The Challenge: Living in Food Poverty
Words Liz McClendon
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 at 1:34 pm
I love to eat. In fact, I think for Jake and I that is one of the structurally-crucial columns holding up the beams of our relationship: he loves to cook and I love to eat.
Jake in his natural habitat.
I’ve been able to tell after a dinner party that he was a little crest-fallen when we left with some of what we had brought because everyone didn’t just gobble it up. Most people in polite society don’t “gobble” anything, and lucky for Jake, I have a broad definition of polite (and a very fast metabolism).
While I wouldn’t consider myself a ‘foodie,’ I would say that I have come to really care about what I’m eating over the past few years. My eating habits have improved, but they aren’t perfect, and I’m really okay with that. They’re good enough that I might be able to ward off the family history of blood clots and diabetes as well as my own history of acid reflux, but bad enough that I could still split either a large pizza or a whole apple pie with just one other person in a sitting.
That’s why I kind of surprised myself this idea developed suddenly a few months ago–that Jake and I would put ourselves in a position of poverty as far as food goes for the month of January.
The premise: Jake and I spend $30 total on our food per week for a month. We won’t be eating any fast food or Ramen. We want to show that it is possible to eat well, even if you aren’t getting paid well.
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On how they will determine their success, from Liz’s other half, Jake Hull:
In order to determine the success of this experiment we are going to track our daily food intake using the website http://www.nutritiondata.com. There you can find a full nutritional profile for just about anything that a supermarket shelf would have, even some restaurant items. We’ll monitor ingestion of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, amino acids, and most importantly calories. The most simple measure of ‘can two people live off $30 a week’ is whether we meet our calorie needs.
As a 25-year-old male standing about six feet tall, my Basal Metabolic Rate–the amount of calories required to lay in bed all day for a marathon of Dexter and Bollywood films–is 1,780 calories. But based on my level of activity–walking to work, standing at work for 6 hours a day, exercising on top of that–my daily caloric needs are around 2,640 just to maintain my weight. Liz, a 24-year-old female who is 5’4”, has a BMR of 1,330 and her daily calorie needs are at 1,730.
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Notice he didn’t say anything about my level of activity. That was sweet of him, but for those wondering, it’s zero.
Anyway, the idea came out of a reaction towards a discussion on AltDaily’s Facebook page about food stamps, and how so many people believe it is a fact that eating healthy means spending more money. The argument was about the controversy over soda possibly not being covered under the food stamp program anymore, and what that meant for personal liberties. One person commented that buying bottled water was more expensive than buying soda. Another person suggested that snack packs were cheaper than produce. Trust me, I know how far a $1.99 pack of 6 hotdogs can go; I ate like shit in college because I thought that was the most economical way to go about it.
I was wrong. And I know I’m not the only one – if you walk past Walgreens on 21st, you’ll see an advertisement for “all the essentials,” meaning eggs, white bread, and milk. As a country, we’ve obviously lost touch with what is actually essential to maintaining a healthy diet.
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From Jake, on dumptser diving:
Speaking of ‘economical,’ I am not above dumpster diving. In fact, the healthiest I have ever been was during a three month period my senior year of college when I only had enough money to pay rent. 90% of my food came from the dumpster and 75% of that was organic fruits and vegetables that had been thrown away earlier in the day or the night before. Dumpster diving isn’t really practical or reliable way to feed yourself or a family, though.
A day's worth of Jake dumpster diving = more than $30 worth of food
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The American Diabetes Association reported in 2007 that 23.6 million people in the United States have already been diagnosed or are on their way to diabetes. That’s 7.8% of the population, a number that has only increased in recent years, especially among minorities and those in poverty.
So we have support like the SNAP program, formerly known as food stamps. SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is a perfectly appropriate name. Supplementing actual nutrition, not just food intake, is the important part because developing a food-related illness like diabetes is expensive–2.3 times more expensive, to be exact, according to the ADA, regarding medical expenses for those with diabetes. Statistics available from the Food Research and Action Center reveal that 10.5% of Virginia’s population is currently receiving support from the SNAP program, with the USDA averaging the monthly amount per person at $118 (preliminarily $128 for 2010). Some simple math means that’s about $30 a week.
Now that’s $30 on average per person, but since it’s an average, and since it could be more or less, and since we want to show that no matter how much you have, there are easy choices you can make to make that money go farther, we’re going to do $30 for the both of us.
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Jake:
Being a vegan who lives in Ghent it isn’t unreasonable to spend $30 in one day. Supporting local business, yes. Saving money, no. No Rajput buffet for one month. No Gluten Free Pizza from Y Not. No vegan frozen yogurt. Fortunately that simplifies the task of documenting every calorie of food we eat since we’ll make it ourselves. Which also means recipes. Lots of cheap and hopefully filling recipes.
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‘Hopefully’ is the right word there. Eating off $30 a week means we definitely won’t be eating out, and it probably means we’ll have to sacrifice some really delicious things. What we don’t want to sacrifice is our health, and we hope that’s possible on such an amount.
Jake and I both know people already on food stamps and some who are trying to apply for support from the program. We want the best for our friends and family, but they’re right: until we’ve been in that position, we can’t realistically tell them it’s possible to eat healthy on a radically tight budget. So we think it’s about time we put ourselves there.
We believe that once you’ve programmed your mind to not think that the Dollar Menu is the cheapest or easiest way to feed your family, it doesn’t take much time at all to decide because once you do, it’ll give you more time to live.
Now, to the grocery!
Food Challenge Pt 1 from Jay Sanchez on Vimeo.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
A two-time graduate of Virginia Tech, Liz McClendon left the mountains to live below sea-level again and now transitions between writing, making music, and sewing with the changes of each season.
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This is such a cool idea and I’m so excited to see how this turns out. Good luck!
awesome guys!! jay and i shouldddd be doign this too. imma check out your database and heist some solid options! i like that phrase “crest-fallen” keep fighting the good fight, if we order a pizza, im calling you :) xo
I actually do this for budgetary reasons. It is possible, but get ready to cook everything from scratch (I like to do that anyway) and eat a whole lot of rice and beans (reconstituted from dry) and curries. I live on oatmeal for breakfast and last night’s leftovers for lunches. I also cook big amounts of things on weekends, freeze half, and eat the other half during the week (eventually you get more variety every week that way.) I’m not vegan which makes things a little easier since eggs are cheap and milk is cheaper than soy or rice milk. You will find that Ghent grocery stores gouge you on staples and produce, unfortunately, and it will be hard to eat fresh fruit and vegetables especially when the pickings at the farmers market are slim or expensive.
Unfortunately I don’t think the majority of those living in food poverty have all the other necessary resources to make the best desicions. Either by upbringing, education, or the simple fact of not having a car to transport groceries. Go to Wal-Mart on Tidewater Drive around the first of the month and you will see what those on SNAP are purchasing; mostly prepared foods with a shelflife. Their carts are full and they are using the majority of their benefit in that one grocery trip. My assumption..and its just that..an assumption is that this is the one time they have known transportation to the grocery store. They certainly are not going to stock up on perishables. Of course that is only one aspect of the problem.
I have seen many sides of this issue, including first hand. I am angered everytime I see the use of SNAP benefits for the purchase of a 2 liter or Little Debbie snack cake. I fume as I pay for my fresh produce and living (read struggling) on unemployment,that my daughter and I do not qualify for SNAP. Meanwhile I’m taxed on my unemployment so that there is SNAP dollars available.
It is my belief that SNAP should be more like WIC in that only certain nutritional items can be purchased.
This much I do know, because I have tried: A bag of Macaroni Grill prepared frozen chicken and pasta dinner costs $6.99 without a coupon (which i use and have never seen a person using EBT break out). I can not make 3 servings of this same dish fresh for $7. The butter and milk alone cost that much. Granted I will use the butter and milk again. I have put out more than $30 for one meal since I decided that unemployed I have more than enough time to clip coupons, grocery shop regularly, and prepare fresh meals for my daughter. I sure wish I had SNAP to help me teach my daughter healthy and not just convienent eating. This is not a priority in many poverty households. They truly are just trying to make it.
I hope that I am able to learn some new tactics and recipes from your experiment that will help me and my daughter in this journey. Unfortunately ours has been going since August and doesn’t look like it will be ending in 30 days.
this is an interesting experiment, but you can’t dumpster dive or accept free meals in any way if you want an accurate read. as you said, that is not a reliable way to feed your family (not to mention what youth and family services would do if they found out you were feeding a child that way!), plus i don’t care what you say- it’s unsanitary. food has an expiration date for a reason and dumpster are filthy. as for the idea of this being “healthy”- i think you’ll be able to do it, survive it, maybe even feel full once a day, but i don’t think you will get a balanced diet with all of your vitamins, minerals, essential proteins, fats, fibers and probiotics. will you be taking nutrional supplements? poor people don’t generally get that kind of luxury. as a military family, we live on a very tight budget, but before we get anything like a new cd or new (not secondhand!) clothes, we buy fresh local foods, vitamins and probiotics! you could get a decent amount of fermentation love from something like kimchi on a daily basis- but it’s expensive and you don’t have time (or room, i would imagine) to make your own. well, good luck! i’ll be reading!
aha! You bring up a few great points abbee – and we’ll be addressing them (the dietary needs, etc) next week. Jake is the one who knows all about the science of food out of the two of us, but I know that so far we’re getting everything we need.
Most people who spend a LOT of money don’t even get near enough fiber or probiotics any day. As for fermented food: dosas (Indian fermented rice & lentil flatbreads) are a relatively easy fix and are made up of mostly protein and fiber. But more on that to come . . .!
Like Mickey D’s, I’m lovin’ it! HA HA! See what I did there? Seriously though, I’m looking forward to your updates. Awesome idea.
We have been thinking of you and your challenge here at the market a lot this week.
And to help, I have been adding lots of yummy things to our 10 cent basket!!! :) :) :)
Hope that helps.
So, so sweet — for us, and hopefully anyone else who would rather have 5 or 6 bananas for the price of a vending machine snack. We love that 10 cent basket and are excited you guys are back open after the holidays!
This is a mega-cool idea. I am definitely following along to see how it goes.
In addition to JGC’s comment:
I know how you feel. A few years ago (I was living in a different state) I watched Food Stamp recipients use their benefits to purchase really nice cuts of meat, primarily steaks, at $6.99/lb OR MORE. I did receive state help at the time, and I still wouldn’t let myself even LOOK at something so ‘luxurious’! I can not believe how people can abuse the system like that. Food stamps, WIC, SNAP, etc. programs are not ‘free money’. It is given to you because you NEED the help. Instead of crying poverty, whey don’t some people just use their brain & purchase items that will last & that are economical?!
The worst thing I remember is watching someone use food stamps to purchase a thick, T-bone steak along with a 6 pack of beer. (food stamps didn’t cover the beer) All I could think was that he was going home to cook that steak & drink beer. What about the rest of his family?! I wonder what they ate.