ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS FOOD!

THE GROCERY STORE - shopped at Trader Joes last night. Before I got there, I almost did a crazy u-turn into Walgreen’s when I saw their sign advertising a dozen eggs for only 99 cents. Turns out Trader’s had some for the same price, although they weren’t the organic, jumbo ones I usually buy.

Food shopping during the Hunger Challenge was much more challenging than imagined – I asked the lady at check out to please be patient with me as she rang up items, called the manager over to remove items, added other items, removed more items – repeat – repeat – repeat – so I could fit together the pieces of the puzzle – to get a healthy variety of food to put together meals to live on for one week on just $29.

THE BOUNTY - As I left with a 32 oz. container of French vanilla yogurt, peanut butter, quinoa, marina sauce, organic polenta, black beans, 2 bananas, a small bag of sweet potatoes, a dozen eggs, an apple, frozen black raspberries, frozen pineapple tidbits, trek mix (the cheapest way to get the nuts I wanted, which also included dried blueberries and cranberries), soy mozzarella , I noticed a couple in the next checkout lane stocking up on salmon, salmon stuffed with crab cake, more salmon, etc. and for the first time felt that this is what it must feel like (if I ate meat) for someone living on food stamps to look at another person’s grocery basket filled with steak. The food purchase came to $28.54. Woo hoo – now I have 46 cents left over to go somewhere else that has spinach by the pound – gotta have those greens! Actually deduct 18 cents – that’s what I paid for bulk flax seed at another stop on the way home.

THE LAST SUPPER – OR – THE FEAST BEFORE THE FAMINE: Stopped at Provisions for their Bourbon Salmon Caesar salad – I watched as the lady at the salad counter put fresh romaine in the container and loaded it – and I mean loaded it – with salmon, walnuts, sundried tomatoes, parmesan and Caesar dressing. I asked for an extra plate and put about one quarter of the salad on it, sat at the counter and savored every bite! It’s so rich and yummy that about a quarter of it is all I can eat at one time. Then I took the rest and gave it to my daughter to enjoy. Later, at home, I devoured ¼ cup of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia fro yo. It was heaven!

DAY ONE – BREAKFAST: Went to bed thinking about food, woke up thinking about food. Food, food food. I’m the type of person who while eating is thinking about my next meal. I cut out a zillion recipes that I will never make a dent in making and love putting together menus for meals, especially holiday, special occasion and seasonal meals. Breakfast is my favorite and I feel fortunate that I probably won’t suffer taste fatigue eating basically the same thing every morning during the challenge.

…Thinking about my grandma who grew up in an orphanage and ate the same thing for lunch every day – cornbread and molasses – at least both have a lot of healthy properties. She wound up living a long and healthy life, but the food back then wasn’t overly processed – very different from a lot of the food today. Funny, she never developed a taste for chocolate, because she never had it growing up, and always ate everything on her plate, including the parsley. “Lots of vitamins and minerals in it,” she would say. “And good roughage.”

My breakfast consisted of a multi-whole grain hot cereal, similar to oatmeal, but with other whole grains – rye, barley, etc. I wasn’t able to buy the soy milk I wanted so I made it with water and added some of the frozen black raspberries (not nearly as tasty as fresh!), the trek mix (almonds, dried blueberries & dried cranberries) and a whopping dollop of French vanilla yogurt. It was yummy and satisfying, but I had to wait until I got to work for my “free” cup of coffee.

MEET THE PRESS: At today’s press conference for the challenge at Food Outreach, Greg Lukeman from F.O., Frank Finnegan from the St. Louis Food Bank and my boss, Sunny Schaefer from Operation Food Search all gave meaningful, eye opening speeches about the hunger crisis right here in our own community.

At the conference, there were piles of groceries lined up that had been purchased by different participants in the challenge and it was interesting to what each person bought for the week and who got the best values. The dietitian at Food Outreach had it going on – several cans of tuna, lentils (which I wish I had purchased), whole grain pasta, mustard greens (although they were canned – I would prefer fresh) a whole bag of apples compared to my one and I began to wonder – could I barter? Exchange some of my eggs for someone’s spinach?

DAY ONE LUNCH: I had a lunch meeting today at Bobo’s Noodle House. Before I left the office, I ate a banana. In the parking lot, I saw this girl sitting on the curb, looking a bit weathered, weary and forlorn with her beggar’s sign. I asked her if she was homeless and she said she had been, but had just started a job in telemarketing and was trying to get back on her feet – she also told me she was pregnant. Usually, I don’t give money to people at street corners, however, I asked her if she was hungry and she said she was so I offered to buy her lunch. We went into Kayak’s and I told her she could order whatever she wanted off the menu. She ordered a sandwich, minus the mushrooms. I asked if she wanted something to drink and she got a soda from the case and politely said thank you. Then I met up with my lunch appointment at Bobo’s, who ordered the salmon with spicy noodles. I’d had this before and it is so good! However, I was fortunate that I didn’t feel hungry while at the restaurant, even with all its good food smells - but the moment I got back in my car, I drove as fast as the speed limit would allow for my hardboiled egg. About 3 hours later, I had another hardboiled egg and am drinking a lot of water. I already drink a lot of water, but now I’m drinking more of it to help subside my feelings of hunger. I think the challenge will really bring to light how hard it is on limited resources to eat fulfilling, well-rounded meals with lots of variety and color. And how hard it is to eat the healthier versions of foods due to costs – whole grain bread vs. white, brown rice vs. white rice, organic foods vs. non-organic foods, etc.

WHAT’S FOR DINNER? I’ll let you know tomorrow. I’m sure tonight I’ll be dreaming about food!