Welfare diet, food banks & food budgeting

[shootingstar]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/...rticle1532796/

Looks like getting food from food bank may not always yield a regularily nutritious diet. I do recognize some of the dishes from the 'welfare' diet -- hot dog rice pilaf. Sounds like stir fried eggs with chopped up wieners, onions, etc. with rice. Something I did have time to time as a kid.

We don't garden/grow food except for small container herbs. So we spend for just dearie and I, $125.00CAN per wk. on food. That includes:

1) groceries
2) daily snack somewhere usually in middle of bike ride, etc. --coffee/muffin or biscotti
3) weekly Friday night restaurant/cafe dinner "date"- we impose an approx. budget limit of $10-$15.00 per person. No, we don't go to chain fast food places. It is possible to eat out like this in big cities with diverse ethnic cuisine choices.


Of course, the above gets a bit blown apart when we vacation somewhere out of town. Or a special occasion dinner.

We rarely buy much processed food. It's very telepathic how we each grocery shop...no lists, no cellphone consultations...just checking the fridge..and buying a few veggies, some fruit or bread here and there whenever each of us alone or together are on bike.

Probably the food gardeners in TE, save a real chunk of grocery food money.

[sfa]

Here's something people with gardens can do to help: the Garden Writers Association promotes a program every year called Plant a Row for the Hungry, encouraging home gardeners to give their excess produce to local food banks to help fill out the food baskets with fresher, more nutritious items in season.

http://www.gardenwriters.org/gwa.php?p=index.html

Sarah

[malkin]

I spent a year living Nouveau Pauvre with a toddler.

You can do a lot with a little, but with nothing, it is much more difficult to do anything.

[bmccasland]

My frist job out of college was working for a Food Bank as a VISTA volunteer (VISTA was the home-bound Peace Corps). I was amazed at the stuff that was donated to the food banks - "weird" foods that many of our clients didn't know what it was or how to use.

Food manufacturers would also donate things that didn't sell well. And the donations would come in the box-car load. I was given a box of rye cereal to try, because as the food bank president said "even my bums don't like it". I did. I had all the rye cereal I wanted....

I've noticed that now food bank drives have suggested donations, which are the more basic foods. Then there's always the donation of cold hard cash - where the bank can buy food on the wholesale market.

So between strange donations from local drives, and food manufacturers, sometimes it's hard to come up with a "balanced" diet for 3-4 days which is typical of a food box from the bank.

[tulip]

My family was on food stamps until I was 12 years old. We ate incredibly healthily because my mother knew how to cook healthy food. Healthy food does not have to cost alot of money! We did not have a garden because we lived in apartments and moved alot and there were no community gardens like these days.

I adore my garden. I have no idea if it saves me money (I really don't care to figure it out), but going out back and picking a salad 10 minutes before dinner is priceless.

[NoNo]

I read this last week: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36507576...and_nutrition/

Interesting that "ethnic" cooking turned out to be the cheapest. I know I cook about twice a week and just eat leftovers, but I know several people that refuse to eat them. I don't know how you can be so wasteful. Personally, I know I could spend less, but I have no problem spending more for something I know is high quality, i.e. organic or grass-fed.

[abejita]

[QUOTE

We don't garden/grow food except for small container herbs. So we spend for just dearie and I, $125.00CAN per wk. on food. That includes:

[/QUOTE]

I am glad that you posted your food costs for the week. I always have this nagging feeling that i am spending too much on groceries just for the two of us. We spend about $80-100 per week. Sounds like we eat very similiar. No processed food. About a year ago, we switched to grass fed beef, pastured pork and the like. In order not to blow our budget, we substantially cut back on our meat consumption. We used to have meat every night, but now usually only twice a week and seafood once. We also have been very lucky with our veggies. We found an organic co-op near our house. The cost was $25 every two weeks for a big tub of fruits and veggies. We have since started helping sort the veggies at the co-op and now we get free veggies and 2 dozen free range organic eggs.