30 Day Thoughts

As we end phase one (yes, there will be a phase two) of this challenge we decided we'd each take a turn sharing our feelings and/or what we learned.

Lori's Turn:
As this 30 days comes to an end today, I feel victorious.  I challenged myself to stay within a budget and I did it.  I have accomplished something for which I can be proud, but I am not spending a lot of time celebrating.  I also feel frustrated.  The issues surrounding poverty and government subsidies are huge.  Far too much for one regular person like me to surmount.

Although, I accomplished something on a personal level, I don't know anything new or special to share with those struggling to live within the same constraints.  I would only echo what I have read from several sources.  Shop wisely, watch for sales, use coupons, take advantage of store loyalty programs, buy whole fresh food, cook from scratch, all things we've all heard before.

All of these things and more like low cost recipes are listed on the SNAP website.  Why people do not take advantage of them are as diverse as those individuals.  They don't have access.  They don't have time.  They don't have the education.  I don't know how to fix that.  That is frustrating to me.

I also feel excited for phase two, which we will announce soon along with an accounting of how much money we spent.

John's Turn:

I'm glad we took on the challenge, but I'm also glad it's over.  I never was hungry other than getting hungry a little earlier before meal times than usual.  That's probably a good thing.  I had fallen into a pattern of eatting because it was time to eat rather than because I was hungry.  That was the result of eating each meal until I was very full rather than eating until I was no longer hungry and at a point where I would be able to get to the next meal and start to feel hungry about that meal time.  It's easy to live to eat rather than eating to live when you've got so much food and can get it in so many forms in so many places.

I got tired of thinking about food--what can I eat, how much can I eat, etc.  It wasn't always on my mind, but was enough of  a constant companion that I wished for that companion to go away.  I guess that's something a person actually living on SNAP can't do, or at least not until you develop some patterns and routines so that you have enough to eat on a given day and don't have to worry about eating too much and then having to skimp toward the end of the month.

I think it's been good to have to dismantle my eating habits and consider them.  If I'm wise I'll create a new and better way of eating from this point forward.  I really do feel better not being stuffed so much of the time. And I thought since I didn't stuff myself that I'd lose more weight than I did and I'm still not quite sure why I didn't lose more than I did.

My conclusion is that, under our scenario and with the assumptions we used when we started this experiment, many families can live on the SNAP assistance they get.  One cannot eat all you want at times or everything you might want.  It takes a lot of planning, preparing of food at home rather than just heating food that comes more or less ready-to-eat, and trying to waste nothing.  I know those at the lowest end of the economic scale might struggle with all this, but many families can, I think make it despite the efforts of many people in the press and in political positions saying it can't be done.

Food, and in abundance and variety, is a great blessing.  I'm grateful to have what I have and to be able to eat and enjoy different kinds of food in different places and times--both at home and away from home.  I always have been grateful in that general way that most of us are, but I think my gratitude is now different and has a little more meaning.