Comments on: The shopping trip

By: inadvertentgardener

inadvertentgardener — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 03:13:58 +0000

Rachael, thanks so much for adding your perspective here — it’s really helpful to hear from someone who is facing this challenge day by day. I wish you all the best as you work to feed your kids…it sounds like you’ve got an incredibly good way of dealing with it, but I cannot imagine how hard it must be. Thanks for stopping by!

By: Rachael

Rachael — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 20:19:50 +0000

I was looking for meal ideas when I found this article, and I must commend you for your empathy. It’s nice to know that somewhere, someone does truly understand how difficult it can be. As a full-time college student AND a single mother of three, I am one of those people who must stick to a tight budget [$125-150/mo... only $76 of which is from food stamp benefits]- and you’re absolutely right about how mortifying it is to have to choose, at the register, what item to have put back.

As far a nutrition vs. economy goes, I agree that it’s nuts! Thankfully, my grandmother has been able to pass on some Great Depression era food-sense, and I find that though I can’t afford things like fresh salmon or quinoa or whatever healthy fad food is in at the moment, my little cupboards are always full of the ‘old fashioned good foods’ that Gran ate as a girl: oats, rice, split peas, peanut butter, and so on. “Make every dollar accountable,” my Gran says- ramen might be cheap, but it’s far from healthy or filling… We don’t starve, but let me tell you, there are days when I wish I could afford luxuries like boneless skinless chicken or juice boxes for my girls.

Thank you again for your efforts!

By: inadvertentgardener

inadvertentgardener — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:55:27 +0000

Al_Pal, yeah…ramen is so cheap and easily available and SO unhealthy. It makes me sad that so many people subsist on it.

By: Al_Pal

Al_Pal — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:35:15 +0000

I’ve heard some sad stories about ramen, and mushroom soup. ;(

By: Telling stories with the Hunger Challenge bloggers – The Inadvertent Gardener

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:34:27 +0000

[...] little recklessly, said I would. I’d probably change up how I did it—I don’t want to recreate my experience in the Berkeley Bowl, but I remain committed to raising awareness and making a difference on this issue. And I stand in [...]

By: inadvertentgardener

inadvertentgardener — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:48:50 +0000

Happy Cows, I’m sure you’re right — the sodium content on the average low-income diet must be outrageous…which surely ends up costing everyone more in the long run when it comes to healthcare…yikes.

By: http://ilovehappycows.typepad.com/

http://ilovehappycows.typepad.com/ — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:32:33 +0000

Sounds like quite an ordeal. I’d guess that many people forced to live on a super tight budget just don’t have the time to spend looking for healthy options for their money. I talked with a guy who said he ate more instant ramen than he cared to imagine and figured out how to turn it into different meals. I’m sure many people have to eat box after box of hamburger helper and other processed and sodium rich foods because they can get it for 15 cents after doubled coupons and because it provides a larger mass of food than greens and rice.

Looking forward to catching up on how you managed the budget :) I’m a bit behind in reading the posts…

By: End to the month…not the thinking – The Inadvertent Gardener

End to the month…not the thinking – The Inadvertent Gardener — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:03:51 +0000

[...] also wouldn’t have been able to shop at the Berkeley Bowl, would probably not have been able to drive there in my fairly well-maintained Toyota Camry, and [...]

By: Hunger Challenge: Day Seven – The Inadvertent Gardener

Hunger Challenge: Day Seven – The Inadvertent Gardener — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:37:11 +0000

[...] dollar and eight cents. That’s what I had left from my shopping trip at the beginning of the Hunger Challenge, and I’d been carrying it around all week in case of an [...]

By: Hunger Challenge: Day Four – The Inadvertent Gardener

Hunger Challenge: Day Four – The Inadvertent Gardener — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:19:58 +0000

[...] refrigerator to put away the rest of the bread, I noticed an ominous brown spot on the bottom of one of the two pears. I picked it up, and sure enough, it had gone from too-hard at the store to beginning-to-go-bad in [...]