So this weekend I went on a retreat to Rockbridge--A Young Life Camp with 700 of my friends, 30 second dance parties, paint wars, the blob, and food. Glorious, glorious food. I could never justify not eating the food at camp. First of all, it's the best food. Second of all, I would never want it to go to waste. And third of all, you need food to survive the best weekend of your life.
Without food, I wouldn't have had the energy to sing my heart out, zip line into the lake, stay up until 2AM, or get covered in paint and then proceed to swim across the lake. Throughout this week, I've realized how much food is a necessity and that no one should be living without enough of it. I think I take for granted the blessing of food that I've been given in life. Some people, like those on food stamps, don't have the luxury of an endless dining hall buffet, a place to get fresh fruit, or a place to get a good home cooked meal. This challenge gave me the opportunity to really reflect on how much of a brat I am when it comes to eating. I cannot resist eating food when it's right in front of me and I can't stop myself from eating good food that is often times more expensive. Living off $4.20 cannot give you a healthy life style and no one should have to put up with it. But I do believe there is a way to get the most out of $4.20 a day and I can't be sure that everyone who is on the SNAP program is aware that it is not useful to spend the money on unnecessary items. I think the food stamp system is corrupt and that it would take an extreme reworking of the system to get it to a place where people who genuinely need money for groceries are able to utilize the money to its fullest capacity.
I'm sorry, but can you just take a moment and look at the goodness of this meal right here? If there is an opportunity for me to eat Chick-fil-a, I'm going to eat Chick-fil-a. Yeah, it might have cost me $5, but it's so worth it. This challenge is so hard for me. I'm struggling because I want to be social with friends, but a lot of the time that means going to restaurants and eating at Dhall or enjoying ice cream together. I never realized until this challenge how much of our lives really revolve around food. Food is the essence of life and without it I could not survive. I tried my hardest with the SNAP challenge, but I'm running quite low on funds now and I don't think I'm going to last much longer. After eating this Chick-fil-a, I'm left with $3, maybe, and two days left.
Eating in the third room of the dining hall makes me feel less self conscious about the fact that I'm eating only a bowl of cereal for lunch. It's the middle of the day and I'm eating breakfast food. Not sure how I feel about that.
I'm beginning to love peanut butter and jelly except for the fact that it makes me feel awful after I eat it. I just want vegetables. I never thought I'd be craving cooked carrots or broccoli, but that's all I want right now. I suppose I could have spent my weekly allowance on healthier food, but I can't cook in the dorm, I can't keep meats or vegetables too well, so I am left with bread.
My milk has spoiled. It smells awful. But I have to use it anyway. My cereal would be dry and sad without it. UPDATE: I didn't die from drinking this milk, but I've now seen the pure, rotten struggles of living life with no money.
I'm hungry. I'm tired. I'm wet from the rain. I'm hungry. I don't want to think about all the work I haven't gotten done today and that I probably won't get done today because I'm so hungry and can't get more food. I'm sick of eating peanut butter and jelly and cereal. Plus my milk is getting spoiled, I think. Oh well. I'll just eat another sandwich even though I so desperately want some vegetables or something!
Wednesday actually came around a lot quicker than I expected and now it's time for lunch. If my calculations are still correct, I will be eating PB&J for the next four days. Therefore, I'm having a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich right now. I also grabbed an apple, which would be like 75 cents at Walmart, so now I have $8.25 left for the week. Bonus points for me--I'm so thrifty, I had extra peanut butter left over for my sandwich, I put it on the apple. WOW. Genius.
Am I really this much of a baby that I can't even go two hours after waking up without being starving? My stomach is growling at me, saying, "Feed me, Momma." But I can't because Momma has no money! I mean I could eat my cereal, but I usually don't eat until lunch time on Wednesdays anyway.