Living below the line

[Mrs.B]

How many of you are or have participated in this challenge?
In the U.S you have $1.50 a day or $7.50 for 5 days to buy all your food (no getting into that pantry) So you have to think about salt, sugar, fat.
Since I've been a simpler for over 10 years I really thought I had a leg up on this challenge.
But I will be the first to admit the first thing you can't afford is fresh fruits and Vegs.
I wish this challenge was taking place in Aug or Sept when I could step out my front door and eat blackberries.
In the end I purchased the following:
Bulk food section:
1/2 lb oatmeal (breakfast) .33
1/4 lb brown rice .15
1.25 Navy beans $1.20
Salt .09
Sugar .15
5 Earl grey tea bags .50 ( I get 1 pot of tea per day)

Can goodsStore brands)
2 cans Chicken broth $1.00
1 can Tomato soup .70
1 can Veg soup .57

Fresh Fruit & Vegs
1 cucumber .48
bunch of green onions .48
2 apples $1.03

Mix:
Fried rice mix .87
I was grateful for the .16 credit I received for bringing my own bags.

I cooked the rice and beans up first, since then I've added them to the soup to make it a little heartier. I also used some of the rice with green onions to make the fried rice. Let me say though without soy sauce it doesn't taste the same...Also I have no fat so "stir fry" was done with water.
It's day 3 and I really miss salad! I've already eaten 1 apple, I'm saving the cucumber for tomorrow. Friday will be a long day.
I then realized come Saturday I can eat what I want! But for millions of Americans, Saturday never comes, this is a day to day reality.
Such an eye opener. If you have never challenged yourself to something like this, try it.
And remember, all those can goods under your bed....off limits.

[razz]

I admire anyone who makes the effort to try this. I know that I cannot do it for that price.

[catherine]

My husband took up a similar challenge through my daughter's organization, New York City Coalition Against Hunger. Unfortunately I was away on business those five days so I couldn't participate. (Yes, I did feel slightly guilty living off expense report meals)

Mrs.B, you did a great job thinking through the best use of your 7.50.

Since I was away and not there to counsel DH, he lived for 5 days on a jar of peanut butter, a box of Saltine crackers and canned chicken noodle soup. I'd hate to see what would happen to his health if he had to sustain that diet for a long time, but I'm sure that there a lot of people who don't have the time and wherewithal to get the best bang for their few bucks.

[Zoe Girl]

I think I would flip out, I used to have a super high metabolism and now it is mellowing out but still I would have a very hard time with this. I wonder if there is another challenge I can attempt, Even at $10 a day that is $300 a month and multiplied by the people in house, subtract a percentage for the girls getting their own food often, that is about what I spend or more. Right now my personal challenge is to use up everything in the fridge or pantry and when i buy food for say a dinner note the amount to get pretty much the whole meal. We spend $10-20 depending on the dinner and how many people are here.

[gwendolyn]

Co-chairs of the metro-Seattle United Way campaign blogged about trying to feed their family of six on food stamp allotments:
http://crosscut.com/2013/03/29/hunge...amp-challenge/

eta: Daily budget $7/single person, $32 for family of six. Very illuminating!

I just don't think I could do the Mrs.B's challenge without first working through the pantry... which is a worthy challenge I will try to tackle first.

[Glo]

I thank God every day for all my blessings, especially having the food I want. I knoe I'm very fortunate.

[reader99]

For such a budget to be even partly sustainable I think several families would need to go in together on bulk purchases of things like rice and beans.

[Amaranth]

Mrs. B, I like how you got a mix of food that would provide calories, plus some more intensely flavored food to spice it up. Great that you figured out a way to get some fresh produce in there too. What was the favorite of your meals.

In another thread in the food section, there is info about other participants and a significant update on AGirlCalledJack.
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/sho...Food-Challenge

[Mrs.B]

What I missed most was fresh fruits and vegies. They stated if you had a garden you could eat from it but you had to calculate the cost of growing. YIKES>
I did think about how you could "save up" your $1.50 a day over a month ($45.00) and be able to buy better items, plus if you were a family and each person had that $1.50 you have a larger purchase power. But then I thought of how many elderly here in the U.S live alone, under the poverty line. It was an eye opener. Not sure I would try it again. Even with all the years I've lived a simple life I was surprised how fast that $7.50 disappeared!!
But all these challenges make us more compassionate people.

[BayouGirl]

We don't spend a lot on food but still manage to get a variety of different free foods, mostly due to the bounty that rural life offers. We don't get all of the things listed below every week all year long but we do get them at different times, all for free. We get free eggs and fresh real milk from friends who have chicken and cows and orange trees. BayouBoy's parents live on the same huge piece of land as us, but half a mile away and they have goat milk, chicken eggs, duck eggs, a lemon tree and various other country goodies. It just depends on the season. An uncle called to tell us that he was about to plow the garden under but that a lot of mustard greens remained and we picked a few boxes of those. We can go catch fish if we want them, crawfish when in season. I have squeezed hundreds of free oranges and lemons for their juices, which I freeze and use as needed.

In addition to making money by catching alligators during the summer, BB will also clean one and fry the tail ( i don't eat that but everyone else loves it, kids think it is chicken). BB gets a deer in the fall and cleans it and packs away roasts and gets deer sausage made, makes his own jerky. Ooh and the pecans in the fall, yum! BB and his family get together as a family and harvest each others pecans, in addition they also do neighbors trees ( more than 10,000 lbs last year alone) and make money from that.

BB's cousins own the local small grocery store and he will go fix something for them and they will give him steaks and such. If he does an odd job for someone, they will often feed him a good lunch (they know the way to his heart is his stomach). Someone may catch a wild hog, or decide to cook a domestic one in a "cajun microwave" (lots of wood and a special metal box on wheels that gets hauled to whoever's house for the festivities. The whole hog is cooked and a feast is had.

There is so much (that we do) that people in urban environments can't do to feed themselves. I admit I am a slacker and would love to have my own fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and string beans in my yard but am a poor gardener. i don't take to the sizzling outdoor summer heat here.

I do realize how lucky we are. I am especially blessed that my dear hubby can catch, clean and cook anything.