Toothsome & Wholesome on a Budget

I love to grocery shop. I love to cook – something I’ve been doing since I was 10 years old.  Most of all, I love to prepare and eat good food with good friends and family. And while there have been a few times in my life when I have had to avail myself of the services of my local food bank (and thank god they were there!), and even times when all I’ve had to eat were raw potatoes with no way to cook, most of my time in this life, I’ve had easy and consistent access to good food. As executive director of Rainier Valley Food Bank, I’ve made it my profession to ensure that others have equal access to nutritionally sound, high-quality foods that are familiar, easy to prepare and delicious.

Right now, we’re poised on the cusp of United Way’s annual Hunger Action Week.  This year for the first time, I’m standing in empathy and solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of my fellow Americans who rely on programs like Basic Food to feed themselves and their families by taking the Hunger Challenge.  And I’m taking my wife and teenage son along for the ride.

While I have to carefully manage the Food Bank’s budget down to the last penny every day of the year, my own personal food budget is not something I normally sweat over. Sure, I’m a smart shopper and a creative cook. Sure, I know how to stretch a $2 sack of dried beans and a few smoked neck bones into tasty chow for days. But I have to admit, the very thought of shopping for food on a budget is giving me the willies. 

And because I’m either a glutton for punishment, or maybe I feel I have something to prove, I’m planning to shop at the same places I normally shop: PCC, Bob’s Quality Meats, and Trader Joe’s. With a family of three, I’ve got a "generous" $18 bucks a day to spend on breakfast, lunch and dinner. So if you see me lurking in the aisles at PCC this week furiously crunching numbers on a calculator and scribbling recipes and ingredient lists on a notepad, tearing out what little hair I have left, you’ll know why.

My basic hypothesis as I enter the Hunger Challenge is that it is possible to eat high-quality food that is both toothsome and wholesome, even on a budget as tight as this. If I can get over my shopping-to-a-budget phobia, I think I’ve got a fair chance of succeeding. I’m not willing to sacrifice quality for quantity, nor good taste for a sweet deal. It's entirely possible that I’ll fail miserably.  Hopefully I’ll learn something new in the process. Either way, I’m embracing the Hunger Challenge whole hog, and I look forward to sharing the results of my journey through the week with you here. Join me if you care!