What is freedom? Is it the right to think what you want, say what you want, sleep with who you want? Does it include eating what you want or participating in social activities? And how is any of this related to the fact that I am fucking starving and about to jump ship on this ridiculous $4 a day food challenge?
What I’ve realized is that without the freedom to eat what you want you are often ostracized from social activities. No lunches out. No after-work beers or appetizers. No pitching in for the coffee run while your coworkers chirp and skip down the hallway with fists full of money. You couldn’t even afford to have somebody over for supper on this budget, unless your dinner date was o.k. with noodles and butter. Instead, you end up alone with a Tupperware of beans and rice like some sort of a leper. I wish I was kidding, but it actually feels a little bit like that. Food in this culture is as much about socializing as anything else, and if you don’t have the cash for it, you don’t get to play. It’s as simple as that.
And, honestly, $20 a week doesn’t really buy anything. Sure, I’ve got pancake mix, but I couldn’t afford syrup. The jalapenos I bought are wilted – I’m totally eating them tonight anyway – and it takes three hours to cook the beans so I have something to put on the tortillas. The bananas are browning; the garlic is holding up pretty well. Technically I still have 70 cents left in my budget, so I guess I could actually afford a tomato for the top of my bean tacos, but it would cost me $2 in gas to go to the store. Being poor sucks. Period. Actually, exclamation mark.
How did it become like this? People freak out if you even hint at taking their guns away, yet families can have their ability to nourish themselves snagged away by tragedy and poverty and nobody gives a shit but a few non-profits and programs like SNAP, which nurse them along on an endless wave of just-getting-by. It’s a shame. I’m all for the idea of people working hard to get what they want, but forcing people to live on this budget is wrong. It’s like a war of attrition against the poor, but what if the poor lose? I keep wondering if these are the sort of “entitlement” programs the Republicans keep talking about, because I just don’t feel very entitled right now.
Anyway, I’ve got beans to soak and minutes to count until this whole ordeal is over. It’s only been four days. To all of the people struggling to get by, please know that, in my own very small way, I get it right now. You deserve better. That is all.
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2012.
Have you read The Urban Hermit? Thanks for doing this and posting about it.
Not to sound negative but did it really take this “experiment” that will be over soon for you to “get it.” I remember a hell bent super right wing voter who only after she personally suffered immensely changed her opinion on health insurance. There is an absolutely alarming lack of compassion, empathy and analytic abilities in our society.
I wish my kids would “get it”, eat what you have, if you dont have the money -you dont have the money; those $6 a pack or more cigarettes are just NOT worth it!!!
As for the “health insurance”, I dont have any since losing my job over a year ago.. I have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol – and because I’ve changed my diet and jumped up the exercise – im down to 1 pill a day, when I was at about 8 or 9. My pharmacy bill is $4 a month… No more diabetes, but the high blood pressure just keeps hanging on , thats why the 1 pill.. I went on this diet/exercise program to specifically STOP the pills and the $60-80 a month in pharmacy bills! But, truthfully, being poor was the START..staying poor surely sucks.
Golly I see an awful lot people on the government dole buying a whole lot of crap in the grocery store–not Value beans, Value rice, pastas, etc. I see chips and sodas and name brands in those POOR peoples carts that aren’t in mine.
Stop whining—some people in this world don’t eat at all in a 24 hour period.
Americans are sadly turning into a bunch of wimps.
Not every body can just get rid of their Diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes,and Type 1 will never go away.Type 1 Diabetes is genetic. Even if Type one Diabetes people don’t eat their blood sugar levels are still like a rollercoaster ride. Its not all about food.Blood sugar control is a science. There are many myths surrounding Diabetes. Health Insurance is way to expensive. We could own a home if not for our Health Insurance premiums. The Co-pays are too expensive. Especially co-pay for medication. Yes,and Drs in the medical profession forget not every body makes the income of Drs. People have other bills to pay besides medication. Don’t forget Drs get bonuses from Pharmacies,and Health Insurance companies. Some time the Dr is thinking of that free seminar from the pharmaseutical company who makes your medication. Sad but true,human comapassion is lacking,and rare these days.
I like looking at people’s carts in the grocery store. It’s amazing how much junk food people buy.
Good job Adam in making people aware of what our poor are going through. I looked at the link about Phoenix Mayor, Greg Stanton’s effort to survive on $4.14 a day on food. He says that it helps him with policy making. If only Gov. Brewer would step up to the challenge.
If we really take a good look at the price of food to begin with, That’s the place to start. I get food stamps and I also am one of the working poor. Wouldn’t you think it is wiser not to have to shell out 6$ for no so lean hamburger or 10$ for 4 chicken leg quarters. I would rather not buy frozen chicken bits for my 4 year old but sometimes we have too based on the cost of food in general. Not like when I was a kid and you never had to worry about food in the fridge. What does oil prices have to do with putting food on my table. Make the connection for real then tell me about it. You gave up… We don’t have that luxury!!!
Stay strong Adam, You can do this.
The only people that really know what you’re going through are the ones that have to really do it everyday.
Are you going to venture out to places like Casa Maria to pick up a free meal?
In response to the title of this article, “Just Shoot Me…” Okay! Usually my fees are $10,000 up front & $10,000 when I’m through, but since you’re asking me to shoot you personally I’m going to need ALL the cash up front. I’ll even provide you with a major discount if you act fast, considering you can only afford $4 a day for food.
Sounds like Adam is able to feed himself, so this has nothing to do with nourishment or the means to attain it. The author is simply uncomfortable being alone with his own thoughts. “Dinner dates” and “fists full of money” won’t solve that.
$4 a day makes no sense, absolutely, but I spend about $120 dollars a month on groceries regularly. I rarely eat out, I don’t see it as a deprivation I find cooking myself healthier and cheaper. Its all how you slice and dice it. I wait for sales to buy my preferred toiletries cheap and buy in bulk for the paper goods and cleaning goods (there are some great sales out there if you are smart about it). That does to the total to be certain but I don’t buy that much meat anyways so its easier to handle. I am not poor but middle class. If you have kids it is a different story and that must be hard but I see kids as a luxury item too. When I was poor I got birth control pretty cheaply at PP, and the man must help pay for the birth control.
Now the wine costs however…
Also its damn near impossible to be foodie and be ok with simple food. I grew up eating simply so for me if I have tortillas and cheese and a little herdez I am a happy camper. Or that same cheese and some bread. Add some beans – awesome! Chile powders help a lot an go a long way. Don’t buy fresh garlic invest once in some powder it lasts a long time. Fancy, no. Hard for a foodie I can imagine.
Big ol jar 3 bucks could last awhile. I see the small ones regularly 2 for $1. Not fancy but not bad either. You make do.
http://www.amazon.com/Herdez-Salsa-Casera-Hot-oz/dp/B0000GG256
@A.J. Frankly, this has everything to do with nourishment and everything to do with my thoughts about how we manage that in this country. I worked all day today and skipped lunch because I accidentally left the beans from last night out and they spoiled. This is real shit, not only for me this week, but for the people who live in this fragile nutritional balance. I’m super comfortable with my own thoughts. Yours, however, sort of confuse me.
At least you can jump ship. Imagine trying to provide good nutrition for several kids on this kind of budget. The Food Bank helps, but not much and not often fresh veggies, fruit. I hope all that have tried this experiment and all of us who have read about remember when we go to vote – which candidate do think “gets it”?
Wow, bloggers have no sense of humor. (See my comment above)
Don’t feed the trolls, Adam :p
I thought about doing this but, as someone on the Day 2 comments noted: Been there. Never again. I just formed my own business and (thankfully) am awash in work, and it would be career suicide to either dedicate hours best spent on the business to creating somewhat-almost-palatable food from scratch (or a garden), or turn myself into a nutrition-deprived zombie.
Or, put another way: Coffee and quick meals! It’s how the middle class stays employed.
I just read Pie Town Woman. The people who survived on pinto beans & other garden vegetables & milk from their own cow could probably teach food stampers how to feed a whole community of people – with more nourishment too – on $4.00/day. Rural homesteaders in the 1940s probably fed themselves for less than 10 cents a day in today’s money, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea for our government welfare programs to hire someone with that kind of experience to hold mandatory classes for every spoiled wimp & clueless fool who thinks he or she has to have groceries bought by the taxpayers. Then maybe millions of Americans could avoid the shame of being on the dole!
You can buy a cow on $4/day? Really? Feed it too? Rural homesteaders weren’t paying 2012 prices.
You can own and feed a cow on $4 a day? Really! Phild has solved all of our problems. Well, as long as we live in a world with 1940’s prices. Oh, we also need to live on property with land available to plant enough crops to sustain ourselves and our families. Water’s free now too, right?
I find it curious that when confronted, although temporarily and for fun, with a glimpse of what things might be like for people who are doing without, your mind immediately turns to what *other* people should be doing about it. Think about that.