Planning and Shopping

I have to admit that the thought of "planning" for the Hunger Challenge overwhelmed me more than living on $29 of food for a week. So many thoughts and questions were swirling in my head. I had never really stopped to think about the food stamp system, how they work, that they are not stamps anymore, but a swipe card. I didn't know the new name since 2008 is SNAP - Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The acronym "SNAP" is a little ironic since living on this small amount is not a SNAP for many people. Then a sense of guilt surfaces for not taking time to seriously contemplate a way of life that so many people struggle with daily. I have always been involved in charities that help the less fortunate, but I never tried to walk in their shoes - not that a week of living on $29 comes near to what some have to shoulder every day.

I need to outline things before I embark on them and the nutritionist at Food Outreach, Josh, was nice enough to share an overview of how to approach this Challenge. He had food options, how to work nutrition into the menu, etc. I then grabbed my notepad, calculator and pencil and found an Aldi's in Maplewood. I have never been to Aldi's and I have to say it was a great resource. I first walked down the aisles just taking everything in and then started loading my cart with oatmeal, peanut butter, jelly, canned veggies, a bag of apples, bananas (50% off) white rice (brown rice wasn't offered...hmmm), canned tuna, crackers, frozen chicken breast, pasta and spaghetti sauce. I wanted to buy more fruit, but it looked like it would of gone bad in another day or so. I also had to put back the oatmeal cream cookies twice -- soo tempting. My total was just over $28 and I used empty boxes for the food since I forgot to bring my own bags and Aldi's charges for bags.

My five year old son wants to know why he can't have any of the food I bought. When I explained what I was doing and it was a "special project" he told me I wasn't sharing and that wasn't nice. I will keep trying to turn this in to a meaningful lesson for him too.