$29.07 Worth of Healthy Groceries

Can we truly gain something from hunger?  Perhaps we gain an appreciation or an understanding of the situation of those who do not get enough to eat.  Perhaps we acquire sensitivity to those who live at or below the poverty level.  Perhaps we learn how best to relate to our impoverished neighbors and fellow human beings.  May our gains be for good!

In this photo above there is actually $29.12 worth of groceries.  And I hasten to add, “healthy groceries,” because this is what two people, spending an hour and a half with a calculator, thinking about healthy alternatives for $29.07, bought last week at Woodman’s supermarket on the West side of Madison.

This photo includes:
18 eggs
two pounds non-fat plain yogurt
one-half gallon skim milk
two cans chunk light tuna fish
a one pound bottle of ‘natural’ peanut butter
three pounds of potatoes
one pound of unpeeled carrots
one head of romaine lettuce
one cucumber
four apples
four oranges
a cantaloupe
a two-pound bag of store brand plain spaghetti
two 28 ounce cans of marinara sauce
two pounds of brown rice
one pound of lentil beans
one pound of black beans. 

Now, although this is a suggestion for what participants in the SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge could buy for their weekly allotment of $29.07, this is really a misleading example.  And here is why:

People who receive nutrition assistance are unable to shop at a supermarket: They may not have one locally available to them.  You see, many nutrition assistance recipients live in “food deserts,” areas where the local grocery store or supermarket has closed down, and people without basic transportation are relegated to buy groceries at convenience stores which rarely have the kind of nutritious foods that the human body needs.

Further, notice that this assortment of groceries includes foods that take a lot of preparation time.  Black beans require both overnight soaking and a few hours of cooking to produce edible meals.  Those in poverty often are single parents, or may have two jobs, and they would not be able to set aside this prep time for their meals.

See here both beans and rice.  Many do not know that these kinds of foods need to be eaten in specific combinations with oneother to help produce a better kind of protein.  If one is not aware of this "protein complimentarity," s/he will not consume a nutritious protein for maintaining their minds and muscles.

Finally, you see yogurt here, which contains high quality protein and good bacteria for the digestive tract.  However, many people do not enjoy the taste of yogurt, making it a less-than-appealing alternative.  People will not eat what they don’t like, even if they are hungry from an insufficient diet.

I cannot say I look forward to the Food Stamp Challenge, but I know that my experience will sensitize me to the needs of the hungry in our country.