CalFresh Challenge Presentation

VIDEO BY: SPEAK CITY HEIGHTS, SAN DIEGO COUNTY

LINKS FROM THE SLIDE ABOVE:

To apply for CalFresh visit: www.dpss.lacounty.gov

To find a Market Match near you visit: www.ecologycenter.org http://ecologycenter.org/fmfinder/ or call 1-800-962-8217.

For healthy recipes cook books (free pdf download) visit the California Department of Public Health:  www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/healthyliving/nutrition/recipes/Pages/default.aspx

 To see how my challenge went visit my blog at: www.calfresh.blogspot.com

Conclusion

May is CalFresh Awareness Month in the county of Los Angeles. When I found out that in the state of California the maximum allowance of CalFresh benefits was $200.00 per person, I thought "That's about how much I spend on groceries per month!" I was wrong! I took the CalFresh Challenge in March 2015 to see how healthy I could really eat on this allowance. I was able to eat healthy most of the time but towards the end of the month I began to run out of money and my "choices" for healthy food became limited. As you can see from my entries, I ate a lot of potato tacos and had to use free ketchup and hot sauce packets from our local Del Taco.

As you can see from the chart below: 40% of my allowed budget was spent on fruits and vegetables, 12% was spent on protein, 9% was spent on "dairy" (almond milk and cheese), 11 % was spent on nuts, beans or seeds, 9% was spent on grains and the remaining 18% was spent on misc. oil, spices, bottled water, etc... I had a budget plan, but as you can see, I went over in some of the categories.

I believe that the following factors allowed me to survive on this budget:

1. I had the opportunity to shop at a grocery store that sells food out of bulk bins. If I had to have bought a whole package of any item I purchased out of the bins, I would have exhausted all of my funds a lot sooner.
2. I made a total of 17 trips to the grocery store. If I did not have transportation, I may not have had the opportunity to travel to the grocery store that many times. Most produce you just cannot buy at once or it will wilt within days.
3. I had to meal plan and cook EVERY SINGLE DAY of the month. This was probably the hardest thing because I worked 10 hours a day and had to cook dinner every single night. If I had not meal planned and cooked every night I would not have had lunch for the next day and it would have thrown my whole budget off.
4. Another important factor was that I can cook! If someone does not know how to cook or have a kitchen with appliances and gadgets, they may not have been able to get as far as I did with my budget. 

This experiment showed me how much hard work it takes to live on a limited food budget.

The struggle is real! If I had the opportunity to make a recommendation to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), I would recommend that they raise the benefit allowance, even if it's only to $240.00...I really feel that the extra $40.00 would make a world of difference. I hope you have enjoyed my journey. Perhaps next year I will do another challenge on a vegan or vegetarian diet to see how healthy I could eat on $200.00 a month.

At the end of the month, I only had $.45 cents left! So I guess I got my answer to the entry on March 8th: I was right about not being able to afford a dragon fruit!

Check out my shopping transactions here:

Day 31 CalFresh Challenge

Dinner: Roasted garlic and potato tostadas with lettuce, tomato and free hot sauce from Del Taco.

Snack: The last apple.

Lunch: Last night's left-overs, potato tacos with free taco sauce from Del Taco.

Breakfast: Potatoes and the last egg.

Day 30 CalFresh Challenge

Dinner: Potato tacos.

Lunch: Left-overs from last night, chili-cheese dog with chopped tomato and a cajun baked potato.

Snack: Sliced apple with the last of the cashew butter.

Breakfast: Left-over chilaquiles with egg and cheese from yesterday.

Day 29 CalFresh Challenge

Dinner: Chili-cheese dog with sliced tomato and a baked cajun potato.

Lunch: Hotdog with fried potato "chips" and free ketchup from Del Taco. I used up my budget at yesterday's shopping trip. I have $.45 cents left and could not afford to buy ketchup.

Breakfast: Mexican chilaquiles, 2 tortillas fried with picante sauce, one egg topped iwth cheese and a cup of tea.

Day 28 CalFresh Challenge

Dinner: Potato tacos and Uncle Ben's brown rice left-overs from last nignt.

Lunch: Last night's left-overs, potato tacos and the last of the papaya.

My last grocery store trip. I have 3 more days and $7.23, the next few days are going to get interesting!

Breakfast: "Huevos Rancheros", one fried egg and tortilla with pace picante sauce, sliced papaya with a cup of tea.

Day 27 CalFresh Challenge

Dinner: Potato tacos, Undle Ben's brown rice and 2 slices of papaya.

Lunch: 2 small quesadillas, fried potatoes, papaya and the last of the pomegranate seeds.

Breakfast: "Egg in a Hole", the last slice of organic whole wheat bread and a fried egg, with a cup of green tea.