The Challenge Experience for Lorie with OACAA

I am starting my the third day of the Ohio Community Action Food Stamp Challenge.  When I started, I went to a local super market and laid out a game plan. Although I look through the ads each week to make a grocery list, I am not the one who does the shopping normally at my home. 

I guess I had a little sticker shock at first as I tried to use some of the ideas that I had planned out from the memories of my childhood that I had written about before. Hamburger is expensive per pound, in fact most meats were. 

So I found myself in the frozen food aisle looking at the frozen dinners that were $1.09 each. I went with a brand that if you bought it, it had a code on it to key into a website where the company would donate a free frozen dinner to a food pantry for children. I said to myself, "Yay, win/win! I pay $10.90 out of my $23.00 and I get 10 meals to cover lunch and dinner for the 5 days of the Challenge and a child gets a free meal at a pantry." So I chose a variety of frozen dinners. I am three days in and although the food is edible and has a flavor, it’s not really overly filling.

So, I am in a one day timeframe (with the other foods I bought) consuming:

• 1,950 Calories (that is under the 2,000 calories that the USDA recommends daily)
• 67 grams of Fat (very high)
• 1 gram of Transfat
• 55 mgs of Cholesterol
• 3,055 mgs of Sodium (I am thirsty)
• 860 mgs of Potassium
• 209 grams of Carbohydrates
• 10 grams of Fiber
• 85 grams of Sugar
• 41 grams of Protein

Yes I made my choices on the food I picked, but it was the choices that afforded me three meals each day and had enough bulk in them to fill me up and make me feel full, but not necessarily satisfied. The fruit punch mix that I chose made me a little sick to my stomach after drinking it the first day, normally I drink water. Most of the foods leave me thirsty. 

My brother, who helps me care for my father, was sitting in front of me with a big salad with all the fixings as I ate my frozen meal and all I wanted to do is switch foods with him. All night long there were commercials for “real” food on TV and most shows had people eating “real” food. It was like when you diet and all you think about is food you can’t have.