I suppose now is the time to admit that I got a D in Baby Chem in College. I managed to pull out a D+ in Math 9, a math class so simple and meaningless it doesn’t even garner a real name. I still graduated with a respectable GPA, even made the Dean’s list the last 4 semesters I was in college, but am disinterested in something, I find it near implossible to apply myself.
So, I think the hardest part of this whole food stamp challenge is going to be figuring out the exact money I spend and the best way to execute the plan. Methodology, my friends, is not my strong suite.
I do think it is worth laying out how I plan to tackle this, though. Yanno, just so I don’t look like a cheater. This being said, I am sure soemone will take issue with it, yet might I remind you of those shiny Ds?
1. I am breaking down cost by serving /individually. For example, if I have a hard boiled egg for breakfast, and I bought a dozen eggs for $2, I am calculating $.17 for breakfast.
2. I am not going to alter my eating patterns that much. I often make a huge pot of something for lunch to get me through the week. I am doing the same this week, but I don’t think it is really cheating; it is how I operate.
3. Fruits and vegatables, they will be eaten.
4. My office has a fridge full of water and soda and a huge coffee machine. I am going to continute drinking free beverages here as I feel a good number of folks on food stamps have access to such things. I will not be eating any of the food here. We have catered events almost daily, hence there is always leftovers in the kitchen. I don’t feel it would be keeping to the spirit of the project if I was eating free salad and cookies every day.
And there it is…my best attempt of making sense of all of this. Feel free to tell me where I screwed up.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Wait, what? What are you doing here? Food stamps? I’m confused and feel like I just started a Star Wars film without the words in space.
[Reply]
Lemmonex Reply:
October 12th, 2009 at 8:16 am
I added a alink in the body of this post, but here is what I am doing: http://lemmonex.com/2009/10/this-will-be-something/
[Reply]
Malnurtured Snay Reply:
October 12th, 2009 at 10:05 am
I’m not entirely sure how I missed that link, so I’m just going to blame my non-noticing of it on, y’know, working on Columbus Day.
[Reply]
I think you should put all of this down on a spreadsheet. You know, just to reaaaally prove it.
I know this is kind of sidebar- but I hear the government cheese is really quite delicious.
[Reply]
Lemmonex Reply:
October 12th, 2009 at 8:44 am
I would imagine it waxy.
[Reply]
This is the kind of project where my husband, being the thrifty Canadian he is, would get excited.
I laud you, Lexa, but I am totally going to make sure he never catches wind of a challenge such as this. Considering you can find it all over the Internet, I guess I’ll just have to start keeping him in a box or something.
[Reply]
Lemmonex Reply:
October 12th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Lock him up and throw away the key I say.
[Reply]
This sounds like a crazy fun time, but then again, I love me some challenges!
I do have one point of contention for #4 though. While I think water and coffee from work are OK, most places of business don’t offer free soda. And when you think about those below the poverty line (and on food stamps), odds are they aren’t working in some sweet office where the soda flows freely.
[Reply]
Lemmonex Reply:
October 12th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I did think about the free soda, but then rationalized it that between office gigs and folks who work in restaurants, a decent amount of people have acess to diet coke.
[Reply]
i failed physics three times in college, finally passing it with a D on the 4th try.
why a PR major needed to take physics is still a mystery to me.
[Reply]
Lemmonex Reply:
October 12th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Three times! Damn. You ahd to take it? That is ridiculous.
[Reply]
I give you total credit for doing this. I don’t think I could survive on $3 a day, keep us posted!
[Reply]
I’m going to go eat a big bowl of caviar and think of you.
Cause I keep that in my house at all times, you know.
[Reply]
no criticism from this corner, i failed Calculus TWICE before finally getting an A-, which I can hardly feel proud of due to the aforementioned double failures.
either way i look forward to reading about your adventure!
[Reply]
i passed math in grade ten with a C, i think. and i only passed physics because the principal was the teacher and he said that even though i was getting like ten percent on every exam and assignment he knew i was trying hard so he’d give me a 50% if i continued trying for the rest of the semester. but somehow i aced chemistry…could have been the 21 year old teacher liked my 17 year old friends and i a bit too much, know what i’m sayin?
so, you know, we all have skeletons in our closets, grade-wise
[Reply]
I spent more than $15 on lunch like 20 minutes ago. I would have no shot at this challenge.
[Reply]
I am an engineer, so methodology is my strong suit. Although, I hate math and got a few lousy grades there. That said, your methodology and logic here are fine. The only thing is the free soda debate, but that can go either way.
[Reply]
Do cigarettes count as a meal?
[Reply]
You are a better person than me.
You can take my life, but you’ll never take my office leftovers.
[Reply]
I doubt food stamp recipients have a lot of access to free sodas and coffee. I know we never did when I was a food stamp using kid. The general rule is, the more money you make, the more things will be available for free.
[Reply]
Any attempt at a food stamp challenge will be a failure ’cause you don’t have actual food stamps that you can hustle with. Duh.
[Reply]
I think you should just try to book three dates per week and order enough at dinner to have leftovers in between. You know. Provided your date doesn’t cancel b/c of his cat again.
[Reply]
I read your original post and thought, “Why shouldn’t I do this, too?” But instead of being all mathy about it, I just decided that it would be great to figure out what I could fix from my already full pantry. Full of stuff that I bought, but never used. So last night was black beans and rice and it turned out awesome. And it will feed me all week for lunch! And seriously, how much does a can of black beans, a cup of rice, a red pepper, half an onion, cumin and black pepper cost? For five meals? It’s gotta be cheap! So thanks for the encouragement. I’m really excited to hear how it goes. Will you be posting any meal plans/recipes that you use? Because I think that would be awesome.
[Reply]
I don’t throw a lot of money away on food, but I am afraid I would starve if I tried to eat for $3 a day (I suppose that would translate to $6 for the 2 of us). I’ll bet you will be glad by the end of the week that this is just a little experiment.
I am sometimes amazed at what I see people buying with food stamps. Then I look at their babies and see designer shoes on infants that can’t even walk…
[Reply]
I think you should eat the office leftovers. If you were on food stamps and could supplement your $3 a day, you would. Same goes for the soda.
The $3 for food is a relatively reasonable quest… but what wine could possibly fit that budget?
[Reply]
This is a lot of math. Thank goodness I am so bad at it.
[Reply]
I can be of no help. The only D I ever got was in Economics.
[Reply]
well done laying out the rules
with a methodology like that i expect to see you next to me in class next week!
[Reply]
if you want to buy here is some good Website
for another you can see this any more
[Reply]
It looks good,I have learn a recruit!
Recently,I found an excellent online store, the sall4.net are completely various, good quality and cheap price,it’s worth buying!
[Reply]