Lessons from my $2 challenge

so people in our ltg this week have been participating in the mutunga $2 challenge.  (see www.mutunga.com/2dollarchallenge.html for details.)  the long and short of it is to raise awareness about hunger and poverty in the world -- and trying to survive on $2 of food/person/day for a week and donating the difference of what we usually spend to the mutunga partnership as part of a microloan to an african/carribbean family to start their own business.  very longwinded.

so here are a few things that i've learned, some of which i've already shared with ltg.  some are moderately insightful ... some are just things i've been thinking about:

1. people may have food to eat, but they may not have enough food to be satisfied.  i miss meat.  vegetarian curry leaves me hungry again at 11 pm.  and i have the feeling that this is reality for a lot of people in the world.

2. fresh fruit is a luxury.  i LOVE fruit.  i could eat it all day long.  but it's a luxury that $2/day is not going to cover.  that's why i just went to federico's, pilfered a giant rainier cherry and sniffed the strawberries AND the champagne mangos.  woe.

3. people worry about what they're going to eat every day.  hideyo and i very seldom fight about money and NEVER about food.  until now.  $2/day takes planning and thought ... it was a bummer to fight about it.  (note: we have since made up.)

4. people are generous.  many thanks to the chius, the satakes, karena, and peet's coffee for their generosity.  entire meals and leftover pastries (FREE BREAKFAST) are making this week speed by faster.

5. mexican markets are better than indian markets.  this is a personal judgement, but definitely go to ethnic food markets for cheaper stuff.  whole paycheck and even oakmont produce (we call it federico's) is NOT going to hack it if you plan on doing the challenge.  the mexican market, while supercrowded, was full of genial latinos with 2 12-packs of tecate and clean, cheap produce.  case in point: 10 lbs of russet potatoes.  $3.99 at safeway, $2.49 at kumud indian market, $1.49 at mi pueblo.  woot.  and while the indian market had cheaper cauliflower ($0.69 to federico's $1.49) ... i'm mildly afraid to eat it, because the market wasn't very clean, but was full of indians trying to scam their own countrymen for a better deal on dhal.  not cool.

6. dairy is expensive.  so no milk.  but ... eggs at trader joe's is $0.99, cheapest of any place ... unless you feel safe buying target's eggs for $0.89.  personally ... i'd rather not.

7. you can eat martha stewart.  hide made me a baking calculator on excel to figure out how much my scones and cupcakes cost.  i plugged in a recipe for ms's buttermilk pancakes.  $1.32 for 9 6-inch pancakes.  not bad.

8. eat with others, especially people who have CHILDREN.  $4 for 2 people doesn't go terrible far, but somehow ... if you eat with others ... feeding 4 people on $8 (or $10, cos babies count!) goes much farther.  that could be spaghetti ... WITH meatballs. and ... it's like a built-in opportunity for community time. and babygirl face time.  i like that.

9. my mother could probably kick the challenge's ass.   we told her about it ... and past the "$2 per person per day" she didn't hear anything else.  that woman has a mind like an abacus on speed.  

10. the Lord is gracious.  thanks for teaching me things.  and Lord ... i would LOVE some watermelon right now.