I have started this awesome Challenge of giving up my debit card and coupons to see if my family of three can live off $2.63 a meal. This is what the school regulated price is and I wanted to see if it was “doable”. I have been collecting essential donations for Salvation Army during these 10 days as well. I started this journey and my eyes have been opened. What we consume, what kids eat at school lunches, what is considered “healthy”. The challenge has really been not buying JUNK food. I mean snacks are cheap but they are high in sugar and our bodies burn it off quickly. I know this and I also know this is not healthy. I have tried to spread my money across the ten days to make it last. I will say this is not easy and it would be EASIER to just buy prepared meals. To purchase fatty, sugary meals and serve it to my family. This is what so many do on public assistance. If you do not know: How-to prepare meals, cook from scratch, utilize your resources or plan ahead your money is spent before you know it. I’m not perfect but I see a lot of holes during this Challenge that really need some awareness and help solving.
Did you know that children of all ages love to garden? No really, we all may find we like different aspects but all of us enjoy some part of gardening, You are reading this thinking, Liz, you have lost your mind I hate dirt. Great, then don’t be a planer of seeds, be harvester or a consumer. Remember that the saying goes “You are what you eat”. So if you are a consumer of goods, you might want to know where your food is coming from and take an active part in the process. Snack food, junk foods, sugars are all out there to enjoy but see that is where I think we all falter. To “enjoy” not to ONLY consume. I say that because think about your favorite restaurant, some of you like really fancy things, it is not somewhere you go ALL the time. Why is that? Well, to be honest if you ate at your favorite restaurant over and over and over again it loses it’s “enjoyment”. It is no longer a treat but a part of the norm. After a while you get sick of it and just stop going. This is how our bodies react to sweets, junk food. Our body consumes it over and over again, it looses it’s enjoyment, it’s nutrient potential and our bodies become sick from it. We see this a lot now how many younger people have diabetes now because our bodies are sick of JUNK.
Many companies have started to see this and changed their focus and direction. I learned this weekend that SNAP or food stamps have come out with a new addition. They are now allowing people who have food stamps to purchase “seeds” for vegetables and fruits. Why do you suppose that is? To encourage us to eat healthy, choose produce and help them to sustain their money longer. Now We just need to get the word out and encourage people to use this new “treat”.
As far as our weigh in… To be honest we stopped keeping track. I have to say that I could have done this challenge had I started in a “clean” house. If I ONLY had these items but since my kitchen is stocked it is so hard to keep tracking of everything and then catalog the price value. I will say that without cooking skills, coupons I really have no idea how people live off such poor wages. I stress education because without knowing how to stretch money, food, cooking, couponing some of us will always stay in poverty and the lower class. I had a feeling we would fail this challenge and I am rather glad. More on that tomorrow for days 9 & 10.
