Day Four - Emily Baer

Emily Baer
Student and Neighbors Project Student Coordinator for Special Events

I've been really, really good about sticking to the challenge so far this week. On Monday, I had homemade mushroom and onion pizza with spinach salad, and on Tuesday, I had garlic roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, homemade yeast rolls, and roasted asparagus. I've been eating eggs with toast, yogurt, and bananas for breakfast and lunch (with some leftovers thrown in).

It's only been three days, but I've already learned several things - most importantly, the flour and yeast I bought have turned out to be the most cost effective purchase I made. so far, I've made bagels, pizza dough and dinner rolls with them. I bought three packets of yeast for 19 cents with a coupon and the flour was on sale for $1.75. Unfortunately, there's little nutritional value in white flour and yeast. And I'm getting really sick of white bread. Every meal I have is pasta or bread based.

I've been really good about not cheating so far, but in the spirit of full disclosure, my mom and sister are complete cheaters. They've both had coffee out and my sister drank some orange juice we had in the fridge, even though it's not included in the budget. As for me, I can't say I haven't thought about it. I miss buying coffee out. I miss vegetables. I've only been able to eat them once a day and I have such a limited supply. And I miss not having to think so incredibly hard about where my next meal is coming from. I have spent so many hours planning and cooking (and when that's done, a little more planning). My head hearts.

Finally, I want to mention one last thing my mom brought up during dinner last night. We're rationing our food right now to make sure we have enough. I don't know if we will in the end. But what would a single parent do who had to ration the food her young children ate so that they would have enough for the week? Ask her children to starve? Give up her portion? What if it wasn't enough? As a single mom herself, my mom always thinks about things like this but it may not be the first thing that comes to most people's minds. She know our situation is a lot better than other people's - the challenge is like a gift in this sense. It's no coincidence that Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week is the week before Thanksgiving. As we celebrate next week, know we will be more grateful than we've ever been for the way we are able to live our lives.