By Ken Bresnan, Parish Outreach Liaison, Catholic Charities

Food Stamp Challenge, Day Three

Cereal and a banana adorned my breakfast table with a cup of coffee on the side, a tuna salad sandwich served with a side of Doritos washed down with a diet coke made lunch unmemorable. And a dinner of an omelet and one piece of toast accompanied by a glass of water from the kitchen tap rounded out my day of gourmet splendor.

True, I probably couldn’t have eaten at a five star restaurant for a day for only $4.48. But then again I did get immediate seating at my kitchen table.

I am not a big fan of breakfast for dinner but as I trudged though this particular day, I didn’t want hot dogs or hamburger or just another sandwich for dinner, so we came up with an omelet and a piece of toast. 

I have to admit that I can’t remember ever having just one piece of toast; I thought toast came in pairs, in twos. But, I didn’t have the extra 13 cents at the end of the day.

One thing that is becoming obvious is that I am costing these days meals at the unit cost.  I have not been dealing with how you by the whole dozen eggs, the whole loaf of bread or the tuna package which can make five sandwiches. 

Remember that a Food Stamp weekly allotment per person is $31.50. Bread at over $2 per loaf, a dozen eggs at $2.07 and milk at $3.25 adds up quickly.  For the omelet we used parts of three different $0.80 items. As you can see with what I am doing, I couldn’t buy all of the items needed for seven days on $31.50. This is a challenge I haven’t figured out yet.

If you have been following me along and tallying up my costs, you will note that after three days I am still two cents over budget.  As there is no other money available to many on food stamps, I will try to make it up as I go.
 

Share your thoughts or your own experiences with this challenge at www.facebook.com/CatholicCharitiesDM.