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| Posted: 13 Sep 2011 02:08 PM PDT   The first year I participated in the Hunger Challenge, one of my commenters basically said that anyone who was hungry in this country was lazy. I was also told by a blogger that she wouldn't participate in the Challenge because it was her personal goal to support organic farmers and the Hunger Challenge just encouraged support of an already broken food system. In subsequent years I have heard that hunger is a bigger issue in other parts of the world, and that childhood obesity is the real problem we should be focused on. The goal of the Hunger Campaign is to raise awareness about hunger in the San Francisco Bay Area. Participants in the Challenge live on the same budget a food stamp recipient would receive, a paltry $4.72 a day. But somehow, I find many people I tell about the Challenge don't want to hear about that. They'd rather focus on something else. All those other issues - politics, sustainable food systems, organics, world hunger and even childhood obesity get way more attention in the media than local hunger. Yes. I said local hunger. Here in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Food Bank, 197,000 people struggle to feed themselves and their families. In Marin, just over 40,000 people - or 16% of the population - face the same problem. I find it shocking that in a community as rich as ours (San Francisco and Marin), 237,000 people live at or below 185% of the federal poverty line ($33,873 per year for a family of three). While children or families may be eligible for aid at that level, even with assistance it can be very challenging to provide enough food to consistently nourish themselves. Won't you think about what you can do help alleviate hunger in your community? GET INVOLVED! ♥ Take the Hunger Challenge yourself. Sign up here. ♥ Read blogs by people taking the Hunger Challenge. There's a blogroll here. ♥ Follow the Hunger Challengers on Twitter. There's a listing here, or search for the hashtag #HungerChallenge. ♥ Learn more about the San Francisco Food Bank - and make a donation. For every $1 donated the food bank can supply hungry people with $6 worth of food! ♥ Follow the San Francisco Food Bank on Twitter or visit their Facebook page to see how they're fighting hunger every day. DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.      |
| Shopping for the Hunger Challenge Posted: 12 Sep 2011 06:53 PM PDT  There will be no coffee, no tea, no chocolate, no ice cream this week. No matter how much I stretched my budget shopping at less expensive stores this year, some things are just out of the question. In the past I have shopped at Safeway and at Whole Foods for the Hunger Challenge. This year, I did my primary shopping at what is considered a "price-impact warehouse store" Foods Co and picked up a few bulk items at Rainbow Grocery (a coop). What exactly is a price-impact warehouse store? Warehouse stores are often located in low rent areas, have spartan, warehouse style interiors and most importantly, low prices. They are not as service oriented or as high priced as traditional supermarkets.Shopping at Foods Co was eye opening. The demographic of their shoppers is clearly not the typical supermarket shopper. I saw mostly Asian and Latino shoppers many who were not speaking English, primarily young families and some older couples. The store was bustling on a Saturday and people were clustered around the sale items and comparison shopping, looking at prices. More than once I heard someone talking about pay day. One woman complained about the price of chicken. She told me she has a small refrigerator and freezer now and cannot buy the larger "value packs." While prices for some things were good, the quality of the produce was not consistently high. The pears, 4 pounds for a $1, were small and hard, and many had cosmetic imperfections. I couldn't find one good eggplant. They were all old, wrinkly, many with mushy brown spots. There were virtually no organic products. When I couldn't find something employees pointed me in the general direction but never stopped what they were doing to help me. My initial shopping list of items cost me $40 at Foods Co would have cost $65 at Safeway (according to my virtual shopping cart on Safeway.com). Bottom line: Foods Co = CHEAP. At Rainbow Grocery I bought bulk items that I would not have otherwise been able to afford such as extra virgin olive oil, roasted soy nuts, raisins and couscous.  Here is my entire shopping list for two people, for one week: Foods Co Cilantro .33 Turnip greens .78 Lemon .33 3 yogurts 1.00 Bok choy .41 Chile peppers .88 Green onions .33 Mixed fruit (12 apples, oranges) 3.98 Bartlett pears (6 very small) .48 Ginger .27 Mushrooms 1.98 Rice 1.98 Chicken thighs (10) 4.04 Chili powder .99 Italian style canned tomatoes .98 Mexican style canned tomatoes .98 Canned corn .75 Bouillon .98 Milk (quart) 1.48 Red beans (1 lb bag) 1.25 White bean (1 lb bag) 1.25 Lentils (1 lb bag) 1.28 Eggs 2.50 Corn tortillas (30) 1.08 Salsa 1.50 Instant oatmeal (10 packs) 1.98 Pasta .25 Panela cheese (10 oz) 3.18 Quesadilla cheese (10 oz) 3.85 Garlic .49 Bacon (12 slices) 3.50 Italian seasoning .98 Zucchini (1 small) .68 Onions (3 large) .65 TOTAL $47.74 Rainbow Grocery Extra virgin olive oil 2.31 Cinnamon .31 Couscous 2.17 Raisins 1.21 Soy nuts 2.19 Frozen spinach 1.59 TOTAL $9.73 (with bag credit) GRAND TOTAL $57.47 Note: The total budget for 2 people is 66.08, but my husband is only partly participating in the challenge. I will price out my meals. DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.     |
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