Hunger Action Month

Friday, September 5, 2008

Thinking in Central Illinois

It's been a long time since I've had to think about stretching my dollar so thin for my food budget. The last time was nearly 20 years ago when I went through some dramatic life changes that included changing jobs, ending a long-term relationship, and moving. At that time I wasn't sure how I was going to make ends meet. I remember eating a lot of ramen noodles, pasta and peanut butter. Eventually I got my life back together thanks to a great support network and the wonderful education that my parents had made sure that I received. I never wanted to eat peanut butter on a regular basis again.

Well, here I am thinking about how I'm going to make my $25 stretch for the week. I'm humbled by that fact that there are so many people out there that do this, who use their food stamps, frequent the food pantries and don't complain. Although I haven't quite figured out whether I will use the sample shopping list or make a list of my own, one thing I'm fairly certain of is that one of the items will be peanut butter.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Is the challenge $25 a week per person right? Or are you people doing a $25 a week challenge for the entire family of 4?? That would make it $100 a week for a family of 4. Actually this week I did groceries in 2 supermarkets for my family of 4 plus 4 dogs! I spent a total of$28.50 per person for the entire week and that included dog food as well.So the total bill was $114 .I could have gotten it down to $100 even.

This is what I got for $114
2 1/2 gallons of milk,2 large packs of chicken breast,1 large pack of chicken drumsticks,2large rack of pork ribs,2 cans of vienna sausages,1pk of hotdogs,1Special K cereal,1 box of Apple Jacks,Pancake mix,clothes detergent,toilett paper,4 large can of fruit cocktail,1 4pk ready to eat fruit cocktail,1 gal Tropicana punch,box of diet cookies,1 loaf of bread, 1 lb of deli ham,1 doz eggs,1pk eggbeaters,hair Gel,1 bag of dogfood,1 1/2 lb bananas,lettuce,roma tomatoes,2 cans beans,can spaghetti sauce,2 box mac n cheese,2 pks ramen soup,bag of Tater Tots
A few misc items that I forgot to mention...came out to $114.
The government gives roughly $25 per person .So a family of 4 gets $400 a month.My friend says she cant feed herself and 3 kids with $400 a month. It is very hard because you can't get the yummy treats. I usually spend about $160 a week!$640 a month I feel blessed to have that even if we stay broke for the rest of the week.So many more people are in this situation and dont really talk about it. I went to do groceries and I noticed that a lot more people are hurting financially. I could not purchase a small bag of clothes detergent because the were sold out. Icould only find 1 loaf of store brand bread because it was sold out! All the store brand food was sold out or 1-2 left.