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Oy, this is such a noble effort, but sadly, it's so much more than just a monetary constraint. Can you imagine working 10 hours a day, often doing back-breaking work, and often being a parent on top of that, and then having to come home and cook anything that takes more than 10 minutes? Can you imagine trying to get out of work in the middle of the day to try to get to a food bank to supplement your meals? I don't know about San Francisco, but in Phoenix, a lot if not all of our food banks are only open Monday through Wednesday with hours like 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

At my lowest point, I worked 16 hours a day, and at one point, I was working for weeks straight without a day off. Finding time to go to a grocery store to bargain shop was a luxury. It was heartbreaking to discover I couldn't afford a jar of peanut butter because I needed to put gas in my car. Finding the will to cook was nearly impossible, and easy peasy steamed frozen broccoli or a chopped salad wasn't fast, comforting, satiating food.

I love when organizations working to eradicate hunger get positive attention, but I also cringe just a little at stuff like this, despite the good intent. I've gotten into arguments with people who think that people should be able to make it on such a limited income, especially because food banks exist. On top of factors like those I mentioned above, food banks and soup kitchens don't always have the healthiest food to hand out, and even while a lot of them are setting nutrition standards, they're not yet a global standard. People end up bringing home cases of soda and generic mac and cheese. Getting any kind of food is the first objective when you're literally starving to death; good nutrition is out the window. The food the bloggers are eating looks so wonderfully, heartbreakingly delicious, filling, and healthy.

Crud, many apologies for my long, rambling, preachy comment. I'm just passionate to the core about this topic. =\ I don't mean to sound like I'm trivializing the project, because I don't think it's trivial at all. I'm just personally always under the shadow of feeling like I could and should do (and say) more, yanno?

OneWall, thank you for your post. I'm not sure how I feel about these Hunger Challanges mostly because I'm not sure what kind of results and awareness they actually generate (getting people to donate to food banks who don't already, etc.). Your point about working long hours, dealing with children (don't even get me started on child care issues in this country), making these food decisions day in and day out - you've provided a perspective I don't see often on this blog.

Does anyone know where the figure of $21 comes from? A friend of myne recently went on food stamps and she is allowed $176 per month. She lives with house mates, but she doesn't support them and they are adults so I believe they would have to apply for themselves right?

One of the Rabbi's at my temple took the challenge with her partner and two boys last year. Her talk about her experience during Rosh Hashanah last year was really powerful and reached thousands of people that attended services. Hopefully it made as much of an impact on them.

Dana, thanks so much for your support! I'm doing the Hunger Challenge and also help out at the San Francisco Food Bank. To answer a couple of questions in the comments...

The $21 figure is the *average* amount that food stamp recipients recieve across the country. I can't comment on roseslaw's friend, but typically, the amount received is related to income (you have to fill out a 9-page form, at least in CA). The situation is particularly bad in San Francisco, where housing, gas - just about everything - is very expensive.

On the bright side, the SF Food Bank is able to provide a lot of fresh produce. Last year we distributed 31 million pounds of food and nearly half - 15 million pounds - was fresh produce.

And, I'm happy to say, as a result of this Hunger Challenge and the buzz created, six Bay Area food banks are about to receive a major gift of meat products - the most coveted item at every food bank because protein is expensive and hard to come by. I'll post more news about this at http://hungerchallenge.blogspot.com in the next couple of days.

OneWallKitchen, you shouldn't feel bad about your post! You have helped people understand that the situation is complex, and, while it's cheaper to make a lot of things from scratch, the time, energy and resources required are totally opposed to the lifestyle many low-income people are forced to live.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and comments! I'll add some interesting info on food stamps below, which comes from the Food Research and Action Center (www.frac.org):

The majority of individuals and families utilize the Food Stamp Program in order to get themselves back on their feet.
The average time a household is in on the Food Stamp Program is nine months.
To be eligible for food stamps, households, except those with elderly or disabled members, must have gross incomes below 130 percent of the poverty line.
All households must have net incomes below 100 percent of poverty to be eligible.
Time limits for receiving food stamps also apply for many able-bodied, childless, unemployed adults.
Eligibility in the Food Stamp Program includes work requirements. All non-elderly adults receiving benefits who are able to work are required to be employed or to register for employment. Many must participate in work training and job search programs.

I'm not someone who has to deal with making ends meet, but I'm gaining an appreciation for beans, as I learn how healthy they are and how yummy they are. I also have been gaining interest in cheaper cuts of meat, not for their price, but for their supposed taste. I think this is good for everyone, being that our entire economy is in a questionable state and we as a nation probably do just need to be more frugal.

I think no-knead bread is genius for the poor, as well as everyone else. It's bread you don't have to do too much with, so it's not time intensive, and it's very flavorful, and easy and cheap.

The cast iron pans can actually be cheap too.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013KV9NI

I wish there were better ways to get information on strategies and healthy ways to make do to people who are needy. Some needy people are probably proactive, but a lot are more proud and probably have issues that cause them to keep to themselves more.

This isn't bad, but harder to figure out how to help those people. And they probably need help the most.

I went through their on-line program to see how it is to live as one of these families, I picked the last one, a hispanic family with two minimum wage earners, one working part time.---To me it seemed the most workable, unfortunately the program is set up so that no matter what you do you will fail. So the couple makes a little less than $2000 a month and half of that goes to rent ---totally fair and possibly an under estimate. But then they had like $560 for transportation costs per month----why?????? San Fransisco has one of the best transportation systems in the country---why on earth would you need that much for transportation. Here in Chicago my transportation cost is like $75 a month, and there is no need to pay for insurance, parking, gas, monthly fees etc. I'm sorry but I am not going to feel sorry for someone who cannot eat because they are paying off an SUV or two cars or something. In addition the supermarket section of the "game" is totally rigged. Say you go for beans and rice well, you can't buy real rice but apparently rice a roni and forget about real calorie counts because things like cooking oil are non-existent. I can only buy apples singly, why not a 3lb bag? And why apples which aren't even grown in CA? SF has some of the lowest produce costs in the country. For me this "game" trivialized the real problem. Even if you can feed yourself you lose variety and you have very few choices as to what you can eat. Its like being in jail where they feed you the same thing at every meal. A baloney sandwich with one slice of cheese and either a small apple or an orange. Sure its nutritionally balanced and cheap, but you have no choice in it, it is mere survival and not what we think of as freedom. I do support my local food bank, not because its impossible to survive but because the will to live is slowly eroded as you are given less choice. Also knowledge is hard to come by, things like no-knead bread are known to people who have taken the time and possibly money to educate themselves. The library can help remove the money issue but you still need time and the flexibility to experiment. What if a recipe doesn't work for you or the taste is awful (say too much salt or something)---you still have to eat it because it is all you have.

Although I appreciate the sentiment of this article as well as the event it's based upon, I must disagree with the statement that it's impossible to eat 3 nutritious meals per day on 3 dollars. I routinely have fed myself for 9 dollars a week, simply to see if I could. What is of tantamount importance when you're looking at these dollar figures is that you TEND to also be looking at situations where people want to buy convenience food, rather than food that takes real preparation. If you're not willing to do everything from scratch, then yes - 21 dollars a week is impossible. If you are, however, there's no reason why 21 dollars a week cannot provide for not only basic nutritional needs, but a few luxury items per week as well.

Meat can be purchased at discount prices by buying cuts that are inexpensive and further discounted due to nearing expiration date (then frozen for later use). Beans and rice, lentils and many other grains are incredibly inexpensive and healthy. Pasta can even be had, simply by buying what's on sale (which is how I shop anyway; I only buy "staples" when they're on sale, and they carry me through the times these products are more costly). Buying produce that's only in season, and NOT buying organic produce is an easy and cheap way to have a lovely variety of fresh foods to eat (this tended to be 7-8 of my $9/week experiment) at a very, very small cost.

And of course, spices. Even if I had no spices, I could cheaply stock an entire pantry full of what I needed for a very small amount of money, using generic spices from dollar stores (which are often 2/dollar) and even getting "exotic" spices from the bulk section available in most grocers.

So again, I appreciate the sentiment of this, but I do believe it's unrealistic to presume that a person who is motivated to be a healthy eater on the cheap would be unable to do so for 84 dollars a month.

Motivation is the point, though. If you're working 2 jobs already, how much time and energy do you have to spend on food?

If I had to drastically reduce my food costs, the first thing I'd do is buy a big bag each of beans and rice. And a bag of bacon trimmings, and a bottle of multivitamins. It wouldn't be pleasant, but I'd be fed.

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