Challenging the $25 Challenge: Why feeding yourself on $3.57 a day isn't the hard part

September 22, 7:18 AMChicago Dining ExaminerEmily Szopa

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This week, as part of Hunger Action Month, the Illinois Food Bank Association is sponsoring the "$25 Challenge," which asks local folks to attempt to live off the average food stamp allowance for a week. I decided to take the challenge a week early so that I could share my experience with those who are doing it this week.

Not surprisingly, it took a lot of planning. Sure, I was able to make it a whole week on $25 and never feel hungry, but it was much more difficult than I imagined. And, in the end, my shopping list might not have been entirely possible if I had been paying for it with actual food stamps.

When I first looked at the IFBA's proposed sample menu and shopping list, I realized it wouldn't work. First of all, I avoid processed foods, so boxed Mac & Cheese was out of the question. Second, I insist on eating fresh produce with two meals a day, and some of those items have to be organically grown (Plus, I hate green beans, which were the only green item on the suggested list). And third, because my mom (a pescetarian) was doing the challenge with me, I had to include enough non-meat protein options to ensure she was eating balanced meals too.

As it says on the Illinois Food Bank's site, With only $25 to spend each week, meal options are extremely limited and it is difficult to purchase an adequate amount of nutritious food, such as fresh fruits and vegetables." The bottom line was this: Without enough veggies, the proposed menu just didn't look healthy enough to me. I wanted to take part in the challenge, but I didn't want to sacrifice the standards I believe are necessary for a balanced diet, so I spent a lot of time researching and then set out to spend my $25 in the healthiest way possible.

My basic shopping list looked like this:

PROTEINS: Dried chickpeas*, whole uncooked chicken, free-range vegetarian eggs*, all-natural peanut butter, wild salmon, black beans

GRAINS: Steel-cut oats, oats, polenta*, whole wheat flour*, hemp granola*, wheat bran*, white unbleached flour*, wheat berry*

PRODUCE: Cabbage, mixed greens*, mushrooms, blueberries*, vegetable juice, onion, green apples, bananas, lemon, canned pumpkin, tomato sauce, peaches*, cauliflower

DAIRY: Yogurt, cheese, almond milk, pudding (I needed some chocolate somewhere in there) 

(Items marked with asterisks (*) are locally grown or organic)

Total cost? $50.17. So, you could say I didn't stay within the $50 budget for two, but considering the fact that we still have stuff leftover and it's the following Sunday, I'd say we did an okay job.

But what did we give up? Well, first of all, time. It takes a heckuvalot longer to make your own bread, pasta, oats, stews, tortillas and flours, so even though I didn't go to bed hungry, I went to bed exhausted--every night.  Truth is, if it was a child I was cooking for, rather than my mom, I can't believe for a moment that I would have had the necessary time to help with homework AND make dinner for both of us. With children making up more than 35% of those in need of food in Illinois, making time for both cooking dinner and child care is just one of the major hidden costs of low-income menu planning.

We also gave up grass-fed meat and organic dairy (except for eggs, which I was able to make room for in the budget), which might not be a priority for everyone, but it's something I feel strongly about when it comes to my personal diet. The choice to consume hormone-free/antibiotic-free/organic foods (or even organically-grown, pesticide-free produce) is available to everyone, but when a free-range organic chicken costs $12 compared to the regular ol' fryer at $3.22, the choice is an easy one for someone on a severely limited budget. 

Where the food stamps/LINK card can and cannot be used is another concern that has to be taken into consideration. Some of my produce was purchased at the Logan Square farmers market, where food stamps ARE accepted, but many other farmers markets still do not accept the Illinois LINK card for payment. It's not because they won't, though, it's because they can't... yet. The transition from paper food stamps to electronic LINK cards resulted in the exclusion of those participating in the LINK program, an omission that is now being addressed in many markets. Hopefully, by next season local goods will be a more viable option for many folks.

It's not easy. Not anywhere near easy. I had to not just portion my food, I had to ration it. Peeling a banana and eating it just because I was hungry wasn't an option. In fact, when I went to eat the first half of my only banana, I really had to think about whether I should eat it yet because the second half would go bad and be wasted if I didn't eat it soon after. These were things my previously, suddenly wasteful-seeming self wouldn't have even paused to consider. Other half of the banana went bad? Throw it out! But not this week.

I'll be honest: By the end of the week, I was looking forward to the steak in my freezer. I wanted some ice cream. An Italian beef with sweet peppers. I hadn't been starving, but I definitely felt deprived...and ashamed that I wouldn't have been able to do this at all, for even a few days, if the rest of my life wasn't so convenient: I have a car, a job and a roof over my head. I'm fortunate and thankful. So try it for yourself. It's only a week, right?