Monthly Archives: January 2011

 My oldest daughter and I are in the midst of The Food Stamp Challenge, hosted by Maryland Hunger Solutions.  The challenge is to eat for one week with the average food supplemental benefit allotted by the state of Maryland…$30 per person.


Dinner #1 Broiled Chicken with rice and frozen veggies.  My daughter was sent to school with leftovers as her luch (which is common practice for us)



Dinner # 2 Chicken and rice soup made from the left overs of the night before


Now, when I first signed on to this challenge I was under the impression (I’ve never been good at reading instructions) that the $30 was for our entire family.  When I received the email on Monday stating it was $30 per person I was ecstatic.  I mean, screamed out of my dads house to the market.  Again I had a plan and again I was optimistic, after all an extra thirty dollars?  That was HUGE!  Once again I left the market disappointed.  This time, even though I had bought all staple supplies, the one bag I left with wasn’t even full.

Dinner # 3 Meatloaf with frozen green beans and rice.  For the record, making meatloaf without eggs really, really stinks!

 You may be thinking, “That’s not so bad.”  And I’ll be honest, when I looked at the food I had to work with I didn’t think so either.  But here we are on Day 5 and all the food has been cooked and we are looking at leftovers (sparse leftovers at that) for the remainder of the week. Here’s hoping they will last. And for the record, I certainly won’t starve my child should we completely run out of food ( a choice I’m feeling very fortunately to have).

Dinner #4 Chili Used the remaining ground beef, meatloaf, beans and tomato sauce.  This will be the last dinner I cook as we are now out of food.  Hoping the leftovers hold out.

I must commend my daughter for sticking with it.  She’s a real trooper and I admire everything she has done this week.  We were both at each other’s throats today, bickering over stupid little things like “You spilled water on my shoe!”.  We’re both exhausted and hungry.  I killed me to hear her say (repeatedly) ”Mommy, I’m Hungry”  and have to tell her “Sorry kiddo, if we eat now we won’t have enough food for dinner.” I promised her a feast of Tacos and Ice Cream Sundaes next week for all she’s been through…then felt guilty because people living on Food Stamps never get that option.



• 4.75 lbs. Ground Beef on sale at almost 50% off (75% lean…wicked healthy, I know)
• 4.45 lbs. Roaster Chicken
• 3 Cans of Beans
• 1 Box of Pasta
• Small Bag of Long Grain Rice
• 1 Can Crushed Tomatoes
• 1 Can Tomato Sauce
• 1 Small Container of Grated Cheese
• 1 Packaged Cheese Slices
• 1 Large Bag Frozen of Mixed Veggies
• 1 Large Bag Frozen Green Beans
• 1 Jar Peanut Butter
• 1 Jar Jelly
• 1 Loaf Bread
• 5 Bananas
• 1 Onion
• 1 Garlic (are they called heads of garlic?)
• 1 Box of generic Cheerios (which weren’t half bad)
• 1 Small container of Oatmeal
• 1 Jar Applesauce
• 1 LB. Coffee (the only reason I pulled this off is because it was on sale for $3.99)
• 1 Gallon Milk
• 1 Apple (a surprise for my daughter…how sad is that)

What we put back:

• Grapes
• Celery
• Carrots
• Frozen Broccoli
• Tomato Paste
• Pork
• The Bigger Roaster Chicken
• Chicken Broth

What We Replaced For Generic Brands:
Everything that came with a label…with the exception of the beans (Goya was on sale)

Looking back, things I wouldn’t have bought:

• Generic grated cheese ~ It’s just plain gross! Save your 89 cents and buy a piece of fruit
• The $1 Box of cereal ~ Cheap yes, yummy yes, but this “breakfast for the week” lasted less than half a week
• The Third can of beans ~ Yummy yes, but with the 67 cents I could have bought a second apple  

 About Maryland Hugner Solutions

“The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) established Maryland Hunger Solutions (MDHS) as a project to fight hunger and improve the nutrition, health, and well-being of children and families in Maryland. The initiative was launched in the fall of 2007 and is modeled on the successful D.C. Hunger Solutions (DCHS) Initiative that began in 2002.”

Find out more about Maryland Hunger Solutions on their main site http://www.MDHungerSolutions.org/

Year round, Share Our Strength works to provide children with nutritious food where they live, learn and play. They do this by working with states to incorporate functional and assessable feeding programs to children at risk of hunger, through the 5 campaigns they host; Great American Bake Sale, Great American Dine Out, Taste of the Nation, A Tasteful Pursuit and Cooking Matters (formally Operation Frontline) and with the new No Kid Hungry campaign.

Why all this information you ask? We are hoping to accomplish something very simple; Raise awareness of an enormous problem in our country…child hunger. Currently there are over 10 million children that are at risk of hunger in America, nearly 1-5. One of the biggest problems is, many families at risk simply do not know of available feeding programs already available in their communities. Share Our Strength works to find new ways to not only create feeding programs, but to ensure they are publicized and assessable to those that really need them.

Please Help Us To Help Make A Difference!

No Kid Hungry Cookies
For $1.00 you can add a No Kid Hungry cookie to your next order and feel good knowing that your dollar (yes all of it) will help in the fight against childhood hunger in America.
We are proud to be offering these cookies with or without an additional order all year long!
How Far Can A Dollar Go?  With one dollar Share Our Strength can help connect a child with 10 meals!

No Kid Hungry Cookie BoxesAt $4.00 these wonderful kraft boxes are the perfect gift to let friends and family know you to are helping to fight childhood hunger in America!

Each box comes with three No Kid Hungry cookies and offer a diplay window to show off the No Kid Hungry mission.

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For $2.00 you can add a Share Our Strength Cookie Pop to your order.  Great for favors at a child’s birthday party or your next event.
These cookie pops are our signature sugar cookie rolled and pressed with Share Our Strength, the name of our nations leading organization committed to ending childhood hunger in America.