Around 3:00 I began to regain a little of my appetite and decided to make the one thing affordable I had in my room to eat. Ramen Noodles $0.67.
This was a food I use to eat all the time when I was little before I had to think about the quality and health of the foods I put in to my body ( I called it pasta soup back then.) Although there is little health benefit from Ramen Noodles, it is very affordable and provided the sustenance I needed.
Later that evening Yani and I had free time to go grocery shopping for the week. We decided that if we went to the Dollar Tree we could get more bang for our buck, not really considering the quality of the food we'd be getting. We individually pooled our money for the week and determined that we could spend about $28.00. Despite that I have a car on campus we wanted to take the schools daily connecter to the Dollar Tree because we know that the majority of people on SNAP have to use public transportation.
We got on at 5:05 here and were the first stop. The Dollar Tree is very much on the other side of the bus pick up and drop off so we had to wonder all the way around some buildings and across parking lots to get to it. As we walked around the strip mall we fantasized about going in to the many food places we passed, like Chick Filla and Five Guys, that we could no longer afford, and pigging out. Finally at the Dollar Tree, we first went straight to the freezer foods. Because neither of us have a real kitchen on campus, we knew that microwaving meals would our only means of cooking. So for dinners we got 7 different frozen 'GOURMET' meals.
Next we wondered around looking at our options for breakfast, lunch and general snacks .
In the end I was able to get a lot of items because of how cheap everything was. I got a loaf of bread and peanut butter, 2 boxes of what I thought was instant oatmeal, small blocks of cheese and crackers, a big bag of popcorn, tortillas and shredded 'Cheese-like' product (only saw the cheese part when I was buying it), gum, and 2 small bags of Reese's and chocolates... I figured that even if I am starving mini Reese's would still make me a little bit happier throughout the week.
In the end the total came out to $23.60. So I still have about 5 dollars left in case I run out of food before the end of the challenge!
After paying we ran with our bags back to the bus stop just in time to catch the 6:25 ride back to campus. The ride stopped to let people on and off 2 more times and then took us back to campus before 7:00. Although the trip could have been greatly shortened had we just driven my car to the store, we had the chance to get a closer to realistic feel for what people on SNAP with no cars go through on a daily basis.
For dinner Yani and I had heated up frozen pizzas. It was not quite as good as the typical Digiorno frozen pizza I am use to, but the rubbery cheese pizza settled the growing hunger for a while.
Around about 11:00, while I was still up doing work, I began to get hungry again. I decided it was time to try some of the instant oatmeal... well like I said before the oatmeal I thought I had bought. It turned out I bought cream of wheat instead.
It was a lot grainier than the oatmeal I was expecting to eat and reminded me slightly of baby food, but I of course finished it anyways not wanted to just throw away any food I bought for myself.
So I survived day 1 with a new appreciation for public transportation and the quality of food I am used to and regularly take for granted. I am looking forward to the rest of this week and the many learning opportunities and realizations to come.
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