Hunger

No shit there I was, boiling beans.  For hours.  Black beans in purple water, which boiled over a while ago, leaving a dried puddle of inky starch all over my stove top.  That’s what was for dinner last night.  Cooking those beans took what felt like an eternity.  Which is probably part of this experience.  To feel what millions of people feel.  That empty nagging of your stomach.  I do not claim to know what severe hunger feels like.  I am learning that part of the Live Below the Line challenge is to catch just a glimpse of what life is like for those who cannot afford basic necessities, such as food. 

On Sunday, I successfully convinced The Bear to join me on my journey to raise awareness for those living at or below the poverty line.  The rules of the challenge encourage individuals to combine their money to maximize the amount and diversity of the food they can purchase.  Together, The Bear and I had $15.00 to buy five days’ worth of food.  In the end, we spent a grand total of $13.30 on the following items:

In case you do not believe me, here are the receipts:

The only items we did not purchase were beans, rice, lentils, dried chicken stock, salt, pepper, garlic flavored olive oil, ketchup, mustard, and hot sauce.  We did not want to be wasteful by buying extra food items when we could easily use things we had at home.  The beans, rice, lentils, and chicken stock were priced at the grocery store, then weighed, portioned, and factored into the $13.30 total at home.  The salt, pepper, and garlic flavored olive oil will be used very sparingly and should account for the remaining $1.70.  We stole the ketchup, mustard, and hot sauce from fast food restaurants.  I watched Aladdin a lot as a child, so you can blame the stealing on my misspent youth.  I prefer to think of it as creativity.

As I suspected, we were not able to buy very many fruits, vegetables, or meat.  We also tried desperately to buy peanut butter and cheese, but realized we’d rather spend the extra money on making the staples we bought taste somewhat good.  

So what have we eaten so far?

Day 1 

Breakfast: Potatoes, eggs, and toast

Lunch: Ramen (I turned down someone's offer of fresh veggies.  I also turned down a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.  Ok, I lied.  I took the Reese's, but I DID NOT EAT IT!)

Dinner: Potatoes, rice and beans with hot sauce

Day 2

Breakfast: Eggs, toast, and half a banana

Lunch: Leftover rice and beans with hot sauce

Dinner: Potato, tomato, carrot, onion, and alphabet soup (This was good and filling at the time; however, two hours later, we both felt a little lightheaded and delirious.)

Snack: Hot dog and bread

I will say that after two days, both The Bear and I feel like we are not getting proper nutrition.  I cannot speak for The Bear, but I am having a little difficulty with our inability to simply open the pantry or fridge and grab a snack.  Most of the things we bought require preparation.  I'm a total Pac Man when it comes to snacking, often choosing the most convenient snacks available... and a lot of them!  I know this can be unhealthy, but currently, I cannot even grab an apple.  I am debating grabbing oranges or lemons off the trees out back.  We just moved in, didn't plant the trees, and have watered them exactly once.  And they're just hanging there...

True story.