Live Below The Line- 31 Day Challenge

Leslierussell4134

Foodfavor wrote: »

My mom used to say, "It's not really charity if you feel the need to tell people about it."

This can be a tricky situation as some may want to spread awareness and use their experience as an example, while others are looking for a pat on the back for doing a good deed. Not saying OP falls into either catagory.

Completely understand where you're coming from, true charity is because you feel the need, you are unmotivated by selfish means. However, I would not have done this experiment, decided to help my community in a small way or signed up to volunteer at Food Share, if someone had not talked about it. I followed a lot of people's blogs and YouTube messages of this same challenge and it sparked a tiny flame in me. In America, nurses are community based, I'm just trying to pay respect to the many nurses before me, the ones that earned the respect of our profession. I love what I do and I want to share that with anyone and everyone.

Leslierussell4134

Recap of Day 5

Late post, as yesterday was harsh. My husband's grandpa passed away. While he might not have been close to his grandpa due to living in Oregon (we are in Southern California) he's extremely close with his dad, and his dad took it really hard. They both left work early and went for lunch and to the local brewery. It doesn't matter who paid, I didn't ask, I didn't care. I was sad for them. We have some sick friends in our life right now, and even for medical people, it never dulls when it's close to you. This family death stung deep and our heart are hurting.
Later yesterday evening Sam's closest friends came over to support him. We cooked dinner, and even though a tri-tip was purchased for the bbq, every one ate tacos from the food we bought for this month. We had rice and beans prepared, we ate corn, tortillas, and gaucamole from the neighbor tree. I obviously don't eat meat, so my meal plan wasn't altered. However, a glass of wine was opened and I had a glass, then I cried.
Don't believe I logged anything yesterday, and I won't back log it. Obviously wine isn't on my menu, but I don't care.
I've resumed my experiment, just being honest about yesterday. Sam said he's on board to continue.

nutmegoreo

It's tough losing a loved one. Sorry for your loss.

L1zardQueen

So sorry for your loss. Hugs

cmriverside

Aw so sorry for yours and Sam's loss.

kshama2001

{{{{{{{{{{ hugs }}}}}}}}}}

Leslierussell4134

Day 8- That's a wrap

After a week we are ending our experiment early. A month was the goal, but after this week's events my husband's heart just isn't in it, and mine isn't without him. I'm thankful we tried it and went along this far. Thank you Sam.

What we learned:

1. Thankful this was a choice and not forced do to circumstance.
2. Thankful to live in an area with many local markets and choices for shopping.
3. Buying in bulk isn't realistic for people who lack transportation or are limited by what they can carry and store. This would have looked a lot different if I was forced to by food each day or every other day.
4. Prep takes a long time, and the food we could afford all had to be cooked, which many don't have resources for.
5. Eating this way could create nutritional deficits over time. I lacked calcium and iron. Would have been nice to have some spinach in my garden, but it's too hot for it this time of year.
6. When my portions and options were limited I didn't waste any food. I enjoyed eating more and respected the effort.
7. I never tired of rice and beans, and think I'll keep eating them regularly adding in other veggies and topping. (plus I still have the majority of the 25lb bags)
Not having variety is a harsh reality of being on a tight budget. It's not very fun.
8. Even though my husband did fight during prep time, as it made our house hot (no a/c), we bonded and had fun figuring this all out together.
9. A home garden, no matter what size is invaluable. Many of our veggies and all our herbs came from ours. I didn't waste any clippings.
10. If I lost my job or had a sudden change in circumstance, I feel better about planning an inexpensive and nutritious menu.
11. I want to do more for people facing food insecurity, whether it be donating my time, organizing food drives within my workplace, in my neighborhood, etc. I have the ability to help just one peron or family bridge the gap.
12. I will make an extreme effort not to hoard food in my panty, and only buy things able to be consumed in a week. This will continue to reduced waste. Not wasting food will save me more money in the long run. It doesn't matter how much of a deal something was if it get 100% wasted.

That's mostly it, hope this was semi- interesting for some of you. Like I said before, even if just one person decides to take some sort of action, helping those who may be facing daily hunger, my heart will be full. We have the ability to touch and change lives for the better, while enriching our own...so why not? No one should have to be hungry, let's make food part of human rights.

lynn_glenmont

Leslierussell4134 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

Leslierussell4134 wrote: »

Day 4


Breakfast- see diary for serving sizes
Oats
Carrot
Peanuts butter
Banana
Stevia
Cinnamon
Total $0.32

Can I ask what you're paying for bananas and peanut butter? In the places I shop, bananas are 59 cents a pound, and at roughly 5 to 6 ounces per banana (unpeeled -- you have to pay for the peel, even though you don't eat it ) that's already 20 cents. I don't buy the cheapest peanut butter, but I'm pretty sure even the cheap ones are at least 10 cents an ounce at a "normal" sale price (i.e., not some once-a-year, valid only with $50 purchase, sale price). So that's 30 cents, leaving only 2 cents for all of the other ingredients.

Absolutely, thanks for asking. So I buy my peanut butter at Winco, they have a peanut grinder there, so you can buy whatever amount you'd like for $2.02/ lb. So it comes out to $0.13 per 30g serving, or 2 Tbsp, I measured to make sure. My bananas are $1.18 for 3 lbs from Sam's club, I bought bunches with 10 bananas making them $0.12 per. I shopped at those two stores for this month's groceries.

Thanks. That's a good price for bananas. Are you pro-rating the Sam's club membership into your grocery costs?

ETA: Sorry, I typed this before I read to the end and saw that you were, understandably, ending early due to dealing with the loss of your husband's grandfather. Thank you for taking the time and effort to circle back and report on what you learned. I'm glad you still see it as a positive experience.

aemsley05

So sorry for your loss and that you're ending the experiment early, but you're right to focus on other things just now. I've really enjoyed following along and learning with you - it certainly sounds like you've learned some valuable lessons from this challenge so thanks very much for sharing your journey with us.

kshama2001

Re: spinach - I'm growing Malabar spinach for the first time this summer. Been meaning to do it for years, but never saw seedlings at the garden center so bought seeds: https://parkseed.com/red-stem-malabar-spinach-seeds/p/05660-PK-P1/

I'm in Massachusetts and next year will start them indoors b/c they took a long time to get going and the frost will kill them.

They love the heat!

They work just like spinach cooked. The texture is a little different raw, but my brother likes it raw (I had better germination than I expected and gave a few plants to my Mom.)

I haven't looked up the iron content - I'm anemic and need to supplement in addition to eating foods with iron in order to stay in Low Normal.

It's too hot for me to go outside and take pictures; these are from Park's:

Leslierussell4134

kshama2001 wrote: »

Re: spinach - I'm growing Malabar spinach for the first time this summer. Been meaning to do it for years, but never saw seedlings at the garden center so bought seeds: https://parkseed.com/red-stem-malabar-spinach-seeds/p/05660-PK-P1/

I'm in Massachusetts and next year will start them indoors b/c they took a long time to get going and the frost will kill them.

They love the heat!

They work just like spinach cooked. The texture is a little different raw, but my brother likes it raw (I had better germination than I expected and gave a few plants to my Mom.)

I haven't looked up the iron content - I'm anemic and need to supplement in addition to eating foods with iron in order to stay in Low Normal.

It's too hot for me to go outside and take pictures; these are from Park's:

This is awesome, im going to give it a shot, sounds like it would a great addition to the garden. It cool where I am, but literally 32 would be the the coldest maybe once or twice a year. Thanks so much for sharing.

paperpudding

Spinach is actually over rated as an iron source -good propaganda from Popeye for kids to eat veggies but high source of iron - no, not really.
Nevertheless, nutritional - and good to grow your own veggies.

Thanks for sharing your challenge OP and for your list of conclusions - yes it was certainly interesting to me.

But I understand why you are calling it a day earlier than planned