Saturday, February 20, 2016

Staring at a blank screen

I am tying to write this blog coming from a realistic point of view.   People are busy, they have lives, and children and maybe grandchildren.  

There is a broad spectrum of people and eating habits out there.   Everything from hamburger helper and sugar laden juice boxes to tofu and organic from whole paycheck grocery stores.   I am tying to be on middle ground.  

Writing from a four dollar a day perspective, neither extremes work. Most  of the people I interviewed get closer to three hundred dollars a month on snap . The government has a schedule of what snap is, but deduct what they think you can pay  based on your income.  They dont care if you have a car payment or other debt. That is not their problem,

The hamburger helper senecio has too much sugar and far too much money.    Six dollar a pound hamburger, juice boxes and 16 gram of sugar fruit cups ready-made cost 10.00 .   That particular person had a three hundred dollar snap.    Obviously, if you spend ten dollars a day on dinner, and  there is 30 days in a month, your money is gone and you still need breakfast and lunch.

The tofu and organic greens senecio is the direct opposite, probably more healthy, but the jury is still out on that one.  But the same senecio is there.   The cost of food for proper nutrition, is more than the four dollars a day, even if you receive four dollars a day.  Besides, most people I know wouldn't eat some of the things I am seeing.  

For practical purposes. I'm sticking to main stream diets.   I'm trying for low fat, low sugar and low salt.   Some meals don't cut it, others do.  Traditional foods.   We have had a lot of fad specialty diets in the last few years.  Their popularity has come and gone and came back again.    I'm going with the tried and true.  I'm trying to balance good nutrition, less of what we know is bad for us (salt, sugar, fat, HFCS, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and sulfites. ) Still prolly not realistic to take all of it out of a diet, nor is it advisable in some instances.

But, moderation is the key.    You can still eat a nutritious diet on four dollars or less a day.  

I'm not going to tell you that the food fairy is going to make it appear in your pantry and put the cooked food on your table.    It takes some effort.    Once you get set up, it will probably take less effort than you do now.    And, you will probably eat better.   No fast food- just good food fast.

An oatmeal and banana breakfast costs .23.    Both come from Costco.    I buy oatmeal in a ten pound box.   It's Quaker Oats.   Bananas are 1.39 a bunch.   I found ten bananas in my bunch.  That's .14 a banana.    Oatmeal is .09. Plus a splash of milk.    That mearns you can feed four people a nutritious breakfast for a buck.   It takes  1.5 minutes to cook a bowl in the microwave.

When you breakdown four dollars a day, you have to consider a budget for things like flour, sugar. Salt, spices, olive oil--    ( pantry items).

I am assuming a five dollar dinner for four people- the proverbial two adults and two school and children.  We eat five dollar meals for three adults and one child.

That leaves you eleven  dollars for breakfast and lunch.  If breakfast is a dollar, you have ten  dollars for pantry ( and stock items) and lunch.   If you are in snap and your children go to daycare or school, most of their lunches are probably paid for.  If not, leftovers or peanut butter and jelly works. Certainly attainable for three dollars .

Seven   dollars a day is plenty to purchase dairy, vegetables, and stock items.   That doesn't leave any
room for empty calories.    Every dollar has to count.

If you use even ten dollars a week for stocking a pantry, you will be in good shape and you can buy your food 1/2 price.

We are stocked, we replenish stock when things are RBP.   We spend less than four dollars a day on food eaten at home.    We don't go out often.  Last,night we had fish and chips that included coleslaw and clam chowder.   I have the clam chowder left for lunch today and it cost about 22.00 for four of us.    Drinks are the biggest profit for a eating establishment.   Drink water.  
Eating out is part of an entertainment budget, ot can't happen often for us.

It's doable . we some less than the USDA stats for my husband and I- about 25 percent less. And, we supplement daughter and granddaughter.  


5.00 dinner
1.00 breakfast
3.00 lunches
Seven for stocking dairy, produce, staples and stock.   Per day.











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