Day 5: Friday

The final day! Here's what I ate:

Breakfast: oats, organic raisins, soy latte and a banana
Total: $1.43

Lunch on Sunset Avenue: Quinoa salad (.78), Yogurt (.45), Organic apple (.80), iced green tea (.12)
Total: $$2.15

Snack: Protein Bar (.25). Please note: I resisted all temptations to go to Nama's Candy Shop for a chocolate truffle or to Revelation Yogurt!
Total: $.25

Dinner:  My husband, Bob, has returned from his travels! I'm going to try to use up a few items with the dinner tonight.
Spinach & onion omelets (3 eggs each), 1/2 corn muffin each (only 1 left so we shared), 1 Organic Apple.
Dinner total: $2.02

Tea later tonight: $.12

Dinner for Two

Day 5 Total: $5.97

Food Remaining: Enough coffee for 2 more lattes, about 1/2 cup oil, 1 large carrot, 1 serving of lentil soup, 1 serving of quinoa, 8 bags of green tea.

Total for Five Days: $30.98 (Budget was $7 per day or $35.00)

Was it easy? It helped to plan things out. I always knew what I would be eating or at least what my options were. Once the soup and quinoa were made it was easy to to heat or just eat what I needed.

Was it worth it? The goal was to create an awareness of hunger in our community and I had many interesting conversations with folks about the experiment. Many told me that I was creative and good at coming up with healthy options. They weren't so sure someone on food stamps would have put as much effort into the process as I did. I'm not so sure. When your options are limited, you make do with what you have. But, if someone is in a stressful living situation I am sure it would be much harder. I'm sure they get creative about utilizing food banks.  I felt hungry a few times and found myself thinking about food frequently. I was feeding myself mostly and it would be more challenging feeding a family.

I hope you learned a few things and I would encourage you to give it a try for 5 days to see what it's really like! I am more aware of the cost of food and understand better the challenge of healthy eating on a limited budget.