Going Whole Chicken
Today was my first day of the United Way Hunger Challenge, a five-day commitment to eat on $7 a day, the maximum food stamp benefit for one individual. So far, so good.
I started out with a serving of McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal, $4.99 for a tin that makes 20 servings, at Trader Joe's. It costs close to $4 more at my local grocery store, so even though TJ's is a little far for me, it's generally worth my time and money to make the trip every so often.
I decided early on that I was going to buy a whole rotisserie chicken from Costco, only $4.99, and work around that for the week. There are so many ways to use up a roasted chicken, I know I won't want for ideas, though implementing many of the hundreds of recipes may be a problem. Since I'm not allowed to use any foods or pantry items that I already own, except for salt and pepper, it's a bit of a challenge to decide which ingredients to blow your limited bucks on.
While I was at Costco, I decided to splurge, even though it was only Day 1, and have a hot dog, (just a half, I'm saving the other half for tomorrow's lunch) with mustard, onions, sauerkraut and a drink for just $1.50 plus tax. It's more than likely the last time I'll eat out this week. That may be the toughest part of this challenge for me. As much as I like to cook, I love to eat out, to indulge in pastries from a favorite bakery or lunch at a neighborhood eatery.
Tonight's dinner was rotisserie chicken with roasted cauliflower mixed with a few cloves of garlic. I couldn't afford all the ingredients--lemons, capers, parsley--to make The New Sonoma Diet's delicious Cauliflower with Capers and Garlic, but my simply roasted cauliflower was addictive nonetheless, and I left the table amply sated.
How am I doing? What would you eat on $7 a day?
--Tracy Schneider
Adam on March 22, 2011 at 03:21 AM
Did you set your limit at exactly $7 per day or did you allow yourself $49 a week? The larger budget would allow for more planning and greater variety in your choices.
deadman on March 22, 2011 at 09:24 AM
two pop tarts + 1 diet coke for breakfast $1
bagel and peanut butter/honey sandwich lunch + diet coke $1.5
Knorr's instant noodles dinner + diet coke $1.5
Propel (from little packets and tap water) various. $1
Every day...
homeworker on March 22, 2011 at 09:24 AM
Costco? Really? How many homeless or low income people can afford a Costco membership? Oh, the humanity.
Tom in GA on March 22, 2011 at 09:24 AM
I agree with Adam... there's a big difference between spending up to $7 per day and averaging $7 per day over a $49 week.
For two people, an average of $7 per day for a month is $434. I feed my family of five (including a teenage son) on a monthly food budget of $500--which includes getting fast food or pizza once a week. We have meat with at least two of the three meals per day (usually breakfast is cereal/oatmeal/grits/etc. but lunches include lunch meats and dinner uses ground beef, chicken breasts, pork chops, et.al.
I don't think it is impossible to eat well on an average of $7 per day as long as one isn't insistent on a lot of organics.
zok on March 22, 2011 at 09:29 AM
Let's see... Do my wife & kids get $7/day too? If so, that would bring my family to $196/week - more than double what my current grocery bill is.
This working thing is looking more and more over-rated every day.
liz on March 22, 2011 at 09:33 AM
Make sure you boil up that chicken carcass for soup and add inexpensive egg noodles for a couple more meals. My favorite meal and I'm not on a $7 a day budget.
Don Giannatti on March 22, 2011 at 09:33 AM
I believe food stamps to be a supplement, not the entire food budget. I am not seeing this as a valid explanation of the food stamp situation.
My family is 4 with two teenagers. We average about $540 a month. About a hundred over the food stamp allocation. We do pretty well, and could cut some out in the way of premium items.
So my thought is that I sure could eat on $434 a month for one person. My goodness.
right on March 22, 2011 at 09:33 AM
The crockpot is your friend.
willie on March 22, 2011 at 09:33 AM
correct me if I'm wrong - but you could do Costco hot dogs breakfast, lunch and dinner - $4.50/day (+ tax) - problem solved
Saxon on March 22, 2011 at 09:34 AM
I have to go with "deadman" above @ 9:24am - except replace 'diet coke' with 'tap water'. May be throw in a boiled egg or a cup or milk for better nutrition.
As to the author and his Costco shopping - you are supposed to mimic a foodstamp recepient supposedly on welfare. Being on welfare should not be a picnic or a satisfying experience! It should be just enough for survival while the person is looking for something better.
Cro on March 22, 2011 at 09:35 AM
1 word: McDonalds
For the dollar menu I get breakfast, lunch and dinner for $7. Frankly it's not impossible to eat on $7 a day... maybe a little boring but not impossible. The key is how much of the $7 is left after buying smokes, doritos, and busch lite?
Kent on March 22, 2011 at 09:37 AM
I spend less than $7/day on food and household items like cleaners, toilet paper, soap, etc. No wonder there is no incintive to improve ones skills, educaiton, employeement, etc, if food stamps pay for all you food needs.
My household spending on general items and groceries the last 30 days is $608 for a family of 3.
jaed on March 22, 2011 at 09:38 AM
Designer oatmeal? Precooked chicken? These seem like splurges if someone's on a limited food budget. On such a budget, your ingredients will generally be:
- whatever protein is on sale at a good price
- rice (not jasmine rice in small packages - the cheap Calrose in the five-pound sack)
- pasta
- beans and legumes (again, not expensive kinds - the store brand of small red beans in large bags)
- whatever vegetables are in season, plus frozens
- home-cooked everything, and no convenience foods like cooked chickens (or some, but limited since even at Costco, a roasted chicken costs more than one you cook yourself)
A can of Quaker rolled oats gives you 50% more at the same price, and that's not on sale and at the more expensive grocery store. Store brand is cheaper, and so is bulk oatmeal. You may like steelcut more than rolled, but when you are on a tight budget, the more expensive option is a splurge you can indulge in sometimes, not an everyday thing (unless you want to cut somewhere else, and sometimes there's just nothing to cut).
Simmer on March 22, 2011 at 09:40 AM
I have a family of 4.
$7 X 7 days X 4 people = $196 per week.
Our grocery bill falls between $150 and $200 per week...and we're not even trying.
Fred on March 22, 2011 at 09:43 AM
no offense meant, but as challenges go, this is pretty weak. As someone else pointed out, $7 per day is $49 per week. I could buy a 2lb sack of pinto beans, some vegetables and a chunk of side meat for under $5 and eat on it all week. With some good grain bread that I could bake myself.....Vegetables on sale....judicious purchase of fruits...Oatmealor grits with an occasional egg for breakfast..can I keep all th money that will be left over?
Ted B. (Charging Rhino) on March 22, 2011 at 09:46 AM
Why buy a chicken, when you can roast one at home cheaper?
Does anyone see the irony that you can buy great steaks for $3.89/lb. on sale, yet Bolonga is $9.89/lb. in the deli dept.? I buy large cuts of good-quality meat when there's a sale and cut it down into roasts, steaks and chops...wrap and zip-lock 'em...and store in the basement deep freeze 'til needed. With fresh vegetables, real bread and store-bought pasta-sides I do quite well at lees-than $400/month for two adults...without stinting on the meat, desserts and soda.
jp on March 22, 2011 at 09:47 AM
deadman on March 22, 2011 at 09:24 AM
two pop tarts + 1 diet coke for breakfast $1
bagel and peanut butter/honey sandwich lunch + diet coke $1.5
Knorr's instant noodles dinner + diet coke $1.5
Propel (from little packets and tap water) various. $1
Every day...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Poster's name is apt: DEADMAN
Richard on March 22, 2011 at 09:49 AM
$7 a day is supposed to be a significant challenge? If that's per person, then our family of 4 would spend $850/month. Sorry, I can't afford that. We only spend about $600/month on dining and grocery budget.
Quilly Mammoth on March 22, 2011 at 09:51 AM
The weekly budget for three is about $125.00 using the $18.00 per day figure. We spend between $90.00 and $125.00 per week. This requires that you plan out your month so that you have pantry items and so forth. The way the challenge is designed it makes living on that amount nearly impossible.
I dislike "tests" that are designed to lead the participants to a forgone conclusion. If the point of this is to prove that living on food stamps is hard, if that's the only money you have for food, then DUH.
Budgeting and meal planning requires effort. It requires sacrifice. You may not be able to eat that organic tofu or dart out and purchase the makings for a Rack of Lamb dinner. It requires avoiding convenience food (which is, imho, a benefit).
Now for your question. This week's menu is planned around a Roast Chicken that we roasted with veggies. We cooked a 6lbs bird that cost $4.18. We will do chicken wraps on Wednesday and a chicken pot pie on Friday. Tonight is a pork loin with a California Blend veggies in Alfredo sauce and fried apples. The remaining loin gets turned into pulled pork sandwiches with oven roasted potato wedges and salad on Saturday. Thursday night is Hot Dog Night (next week it will be hamburger night).
Breakfast is baked goods we make on Sunday,eggs and about every other day turkey/pork sausages from Aldi's (.89 per 10 pack)or bacon.
Lunch is soup (usually a big pot made on Sunday using leftovers if possible), sandwiches and veggie sticks. We spend about $15.00 per week for lunch makings. Sometimes I'll make Prison Pad Thai using a Chicken Cup-o-Soup just because I like it (about .75).
Basically we design our meal plan around two anchor meats. Unless I get on a homemade pasta jag...
hello on March 22, 2011 at 09:52 AM
It just occurred to me that the wife and I eat for about $5 each per day. I wouldn't have guessed we were frugal if you hadn't said anything.
petetheelder on March 22, 2011 at 09:57 AM
Not to pile on too much, but how is this a challenge?
I have a family of four and at $7 a day we would be $840 a month for food (7x4x30). That is more than my house payment. Our actual food costs are closer to $350 a month. We don't buy that much prepared food and only eat out maybe once a week on average and I take my lunch to work.
We don't even make any major sacrifices to do this, but would buy a bag of frozen chicken breasts or a whole chicken instead of a precooked chicken. (hopefully this is not a double post since my previous one got an error message)
Steve on March 22, 2011 at 09:57 AM
If you're trying to stretch your money, instead of roasting the chicken, use it to make broth. You get a rich base for soup plus all of the meat that's on the chicken.
The broth you get from a raw chicken is a quantum times richer, better tasting and makes a lot more than the broth made using the bones of a roasted chicken.
Roberto on March 22, 2011 at 09:57 AM
snip
I've already begun to plan out my menu for this challenge, which stipulates:
* Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner spending only $7 ($12 for two, $18 for three, and $22 for four) per day.
/snip
but still
zok on March 22, 2011 at 09:57 AM
Just read this from Tracy's original post: Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner spending only $7 ($12 for two, $18 for three, and $22 for four) per day
===========
This brings a family of 4 to $154/week. I try to keep my family's weekly grocery bills, including toilet paper, dish soap etc. around $100. (Do Food Stamps cover such items?)
I believe this effort by the United Way will breed more resentment than empathy, and will spark calls for greater scrutiny of this program. Probably not their intention...
kevIN on March 22, 2011 at 10:04 AM
For a family of three, we spend $70-$100 a week on groceries.
During the weekday, my personal meal usual goes like this:
morning: one apple - less than $1
lunch: low-calorie microwave meal - $1-$1.49 ea with a piece of Ghirardelli dark chocolate
afernoon snack - small box of store-brand raisins.
supper: this is my "big" meal and can be anything - hamburgers, Middle-Eastern food, steak, chicken, etc. Salad is usually included. Split between the three of us, I'm usually spending less than $49 a week on myself. Bonus is I don't gain weight and I never feel hungry.