This week's soundtrack brought to you by Stomach Growl

Eating healthy snacks throughout the day is a great habit to have, but Challengers have found that they can't eat as frequently as they like if they want to stay under their daily budget. For most, this means a confused stomach who's response is a low grumble until it is fed.

I'm blogging my first day participating in the CalFresh challenge. As I didn't have time today to go to the store and stock up for the entire week, I did do out and buy a few items for my meals today. What I bought were 2- simple truth protein bars, minestrone soup, croutons and a banana. I've had water all day.  I ate the protein bar and banana before work and by the time I left, my stomach was growling. It is hard to start the challenge.  I will try and continue to prepare as well balanced meals as I can on the allowance I'm given. I like healthy eating so I hope I'm able to maintain it. I have included my first days food supply and plan on getting to the store tomorrow to stock up for the next couple of days or the week.

-Submitted by: CalFresh Challenger

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My schedule this week doesn't permit me to go to the store and plan meals. I don't have time to cook this week, nor a place to store something that needs refrigeration so I don't get sick. But I want to do the challenge. The secret . . . put off eating in the morning as long as you can! I got up at 7am, and went until 10am when I forced myself to eat because I'd be out of the house until 6pm. The menu, ice, water, and bananas as a smoothie. I wanted to do milk, but thought that would take me over the  budget. Lunch was a dollar and eighty cent soup. Dinner was a whole bag of frozen peas with tons of salt, and a 69 cent bag of chips. Not my usual diet, I had to cut out the splurges like a non-water drink to go with my meal, maybe a carb or protein to with the peas, and the more expensive soup that wasn't Split Pea and Ham.

-Submitted by: CalFresh Challenger

Breakfast: It’s what’s for dinner

Sometimes you have to go against tradition in order to make things work. In some of our Challenger's cases, this meant making an AM meal in the PM. It's a creative use of limited resources and a healthy one at that!

When I agreed to attempt to live on a food stamp budget for a week, I knew it would be tough. But, I didn’t realize that one of the toughest challenges would be time. In order to maximize my $34.31 budget for the week, I had grand ideas of going to a farmers market and two or three different stores to capitalize on weekly specials. In my first lesson of the working poor, I was reminded that the Saturday Farmers Market would be impossible to get to if I was scheduled to work, which I was. So, I woke up this morning on a budget with no food. My kids had breakfast at the hotel I had to speak at this morning. The total bill was more than my allowance for the week, so I just watched. However, when I went to speak at the Teamsters Union political meeting, there was a full buffet of breakfast. I declined to eat, joking with the server that I only eat bacon and there was only sausage out.  When the server, who is also one of our union members, went and brought me a small plate of four pieces of bacon, I was embarrassed and shocked. In order to not be rude and because I was incredibly hungry, I ate the bacon. So, I started the challenge on a bad note: eating stolen bacon. Oops.

I finally did make it to the grocery store around noon, armed with coupons and a throbbing headache thanks to my lack of caffeine. I am not a patient person and hate grocery shopping on the natural.  But, I never imagined how demoralizing it would be to walk through the produce section searching for some type of fruit and vegetables that wouldn’t break the bank. I quickly walked past the berries and peaches, my favorite fruits, because of the price.  I had flashbacks of myself as a child asking my mom “Whhhhhhyyyyyyy?” couldn’t I have one of those pretty white peaches. Now I know why she would rush through the produce section. I settled in on a few oranges, a couple of ears of corn and a pound of broccoli – combined, that would be $3.50.

I spent a lot of time in the coffee aisle, but I just couldn’t justify the cost. So, I decided I would buy some green tea in order to deal with the caffeine withdrawal. $2.79 for 20 tea bags and I knew I could steal some splenda from 7-eleven if I just bought a single cup of coffee on Monday.

I realized quickly that noodles, soup and pasta would be the most cost effective staples of my diet this week. So much for my low-card diet. I also bought cheap white bread and peanut butter. I found a great deal in the frozen section, individually wrapped pieces of chicken, salmon & scallops - $1.00 per serving. Finally, I decided I needed something kind of healthy, so I bought yogurt for more than I would have liked to spend.

In all, I spent $24.76 – leaving myself almost $10.00 for the week. I’ve never thought so much about food as when I have to think about how much everything cost. I took my kids to pizza tonight, hopeful that I could grab a slice for $2.00.  But, the cheese slice was $2.50, so I decided I would make dinner at home. I won’t starve this week, but I certainly will lack in creative meals and vitamins.

Breakfast: Stolen bacon

Lunch: Cup O’ Noodles soup ($.25), cup of Green Tea

Dinner: one orange ($.50), one egg ($.25), two pieces of bread ($.25), a cup of Green Tea (reusing the tea bag from lunch)

-Submitted by: CalFresh Challenger

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, I hit the store and did some shopping for the challenge.  Wal-Mart is a good place to get groceries at a good price and shopping sales is always good.  I also went to Sprouts for my produce.  Produce that is in season is also often on sale, so I picked up some things on sale and that was a good plan.  I will have to shop again later in the week, as I have not spent my full stipend.  But here is what is in the cupboard right now to work with:

Bagels    2.50

Peanut Butter    3.28

grapes (3.5 lbs)    2.46

bananas     1.39

broccoli (2.11 lbs)    1.86

tortillas    3.39

Cheese    2.99

Bread    1.99

salsa    2.25

beans    2.25

eggs    1.99

Total so far: 26.35        Left to spend: 8:55

From my stock this was what I ate today-

Breakfast: Bagel with Peanut Butter

Snack:    Banana

Lunch: Broccoli wrap with salsa and grapes

Dinner: Eggs and toast and a banana

What did I not have that I might usually?  My morning tea.  It is the one expensive habit that I decided to forgo for the challenge, otherwise this is a pretty average day for me.  I looked at my grocery receipts from previous weeks to see if I thought I could do this.  I shop and cook for a family of five and we are usually within the dollar range of the challenge.  I am just doing this myself, the rest of the family is not involved. So, since the rest of my family is not doing it I am losing the "economies of scale" advantage in my shopping.  I still think it is doable and will report throughout the week.

-Submitted by: CalFresh Challenger

As Visions of Ramen Dance in Our Heads

And so it begins... I went to the store this morning to spend only 34.90 on food for the week. Currently in nursing school with an upcoming exam during the week, I didn't have much energy to think about anything else, let alone food to eat for the week. I wanted to be creative, but I am already stressing about studying, studying.... Oh and some more studying! So far, I came up with some Top Ramen that I'll be having for dinner every night. Lol. So creative, I know :P Submitted by a CalFresh Challenger

Day 1 and Already Wondering: What if this was my life?

Today is the first day of the CalFresh Challenge. I made a menu and went to Food 4 Less to see what kinds of deals I could find. I noticed more frequently how often I had to choose between less expensive items loaded with additional sugars and chemicals, and the more expensive but healthier foods. I spent almost the entirety of my weekly budget for the ingredients for my black bean salad, red lentil hush puppies, yogurt and cereal, peanut butter sandwiches and a few snacks. Before starting the Calfresh Challenge today I thought about what it would mean if I actually were eligible for CalFresh Benefits. Not only do people trying to get enough food to eat face the challenge of hunger, but there are financial worries that go along with it.

The income limit for me would be $1,180 gross income per month: 130% of the Federal Poverty Line for my household of one. I estimated that I’d pay about $200 in taxes each month, which would leave me with no more than $980 of net income. I went through my budget to figure out what I would have to eliminate. Some of you may be all-too-familiar with this exercise: No more gym membership, internet or cable. I’d need to find a less expensive plan for my cell phone (which would likely mean less chance to communicate with people via text and email). I’d have to eliminate any sort of savings (both for emergencies and retirement) and I wouldn’t have anything left over for “luxuries” like holiday or birthday gifts for others, travel to see my family or clothing.

Even then, I’d still be about $300 over budget and likely have to limit or eliminate my health care coverage (I wouldn’t be able to afford my current copay unless a less expensive plan was available); I’d need to renegotiate the repayments of my education loans or ask for a deferment (which would be helpful in the short term, but the interest on my debt would still accrue making it harder to pay off in the long run). If I was able to do both of those things I would have just enough for rent and electricity, car insurance and gas to get to work only, and my telephone. There would be no money left over for food or personal care or anything else.

When I ran the numbers in our CalFresh calculator, it told me that with the modified budget I’d created, I could potentially qualify for about $98 per month in CalFresh benefits.  Not enough to last the month but it would still be helpful.

This was just an exercise on paper for me. But for many people these are the impossible choices they are forced to make. They are the real situations of real people who need real assistance like CalFresh. The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities review the SNAP program (the federal name for CalFresh and has credited the Program for doing exactly what it is supposed to do: responding in times of need by expanding and it will, they have shown, shrink automatically as the economy improves and less people need help. Over 84% of benefits go to households that contain vulnerable populations: children, seniors and people with disabilities. (Find more stats about CalFresh here) The SNAP/Calfresh program is vital to low income people and needs to be strengthened, not cut, so that it can continue to successfully decrease and eliminate hunger.

Submitted by Jennifer Tracy, Executive Director, SDHC

Challenge Eve Musings

It's the night before the CalFresh Challenge begins, and like me, you might be standing in front of the refrigerator wondering, what am I going to do with this food?  Now more than ever, I appreciate my ability to stock the refrigerator, never giving a thought to "what will happen if I run out ," or "how long do I have to make this last."

As I give away food to roommates I feel a pre-emptive hunger pang. Hopefully my shelf on the fridge doesn't look too empty after my $35 trip to the grocery store... but then, that's part of the Challenge...

Are you up for the Challenge?

Think you can live on a CalFresh budget for one week? Join us in accepting the Challenge September 9 - 15, 2013! Check out the guidelines to get started.