Frugal Fridays: Update on the Food Stamp Challenge
Hi frugal friends, here’s what I’m learning in the Food Stamp Challenge. It’s a little different than I thought. What I’m finding is this: It actually doesn’t cost that much to go organic/local/seasonal, it just takes a lot more time and requires a return to simplicity.
::Cost. It’s actually been cheaper than I thought to make the switch to organic, local, seasonal. As I mentioned last week, finding a great deal on meat, stocking up, and using the freezer means the cost is pretty comparable to regular. Organic whole foods aren’t that much more expensive, but organic convenience foods are very expensive. Organic snacks, popcorn, canned food, etc. is very expensive. Thankfully, we don’t need those items anyway.
Part of the challenge is to live on whole, real food. So, I actually bought a lot fewer items, but just lots more of them. Tons of oats, whole wheat flour, brown rice, dried beans, and whole wheat pastas. I read the labels on every item I usually buy and was amazed at the fact that almost every packaged/bottled food contains either a soy or corn derivative (GMO) or artificial ingredients. Hmm… So, I will admit that I just plain couldn’t buy a lot of stuff. Salad dressing, regular chocolate, microwave popcorn–those were the ones I just had to take a deep breath and walk away from. 🙂 But instead we can make our own salad dressing, air-pop our own popcorn (and drizzle real butter on it!), and I even found all-natural organic dark chocolate at Trader Joe’s with no soy lecithin. It’s heavenly and worth the $1 extra.
:: Time. So, the real cost in this whole deal is time. It does take a lot more time to do the organic/whole food thing on a budget. I spent pretty much the whole day yesterday stuffing and roasting a whole organic chicken, making quinoa and homemade bread, and making fresh fish stock and chicken stock from scratch. It was definitely worth it as my freezer is full of nutritious, delicious stock, I have huge pot of homemade organic chicken-noodle soup, and Jeff about died over how good everything tasted. I actually enjoyed spending all day cooking because it felt renewing and therapeutic after a busy few ministry days. I loved just standing over that huge pot of stock and inhaling the steam and skimming off the fat–I was alone with my thoughts and actually had time to just be. So, I loved it. But, I can understand that not everyone is a stay-at-home mom, and for some a day of cooking is not realistic. (And even for me that’s often not realistic.)
::Seasonal. So, one of my big commitments was to eat seasonally and locally. This is easy in the summer, not so easy in the winter, for obvious reasons. Oregonians don’t do a lot of gardening in December. So, if we really stick to it, our winter produce will mostly include squash, yams, onions, potatoes, carrots. I’m actually fine with that, but it is a bit of a shock to think of going all winter without salad. I was talking to my dad and he was saying how when he was young that’s just the way it was–you went to the grocery store to find out if something was in season yet. “Nope, probably be another month,” they’d say. Then you’d try back again later. We’re so used to convenience that we don’t even know there are seasons anymore. So, it’s certainly not a moral issue, but I’m just aiming to shop in season as much as possible. This means apples and pears all fall, lots of yams and onion soup in the winter, plenty of asparagus all spring, and all the berries and fruit we can stuff in our tummies all summer long. Maybe the reason God gives us less food in the winter is because he knows all we want to do is curl up and snuggle under a quilt. Then He gives us more fuel in the summer when we’re out running around. Who knows, I’m just sharing our journey.
Overall, it’s been really fun so far. A good friend actually set up a spreadsheet for us and we split up all the stores around town and documented the best price on whole/healthy/organic foods. It’s been fun to work together and learn from each other’s shopping habits.
Bottom line? Eating whole/local/organic simply means a little more cost, a lot more time, and lot less variety. Somehow for us it seems freeing–it feels good to need less stuff in our kitchen, and it’s fun to see how many things I can make from a few simple ingredients. But I can definitely understand how it would be tough to make the switch if kids were already used to certain items, or if time didn’t permit an occasional day in the kitchen.
High/Low: My favorite part: fresh organic nectarines and dark organic chocolate. Amazing. Least favorite part: sticking my hand inside that chicken to stuff it full of rosemary. It made it delicious but I’m not a fan of the stuffing part!
Please continue to share any frugal/fresh/local/organic tips. I’m the newbie and there are a lot of experts out there so pass along the wisdom!
Because they're all God's kids
I’m continuing my adventure through Richard Stearn’s book, The Hole in our Gospel. It is ripping me to shreds, in the best way possible. Every time I read it I want to run outside and knock on doors and wave the book around like a madwoman and say, “Read this! Children are dying! What will you do?!” But since I can’t leave my kids alone in the house and because it’s 10 o’clock at night I’m electronically knocking on your door and I’m virtually waving the book around because children really are dying and I really do wonder what we will do.
Tonight I did all I knew to do, I got online and found another child to sponsor. Why? Because baby Florinah, who lives in a severely affected AIDS and HIV community in Zambia, is one of God’s children and I know He loves her beyond comprehension. Because her first birthday is this Monday and for her birthday she will now have a sponsor! Because just down the hall, tucked safely in her crib, lies my little one-year-old darling. Because at my side lies my little boy, sound asleep in his little monkey jammies. And I look at this precious boy of mine and there’s nothing in the world I wouldn’t do for him. Tonight I made him his favorite dinner–whole wheat pancakes–and we cut them in two–half for me and half for him–and we sat together and ate our delicious pancakes (with organic eggs and milk!) and talked and laughed after sister went to bed. Tonight I tucked him in and read books and prayed and kissed his cheeks and inhaled his perfect little puppy breath and just thanked God a million times over for that crazy little guy who is my son. He is my child. And while I may not be so intoxicated with love for someone else’d kid, he’s mine and I’d do anything for him. And then I was reminded that one of the books he likes to read is a book of Jesus songs, and one of the songs goes like this:
“Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.”
I was reminded tonight, as I thought of the song and as I read The Hole in our Gospel while snuggled in bed next to my precious son, that they’re all God’s kids. I don’t know them, I’ve never hugged them or touched them, but God looks at them with the same adoring eye that I have for my kids. And we, we all, have the awareness (26,500 children die every single day to causes related to poverty), the access (get online!), and the ability (go without Starbucks! Just $35/month sponsors a child.) to save lives, bring hope, share Christ. It is SO easy to help. We just have to do it.
Need more motivation? Pick up The Hole in our Gospel and read it. Today.
Ok, I’m done pounding on your door and I’ll quit waving around the book like a madwoman. But please consider what you’ll do today to help this cause, because they’re all God’s kids.
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Frugal Fridays: Kicking off the Food Stamp Challenge
Ok, so wasn’t going to technically start the Food Stamp Challenge (eating all whole, organic, healthy seasonal food on $275 or less) until the 15th, but I was excited to get going, and also remembered that we’re going on vacation Oct. 8th, so in order to make the month a full-month (without cheating!), I’d better start now, on the 9th.
I feel like in just one week I’ve discovered so much I almost feel like the whole challenge thing could be summed up right now. Bottom line? It’s totally possible to eat local, health, whole, organic food on a budget. The key? A couple things:
:: Wait, jump on a deal, stock up, and eat what you score. I’m realizing that I’m going to have to be a lot more flexible with my meal-planning habit if we want to eat fresh, local, organic food. Why? Because we’re just going to eat what we find while hunting and gathering.
- Hunting: Ok, call me crazy but I’m starting to think of grocery shopping more like hunting and gathering (I told you, you’re calling me crazy!). In other words, if there’s no beef on sale–then you don’t eat beef. If chicken’s on sale, buy it up! I think I mentioned I found whole organic chickens at Safeway, and with a 30% discount and a coupon they ended up being $1.69/lb! So I bought 3 and froze them. That amazing sale at Whole Foods has local, organic, grass-fed beef for $3.99/lb so I bought 10 lbs and froze them. Then I found fresh-caught wild Alaskan salmon, which is basically edible gold, for only $5.99/lb. at Fred Meyer so I bought 9 lbs. To make it easy and convenient I cut up the salmon into approx 4 oz. portions and put two portions into sandwich bags (we just share with the kids, the don’t eat whole salmon portions). So we now have 15 salmon dinners all ready to go in the freezer! I also got fresh-caught wild cod for only $3.99 lb. and did the same thing. So, after I buy more chickens that will be enough meat for us for the year. Yes, the year. That’ll give us lots of chicken, beef once a month (which is all we eat it now), and fish twice a month. All for about $20/month for meat for a family of four. Not bad! Especially considering ONE steak at a restaurant (not even organic) can cost $20.
- Gathering: The same goes for produce. When gathering, you only eat what you can find in your own climate. So I’m really going to make an effort to eat seasonally and locally. And, only what’s on sale. So, I found organic grapes for $1.49/lb at Fred Meyer–we’ve eaten loads of them all week. I had no idea a grape could be so amazing. They are SOO good. They also have organic, NW grown peaches and nectarines on sale for $.98/lb. I buy them in bunches and then ripen them in big paper bags with overripe bananas in them. Throughout the week I’ve probably bought about 25 lbs. They ripen really gradually so they’ll probably feed us for the whole month. Whatever we don’t eat I’ll freeze. We have fresh carrots, zucchini, and cucumber from the garden. So other than that organic fruit I haven’t bought produce. Total spent? About $35.
::Freeze!
- Right before Dutch was born we bought at $40 freezer off Craigslist so that I could cook ahead and be prepared. That thing is the oldest, ugliest freezer I’ve ever seen but it works! And I’ve got it stuffed. Freezers are the KEY to buying local, fresh, seasonal food. Right now mine is packed with that Alaskan salmon, cod, chicken, beef, about 125 lbs. of cored and sliced apples, a ton of way overripe organic bananas that our church’s food ministry sent home with us (I used them for banana bread today–yum!), several gallon ziplock bags of blackberries that we picked (for free!) last weekend, dozens and dozens of sandwich baggies each filled with 1 cup of shredded zucchini to mix-in with everything I cook (zucchini is the easiest vegetable to sneak in ever), and… well, and two containers of Breyer’s ice cream, because even all-natural eating has to have some tasty treats. All that to say, don’t underestimate the power of the freezer!
:: Simplify.
- Ok, here is the thing I keep finding over and over and over. What costs us so much in our food budgets is our love for choices. We love to have ten breakfast cereals and ten kinds of snacks and we just love love love our choices, but choices are very expensive! Eating oatmeal every morning, even organic oatmeal, is very cheap. Eating homemade whole-wheat bread, even with organic flour, with fresh organic peaches and two organic scrambled eggs (that’s what the kids and I have been eating for lunches) is very cheap. Even eating a fresh, wild-caught Alaskan salmon dinner ($1.50/serving) with yams ($.50/serving) and organic brown rice ($.25/serving) is very cheap. That’s a dinner of edible gold for $2.25/serving. You could even sneak in some organic dark chocolate from Trader Joe’s like I did tonight ($.50/serving) and still be under $3! That’s cheaper, in fact that’s half the price of a combo meal at McDonald’s. So all that to say that the fewer ingredients and choices and fancy snacks we need the cheaper things will be. I’m finding my grocery list getting shorter and shorter, because I’m just buying more of few items. Tons of oats, tons of whole-wheat flour, tons of brown rice. Plenty of organic milk, eggs, real butter, cheese. Toss in loads of whatever local produce is on sale, and there’s the month! Real food, real health, really good deals.
I’ll share what else I find. More than anything I’m so excited to share with you some golden nuggets from the book of James! Stay tuned. And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to snack on some fresh organic grapes.
The Food Stamp Challenge
As you know, I was very impacted by the eye-opening truths about the food industry revealed in Food, Inc. This past weekend we also watched The Future of Food, another documentary focusing on Genetically Modified food, and the impact of subsidizing, genetic-engineering, and patenting on the production of our nation’s food. I had no idea we were being faced with such an enormous moral dilemma which is the patenting of life. Perhaps I am way behind the times–am I the only one just finding all this out?? Again, remember this is a secular film replete with ridiculous references to evolution. However, what blew my mind again and again was seeing that we have sought to take the place of God, we have ceased asking Him how best to manage the earth that He created, an we have allowed greed to become our driving force. Even more than that, I was seeing how many of the things I thought were helping the poor in other countries (buying cheap food so I could give more money away) were actually exacerbating the problem. It was just fascinating to me. This weekend I also read through the end of Isaiah and began Jeremiah in my daily Bible reading. I was floored to see the parallels between God’s indictment on the nation of Israel and the dangers we are now facing because of our own straying from God.
So I could rant and rave for hours about this, and I promise I will not turn this into a health-food blog :), but here is the bottom line: I am convinced that genetically modified food is compromised from what God intended it to be. And, truth be told, we have no idea what the ramifications are long-term. There have never been humans who have eaten genetically modified corn and soy products (which is 90% of processed food) their whole lives … until now. Our children, my little Dutch and Heidi, are the lab rats. So we’ll see in the 50 years how they turn out? That doesn’t seem like a great idea to me.
So, I’ve mentioned before that our food budget was $200. Obviously you cannot buy organic, local, food on a budget like that. So, I did a little research. Here are a few figures:
First off, in 2007, the USDA Food Plans included these four food budget levels. They use these levels to determine budgets for alimony, foster care, military food plans, etc.
- Thrifty — “The Thrifty Food Plan serves as a national standard for a nutritious diet at a minimal cost and is used as the basis for maximum food stamp allotments.”
- Low-Cost — this is what bankruptcy courts use to determine which portion of a bankrupt person’s income is allotted to food.
- Moderate-Cost — Alimony payments, foster care, etc.
- Liberal — The Dept of Defense uses this to determine the “Basic Allowance for Subsistence for all service members”.
Here are their amounts listed for a Family of Four:
If you are a family of 4, (2 adults between 19-50 years of age, kids between the ages of 2-5 years), expect to pay, PER MONTH:
- Thrifty food plan = $482.40
- Low-cost food plan = $612.60
- Moderate-cost food plan = $750.80
- Liberal food plan = $ 930.70
Ok, that helped me realize how unrealistic I was being. Now, that doesn’t mean that all families on food stamps receive $482.40 worth of food stamps each month. That’s the maximum food stamp amount. Food stamps are meant to subsidize your overall cost. Not pay for the whole budget.
So, the actual average amount given in food stamps for a family of 4 (same ages above), at the end of 2009 was $275.53 a month.
So there’s my number. And my question? Is it possible to eat an organic, locally grown (when possible), nutritious whole-food diet for a family of four on just $275.53 a month? Now obviously if our kids were bigger this would be trickier, so I’m not suggesting this for you or anyone else, I just wanted to see how possible this is for us.
Let me say this, I believe that feeding a family of four on organic, local, seasonal and nutritious whole food even at the Thrifty Food Plan level ($482.40) would be a fabulous accomplishment. If you can get there, woohoo!! I’m just curious to see if it’s possible to do it at the average amount given to our nation’s poorest. If it were, then we could confidently challenge and cheer on everyone to choose local, choose health, choose whole.
So, just to be frank, I’m really not sure if it’s possible. But I’m excited for the challenge. We do our budget from the 15th-15th, so we’ll do this challenge from September 15th-Oct. 15th. I’ve already found local organic peaches and nectarines for $.98 lb. at Fred Meyer and I found whole organic chickens at Safeway for 30% off, along with a coupon, off which made them cheaper than the cheapest frozen chicken I used to buy. So, we’ll see. I’ll just be honest with you about what I discover, and we can learn together. And I”m going to have to learn to cook whole chickens, so I might need some cooking tips as well. 🙂 I would LOVE any additional tips you have. It’s been fun meeting all you experts out there, so please continue to share the wealth of wisdom!