In preparation for the challenge

Our Invocation:  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!

On Saturday we went shopping, and Monday morning we'll begin the challenge.  And for two people, at $29.07 per person, we've just spent $57.38 for our week's worth of groceries beginning Monday morning.  So we have .76 to spare.  That's a slim margin if we run out of food before the week ends.

Here is our shopping list and the amounts we spent.

One loaf whole wheat 1.79
Five pounds of potatoes 1.19
One pound of unpeeled carrots .69
One bag of three romaine lettuces 3.99
One cucumber .69
Six apples 2.10
Seven bananas 1.50
Six oranges 1.50
Four pears 2.38
One large onion 1.00
One large green pepper .50
One cauliflower or broccoli 1.09
One stalk of celery 1.89
One jalapeno pepper .12
Two pounds non-fat plain yogurt 2.25
One-half gallon of skim milk 1.79
Two 12-oz can chunk light tuna fish 4.58
One pound bottle of ‘natural’ peanut butter 2.79
One jar jelly 2.29
Two 12-oz boxes whole-wheat pasta 2.38
Two 28 ounce cans of marinara sauce 1.78
Two pounds of brown rice 1.29
Two pounds of dried lentil beans 1.98
Two cans of black beans 1.70
Two cans red beans 1.70
One can condensed lentil bean soup 1.29
One can garbanzo beans .85
One 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes .99
One can whole kernel corn .75
One four oz can diced chilies 2.50
One box Cheerios 2.39
One 11-oz package of textured vegetable protein 2.59
18 eggs 2.21

Even though it was Saturday afternoon – and still Shabbat – we went grocery shopping then, at perhaps the most crowded time of the week.  This was a taste of how it's is to shop when there's no time, or rather when one is pressed for time, and the store was very crowded.

Before entering the store, we spent half an hour creating our shopping list; it took us an hour and fifteen minutes to shop in the store, checking off an electronic list on one device, maintaining a running total of our purchases on another, and wondering whether and how we'd make it all last.

We also realized that we happen to have a convenient and inexpensive store in which to shop (Woodmans West).  That's not a common experience.  Many people living at or below the poverty level live in so-called 'food deserts' (neighborhoods where there are no supermarkets or neighborhood stores), and the best-located merchant for them is a convenience store with little variety, no fresh fruit and vegetables, and a lot of ramen noodles, which serve the appetite – but not the nutritional needs – of a hungry human.

Regarding the food selection above:  Usually I am involved in preparing a lot of our meals, so we purchased simple ingredients.  However, we also kn ow that people on limited incomes don't always have time to prepare from scratch, so we bought a goodly number of canned goods for a chili that we'll make in a slow cooker on Monday that will last for three or four nights' consumption.  That will end up costing about $13, about one-fourth of our entire budget for the week.



We'll let you know how that goes.