One morning my wife and I were talking about an article that we read in the paper reporting that 46.7 million Americans (1 out of 5 adults) used food stamps in the previous month. I was well aware of the problem of poverty in our country, but I didn’t realize how deep it was. What exactly does it mean to live on food stamps? The truth was that neither of us really knew. My wife suggested that instead of just reading and talking about it, we should take the “food stamps challenge”. The premise is simple: to live on a budget of a food stamps recipient for a week. The objective is to gain better understanding of poverty and hunger in America.
We found a guideline for the challenge on the website of The Jewish Public Affairs (http://engage.jewishpublicaffairs.org/c/627/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=9423)
The Food Stamps Challenge has five simple guidelines:
1. Each person should spend a set amount for food and beverages during the Challenge week. That amount is $XO for all food and beverage.
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.
After a short discussion we chose to include in the challenge our two older children (12 and 7) but to keep the baby out of it. Our children, after asking many questions (that many remained unanswered until we finished the week) were intrigued by the concept, emphasized with the cause, and committed to the challenge.
The first thing was to figure out our weekly budget for food. In the state ofFlorida, the monthly allocation per person is $139.55, which means $4.57 per day, or a food budget for the 4 of us for a full week of $128.11.
The second step was finding a week without any social engagements (that cannot be politely rescheduled). It was clear from the get go that restaurants are off limit, we cannot host others on this budget, and we cannot accept any invitation since free food is not allowed according to rule number 4 of the challenge.
The amount of $128.11 seemed small, but we thought that with some sacrifices and good planning we will manage. But when we sat down to create the menu for the week and put the shopping list on an Excel spreadsheet we realized that we are up for a challenge much larger than initially assumed. We knew that important products such as wine, good cheeses, nuts and anything that is even close to being antibiotic-free, let alone organic, would not enter our home – and we were okay with that. At the same time we insisted on eating mostly nutritious food that includes fruits, vegetable and whole grains. We started with breakfast. To simplify things, we decided to have the same menu for the whole week: 2 eggs, a slice of whole-grain toast, a fruit, a cup of milk for the kids and coffee for us. It seemed nutritionally adequate and within the budget. But when we were done with planning lunches and dinners for the rest of the week, the total at the bottom of the column excided $128.11 and we had to go back to see where could we cut.
We had already given up on the good coffee and went with the $5 a pound version. But it was not enough. It came down to choosing between a fruit for the children and coffee for us. Both my wife and I thought that it was a no-brainer only that our brains were on diametrically opposite directions. She advocated for fruits and I insisted that the only day of the year when I don’t start with this dark and aromatic beverage is Yom Kippur. We went back and forth until I reminded her that the mental damage that a non-caffeinated me may afflict on our children will be much greater than the physical harm that may occur to them as a result of lacking a serving of fruit for a week. She gave up.
If you find the last description amusing, it is only because I wrote it a week after the fact. The whole process of planning 84 meals for an average of $1.57 each was rather stressful and time consuming. And we hadn’t even started the challenge yet.
For lunch, we decided that the kids will buy food at school, and we would deduct it (the price that they would have paid had they were on food stamps) from our budget. The adults would have a peanut butter or cheese sandwich with a vegetable, or/and some leftovers from the previous night’s dinner.
As much as we wanted to include fish in our diet it was impossible. We had mainly chicken, chopped meat and larger than usual portions of brown rice, whole-grain pasta, sweet potatoes, potatoes and beans. We ate significantly less vegetables than we usually eat (luckily, broccoli was on sale at Publix) and apples and bananas were the only affordable fruit. We didn’t drink anything but home-brewed (cheap) iced tea and we had no money left for dessert. At the end of each meal we felt that we had enough to eat, but none of us was stuffed (more about it later).
Before I continue with the description of the week I want to make it clear that in no point were we presumptuous enough to assume that what we endured in a week of living on a meager food budget can even begin to resemble the lives of millions of Americans who are forced to do it day in and day out. First, we did it only for a week. I’m not sure that the experience will not change some of our eating and food shopping habits, but it will be by our choice. Secondly, my wife and I are quite knowledgeable about nutrition and cooking. Thirdly, we have a car and the ability to buy food in cheaper places. But even without it, there are 5 Publix and 2 Winn-Dixie supermarkets in a 5 mile radius from our house. Many of the people who live on food stamps, on the other hand, buy their groceries in small convenience stores that offer fewer options (especially of healthy choices) at a much higher price.
Our first day was Sunday, a relaxing way to begin. Breakfast was fine. I made four omelets (no cheese or veggies) and 4 toasts. For lunch I made four grilled-cheese sandwiches that we ate with carrots and iced-tea. It was pretty good and we made a note to eat it more often. Only that then I discovered the first mistake in our plan: By lunch time of day 1 we already ate 12 slices of bread out of the 30 we allocated for the whole week. We still had $6 saved for mistakes like this, but it was too early in the week to discover such a flaw. A fear began gnawing at me that the entire plan was after all not so well designed.
To make things worse a friend called to ask if we wanted to meet for dinner. I could have just said “no thank you”, but we did want to get together with them. Normally, in a situation like that there are three options: our house, their house or going out. We didn’t have enough food to invite them over, we couldn’t get free food from them, and our remaining $6 (and now we had to get more bread with it!) would not even cover the tip in a restaurant.
At that point my 12 year old daughter questioned the “no free food” rule. “Why can’t we accept food from our friends?” she wanted to know. The best answer that I could come up with was that people who live on food stamps cannot afford having people in their homes. Their friends may invite them a few times, but we all expect reciprocity. If they don’t invite people back, or at least bring some dessert or wine (which they cannot afford) the invitations will, inevitably, stop coming.
I ended up calling back my friend, telling him about our food challenge and suggesting meeting at the beach when each family brings its own sandwiches. We needed to go to Publix to buy some whole-wheat wraps. The beach was beautiful (we were, of course, lamenting the fact that we don’t do it often enough) but it felt weird. Dinner at the beach without a cooler full of drinks and fruits doesn’t feel right.
We managed to stick to our challenge for the rest of the week. It was hard, but we learned much more than we expected. In a separate post, after Yom Kippur I will share some of what we have learned and how to use this experience as a valuable teaching tool for the family.
L’SHANA TOVAH TIKATEVU V’TECHATEMU. 
Temple Beth Am, 2250 Central Blvd, Jupiter. (561)747-1109. www.templebetham.com