Video explaining the IUPUI SNAP challenge
That is such a terrible title. I feel like I am ALWAYS hungry. But that's another blog post for another day.
Food Insecurity
According to the USDA 14.5% of Americans were food insecure in 2012. Those are 14.5% of Americans that did not know where their next meal is coming from. That is almost 1 in 7 people. I know that when I'm hungry and I am out of the 'good food' (you know what I am talking about: easy to grab chips, string cheese, anything frozen...) I can generally go to the pantry and can prepare popcorn, or at the very least, heat up a package of noodles if the shelves are looking a bit empty. But many people don't even have this option. The pantry is bare. They have nothing.
To show solidarity, and to gain a sense of understanding of what this looks like, I am participating in a SNAP challenge at my university this week, where we are being challenged to live on $1.50 per meal per day, or $31.50 for the entire week (per person), which is equivalent to what those who receive SNAP benefits (formally food stamps) live on. It is in preparation for Hunger and Homelessness awareness week, which takes place just before Thanksgiving.
I thought this would be fairly challenging, but this story takes an ironic twist, because in going through grocery receipts, I found out that my husband and I currently live on that amount weekly. (Not counting going out to eat, or coffee runs). My grocery receipt for this week totaled $61. 70 exactly, so I even came in under budget. (*fist pump*). I'm not sure what that says about the state of a graduate student's quality of life, but there you have it. We are preeettty thrifty by mostly shopping at Aldi's, and growing our own vegetables in the summer. But it was interesting to be cognizant of the fact that we live on the same level as those on government assistance.
An easy home-made breakfast quiche. I make two at a time and freeze one. This is breakfast for two weeks!
What America can learn from the Third World
I wasn't always this thrifty (and it still comes and goes. I LOVE luxury. I hate doing dishes. I would eat out every meal if I could). My husband is from the Dominican Republic, which by our American standards is often termed the 'third world'. I have learned what I consider AMAZING food money saving tricks from my husband, which he grew up thinking were normal. (I think they are magic, and he just shrugs his shoulders).
So in honor of the SNAP challenge here are:
7 ways to eat on the super cheap
1) Eat a lot of rice. Like, a lot of rice. Rice is cheap, rice is filling, and when it is cooked with oil and salt rice can be SO so deliciously good. Straight up carbohydrate glory.
2) Eat a lot of beans with your rice. Black beans, garbanzo beans, pinto beans, red beans... and on. Bonus points if you buy them in a bag and soak them first. Canned beans are cheap, but dry beans are cheaper. They are also a good protein source.
3) Get creative and use what you have. I couldn't begin to count how many times I look in the fridge and the pantry and complain about how we have nothing to eat. My husband will take a look, pause to think, and then make something delicious from ingredients I didn't even know could be put together. #Boom: a meal.
4) Make your own bread/ tortillas/ biscuits. A 5 lb bag of flour costs $4-5 and makes about 8-10 loaves of bread. A store bought loaf will set you back $3-4 so this is such an easy way (If there is time) to save extra money. I currently don't even have time to sleep as a grad student, so you can bet I am not BettyCrocker-ing it up and currently making my own bread. No way, sister. However, my friend Stephanie from Central America wakes up early every morning to make biscuits or tortillas for her kids. She says it is just routine, and she doesn't even have to think about it. Amazing.
5) Prepare your food. This takes time, which many Americans do not have, or claim not to have. (Also guilty) But I have found that the less packaged and pre-made it is, generally the cheaper it is. (And healthier!)
6) Cook larger portions. Use the time you do have to make multiple meals at once. If you are going to make rice, make A LOT of rice, and use it for several meals. If you are going to cook chili, cook a LOT of chili, and freeze it for next week. But no one wants to eat one meal 5 days in a row. Let's get real.
7) Make sure to eat the leftovers. I hate leftovers. I really truly do. I have this mental block that the food somehow gained a crazy awful deadly bacteria in the fridge and will poison me if I eat it. (*shame*) This is so wastefully American. I am truly working on this by thinking of how many more meals there are to be had and money to be saved if leftovers were eaten!
I would love to hear feedback from you, how do you save money at the grocery store?
Hey Jes! I found you through the Influence Network, and I am really enjoying your blog. I figured it was time I said hello. =)
ReplyDeleteOne way I save money is to substitute in recipes ruthlessly. The recipe calls for kale? It'll be baby spinach. Lettuce for this taco salad? Nope, we'll do spinach. Parsley? Still spinach. I will finely chop it and it looks pretty. =) That way I can buy one big bag of spinach that covers everything instead of a bunch of different but similar ingredients. It's boring, but it saves money, and we end up eating a lot of spinach!
I also reduce the amounts of ingredients. If a recipe calls for 4 cups of chicken stock, I'll add two and then two cups of water. We make our own stock, and it's pretty intense, so watering it down doesn't make a huge difference. If a recipe calls for a lot of shredded cheese, I almost always make the recipe without the cheese and then grate a little over the top (again, so it looks pretty) and use a sharp cheddar so the flavor is really punchy, even in small amounts.
We all drink water all the time (except for coffee with breakfast). No juice. No milk. No soda. The baby is still on the bottle, but all of us have our designated water bottles that we refill and drink with every meal. (Note: we DO buy milk, but we use it mainly for use in baking or scrambled eggs).
We eat beef once a week and chicken once a week. I try to get fish in there once a week, but the rest of our dinners are beans or eggs. I also tend to fall back on a few tried and true, inexpensive recipes that we eat a lot. That gives me a little wiggle room for new recipes I might want to try or that contains more expensive ingredients.
I'll be honest, sometimes I get bored. And oh what I wouldn't do for some fresh salmon! But we eat a lot of fruits and veggies and whole grains on a tight budget, AND I always know where our next meal is coming from. That is so, so much to be thankful for!