The Pantry: First Trip

I have no RICE.

It took me three hours to shop on Friday.

First I went to the food bank to see what was there so I could plan meals, etc. I decided to “shop” the front market and get an “Ebox”.

In the front market I decided to get:

• olive oil,
• salad dressing,
• an avocado,
• 4 lbs of potatoes,
• a package of lunch meat,
• 2 squash,
• a small box of tomatoes,
• a box of salad greens,
• two bags of fresh cranberries,
• 2 small yoghurt,
• 1 pound of bananas (3),
• 1 pound of apples (3),
• 1 small pumpkin,
• 1 pound of onions (3),
• and 2 lemons.

That came to 22 fishbucks. I would have bought more bananas and apples and yogurt but there was a limit on how many you can buy at a time. That makes sense in that we need to have enough for everyone . Now I understand why some people come every day to the food bank. Also there was  granola and local apples that were in the “free for the taking” area.  That amount of food cost me $67.19 at the store.

The Ebox had:

• a can of vegetables (corn),
• a can of fruit,
• 1 can tuna,
• 1 can black beans,
• 1 can chicken noodle soup,
• 1 can chili,
• 1 can diced tomatoes,
• 1 pound margarine,
• 10 oz peanut butter,
• 14 oz cereal ( Cheerios),
• 2 bags ramen noodles,
• 1 boxed pasta dinner,
• 1 box mac and cheese (not sure what I am going to do with these last 2, too much salt),
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce,
• 1 pound of flour,
• 1 pound of sugar,
• enough powdered milk to make one quart,
• 1 pound of pancake mix,
• a small package of crackers,
• one quarter pound of coffee ( this is going to be a problem, coffee is expensive)
• 10 tea bags.
• 2 pounds of chicken, and
• one pound of ground beef.

That cost me $45.58 at the store.

With food stamp money I bought:

• Soy milk,
• a ham hock,
• two turkey backs,
• vinegar,
• 2 pounds dried navy beans,
• cornmeal,
• sage,
• eggs,
• spaghetti noodles,
• cocoa, and
• graham crackers.

I spent $28.59 of the $49.00 I get per week. So I have $20.41 left until Friday. I can see that meat, coffee and cheese are going to be problematic. Is red bull cheaper than coffee??

This is not going to be easy.