Eating healthy on a small budget is like solving a Rubik's cube

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Just as solving a Rubik's cube isn't impossible or even highly improbable (This 6 year does it in 37 seconds, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLQJ93B5Nl0), eating healthfully on  tight budget isn't either. The key is having the time, skill and knowledge to plan accordingly. Some of our challengers didn't have any of these things and found it incredibly difficult to satisfy their healthy cravings this week. Today is the last day for the challenge!!! And it's a hot day. 106 degrees. Because I had work last night and tonight I slept most of the day. I woke up at 10am ate a strawberry toast and 1 sunny side up egg. Then my little sister wanted to go get ice cream so we did. I had approximately $14 left to spend so I spent it on ice cream! I bought an avocado shake for $3.99 and ube flavored ice cream (a Filipino brand) for $6.99! I had that all day until I fell back asleep at 3 pm. When I woke up I had to go to work.

This entire experience was good. It made me realize it's hard to eat healthy on such a small budget. Let alone eat enough food. I resorted to cup noodles, top ramen, and lots of eggs this entire week. Because I'm a student it was normal to eat like this. But I can't even imagine to feed kids on this budget.  This is definitely an eye opener for me!

-Submitted by: CalFresh Challenger

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Friday Day 6

Today is day 6. It’s almost over!!!! So today, I had 1 scrambled egg for breakfast and 1 slice of toast.  Then it was off to school.  I had 2 slices of bread on break. I used the strawberry jam again! Its still delicious though. I am not tired of it yet. By the time I had arrived home, it was late so I ate a mid afternoon snack/dinner.  I had top ramen with sunny side up egg and grilled the other half of the bell pepper I did not finish.  The egg and bell peppers added bulk to the ramen.  Then it was off to bed for me because I work Friday nights.  By the time I woke up, I had to leave for work so I didn’t really eat much today.  So far, I have spent $19.22 with extra groceries left on this challenge and it’s the 6th day. I can definitely have a big meal tomorrow!   A person can definitely live of off this budget, but its hard to be healthy unless you plan out your meals for the entire week.  I didn’t so I had to rely on cup noodles, top ramen, lots of egg and bread.  But I do think it’s do-able if the food was planned out properly and you bargain hunt for food.

-Submitted by: CalFresh Challenger

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I did it! (Pretty much. . .) Overall, I am glad this is done. I do not agree with the budget, but then again there are also other aspects of foodstamps that I don't agree with but that's a whole can of worms. I am also happy to not be blogging. I'm not a blogger, so I'm grateful to not be doing that either.

Something's gotta change. Healthy food, raw fruits and vegetables need to be affordable or made available to all.
-Submitted by: CalFresh Challenger
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Day 6 of CalFresh Challenge- Today I went to the store and purchased a head of romaine, an avocado and the cheapest bottle of olive oil dressing I could find for my dinner.  For lunch I had a can of mixed vegetables that were on sale for one dollar. This came to about five dollars. The challenge is going okay, but I do have to admit that its getting harder and harder each day. I see all these delicious foods and its hard to resist from purchasing them,  especially when your so hungry! And this weekend I won't be able to go out to dinner because it definitely will not fall within  budget. But that's okay,  perhaps an early Sunday dinner somewhere. My  canned vegetables were good but not the most fulfilling. This challenge is super hard and like I said before it's really hard to eat healthy. I was craving a salad and so that's why I got the head of lettuce. Actually that was pretty inexpensive,  it was like $1.29. I think it actually taste better than the bagged lettuce, it just takes longer to prepare since you have to wash it and cut it up. Just the basic foods such as fruits, vegetables and meats on this income would be extremely hard to manage. That's why many eat canned goods, cause there's lots to choose from, they're non perishable and less expensive. I'm glad to have been introduced to this challenge, otherwise I would not have been made aware of the limited amount of income given to many people. What this challenge has  taught me is to never ever take for granted what I have, and in this case food.  Thanks CalFresh! One more day to go!
-Submitted by: CalFresh Challenger