I can tell you right now, that while I don’t have the exact numbers for myself, I’m spending a LOT more than that. I probably eat dinner out 3-4 times per week (I can actually hear my ultra budget-conscious mother screaming from nine states away), my boss buys my lunch out every day of the work week, and I probably drink 3 cups of coffee per week that I don’t brew at home. I’m a millennial, with no children and no mortgage. If the avocado toast is there, I’m going to order it.
This is not the way I was raised.
My mother estimates that she spent $100-$150 a week on groceries when I was growing up. Which is probably just below what I spend now. But she was shopping for a family of six (I supposed if I’m being accurate, it was sometimes a family of as few as three, as my sisters and I did spend time with our other parents). Mom had a whole book of penny-pinching tricks (literally, it’s called the Tightwad Gazette, and was written by a woman in Maine named Amy Dacyczyn. If anyone has a copy, please let me know how her tips are holding up 27 years later) and was committed to things like making her own bread (delicious) and mixing gallons of milk 50/50 with powdered milk (not so delicious). Luckily for my mother, my siblings and I had pretty inexpensive taste - I loved plain bologna and wheat bread sandwiches, and Top Ramen, at a whopping $0.11 a pack, was a staple of do-it-yourself kid food. She also cooked dinner at home every single night, managing homemade sauces and salads comprised of vegetables from my stepfather’s large garden. I never felt deprived of anything or food insecure. That said, if not for my mom’s extreme frugality and budgeting, things could have felt a lot tighter in our house.
So, I decided to take on the challenge that Lift Up was proposing. I planned on five days, because I’m a complete food addict and a fan of lazy Saturday brunches, and I wasn’t sure my willpower would hold out over a weekend. On Sunday night, I went to the grocery store and carefully selected $15 worth of food (I figured that saving the extra $5 for incidentals could only make this easier and more realistic). I bought bologna and wheat bread, some apples, a couple of green peppers and carrots, condensed soup, oatmeal, pre-packaged pastas, and one $1 pint of store brand Rocky Road (I refused to live an entire five days without a small shred of edible joy).
It started off okay. I hadn’t had bologna in years, so it was sort of fun to pack my lunches with sandwiches and sliced carrots. I quickly found that I was hungry enough by lunch (I work as a landscaper and my job is quite physical, on top of belonging to a CrossFit gym and running 5-10 miles a week) that I was happy to eat just about anything. This would have been fine, except I also got to watch my coworkers and boss eat short order Mexican food, sandwiches, and pizza. By day two I was physically salivating while watching them eat things that had a much larger flavor palette than bologna on wheat.
For children who live in SNAP households, watching their peers eat a variety of lunch foods while they eat the same things everyday or dine on the lackluster, reduced-cost hot lunch at school is difficult. To make matters worse, lunch payment is a hot political issue all across the country. In June, the Pennsylvania state legislature voted to reinstate “lunch shaming”, which is the practice of either denying lunch, or providing an alternative, lower-cost meal option to children who’s parents have outstanding bills. 12% of families suffer from food insecurity, and households with children are twice as likely to experience a lack of food.
By the third day of my challenge, my eyes were opened to the fact that Americans who have to feed themselves on a SNAP budget don’t get to enjoy food the same way as those of us who have more to spend. While dining out, or even cooking a meal at home (something I do woefully infrequently) is an exciting chance to try new flavors and foods, those who have to eat for $4 a day need to plan to fuel their bodies as best they can. I was not enjoying eating by the middle of the week. I went to a party on Wednesday night and went straight for the fresh veggie tray, unaware until then of how much I was missing fresh tomatoes.
On day four, I started feeling really awful. I had a headache by 1 pm on both Thursday and Friday, which I believe I can attribute to the higher sodium level of my $4 a day diet. In the last few years, many studies have been published that prove the negative effects of processed meats, and I was eating salty bologna every day. Half of low-income American adults and children consume at least two servings of processed meats every week. Those who use SNAP benefits to feed their families eat 39% fewer whole grains and 46% more red meat. They consume more processed foods overall than those who do not receive food assistance. Part of the reasons for this is that processed, salty foods are inexpensive and often non-perishable. People utilizing their local food bank to supplement their SNAP funds are likely to find canned and packaged foods, many of which are high in sodium and carbohydrates and low in balanced nutritional value.
Also, I really missed coffee. I sort of forgot to budget for it, and although it is relatively inexpensive, it was something I thought I could easily forgo during the five days of this challenge. It’s a very hip, upper middle class cliche to talk about how much we love and depend on our caffeine, but it’s possible this was also a contributor to the headaches. Cocktails and desserts (except the ice cream, which, if I’m being honest, was gone by Tuesday night) also went out the window. There is no viable way that someone living on $4 a day can afford these small luxuries.
I talked to anyone who would listen about this challenge, including my 18-year-old coworker, who seemed properly horrified when I mentioned that I had purchased condensed soup. I’m not sure if this is a generational or income based response, because when I was a teenager, I was likely still eating Campbell’s chicken noodle (at about $0.50 a can) and loving it. Spoiler alert: it’s not as tasty as we all thought when we were kids. I think it’s basically flavored salt water and very, very soggy spaghetti.
This week has been eye opening. I have to say, I’m not sure if I personally know anyone who is eating on a budget like this, but I certainly hope not. With our current political climate, and the man in the White House threatening to cut benefits to large numbers of Americans who desperately need them to feed themselves and their families, this challenge is even more important. Poor nutrition, which is certainly what I experienced with the foods I ate this week, leads to a variety of potential health problems, which can lead to high or unpaid medical bills, which can force Americans deeper in the hole and keep them in poverty longer. It’s a cycle we need to break. I wish all of our local food assistance organizations, like Lift Up, had more regular access to fresh vegetables and healthy proteins.
I guess to conclude, I would say this challenge was not exactly “fun”. But it was certainly constructive and very interesting. If anyone else is interested, check out liftup.org for more details and to start your own $4 a day plan.
