Jul 16 2007
€42 Can Go A LONG Way
So, I have been reading about this whole “Food stamp Challenge” on quite a few blogs lately. It seems that US-Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski rekindled it by challenging himself to eat on $3 a day. Apparently it was very difficult and he found out that many families across the US are not able to feed themselves or their families properly on $3/day/person. This struck me as odd. Rice and beans are cheap as hell, so there should be plenty of money left over for some meat and fresh produce, right?
Now, I don’t live in the US anymore…it’s been a few years, but I remember going shopping for my college Co-Op and having $300 for 1 week for 15 women…that’s a little over $0.95 a serving per day per person for food, toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, laundry detergent, plastic bags, etc. We bought all breakfast items, vegetarian quick-foods, lunch items, and dinner had to contain both a meat and a vegetarian option and make enough for 15 people plus left overs (aka 30 people) – oh, and dinners were not allowed to cost more than $30. We never bought in bulk, and we only bought from one grocery store. Granted, the more people you have the easier it is to buy more for less…at least I think it is.
I think a “diet” like this seems difficult, or impossible, to many people because we don’t realize how much we over or under eat in certain food groups. For example, did you know that the USDA recommends to only eat about 5-6 oz (141-170 grams) (that’s a little over 1/4th a pound) of protein a DAY (meat and beans)? And, recommends 6-7 oz (170-198 grams) (that’s less than 1/2 a pound) of grains a day. I also feel that people don’t realize how much some of the “little things” add up, like store-bought salad dressing, BBQ sauce, and canned foods like canned beans (dry beans are MUCH cheaper).
Does the Euro buy you more than the Dollar?
Well, in theory, if I was on vacation in the US today, then, yes, €1 would buy me about $1.35 $1.37. But, I’m not on vacation in the US, I’m grocery shopping in Germany which taxes all food items at 7% and other items at 19%. Now, if I were buying a computer, €2000 would buy me the same laptop that $2000 would…I may even have to pay a bit more because of sales tax. But, when it comes to food, I think I can buy more for my money here than in the US. My husband and I discussed this for quite a while the other evening over dinner. Does the agriculture industry in Germany/Europe receive more subsidies than its US counterpart?? I really don’t know. I’d really like to know what you pay for food in other countries, especially in the US (let me know in the comments to this post!).
Last week we ate as we do every other week, and this is what it cost us: €40,75 (€20,38/person)
I also need to add, that I buy my meat from a local butcher that only buys their meat that they process from local farmers that use no hormones, animals are treated kindly, and the animals have plenty of room to be themselves (I plan on checking this out for myself this summer at the yearly “Tag der offene Stalltür” when all farmers open their doors for you to check-out their livestock and produce). They also add no preservatives, taste enhancers, or other unnatural ingredients to their foods. They are not the cheapest option, but they sell the best tasting and healthiest meat in town. I also frequent the open-air market, but not every week.
Why set limits?
Many bloggers who took the “food stamp diet challenge” set limits for themselves that I don’t really agree with. Why shouldn’t you be able to buy in bulk? A family of 5 can buy an 88 pound (40 kilo) bag of Jasmin rice in the town where I live for €20. For a family of 5 that would only take 1.3 day’s worth of food stamps to pay for and it would last much longer than 2 months.
Gardening was also disqualified.
I don’t know too many people who don’t live in a home without windows. There is quite a lot that can grow on a windowsill, balcony, terrace, or garden. Yes, even lettuce grows in a windowsill container without a problem. And, you only have to buy the materials you need once, then reuse them every year. Seeds are much cheaper than buying already grown vegetable plants, so, all you need is some planning and you will have delicious food that is a fraction of the cost of buying it. For example: I have a community garden plot in my city’s inter-cultural garden. The land was donated by the city, another organization donated all the equipment, yet another organization built-up the land for us as well as the sheds that we have. This is supposed to cost us €25/year, but I have yet to be billed. We get the water ourselves with watering cans from a neighboring river, so water costs us nothing. Just to drive my point a bit further: I bought a packet of 800 Bibb Lettuce seeds for €0,70. If I were to plant them all, and they were all to grow, each head of lettuce would have only cost me €0,000875…let’s just round it up to 1 cent a head for good measure. Last time I lived in the US, I could buy a head of Romain lettuce for $1.29. If Bibb lettuce in the US costs the same, I could grow and eat 129 heads of lettuce for the price of buying 1 head of lettuce. Currently, Bibb lettuce costs €0,45/head at my local cheap grocery store as well as at the open-air market.
Planning and Patience are important.
I only plan for 7 meals and 1 breakfast. That is, 1 breakfast item that I eat every day for breakfast, and 7 meals that I make twice as much of to have for dinner and then for lunch the next day. 90% of what we eat is homemade – that really makes a huge difference in cost.
Ok, so, without further adieu, this is what we ate for €40,75 last week:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with milk and strawberries €0,17/serving
Monday: Souvlaki with Tzatziki sauce, Dönner bread, and Salad – €1,49/serving
Tuesday: Caprese Sandwich – €0,87/serving
Wednesday: Fried Tacos – €1,84/serving
Thursday: Schnitzel with Rice and Beans – €1,53/serving
Friday: Mushroom Chicken in Wine Sauce with Rice and Salad – €1,45/serving
Saturday: Ribs with Dönner bread – €1,01/serving + plus one €0,65 alcohol-free beer for myself and one €0,50 beer for my husband (1/2L)
Sunday: Greek Potatoes with Tzatziki sauce – €1,56/serving
**My family is in town this and next week, so I will be posting the recipes as well as detailed price lists in the weeks to come. Don’t be surprised if I don’t post anything until August 1st.
Ok, I’m, now officially on vacation!
I find this very interesting. I really should keep track of what we actually eat to see how much is spent in a week. I can’t go off of what I actually spend, because many times, much of it goes in the pantry or freezer to be eaten at another time.
Deborah: Let me know after you keep track! I’d be really interested to see how prices compare. Of course, it would be helpful if you had my grocery list to compare too
. I will work on that when I come back from vacation in August!
This is quite interesting. I live in Stockholm, and am always curious about what others spend on groceries. We are a family of 2 and a toddler and I regularly spend $375 a week at the grocery store. Now this includes diapers, cleaning supplies and various other items as well as food. I make everything from scratch, and often send lunches to work with my husband. Most of the time I feel like our grocery costs are higher than average, but we eat mainly fresh meat, veggies and fruits. Fresh veggies and fruits are always so expensive here. I don’t pay much attention to sales, unless something catches my eye. I mostly feel like just foraging for what I need and higer quality goods:-)
I think there are some heavy European farm subsidies…
I agree with so much of what you’ve written here, and your food looks Beautiful and delicious, especially for the small price it came at.
I was raised in a low income family, and I know we were on food stamps for a while, but we always had fresh produce and bought in bulk ALWAYS. Some of the posts people have made about this food stamp challenge have made me feel a little offended, like they’re saying people who are poor aren’t smart enough to plant a few seeds, or collect some coupons.
So thank you for this post. I really appreciate a more realistic viewpoint on the matter.
[...] Plan ahead / Make a grocery [...]