Food Stamp Challenge

Day 3

2007-06-27T13:17:00.000-07:00

I am SICK of peanut butter. I was planning on having one sandwich for lunch and one for dinner, but I came home to get more food! I am finally getting hungry. Thank goodness for those ice cream bars I splurged on.

I'm having a fun time sharing what I'm doing with friends/family and coworkers. They're used to me taking an extra cookie, or going to grab subway for lunch and Starbucks for a snack... not this week.

Although I am just waiting for a buffet brunch the day after this ends, it has been a great experience thus far (minus hunger pains and the peanut butter fatigue).

Day 2 Morning

2007-06-26T07:56:00.001-07:00

This morning I made my breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the day. I was beginning to prepare one of my Pattie burgers (6 for $5!) and realized the burgers had 23g of fat! I was so busy making sure to stay under my $15 that I forgot to look at how healthy (or unhealthy...) these burgers were for me. I was so hungry for breakfast this morning that I had to choke down all 23g... but any other week I would have thrown the burger out.

For lunch, peanut butter sandwich... For dinner, peanut butter sandwich & an ice cream bar (12 for $2.70).

My loaf of bread is looking pretty low already. Considering I am having about two sandwich's a day this is of concern to me... I'm keeping my remaining $2 in case I need more bread by the end of the week.

So far the biggest challenge for me? That would be having to eat unhealthy. When I began looking at foods that i could buy in bulk for the least amount of money there was a definite pattern - bread bread bread (i ended up getting spaghetti and a loaf of bread, which will be my lunch and dinner for the week). After living on a college-student budget for three years now, I did recognize that I need to treat myself occasionally in order to stay on track... so my 12 ice cream bars (for only $2.69) was my best buy yet. although again, unhealthy.

Tonight will be a challenge as I sit at a board meeting with a provided free dinner... as I eat my Peanut butter sandwich...

Day 1

2007-06-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

I spent most of my Sunday afternoon working and re-working my soon to be $15 grocery budget for the week. I worked hard so that I would somehow have money left over for my much coveted Diet Coke... something I still couldn't believe I did as I stared down a bag of rice, but chose the 12 pack instead. I also bought:

1 bag spaghetti noodles - $.75
Peanut Butter - $1.79
Loaf of Bread - $1.39
6 Beef Patties - $4.99
12pk Diet Cola - $1.88
Ice Cream Bars - $2.69
TOTAL: $12.94

All right, so maybe I didn't quite get the essentials, but I tried to get a few things (diet cola... ice cream bars...) that would give me an occasional 'treat' throughout the week. I have enough pasta and bread to keep me somewhat satisfied. I plan to have peanut butter sandwhiches for lunch and a beef pattie sandwhich for dinner, with spaghetti mixed in occaisionally.