Food Stamp Challenge Day One

Today is the first day of my food stamp challenge. I will be spending the week trying to get by on $34 for my food budget.

My Plan
Yesterday I made a list and planned at least one good meal for each of the next seven days. At the end of my week, I will ask Kelly - NCCS Food Bank intern and nutritionist to review the meals I consumed and see just how healthy one can eat on $34 per week.

Here is my meal plan:
Day One - Grilled Chicken Thighs, salad greens, grilled peppers and onions
Day Two - Burritos - chicken, onion, corn, black beans, peppers, cheese
Day Three - Burritos - chicken, onion, corn, black beans, peppers, cheese
Day Four - Baked Swai (fish) with roasted potatoes, carrots and onions
Day Five - Dry pasta with homemade tomato sauce
Day Six - Chicken soup
Day Seven - Chicken soup with dry pasta

Here is my grocery receipt and my shopping list:

Bread

Flour tortillas

Some kind of cheese (cream cheese was the cheapest)

Corn on the cob

Onions

Potatoes

Carrots

Celery

Limes

Coffee

Black Beans

Dry pasta (linguine)

Boneless skinless chicken thighs

Swai fillets (fish)

Butter

The only item I did not purchase was butter. It was on sale two pounds for six dollars. I have some in the fridge and I will use one stick of unsalted butter at a cost of 75 cents.

When added to my total that brings me up to $33.85, just fifteen cents short of the $34 budget.

So What Was Day One Like?

I was surprised by how hungry I was when I woke up this morning. I think its because I've had food on the brain for the past few days while preparing for this experiment.

I began my day as always with a pot of coffee. I had to buy a brand I am not used to because I forgot my coffee coupon for my regular brand and it would have cost me an extra fifty cents and taken me over budget... The best part of waking up is cheap coffee in my cup.

About an hour after that first cup of Joe, I realized that I had not included any breakfast type foods on my list. I usually do not eat breakfast - just a couple of cups of coffee and then wait till lunch. This morning however, I was famished (probably because I ate too much the day before). I went to the kitchen and looked over the foods I had purchased for the week. It's amazing to me how much food my wife and I have lying around - left over biscuits from yesterdays breakfast, a box of triscuits, bananas, avocado, cereal, chips, etc.etc. But none of those foods were on my list and so are off limits to me this week.

 I had a tomato sandwich for breakfast. I was really glad I spotted the loaf of wheat bread on the manager's special rack for just 69 cents. Something tells me the bread may not last through the week.

Just so you know, my wife has been fighting a nasty cold for the past week and will not be joining me in my experiment so she can keep up her strength. She will be partaking of the food that I prepare, just not the other way around. I suspect that in most households, the weekly food stamp allotment for one is rarely really just for one.

The Garden

I'm not sure how I would get through this if I did not have a container garden on my patio. I was blessed to grow up on a farm. My dad taught me to grow things and my mom taught me to can, preserve, and prepare great foods that we grew ourselves.

Now some may say that using items from a garden is "cheating" because most receiving assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP - formerly food stamps) do not have gardens. I hope to change that. Unless you live in a cave, there is no reason you could not grow at least something in a container.

I live in a condo with a patio. In a 12x12 space I have 19 containers and since March of this year have grown: potatoes, onions, tarragon, parsley, cilantro, thyme, rosemary, lavender, three varieties of tomatoes, radishes, arugula, spinach, kale, squash, cucumbers, Anaheim chiles, salsa chiles, cayenne chiles, pasilla chiles, jalepenos and bell peppers, and garlic. I planted carrots and turnips in my potato bags but cut worms took them before I could.

Here is what the patio garden looks like today and what I harvested this morning to add to my menu for the week:

Cayenne and chile peppers

Tarragon and onions

Salad greens, basil, tomatoes

9.12.10 harvest for the table

Tonight's menu:
Grilled chicken thighs, roasted peppers, corn on the cob, arugula salad with fresh tomatoes and cayenne peppers.

I purchased a three pound bag of frozen boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I grilled it all tonight and will use the grilled meat for other meals during the week. I also grilled/smoked some tomatoes with garlic, tarragon, and thyme for use in a tomato sauce with the pasta I will eat later this week. I grilled one of the onions I purchased and both ears of corn.

Here is the grill as I began my cooking tonight:

Here is the finished product:

 Tomorrow - grilled chicken burritos...and more cheap coffee.