Comments on: Food Stamp Challenge: Finale

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:05:36 +0000

Hey Kate!
So sorry about Skitter. I do remember him, Mr. Wads-o-fur. Kidney disease is the curse of older kitties, I lost my own Peaches to it a couple of years ago. When you’re ready, find yourself another kitty to love. Or let one find you.

Jess: the other issue about food is living in food deserts. You have a car, which means you have transportation to places that have decent food. When I lived in DC sans automobile, the only grocery store within walking distance (dubbed the “Soviet Safeway”–long lines and no food) regularly ran out of basics like milk and bread by noon on Saturdays. Produce was old and gross and certain items were non-existent. The whole place was dirty and smelled like rotten meat. My mom refused to set foot in the place. It was also overpriced–not as bad as the Social Safeway in Georgetown or the Gay Safeway in DuPont, but still overpriced. They had a poor, captive, mostly immigrant population and they just didn’t give a shit. I was just back from Africa and had better food in a country with rampant hunger issues.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 23:12:11 +0000

Hi Blg: Actually, this is what I did. I bought my groceries, then figured out the per serving/meal cost and kept a running daily total. If I only used part of something, like half an onion, the rest went to the next meal. Any uneaten food would have counted against my weekly total at the end.

I did this in part to as a rationing mechanism. At the finale event, lots of folks reported that they ran out food towards the end of the week and had to go out and buy more. I was one of about 4 that successfully completed the challenge, if you count being slightly hungry all the time as successful.

By: blg

blg — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:24:27 +0000

Jessica, great job on the Food Stamp Challenge. Very instructive. I have had one thought throughout. Might you have done better if you had shopped for the whole week at once? Spread the cost of, say, a container of plain yogurt over the entire week?

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 02:47:48 +0000

I really like the idea of this challenge! I may do something like that with my “American Mosaic” class this term. It’s one thing to know intellectually how difficult it is to live on so little, but it’s something else to experience it yourself, even if for just a week.
On an entirely different topic: my long-time furry companion, Skitter (aka Wadsofur aka Pawsie) died this last week due to kidney disease. I got ShuShu when you got Percival; she ended up with my Grandma, who had her many years before she (the cat) died last year. I got Skitter in 1999. He’s my Facebook photo. The day after he died, I was leaving for a highly anticipated trip to CA to see Midge Ure in concert for the first time. The trip was great, the music fantastic, and Midge gorgeous (and I stood right next to the stage for both shows!), but the apartment is too quiet now. Dramatic highs and lows, a bit disorienting! Anyway, I don’t mean to take over your blog here with off topic stuff, but wanted to tell you about Skitter. I don’t remember if you met him or not (gorgeous long-haired black cat). I think Amanda met him when she put me up at her place on one of my cross-country moves, but I don’t recall that for sure either.