food stamp project week
One of the assignments for my community nutrition class is the food stamp challenge. Some 43.5 million people (about 1 in 8) in the U.S. are enrolled in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and the week-long experience is meant to be a take-home exploration of what it’s like (a little bit, at least). John (always a good sport) and I spent seven days on a food budget of $60 ($30 per person). To be blunt, I don’t have any earth-shattering revelations or provocative insights to report. Cutting a two-person weekly food bill down to $60 is doable, but not fun. Yes, I got hungry and missed being able to have cheese whenever I want, on whatever I want. But it was entirely possible to eat a reasonably healthy mixed diet. In fact, most of the dinners we had resembled what we normally eat: rice (the brown kind) with beans, rice with tofu and eggs, pasta with sausage and beans. All with vegetables and heavily doused with hot sauce. Breakfast was muesli with milk or yogurt, lunch was peanut butter sandwiches. Very monotonous, but peanut butter and banana slices smooshed between squishy wheat bread and eaten on a subway platform have never tasted so good.
The part that challenged me most wasn’t trying to put together a decent meal for a few bucks or not being able to grab dinner at a restaurant with my friends. It wasn’t about the horror that is 99-cent packs of imitation American pasteurized process cheese food slices or the self-discipline it takes to cross the street to avoid bakery smells, pizza smells, and the mere thought of ice cream on a 60-degree afternoon. The hard part was staying full and cheerful throughout the day, at the risk of not having enough to eat in the coming days. By looking at this blog, you can probably tell that I care an awful lot about food, for better or worse. For a week, it became all about staying as full as possible for as long as possible.
Here’s the first thing we made for dinner. Filling, nutritious, and cheap.
Beans & Greens Stew with Rice
serves 4 (total cost: $3.56, excluding seasonings)
8 oz dried kidney beans ($0.75)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil ($0.10)
1 small onion, chopped ($0.10)
1/2 large carrot, chopped ($0.15)
1 large clove garlic, minced ($0.07)
water
10 oz package frozen chopped collard greens or spinach ($0.99)
2 tablespoons tomato paste ($0.40)
a few shakes of dried oregano
salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste
1 pound long grain brown rice, cooked ($1.00)
Soak beans in cold water overnight or for 8 to 12 hours.
Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion and carrot and cook for a few minutes, until soft. Add garlic and cook for another few minutes. Add beans and enough water to fully cover them. Bring to a simmer, then add salt and oregano. Lower heat and continue to simmer until beans are cooked through (40 minutes? something like that… just keep testing them). Stir them every now and then and add more water if necessary.
Stir tomato paste into cooking liquid. Add frozen greens and cook until they are un-frozen. Add more salt if necessary, pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Serve with cooked rice.
