  $4.49
Pepperoni 5oz  $3.99
Paul Newman Fig Newtons  $3.29
Mini wheat pita breads  $1.99
15oz organic pumpkin puree  $1.50
Corn tortillas $2.19
Salsa  $2.50
Ground nutmeg  $3.60
Ground cumin seed  $0.63
Chili powder  $0.77
Organic Thompson raisins  $2.55
Sweetened carob chips  $1.40
Pecan halves  $1.67
Sunflower seeds  $0.87
Pumpkin seeds  $2.64
Sweetened banana chips  $0.60
Organic red kidney beans  $1.72
Dry roasted almonds  $4.75
Cane sugar  $1.64
Roasted VA peanuts  $2.43
Jalapeno  $0.45
Organic broccoli  $11.37
Coffee  $8.90
Pepper Jack NutThins  $2.29
Annie's Cheddar Bunnies  $4.29
Raw unfiltered honey  $5.13
Carrots $2.50
Bartlett pears  $3.08
Local apples  $12.04
Super Green salad mix  $3.99
Organic celery  $0.79
Organic red grapes  $8.13
Organic cilantro  $2.49
Organic peppers  $5.81
Tomatoes  $2.91
Baby carrots $2.00
Button mushrooms  $0.66
Organic yellow onion  $1.04
Organic green onions $0.99
Organic cucumber  $2.67
Green beans  $0.79
Organic bananas  $2.91

Grand total:  $162.40

That is obviously more than the $139 I would have had to spend on SNAP.  I am grateful for those extra $23.40.  Do I think I could have cut out that much from the above bill?  Undoubtedly.  That $11.37 I spent on organic broccoli is totally unnecessary (kind of takes my breath away truthfully).  There were cheaper veggies to buy.  I also could have skipped the NutThins and the Annie's Cheddar Bunnies.  I could survive without that bacon.  The tortilla chips are a luxury and not really all that good for me.  That gets me pretty close to $23.40.

Am I glad though that I could spend that extra money without worrying too much about it?  Absolutely.   I am fortunate enough to have the time, energy, and resources to provide my family with the food I choose.  So much divides me from the true single mothers who struggle to provide for their families on SNAP benefits, but I think we share the desire to provide the best we can for our children.  I can only imagine the frustration and stress of not being able to.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Day 7: Food

We have made it to the last day. I am relieved.

For breakfast, James and Clare started out with some cereal and then also added on some warmed up pancakes from yesterday, which Nora and I were eating as well. Josh had some yogurt, a pancake, and a banana.

At church the kids had a doughnut each and some chocolate milk. The church provides doughnuts every Sunday. It bugs me personally that they do and that my children eat one each week. But I'm not about to make my kids be the one group of kids who do not get to eat them, and I'm also not about to attempt to take down the church's tradition. Unless of course a bunch of other people joined me?!

I came home and had a banana.  I'm sure Josh had something too, but I don't know what that was.  Probably an apple since he already had a banana.

For lunch, the children made themselves this odd mix of foods they called "trail mix".  It had cereal, cheese chunks, and peanuts.  They thought it was so fun.  They also had grapes and apples.  I had the last bit of hoppin' john with Sriracha, a thick slice of cheese, and a thick slice of bread.  Josh had bread, cheese, and olives.

Josh headed back up to MI about 1pm and back to the land of eating whatever you want.

For snack, the kids had more apples and more bananas.  I had the last of the cottage cheese and celery.  I made some yeast rolls to go with tomorrow night's dinner.  There was a bit of dough leftover that wouldn't fit on the cookie sheet.  I divided it up into 3 parts and cooked it in the toaster oven.  So they also had miniature rolls for snack.

For dinner, we actually headed back to church for pizza served following an advent wreath making event.  Since we were missing the last meal of our challenge, I prepared what we would have eaten to show you what we had left for our final meal should we had eaten at home.  It's a chickpea, red lentil, and squash stew, and there are those yeast rolls to go with them.  We'll eat it tomorrow night instead.











And here is what we have left for this week (and items I would presumably not have to buy next week):


  • one egg
  • 5 clementines
  • 1/2 of a 1/2 gallon of milk
  • 1/2 jar of peanut buter
  • 3 - 4 cups of dried oats
  • 1/2 package of dried milk
  • 1/2 bag of popcorn
  • 2 bananas
  • 1/2 jar of honey
  • 3 granola bars
  • 3 - 4 tortillas
  • 1/2 bag of white flour
  • 1/2 bag of wheat flour
  • 2 cups of black eyed peas

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Day 6: Food



Saturday!  My favorite day of the week especially when we have very little planned to do.

For breakfast, I made the kids oatmeal pancakes with cinnamon.  These are incredibly delicious, and there is always enough batter left over to make some pancake muffins for the girls' lunchboxes during the week. 

Josh made the grown-ups an omelet with cheddar cheese, cilantro, yellow pepper, and onion.  We had thick slices of bread as toast.  It was delicious.

As a mid-morning snack, the kids each pilfered one of the pancake mini muffins, and Clare and James had an apple each.

It is at this point that we allowed the kids to deviate from the rules of the challenge.  James's school, Fayette Co-operating Preschool, was having its Fall Fling.  This is one of the school's major fundraisers, and it's lots of fun.  Since this is our last year in Co-op, no one wanted to miss out.  So we went and let the kids get all kinds of junk food:  pizza, juice boxes, cupcakes, cookies, and popcorn.  They were quite pleased.  The grown-ups passed up the sushi bar to honor the challenge and instead went home to eat leftovers of pizza, hoppin' john, enchilada casserole, and mac n' cheese.  I also had a bunch of carrots and celery and an apple afterward.  I do not doubt that the sushi would have been much tastier.


We then went to Whole Foods to get supplies for our grown-up Saturday night dinner.  We spent $13.99 on bread, olives, Brussels sprouts, apples, and bananas.  We pulled out a frozen whole chicken leftover from our CSA bounty of the summer.  A comparable bird cost about $13 at Whole Food, so all told we spent another $26.99 on top of the $106 we had already spent.  I think that puts us at about $133 for the entire week leaving us a few dollars under my SNAP goal of $139.50.

The kids had some banilla yogurt for a snack.  I'm guessing that Josh snacked throughout the day as well (he's always hungry), but I did not monitor his intake that carefully.

For dinner, the kids had cheese quesadillas with a refried-bean-like concoction I made out of the leftover black-eyed peas and onions.  They didn't seem to mind it.  I also cut up a whole yellow pepper for them as a side.  Between dinner and bed, Clare stole some of our bread and handed out a granola bar to each child.  James also had a banana.

Before dinner, Josh and I munched on olives and bread that had a side of olive oil for dipping. Our actual dinner was incredibly delicious.  Josh roasted the chicken and served it with an onion and parsley sauce.  He also steamed some Brussels sprouts and then crisped them up in some olive oil in a frying pan.  I roasted the butternut squash that we never used and drizzled balsamic vinegar over it.  All the flavors together were excellent!

When we were watching a movie later, Josh made a huge batch of popcorn on the stove in canola oil.  We ate every last kernel.  Yum.

Now on to the last day...

The fallacy of my challenge

A large percentage of households on SNAP benefits are led by single mothers.  Because of my family's peculiar circumstances this semester (my husband is working in MI while the kids and I live down in KY), I have been doing this challenge pretending to be a single mother.  Right there a problem unfolds:  pretending to be a single mother has very little to do with being a real single mother. 

Here are some of the realities a single mother mother might face:
  • Managing a single income without someone at home to complete the daily chores.  Always being the go-to-person.
  • Lack of time and energy.  I can dedicate my afternoons to cooking bread or pizza dough, preparing fresh meals, and carefully planning grocery lists because I am not the primary bread winner; my husband is.  A single mom is going to be working all day (if she's lucky) and then have to figure out a way to feed her children every night.  When is she going to fix those meals?  I guess she could wake up at about 5am to do that.  Would you want to?
  • Shopping with all of her children.  I sometimes take all 3 of my children, but usually I have at most 1 in tow.  That's James.  I get him a package of trail mix and a drink box of chocolate milk from Starbucks in Kroger.  He happily sits in the cart, slurping and munching away.  At times he asks me for food he sees, and I have the energy to say "No".  Mothers working all day, desperate to get home and keep the kids reasonable. might just give in to whatever the kids ask for including sugary cereal, junk food, soda, and whatever else is purposefully put at children's eye sight.  
  • A relentless reality.  Everyday is just about getting by.  Trying to make sure the kids make it to school and make it home.  Making sure they get their homework done and their reading logs filled out.  Making sure dinner is on the table and no one goes to bed hungry.  The number of fruits and vegetables they eat might seem irrelevant.  The ingredients in their food might seem irrelevant as long as they have food. 
  • Dealing with a child who has to stay at home because s/he is sick.  Taking a pay cut because the single mother has to stay at home to take care of a sick child, resulting in a loss of grocery money.
  • Constant feelings of stress when confronting the reality of her situation.  Feelings of entrapment.
  • Loneliness.  No one with whom to share the joys and sorrows of parenting.
  • Constant lack of cash flow.  Guilty feelings of not being able to provide for your kids what other kids have.
  • Hard choices.  Food or medicine.  Food or bills.  Doing what you can to make life better for everyone, but everyday is hard.
  • Guilt.  You know all the other kids in your child's class are sent in with snack but you have nothing to give your child each morning.
  • Unpredictability.  Maybe a single mom's job has hours that change schedule to schedule, making it impossible to schedule regular daycare.  Or maybe a single mom has a job that makes it necessary to work on holidays when it's hard to find childcare.  
I won't be able to come up with all the realities a single mom faces because they are too real and too serious.  I can't just imagine them.  All I can do is say that I hope my challenge does not seem presumptuous.  I hope it does not seem like I'm making light of a real single mother's situation.  I'm doing what I can.  And I, as can everyone, can always do more.

Day 5: Food

We're all 5 under one roof for the weekend, so Josh gets to join in on the SNAP Challenge fun.  He is overall supportive and willing to join in as long as he can have his normal weekend booze. Fair enough. 

For breakfast, the kids had cereal or oatmeal.  Josh hadn't quite plugged into our cupboard situation when he asked James what kind of cereal he wanted for breakfast.  I suppose I could have bought two kinds of non-organic cereal for the one box of the organic cereal I did buy, but in general around here, there aren't too many choices.  Josh had oatmeal, and I had toast with peanut butter and honey.  I took a chance and had a banana too.  I'm fairly certain we'll be able to buy some more to get us through the weekend with the money we have left. 

Funny moment when Josh tasted the coffee:  He made a face and exclaimed, "What is wrong with this coffee?".  Someone has obviously not been reading the blog carefully.

Clare took a banana for her working snack.  Nora had a field trip to the Lexington Children's Theater and needed to bring a snack and lunch to school.  I made her some popcorn for snack and her lunch consisted of a peanut butter and honey sandwich, an apple cut up into slices, and yellow pepper. 

James ate on and off the entire morning.  He's not generally a snacker, so I'm not sure what was going on.  He had popcorn, an apple, and a banana.

For lunch, James and I went up to Picadome to dine with Clare.  Clare had pepperoni pizza, corn, mixed salad with ranch, canned peaches, a cookie, and chocolate milk.  I spent $1.00 on getting James some food too.  He chose chocolate milk, applesauce, and a cookie.  Quite a lunch!!  Josh and I ate at home.  He had a mixture of the three leftovers in the frig:  hoppin' john, enchilada casserole, and mac n' cheese.  I had hoppin' john doused with Sriracha sauce again followed up by a few carrots to cut the heat in my mouth.

That afternoon, I made pizza dough for that night's dinner and another loaf of bread.

After school, Nora ended up having a friend walk home with us.  I was slightly apprehensive to have another mouth to feed mostly because I had so little to offer, but it seemed worth the trouble.  They had, you'll never guess, popcorn as a snack.  I made Clare a hard boiled egg with a big piece of bread to get her ready for her 3 hour gymnastics practice.  She then took a granola bar and a whole apple cut up for her mid-practice snack.  James also had a granola bar at some point in the afternoon.  I had almost thought we were going to make it through the week without having to open up that box, but not quite.  I was a little disappointed about that because I don't really think of them as the best snack.  They're Quaker Chewy 90 Calorie Low Fat Chocolate Chunk Granola Bars.  They have a lot of ingredients:

GRANOLA (WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS, BROWN SUGAR, CRISP RICE [RICE FLOUR, SUGAR, SALT, MALTED BARLEY EXTRACT], WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED WHEAT, SOYBEAN OIL, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, SODIUM BICARBONATE, SOY LECITHIN, CARAMEL COLOR, NONFAT DRY MILK), CORN SYRUP, BROWN RICE CRISP (WHOLE GRAIN BROWN RICE, SUGAR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, SALT), SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE CHUNKS (SUGAR, CHOCOLATE LIQUOR, COCOA BUTTER, SOY LECITHIN, VANILLIN [AN ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR]), SUGAR, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, GLYCERIN, INVERT SUGAR.CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF SOYBEAN OIL, SORBITOL, FRUCTOSE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SALT, SOY LECITHIN, MOLASSES, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, WATER, CREAMED COCONUT, BHT (PRESERVATIVE), CITRIC ACID.

My rule is generally that the fewer ingredients the better, and I need to be able to pronounce them.  I'm just now noticing that there is artificial flavoring.  On the front of the box, it clearly says "FLAVOR WITH OTHER NATURAL FLAVORS".  No mention of artificial flavoring, which usually they admit to on the front of the box, although maybe that is what the first "FLAVOR" refers to.  I try to stay away from artificial flavoring, although I recently made the mistake of looking into natural flavoring.  Not much better really.  Sometimes ignorance is bliss.  You might also check out the Food Labeling Chaos report released by the Center for Science in the Public Interest unless you'd really rather just not.

I had Nora's leftover apple slices for my afternoon snack.  As I mentioned on Facebook, apparently one is not above that when trying to survive on SNAP benefits.

For dinner, we had pizza.  "Ninjun Turtle" boy helped me:


The dough was from the breadmaker (water, salt, oil, whole wheat flour, unbleached white flour, and yeast).  I used the left over tomato sauce from the enchilada casserole.  It wasn't quite as flavorful as a true pizza sauce, but it did the job.  One pizza was just mozzarella, and the other had mozzarella and pepperoni.  That pepperoni has absolutely nothing to do with local, natural meats.  I checked the ingredient list and was sorry I did.  But it only cost $1 as opposed to the $4 all natural pepperoni sold at Whole Foods.  Those $3 might matter.
Final products:
We ate all but 2 pieces between the 6 of us (the friend stayed for dinner).  I don't know about anyone else, but I woke up starving at about 2am.  Just had to rollover and go back to sleep.

Josh and I also had some beer and wine with dinner and afterward.  It was the first money I had spent all week.  I meant to get through all 7 days, but I'm feeling OK about my 4 1/2.


Thursday, November 14, 2013

Day 4: Food

Things got pretty wild and crazy around here at breakfast time. The girls took a stand on the oatmeal and instead went for toast with peanut butter, honey, and banana.  That is one of my all time favorite breakfasts.  Clare loves it so much that she took a big hunk out of the bread before I could even take the picture (see piece on left).  James stuck with cereal, and you'll never guess what I had.  Oatmeal.  No banana.  No fruit at all in fact.  Very unusual for me.

I sent Clare off to school with a cup of grapes for her mid-morning snack, and James says he was offered hard boiled eggs, pretzels, and cheese at Co-op.  Usually there is a fruit or a vegetable, but he was adamant that only those 3 choices were offered.  He only ate the pretzels.  Strange child has a thing about eggs.  I keep offering them hoping he'll change his mind.  He hasn't.

It was the Thanksgiving Feast today at Picadome.  I was able to have lunch with Nora (but did not take a picture today).  She had turkey with gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, chocolate milk, and some colored ice cream.  I think it said it was "Fall Festival Ice Cream".  She ate about 2/3 of the stuffing square and all of the sweet potatoes and ice cream.  She put in a good effort on the turkey, but she said it had too many fatty parts.  I thought there were parts that were a suspect color.  Clare was hoping to have the ham option, but they had run out by the time she ate.  She had turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, apples, ice cream, and chocolate milk.  She thought it was all delicious, the gravy in particular.

James had peanut butter balls and carrots.  I had a peanut butter sandwich.  

For snack, Nora ate a granola bar at school provided by her running group.  James and Clare had popcorn and banilla yogurt (that would be a vanilla and banana flavored yogurt).  While I normally do Mark Bittman's Vegan Before 6 program on weekdays, today I just couldn't bring myself to eat more popcorn.  So instead I had some cottage cheese leftover from the macaroni supplies with celery.  It hit the spot.

After Nora's running group, we headed to the library to get the kids away from the house.  I decided that would help alleviate anyone asking for food.  You see, under normal circumstances, my middle daughter eats non-stop from 3 until bedtime if she can.  She has one snack after another after another after another until you think she can't possibly eat anymore and then she has even more.  My sister says she must need it or she would gain weight, but because you can distract her from eating, I'm not so sure.  She hasn't been asking as much this week, but still, activity is good.

Dinner was a depressing affair.  We pulled out all 3 leftovers:  baked mac n' cheese, hoppin' john, and the enchilada casserole.  James had the hoppin' john, Clare had some man n' cheese and enchilada, Nora had some enchilada, and I had a big serving of the mac n' cheese.  I can't speak for the other dishes, but I can say that the mac n' cheese did not keep well.  I do not shy from leftovers;  in fact, I am all about a dish being better the next day with a little time to meld all those flavors together.  This just brought out the frozen spinach taste.  I had to pull out the Sriracha and douse the bowl.  Then my mouth was on fire, and I couldn't taste anything.  The kids ate their servings of the other foods, but obviously no one was excited.

That led to many after dinner snacks.  We all shared about 2 cups of grapes.  Clare and James had a clementine.  Nora had some yogurt with peanuts.  Then Clare and Nora both had a slice of cheese, and James had a banana (leaving us with 6).  James finished the night off with his cup of milk at bedtime.

Josh comes home tonight.  We head into the weekend tomorrow.  I'm feeling like we're in a good spot.  We have plenty of breakfast, lunch, and dinner food.  There's coffee, albeit disgusting coffee (is no coffee better than disgusting coffee?).  We should have enough fruits and veggies for most of us, and I'm remembering that we have about $30 left to spend.  Whatever we lack, we just might be able to buy.  Speaking of which, besides the money I spent on groceries (and the money I paid my babysitters, which I'm not counting), I have made it 4 days without spending any money. 

Clarification on my comment about meat


I made a comment on the previous post about not being happy that the girls were eating ground meat at school.  I thought I should comment about that.  It doesn't necessarily have to do with SNAP benefits, although it certainly would be more difficult for an individual on benefits to buy anything but the cheapest meat, but I'll dedicate a few words to it nonetheless.
Several years ago, I watched the documentary Food, Inc.  This documentary addresses the "highly mechanized underbelly" of the US's food industry, which is controlled by a handful of corporations they argue are more concerned with profit than health.   The first part of the film covers the meat industry, while the second part examines the industrial production of grains and vegetables by corporations such as Monsanto.  Both segments are compelling, but the meat part should make anyone think, particularly a parent.  
It tells the story of a mother on a crusade to improve food safety after her 2-year-old son dies from E. coli poisoning from a hamburger.  Her family had gone camping and eaten hamburger patties.  Within days, the son was hospitalized and deathly ill.  He died after his kidneys failed.  Watching her tell her story and then seeing the images of the slaughter houses, of chickens too large to walk, of cows eating feed pumped with toxic chemicals, and of the environmental devastation of waste run-off from factory farms was a sobering experience.  Those images popped into my head every time I picked up a package of regular ground beef or chicken at the grocery store, and eventually I made the change to only buying local meat raised under humane conditions from our food co-op.
Can a single mom with three children on SNAP benefits afford natural meats from animals grown on local farms without any antibiotics, steroid, or hormones?  I don't know what the typical price difference is, but I would guess that it would be enough to make choosing the natural meats hard to justify.  Already a greater percentage of her income is being dedicated to food when compared to people of more average income, and anyway, there is no guarantee that the place where she shops carries natural meats.  They are becoming more common, although I'm not sure Walmart sells them (I did not see evidence on their website and despite being from NW Arkansas, I avoid Walmart like the plague).  Schools also cannot in general afford anything but the cheapest meats as well.  I applaud all the efforts that the National School Lunch Program has made towards improving the quality of the food served, but there is still a cash flow problem.  It is not a profitable business, and those food service managers have to do the best they can with very little.  If more kids (including my own children I should add) bought school lunch, there would be more money for the managers to spend.  As is, there is not.
It's obviously a complicated issue where health is definitely sacrificed to profit.  Watch the movie, but be warned, it may change you. 

 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Day 3: Food

We ate more today. All of us. Myself included.

For breakfast, Nora and James had generous bowls of Cascadian Farm Honey Nut Os.  Clare had oatmeal.  Today, because it seems like we're going to have leftover oats, I had her use the 1/2 cup to measure out the oats instead of the 1/3 cup.  I was hoping that if she got some extra calories in this morning that maybe she wouldn't request her normal amount of snacks.  I also had oatmeal, but I skipped the banana (we're down to 8).  I did have a small bowl full of frozen grapes instead.

I also had my usual cups of coffee.  I have been called a coffee snob before, but I have also met some true coffee snobs that make me look not all that serious.  Nonetheless, I undoubtedly am very displeased with my Meijer brand whole beans.  I generally like my coffee strong and black, but this stuff is too nasty to drink strong.  I usually put in one more scoop of whole beans to grind than cups of water in the pot, but with this coffee, I have to use one less to get it down.  The coffee situation is one I would have to remedy were I to have to do this long term.

I have forgotten to mention the past 2 days what snack I have packed with Clare for her mid-morning snack at school.  Her class does not eat lunch until 11:40.  She eats breakfast at about 7:00.  That means there is close to 5 hours between when she eats breakfast and when she eats lunch.  You may be thinking that we didn't get snack when we were in elementary school and survived, but I for one am grateful her teacher lets them have a "working snack" because I don't think 7 year olds should go that long without some sort of nourishment.  Her teacher has a strict "healthy snacks only" policy too.  Clare told me that once a child pulled out a package of M&Ms, and their teacher made the child put them up to eat at another time.  I appreciated that.

Anyway, today Clare got some carrots and celery.  We have lots of both of those. 
James requested some yogurt before heading off to his own school and because I worked at James's school this morning, I know that he had about a dozen apple slices and some flatbread for a snack.  Cheese and marinara sauce were also offered, so the kids could make their own mini pizzas, but James did not eat that part.

For lunch the girls had spaghetti with meat sauce, breadsticks, and chocolate milk.  Nora had applesauce as her fruit, and Clare had canned peaches.  I am not pleased with their eating ground meat from school because I would bet it is of the poorest quality, but we're just breathing through this week.

James had...you guessed it...peanut butter balls and carrots.  He also asked for an apple.  I had a peanut butter sandwich and a carrot.  No apple for me.  First time in years probably that I have not had an apple to finish off my lunch.  But we're down to 12 now with 4 days to go.

After school snack was clementines and yogurt.  Nora topped her yogurt with some peanuts and more Honey Nut Os.  I had microwave popcorn in a lunch bag.  Again.

Dinner was supposed to be a chicken enchilada casserole but as I mentioned in the shopping post, I forgot to buy chicken.  So it was just an enchilada casserole. 
The ingredients were:
  • Cilantro
  • Frozen corn
  • Brown rice
  • Chili powder
  • Cumin
  • Monterey Jack cheese
  • Tortillas (I used flour instead of corn in case they came in handy for quesadillas later)
  • Tomato sauce
  • Cinnamon
It was OK.  I found it a little dry but flavorful.  A nice dollop of sour cream would have hit the spot, but we didn't have any.  The kids all liked it.  Clare requested two servings.  James wanted some red bell pepper with his, so he got the last half of the red bell.

I also made more homemade bread today.  Or rather I added the ingredients to my bread machine, and the bread machine made bread today.  James had a huge slice right before dinner with some honey.  Nora had a slice on the drive to choir practice.  I realized that were we to run out of food (which I don't think we will do), I could always make more loaves of bread because we will certainly not run out of flour in 7 days.  It may not be the most nutritious thing in the world, but it's not the least and it's calories.
It was a honey whole wheat bread.  Normally I do one that has molasses, oats, wheat bran, and seeds on top of the regular ingredients.  I could have added the oats to the batch I made today, but I didn't have the other ingredients.  The one I made was just water, salt, oil, honey, unbleached flour, whole wheat flour, and yeast.  I make our own bread normally (and the bread machine has done it since I started back at school) because I have never found a store bought bread that doesn't have an odd number of ingredients.  Even if you get a little fancy, sandwich bread should have at the most a dozen ingredients.  Store bought stuff has a list that goes on and on.  Or there's soy this that and the other thing.  Anyway, bread is just too easy to make (especially with a bread machine!).

Clare took a banana and about 1/2 cup of peanuts to have in the middle of her 3 hour gymnastics practice.  Nora finished off the day with a granny smith apple, and James had his cup of milk at bedtime.  James and I also polished off the rest of the frozen grapes before we went back to choir practice to pick up Nora (Clare was still at her gymnastics practice).  Like I said, I think we're all hungry.  I would have told you that the kids have been eating their normal amounts the past two days, but they seemed to keep eating today.  It may be that I am more acutely aware of what is being consumed in this house.

On a final note, we have a cat.  Meet Theodore.  Lucky for Theodore he has not been subjected to the SNAP Challenge.  He is still eating his expensive dry and wet food, which I buy because he vomits up the cheap stuff. 

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Day 2: Food

Another day done! Another day of food consumed. You will see there is a general theme to what we eat around here. When the USDA encourages us to eat a varied diet, it fails to account for how difficult it is to buy a varied diet when one is living day to day on $4.50.

Breakfast: oatmeal. Kids had theirs sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and cooled off with some organic skim milk. I had mine with banana and a bit of brown sugar. I'm getting nervous about the number of bananas we have left in the house (9). I think I'll probably have to cut out my own consumption to make it through the next 5 days. Clare has at least one per day as does Josh.

Lunch: James had peanut butter balls and a bowl full of raw carrots. I had a peanut butter sandwich on homemade bread with an apple. The apple was borderline mealy. Any other week, I would have chucked it into our compost bin and tried another one. But this week, I only have 16 left to get us through Sunday, so I dealt with the mealiness.

Nora said she chose the yogurt option at school today because she did not like the available entrees (chili or chicken strips). She got crackers, a mini salad with ranch dressing, apples, and chocolate milk. She said she ate everything except the apples because they tasted like they had salt on them.  I wonder if that is some sort of anti-browning agent?

Clare had chili with cheese, canned peaches, mini salad with ranch, and chocolate milk. She ate everything.

For after school snack, the kids had bananas and apples with peanut butter for dipping. I had a bit of a heart attack because it was my babysitter who served them, and I only saw the leftover bowls. The bowls were so coated with peanut butter, I thought she must have given them each about 1/3 to 1/2 cup each of peanut butter. What will James and I have for lunch?! Luckily, it didn't actually look like any peanut butter was missing. So we're safe...phew.  My stomach growls just thinking about it.

Interesting note about the sitter: When I told her what we were up to and why there was basically no food in the house (at least in comparison to what we normally have), she said that her parents started off their married life on food stamps and would go to the grocery store with a calculator much like I did. She thought what an interesting project it would be for them to try it out again. We both agreed though that with the internet, life on food stamps (SNAP benefits) is probably easier now.

Now onto dinner:
Tonight we had a Barley Hoppin' John, which included
  • Barley
  • Black-eyed peas
  • Onion
  • Carrots (not in the linked recipe)
  • Celery
  • Vegetable Bouillon
  • Red pepper flakes
  • Dried thyme
  • Lemon juice
*Garlic is pictured up there, but I actually forgot to add it.
Final product!
We have this fairly regularly at our house because it's easy, simple, cheap, and can be done in the slow cooker.  Normally I make some corn bread to go with it, but I hadn't bought any cornmeal.  Enough cornmeal to make some muffins probably would have cost me next to nothing at Good Foods.  Too bad I didn't think of it earlier.  I also pulled out our bottle of Sriracha, which may be cheating, but it needed some pizazz.
James was pretty convinced we were having Papa John's for dinner, but still ate the Hoppin' Johns he was actually presented.
The astute observers among you might notice that James is wearing the same thing he had on yesterday.  James lives in his "ninjun turtle" pjs when he is at home.  I can just barely persuade him to put on regular clothes for school, and the first thing he does when he gets home again is strip for the pjs.

After dinner while the kids ran around outside in the freezing cold, I fretted more about how much fruit we have left:  13 clementines, 16 apples, and 9 bananas.  I forgot about the bag of grapes I had, so pulled that out to get them cleaned and pulled off the stem.  I got a good 2 cups of fresh ones to keep in the fridge and another 2 cups to put in the freezer (frozen grapes are such a treat!).  Normally whatever has fallen off the stem goes right in the compost because they tend to be squishy.  I don't even bother to sort them, but tonight I did.  Even though I got just a handful, that was something.
So all told we have most likely just enough fruit, but it'll be close.

What can you buy with SNAP benefits?


http://www.foodpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/New-Picture-31.bmp  

A friend on Facebook made this comment:


Does the challenge not include detergent, toilet paper, shampoo, and such? My main expenses are those items at the grocery store.







In answer to the question, according to the United States Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service, the eligible food items include:
  • Foods for the household to eat, such as
    • breads and cereals;
    • fruits and vegetables;
    • meats, fish, and poultry; and 
    • dairy products. 
  • Seeds and plants which produce food for the household to eat. 
It does not include alcohol, tobacco, nonfood items (like household supplies), vitamins or medicines, food that will be eaten in the store, or hot foods.

Currently, any food even junk food is eligible as long as it is not hot food or sold for on-premise consumption.  They must get questions about why SNAP benefits cover junk food because they purposefully mention that changing the definition of food (i.e. to not include junk food) would require action by a member of Congress.  When Congress has attempted to place limits on what food could be purchased under the SNAP program in the past, they have always concluded that limitations would be too "administratively costly and burdensome".  A longer explanation can be found in the document "Implications of Restricting the Use of Food Stamp Benefits - Summary".  Basically it boils down to four reasons:
  1. There is no way to qualify a food as good or bad, healthy or unhealthy. 
  2. Restrictions would raise administrative costs of the program.
  3. Restrictions would not change the purchasing of food stamp participants.
  4. There is no evidence that food stamp participation contributes to poor diet quality or obesity.

I am fairly certain I have a problem with all 4 of those assertions, but I'll address the first one directly now.  There is most certainly a way to qualify a food as good or bad, healthy or unhealthy.  The FDA is doing just that with their move to ban trans fats.  The consumer update talks about trans fats as being unsafe - is that different from unhealthy?  They are unsafe because they have been linked to an increase in coronary heart disease.  In my mind, they do not produce a healthy effect on the body, so that makes them unhealthy.  Furthermore, it seems to me that the government through the USDA labels some foods as healthy with its dietary guidelines.  The idea is that there are certain foods which constitute a healthy diet (and are therefore presumably healthy).  I have to point out the local coalition, the Tweens Nutrition and Fitness Coalition, with which I have worked also sets out fairly precise guidelines for healthy snacks in their healthy snack program, Better Bites.  It does not seem that difficult to qualify a food as healthy or unhealthy.

Maybe the real issue is the good or bad part.  My guess is that goes to the heart of what Marion Nestle has been arguing in her book, Food Politics, for years.  Food is big business, and big food companies will not give up the fight quietly if their products are deemed less healthy than others.  This happened conspicuously with the dairy industry and the beef industry.  Big food companies have big money, and politicians respond to where their money comes from.  The government cannot label a food "bad" without considerable push back.

Now back to the original question, so how does one get help with those household supplies if one cannot afford them?  That I don't know.  Anyone else?



Cheating? Already?

I have to fess up to certain areas where I may have cheated.

First, here are the rules of the SNAP Challenge according to the Feeding America website:
  1. Choose the duration of your SNAP Challenge:  3 days or 7 days.
  2. Your food budget for the week or day of your Challenge will be based on the average SNAP benefit, which is $4.50 per person per day– for ALL your food and beverages. You can use coupons while taking the Challenge but should not shop at membership clubs.
  3. Using your Challenge budget, decide on groceries to purchase and how much to put aside for food incidentals. Be aware of ALL food purchased and eaten during the Challenge week/day.
  4. During the Challenge, do not eat food that you purchased prior to starting the challenge.
  5. Avoid accepting free food from friends, family, or while at work.
  6. Keep track of receipts on food spending and take note of your experiences throughout the week, in particular the choices you made between the variety and quality of food you ate.
  7. Invite others to join you, including your co-workers, family members, and elected officials.
  8. Share your SNAP Challenge through social media and by blogging about your experience. 

My problem numbers are #4 and #5.  I am not supposed to eat food I purchased prior to starting the challenge, but I decided to not buy new spices, salt and pepper, olive or canola oils, or bread crumbs.  I also realized I did not include powdered milk on my grocery budget from post #2 (I already had two packets, and I didn't want to buy another one).   I really am feeling OK about the spices and whatnot, but I think the powdered milk should be added.  It can actually be quite expensive, around $3.  So add another $3 to my total spent, which is now $106.63.

As for #5, I think I'm potentially cheating by having the girls eat "free" school lunch (it's not actually free - I'm paying $2.15 for each meal, but we're pretending they're getting their full fare covered by the National School Lunch Program).  I will stand by the fact that children in a household receiving SNAP benefits will also qualify for free lunch.  In fact, in Fayette County, if a child receives SNAP benefits, s/he only has to provide his/her SNAP case number and does not have to provide family income separately.  So again, I am feeling OK about that too.

By the way, I am adding my own rule:  do not spend any other money this week.  Do not buy anything else.  I want to see if I can go 7 days without pulling out my credit card or cash of any kind (except cash to pay my babysitters which I use almost daily). 

Monday, November 11, 2013

Day 1: Food

What did we eat today? For breakfast, Nora had cereal and milk, and the rest of us had oatmeal with a little cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top. I make ours with1/3 cup of rolled oats and water, heated in the microwave.  I "sweeten" mine with banana and a teaspoon of brown sugar, but the kids like some cinnamon sugar.

For lunch, the girls had school lunch.  A little note about that - I took advantage of the fact that children in a household with a single mother* who qualifies for SNAP benefits probably would also get free lunch at school.  While I normally pack their lunches, to ease up on the grocery burden, I asked the girls to buy their lunches this week.  My oldest immediately melted down crying from the injustice of it all, and the middle daughter pulled out the menu to plan out what she'd eat for the week.  Very characteristic of both girls. 

I had the chance to go to lunch with both girls and took pictures of their lunch trays.  Nora had pizza crunchers, mixed salad with ranch dressing, pineapple, and chocolate milk.
Clare had pizza crunchers with marinara sauce, mixed salad with ranch dressing, peaches, and chocolate milk.
They both ate everything on their lunch trays.  I went home afterwards and had a peanut butter sandwich (on homemade bread) and an apple.

After school, Nora stayed at school for her running group (they provide a snack), and Clare and James had a snack of peanut butter balls (peanut butter, powdered milk, and honey) and half of an apple.  I made myself some microwave popcorn in a lunch bag for a snack.
For dinner, we had Baked Mac & Cheese (click on the link for the recipe).  It was yummy.  Below are all the ingredients:
  • Whole wheat elbow macaroni
  • Flour
  • Organic milk
  • Low-fat cottage cheese
  • Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
  • Frozen spinach
  • Bread Crumbs
  • Paprika
  • Nutmeg
  • Salt/Pepper
  • Olive Oil
Finished product!

Clare thought it was tasty:
Nora thought it was super tasty:
And James was pretty sure I was trying to kill him:
The spinach was very suspect to him.  He is not so big on change, and it is not usual for me to put spinach in his macaroni and cheese.  Our rule is that you have to have at least 3 bites of dinner, and then you're free to leave the table (with the understanding that you will not be offered other food after dinner except your reheated leftovers).  He had his 3 bites and went on his way.

There was half a tray of mac and cheese left over for another night this week. I did not use all the elbow macaroni, so while I generally have a rule against making special food for the kids, when I offer the baked mac and cheese again, I may let James have some plain macaroni on the side.

All in all, the first day went well.  I did not eat as much as I normally do:  I usually have baked tostitos and salsa with my peanut butter sandwich and I have some yogurt with mixed nuts for dessert after dinner.  I felt hungry when I went to bed, but I also found myself being very worried about having enough food to last us through the week.  I could have had some yogurt and peanuts, but it seemed better to hold off.  I slept perfectly fine and wasn't even that hungry when I woke up.


*I'm not really a single mother, but I'm pretending I am while Josh is in Michigan during the work week.  Most houses after all who receive SNAP benefits have a single parent.

Day 1: Shopping

My first task in getting us started on our SNAP Challenge was to design a menu for the week and a shopping list. This is my habit every Sunday anyway, a ritual since I started having children. I always hope that if I map out our week's food plan carefully, I might alleviate extra trips to the grocery store. It almost never works. I would guess that we end up making 5 - 6 trips to the grocery store each week. I love the grocery store, so it doesn't really bother me.

Usually, I go to two grocery stores each Monday: Good Foods and the Kroger at Beaumont Centre. At Good Foods, I get our milk, eggs, meat, peanut butter, honey, yeast, and bulk items (flour, nuts, popcorn, oatmeal, grains, etc...). I get everything else at Kroger: fruit, vegetables, yogurt, chips, salsa, cereal, cheese, and so forth. I must admit to paying very little attention to the price of items, but because I have kept an elaborate budget for years, I can say on average we spend around $1300 - $1500 per month on groceries (not including alcohol). That means we spend at minimum about $9 per person per day at my house.

On the SNAP Challenge, I had to get that down to $4.50 per day. For 4 days out of the 7, there would be 4 mouths to feed. On the other 3 days, there would be 5. That meant $72 for the first 4 days, and $67.50 for the last 3 or a total of $139.50. It has also been our tradition since having children that Mom and Dad make a special, no kids meal on Saturday nights. I decided to aim to spend $100 for the week and save $39.50 for our regular Saturday meal.

Yesterday I made a list, dividing items between Good Foods and Meijer (my hypothesis is that Meijer is cheaper than Kroger - I will not be trying to prove that;  I'm just going with it).

Today, I cleaned out our frig...




...and our dry goods/snack shelves.   I had one bag of clementines left over to use, which I figured into the costs.  I hid all the dry good/snacks upstairs where hopefully my children will not find and raid them.


The shopping trip went very well.  Below are all the non-refrigerated items I bought.  I took along a trusty calculator to make sure I stayed on track.  I planned to spend $25 at Good Foods and $75 at Meijer.  I came quite close to both (itemized list below).
Good Foods
Yeast $1.50
Vegetable Bouillon $2.49
Cascadian Farms Organic Honey Nut Os $2.99
One dozen eggs $2.99
2.4lbs Organic Rolled Oats $4.06
.83lbs Blackeyed Peas $1.90 
.68lbs Virginia Roasted Peanuts $2.71
.50lbs Pearled Barley $0.75
.92lbs Brown Rice  $1.83
.47lbs Red Split Lentils $1.17
.35lbs Garbanzo Beans $1.02
.58lbs Whole Wheat Elbow Pasta $1.73
Bag Refund -$0.10

TOTAL AT GOOD FOODS:  $25.14

Meijer
Apples $7.98
Bananas $2.32
Onions $2.01
3 Bell Peppers $3.00
Celery $1.69
Lemon $.79
Lime $.50
Cilantro  $.89
Grapes $3.24
Ginger $.20
Carrots $.79
Butternut Squash $3.87
Clementines $4.99
Organic Milk  $5.98
Shredded Mozzarella $1.88
Shredded Monterey Jack $1.88
Block of Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese $3.49
Cottage Cheese $2.06
Stonyfield Farm Organic Yogurt $3.59
Coffee $3.99
Meijer Honey $3.39
Meijer Natural Peanut Butter $2.69
Popcorn $1.99
Pepperoni $.89
Meijer Natural Whole Wheat Flour $2.84
Meijer Natural Unbleached Flour $1.82
Granola bars $1.88
Meijer Light Brown Sugar $.96
Tortillas $2.19
Tomato Sauce $1.57
Tomato Paste $.56
Frozen spinach $1.09
Frozen corn $.88

TOTAL AT MEIJER:  $78.49

TOTAL FOR BOTH:  $103.63

I was feeling quite proud of myself until I remembered that I had not bought chicken.  Usually I would get that at Good Foods.  It will cost me about $7 there, but I know I could buy frozen chicken at Meijer for a few dollars less.  Nonetheless, a recent report in the news will make it very hard for me to ever buy chicken again at a regular grocery store no matter how much cheaper it is.  Our Saturday night meal will just have to be that much simpler.  Any suggestions on delicious, slightly elegant, but super cheap meals will be appreciated!


Sunday, November 10, 2013

Introductions


SNAP EBTOver the next seven days, my family and I will be taking the SNAP Challenge.  In an attempt to gain perspective on the experiences of millions of Americans, we will live on a food budget of $4.50 per person per day or about $1.50 per meal.  As we do so, I will keep this blog to document our experiences and also to share general information about SNAP.

What is SNAP?
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is the US's largest hunger safety net program providing assistance to millions of low income individuals and families.  To qualify for SNAP benefits, applicants must meet a list of tests that include resources, income, deductions, employment requirements, and immigration status. 

In brief, to qualify for SNAP benefits, an individual can only have up to $2000 in countable resources (or up to $3250 if the individual is over 60), earn a gross income that is lower than 130 percent of the federal poverty level, and be registered for work or taking part in an employment training program.  Those without a job are only eligible for 3 months.  SNAP is available to legal immigrants if they have lived in the country for at least 5 years, are receiving disability-related benefits, or have children under 18.

How many people use SNAP benefits?

SNAP participation has increased about 2.5 times over the past 10 years.  In 2001, 17.3 million people participated in the program while in 2011, there were 46.2 million participants.  That translates into nearly one in seven Americans.  The recession that hit the United States in 2007 explains much of that growth, but also applying for the benefits was simplified in the 2002 and 2008 Farm Acts.   

Kentucky had about 635,000 participants in the FY2008 and almost 850,000 in FY2012.  With  about 4.4 million people currently living in Kentucky, that is fairly close to the national average of 1 in 7.

What are some general characteristics of SNAP participants?

About 49% of SNAP participants are children under the age of18 of which two-thirds live in households with a single parent.  76% of benefits go to households with children, 16% to households with disabled persons, and 9% to households with senior citizens.

SNAP participation breaks down as follows by race/ethnicity:  43% white, 33% African-American, 19% Hispanic, 2% Asian, and 2% Native American.


And now a little about me and my family...

We are a household of five:  Mom, Dad, and 3 kids.  Our children are Nora, age 9; Clare, age 7; and James, age 4.  Josh (a.k.a. Dad) works in Michigan during the week, so the first part of the challenge will be done by me and the kids.  He will join us over the weekend.

While we do not eat strictly organic food, we have definitely jumped on the whole-food bandwagon.  We focus on "real" food doing our best to avoid overly-processed foods.  We make most of our meals from scratch and consume loads of fruits and vegetables.  We try to incorporate plenty of whole grains in our diets, and we limit what we drink to pure beverages like water, milk, coffee, and tea.  The grown-ups of the household drink wine and local beer.  We buy local meat and dairy products down the street at Lexington's food co-op, Good Foods as well as our eggs.  We very rarely consume fast food and only eat out occasionally. While not perfect, I think it's fair to say that we eat an exemplary diet.

We are all in good health as well.  We are physically fit, of average weight, and only suffer from general health complaints (occasional colds, stomach bugs, and the like).  We regularly see our physicians and are up-to-date on immunizations.  We do not smoke.  None of us has asthma or any other respiratory ailments.  The adults drink in moderation.   Josh's family has a history of heart disease, and my family has a history of hypertension and stroke.

As for me, I am in my second to last semester of the Master of Public Health Program in the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky.   My concentration is in the Health Behavior Department where I have focused on nutrition issues pertaining to childhood obesity.  My capstone will assess the effectiveness of nutritional guidelines of school lunches based on actual consumption by elementary students. 

This semester I have taken an independent study with Dr. Mark Swanson on the social determinants of health with a special emphasis on how they are linked to overweight and obesity.  We have discussed how health is affected by socioeconomic factors, social capital, and race.  We will also discuss matters of gender and place as the semester progresses.  Doing the SNAP challenge and writing about my experience will be the final project of the independent study.

Please keep visiting me throughout the week as I explore how to shop, keep 3 kids fed and happy, and not compromise our regular diet on a strict budget.  It's going to be a challenge!

     
  James, Clare, and Nora on Halloween Night