Food Stamp Challenge Day 4

On Monday, November 12, I ate the following:

Breakfast

Oatmeal with raisins and walnuts, with coffee. $0.94.

Lunch

Two rye crackers, turkey lunchmeat, pepper jack cheese, and carrot sticks. $1.87.

Snack

I went to the gym and had an evening meeting, so I took one of my standby Clif Mojo Bars, and a banana to hold me over until my late dinner. One note- I would never eat a banana this ripe in real life. I might freeze it and use it in a smoothie, but I wouldn't eat it plain. Yuck. Total for the snack was $1.18.

Dinner

Another old standby, pesto pasta with edamame and frozen peas, was brought into the rotation today. The pesto is from a friend's garden. This is a very affordable meal at $0.70.

How did I do?

On Day 4 of the Challenge, I came in $0.21 under the $4.90 budget. I actually felt better than previous days, but I may just be getting used to the reduction in calories. One interesting thing I realized at the end of the day is that, aside from the pizza I had early in the week and the lunchmeat, I'm eating meatless meals for the most part. I tend to eat a lot of vegetarian and vegan meals, but I didn't consciously decide to do that for the challenge. I guess these meals are my standby choices for affordable meals. 

Food Stamp Challenge Day 3

On Day 3 of the Food Stamp Challenge (Sunday, November 11), I ate the following:

Breakfast

Surprise, I ate oatmeal with raisins and walnuts, and drank a cup of coffee. $0.94.

Lunch

I had Huevos Rancheros without the cheese, and added a piece of sprouted whole wheat toast with apple butter. Yum! $0.81 for the meal.

Dinner

For dinner, I had two rye crackers with 3 slices of (nitrate-free) turkey lunch meat, pepper jack cheese, carrot sticks, and a bowl of kale. Pricey meal at $2.36, but it tasted great!

How did I do?

On Day 3, I came in $0.79 under budget, for a total of $4.11! I'm $0.79 ahead in the challenge, back from over budget in Day 1 finally.

Food Stamp Challenge Day 2

Today I'm going to do my best to stay within the average $4.90 per day budget, and hopefully make up for the extra I spent yesterday. Here are my meals for Day 2, Saturday, November 10:

Breakfast

Same as yesterday, old fashioned oatmeal with raisins and walnuts, with coffee. $0.94 total.

Lunch

Huevos Rancheros! Two eggs, 1/3 can of black beans, a little salsa and about 1/2 oz of pepper jack cheese. Super cheap at $0.80!

Snack

I had my tasty but pricey yogurt and banana again, totaling $1.38.

Dinner

I had my kale salad again, with garbanzos, tomatoes and carrots, but skipped the raisins. Total $1.27.

How did I do?

On Day 2 of the Challenge, I stayed within budget at $4.39, with $0.51 left over. I'm still running a deficit, but doing much better to stay on track for the challenge. In terms of my eating habits, I am eating far less than I normally would. I usually have a morning snack and afternoon snack, and they are often more substantial than yogurt and a banana (i.e. I'd add granola). I'm sure that is somewhat good for me, since I'm not as active, but it certainly makes me think about how much I spend on food and take it for granted when I just go grab something from the cupboard.

Food Stamp Challenge Day 1

My goal for the Food Stamp Challenge is to eat as close to how I normally eat as possible. I'll be cutting out the occasional trips to Weatherstone for coffee and happy hour beers, but otherwise I'd like to see how my usual food choices stack up against the budget. For day one, I'm just eating normal meals, counting the totals, and then I'll adjust if needed for Day 2 to stay within the weekly budget of $34.30.

During the Food Stamp Challenge, I'll post my meals daily here to catalog how the challenge is going. Here is Day 1:

Breakfast

Old fashioned oatmeal (bought in bulk at Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op) with walnuts, raisins, and almond milk. Plus, the very necessary cup of coffee. Oatmeal and add-ins $0.70, coffee $0.24, for a total of $0.94.

Snack

Non-fat Greek yogurt, with a banana and cinnamon. The banana is cheap at $0.19 but the yogurt is pricey, bringing the snack to $1.38.

Lunch

Kale salad with garbanzo beans, carrots, raisins and tomatoes, all purchased at Trader Joe's. Total for the meal is $1.49, leaving only $1.09 for another snack and dinner if I want to stay within the $4.90 daily average. Yikes!

Dinner

Yesterday (before starting the challenge), I made a Newman's Own pizza that I had in the freezer. I got it on sale, but it still works out to $1.66 per serving (1/3 of the pizza). At least it's healthy...for pizza.

How did I do today?

Well, I came in at $5.47, a full $0.57 above my daily average of $4.90. I'll have to make that up by being more cost effective during the rest of the Challenge. Today's meals were all healthy, and reflect what I eat most of the time. I would have usually had another snack (or two, who am I kidding?), but I don't think I'll go to bed too hungry at my current activity level.

Join the 7 Day Food Stamp Challenge

My excellent colleague Katie Valenzuela is spearheading the 7-Day Food Stamp Challenge. The challenge is to live on $4.90 per day, the amount a typical food stamp recipient receives in our area. I was originally not going to participate, because the running, climbing, and yoga require a lot of quality calories, and I wasn't willing to compromise nutrition or performance. Since I'm not really active right now, I'm happy to take on this challenge and see how well I can eat on $4.90 per day.

 

The details of the challenge are copied below. Will you join me? Go to the Challenge Facebook page to sign-up!

 

Join the Sacramento Hunger Coalition, a project of the Sacramento Housing Alliance, for the 7-Day Food Stamp Challenge! This event starts on November 9, 2012 and ends November 15, 2012 - exactly one week before Thanksgiving.

Commit to eat only $4.90 in food for at least one day during the Challenge, and to sharing your stories, recipes, photos and videos on our Facebook event page to help raise awareness about hunger in our region. Besides raising awareness, we also hope this event will help generate year-

round support for food banks, who often serve food stamp clients when they cannot make ends meet.

This event will culminate in a press conference on November 15, 2012 at 9am at River City Food Bank. If you can, please consider joining us and donating healthy food or the money you saved during the Challenge.

Guidelines for Participants:
- Spend no more than $4.90 per day, per person. This includes both food and beverage.
- Try to only eat food you purchase for the project. Do not eat food you already own (this does not include spices or condiments) unless you factor the cost of that food into your daily budget.
- Avoid accepting free food or beverages from friends, family, or at work, including at receptions, briefings, or other events where food is served.
- Most importantly, be sure to share your stories, recipes, photos and videos!

Co-Sponsors Include:
- Awake at the Whisk
- California Emergency Foodlink
- California Food Literacy Center
- Health Education Council
- River City Food Bank
- None Go Hungry
- Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op
- Sacramento Vegetarian Society, Grange #850

Don't Stop Believin'

While most people rushed home to watch election returns, or headed to election parties, I headed to Pipeworks for post-leg-break workout two. I was admittedly frustrated after workout one last Friday, so I was hoping to get in a good one tonight.

I started again with curls, shoulder press, extensions, dips, flys, and added bench press with free weights. I moved to the seated row, lat pull down, and rope pull down. I did more fluid lifting this time, without really taking breaks. Last time I didn't want to over-do it and be sore, but I wasn't afraid of that this time.

Next, I took on the assisted pull-up. And I nailed it. I added some assistance, and ended up doing 30 pull-ups with different grips. Yessss! Now I just need to work to lower the assistance to get to a real pull up.

After all that I still had time before the Buffalo Chips Board meeting, so I went to the mat and did planks and push-ups.  Again, I didn't really rest. I actually felt my heart rate go up, so I got into the aerobic zone! Admittedly, it wasn't for very long, but I will take what I can get.

All in all, I had a pretty good, stead 40 minute strength and core workout. It felt great, and I felt much more on my game than last time.

And I didn't feel like a beached whale.

The Next Race?

When I broke my leg, I experienced a bit of dissociation. After crying in front of two doctors, I pretty much blocked out that I am missing CIM this year (as well as my last prep race, the Clarksburg Country Run half marathon). I should be upset, but I've pretty successfully separated my current self from my self that is obsessed with racing.

I've done this so successfully, in fact, that I don't have another race planned. My initial thought was to not pick my next race until I get the brace off and see how well I'm doing. Why sign up for something when I might not be able to do it? What if it takes a long time to get back, and I foolishly signed up for a March marathon? That would be devastating.

I started to question this strategy a bit last week. I was in a meeting, and had someone who is pretty familiar with my running ask me when my next race was. No matter what I said, he didn't seem to get that I didn't have a next race planned. At the time, I honestly wanted to punch him (I would never do that). But after talking about it with someone else, his logic started to make more sense.

If I wait until I start trying to run in December, I might be conservative and not plan a race until I feel 100%. I might miss opportunities to push myself by having races to test my fitness and set goals. I will certainly miss out on most marathons if I wait to register, because they fill up so far in advance.

The opposing theory is that I'll sign up and either find out I can't train enough for the race, or be stubborn and train too hard and injure myself. That would be bad. But is there a middle ground?