rebecca's pocket

Week 1 - Monday - Mother Hubbard

My cupboard is bare. We have just returned from a week and a half away from home and there is very little here in the way of fresh produce. Surprisingly, some salad mix has survived our trip (but it will need to be sorted). There is a worn-out green pepper in the crisper (an indulgence this time of year, I know, but I was craving chili). A bunch of cilantro that somehow survived our absence better than almost anything else we left behind. No fruit. Lots of carrots.

I am lucky in one thing: my husband, today, is at a conference, where they will feed him lunch. I'm not concerned about the cost: I'll double the cost of my own meal and count that into our food cost for the day. But when I pack his lunch, I generally rely on leftovers, and there are no leftovers today to send.

One thing is clear: on this budget, I will have to make his lunch every day.

The (Organic) Thrifty Food Plan Challenge

We eat well. Maybe a little too well, judging from our waistlines. And we eat pretty inexpensively, too. So the recent spate of publicity about Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski's committment to eat food totalling only $21 for one week (the amount an average Oregon food stamp recipient receives) caught my attention.

Now, the Governor's stunt is a little misleading: no one expects The government doesn't expect food stamp recipients to eat on only $21 a week (though I'm sure some people try). The USDA's Thrifty Food Plan [pdf] (from which food stamp allotments are derived) is spartan enough, but the most recent figures provide an adult male between the ages of 20 and 50 years of age with $35.40 a week for food—part of which will be provided by food stamps, and part by the individual, depending on their income. Regardless, the Governor's point is well taken. It's not a lot of money to spend on a week's worth of food.

I pride myself on my thrifty shopping habits. I've also been fortunate in these last few years to be able to afford to buy organic and locally grown fresh food most of the time. So I've decided to take the Governor's challenge a step further. I'd like to see if I can feed the two of us for one month on a "Thrifty Food Plan" budget using organic food. My budget: 74.00/week or 320.80/month, the USDA "Thrifty" standard for a family of 2 adults, aged 20-50 years.