Hunger Action Week - The Wrap

On Saturday we wrapped up Hunger Action Week. Here's how we did it.

First we added up the amount for unused items, for a total of $6.00. Then we estimated the amount left for half used items, like olive oil, oatmeal, popcorn, honey etc. There were a lot of these; enough to total up to $23.70. Taken away from our original amount spent - $151.00 - we figured we really spent $121.30. Not bad! In fact good enough that we decided we could justify ending HAW before dinner time, and instead have hamburgers.

So where does that leave us? Well, for sure I now know that when we want we can spend way less on food and still eat well. Very well, in fact. Hunger Action Week was even a little fun. It certainly gave us something to talk about, and work together on. Would I do it again? Maybe. It's a game, for sure. If we really had to stick to a strict budget of $7.00 per person per day, we would do things a lot differently. For one thing, some things will last way more then a week. It was hard to have to include things like olive oil in the weekly budget, when that is something that can last almost a month. For another, I would be on the lookout for bargains and start using coupons and that kind of thing. Also, I would probably cook simpler meals that did not require so much planning. The End!

Hunger Action Week - Day 6

Today was very easy. Nothing to make. Breakfast and lunch were serve yourself from the designated shelf. Dinner for Pat and Alex was grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Rachel and I had dinner at Tent City. Our girl scout troop joined another troop and some friends and we went and served dinner for around 80 residents. It was a great experience to provide a meal for so many who do not have much. And the residents said it was the best meal they had in MONTHS! We brought 14 salmon slabs, potatoes, rice, chili, salads, desserts, beverages, plates, cups and utensils, and of course girl scout cookies. The girls had a tour and were able to interact with the people. I would really love to see our troop take it farther and understand homelessness a little more. But anyway, back to HAW...

The dilemna we have now is, how do we value our dinners? And what about the HAW dinner Pat missed when he went to a big fancy work dinner on Wednesday? I think we decided to just give them a pass. Rachel and I at least replaced our hunger experience at home with a view of real hunger. And that's the point, after all.

Hunger Action Week - Day 5

It's just after lunch on Day 5, and HAW is getting a little old. It's not even the budget spending that is hard at this point. It's the constant planning, and cooking, and rationing. Tonight's dinner is supposed to be potato leek soup, and I am thinking it will instead be leftover chicken soup, or leftover meatballs and pasta - take your pick.

At least we have leftovers, though. We did not really figure that into our budget when we planned all the dinners.

Hunger Action Week - Day 4

It's hard to believe we are almost done with the week. Today for the kids and I, breakfast was gluten free pancakes and some fruit. Lunch at home was quesadillas, nachos with cheese and the remainder of the chili and guacamole. For Pat at work it was a prociutto/tomato sandwich. Dinner was homemade tomato sauce (in the crockpot), with turkey meatballs, gluten-free pasta and broccoli.

We did have to make a $12.00 trip to Trader Joe's to buy a loaf of bread, tortillas, cheese and tortillas chips. I also gave in to 2 avocados for Alex since he is coming down with a bit of a cold and I felt sorry for him. But they were $1.00 each so weren't too pricy. Our farm box was delivered as well. We went through it and decided what to consider as "this weeks" produce, and added that cost in as well. Then, at dinner, Rachel elected to "buy" some parmesan cheese from our forbidden food shelf for $2.00 as her treat, since Alex got avocados. We now have $4.00 left until the end of the week. We should be fine, since we already have all the food we need for lunches and dinners purchased. What will be really interesting is to see what is left at the end of the week and figure out its value.

Hunger Action Week - Day 3

Day 3, for me still so far, so good. For Rachel too. Pat doesn't say much. Alex says "It's terrible, don't do it."

Breakfast before running out the door for homeschool coop was leftover baked oatmeal with cream. Lunch was: me - an apple, Pat and Alex - sandwiches, and Rachel leftover mac and cheese (still the same $1.50 box). Dinner was chicken soup, cooked all day in the crockpot, with onion, carrots and rice. It was very good. The kids and I also had a midafternoon snack of nachos with chili and cheese.

Almost half way through.

Hunger Action Week - Day 2

Day 2 started out fine. As usual, the kids made their own breakfast. Rachel had peanut butter toast and Alex had baked oatmeal. They also made their own lunch - quesadillas for Alex, leftover mac and cheese for Rachel.

This morning I started cooking some beans which had soaked overnight in the crockpot. When I returned home from working out, they were ready so I had them for lunch, with a little cheese, salt and pepper. They were delicious! I would have eaten more, but they needed to also be part of dinner.

Dinner was porkchops, tuscan beans and broccoli. I even curbed my use of butter, so we don't run out before week's end.




So far no complaints. I am so happy that this is Rachel's thing , though. Otherwise I know she would be complaining. I seriously think she is addicted to sugar. (Actually, so does she.) And usually my attempts to keep her away from it go unheeded. There is always somebody giving away junky candy or sugary treats. And somehow she always has a stash in our pantry or her desk drawer. If this week weren't her idea, then I'm sure we would have complaints.

Hunger Action Week - Day 1 and Random Thoughts

So, here we are on Sunday – Day 1. So far, so good.

For breakfast we had baked oatmeal with honey and cream. It was unusual to all eat the same breakfast. Usually it’s just a free-for-all. Lunch for Alex and Pat was prosciutto/ tomato sandwiches and tortilla chips with salsa. Rachel had gluten-free macaroni and cheese purchased from Champion Foods for $1.50 a box! And dinner was roast chicken seasoned with olive oil, oregano and fresh garlic; potatoes mashed with cream; and kale sauteed in olive oil. The kids and Pat had a dessert of blueberries with cream. Sounds quite gourmet for $22.00 a day. I hope we don’t run out of food at the end.

I've found quite a few interesting blogs about Hunger Action Week and thought I'd post links. Here they are:

Cook Local

Family Friendly Food

Kitchen Sink Unplugged

Savory Sweet Life


There are more blogs on the United Way website, but these are the ones I seem to like best.

Having just started this week, and having tweaked the challenge using some of my own rules (which I'll explain later), I find the reflections of those people who have participated in the Hunger Challenge very interesting. Many reasons to do it, and many different approaches and outcomes. Some of the blogs have provided quite a lot of detail as to pricing out meals and such. I don't feel the need to do that. I'd rather focus on the big picture. And I can, because I am lucky enough to be able to afford anything I want to eat. Many people can not.

The main reason for our hunger challenge week is Rachel. She has wanted to do something like this before we even knew it was an official thing. I think it is an excellent exercise in understanding where our food money goes, where we can cut back, and exactly how much we generally waste (lots). And, hopefully along the way, it will give all of us more empathy with those individuals who really do have to eat on $7.00 a day. For us, it's a game. If we run out of food purchased for the challenge, guess what? We have a ton sitting in our pantry, just waiting for the week to be over. We are lucky. Many are not. Thank you United Way, for coming up with a way for people who can to understand just a little bit more about people who can't.

Hunger Action Week

While reading the Gluten-Free Girl blog a few weeks ago I noticed a post about United Way’s Hunger Action Week. By the time I read the post, it was too late to take part in the actual week. Since she has been cooking so much, I showed the United Way website to Rachel. I wanted her to start thinking about how much money we are spending. I also knew she would be interested as she has asked me several times over the past 6 months if we could try and spend $100 for groceries for a week. This, usually after we go grocery shopping and she watches me pay. I kept saying no way, we couldn’t do that. But this challenge got me thinking. Why not? And after showing Rachel the website, I had no choice but to agree anyway. She was all over it. We informed Pat and Alex, who both looked a bit startled a first and then resigned. We decided to begin on Sunday, February 28th and end on the following Saturday.

Here are the rules:

1. Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner spending only $7 per day, per person. Maximum $22 per day for family of 4.

2. Salt and pepper don't count but all other seasonings, cooking oils, condiments, snacks, drinks, and everything else do.

3. Don't use food you already own.

4. Don't accept food from family, friends, coworkers and others. Not even the free samples from Costco!

5. Try to include fresh produce and healthy protein each day.

To begin, we added up our weekly total based upon the Hunger Challenge Budget. At $22.00 per day for a family of 4, we have $154.00 to spend for 7 days. The kids and I talked about what they might like to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. On Friday we headed to Trader Joe’s to do most of our shopping. We spent $69.00. To that we added $29.00, the cost of our weekly produce delivery from Jubilee Farm. We also added in the price of items we already had at home ( not really supposed to do this, but I didn’t want to waste what we already had), for a total of $120.00 spent. We figured we better not spend all our money at the beginning of the week, since there are sure to be some items we will need money for later. Shopping at Trader Joe’s with a budget was fun. Rachel pushed the cart and Alex added up the price of all the food on my calculator.( I used to do this in my head on shopping trips as a kid!) We made sure we had enough food for all our breakfasts, most lunches and all our dinners. Each kid chose a luxury item. On Saturday the kids ate lots of chocolate and drank Inca Cola, knowing those were not in the hunger action week budget. Went to bed looking forward to the week…