The $15 Challenge: Some Food For Thought

In this week’s “Dish It to Downing”, some thoughts about the just completed Money Savers Challenge. The challenge: feeding yourself on just $15 dollars a week. At first glance, it looks easy. Then, when you actually step into the grocery store and start shopping, you realize just how far fifteen dollars doesn’t go anymore.

I toyed with the idea of just buying a couple of bags of potato chips and a six-pack, but that pretty much ate up my fifteen bucks. So, in preparation for the event, I did my homework. A week before the challenge began; I visited the Abilene Public Library for a little research into how the rest of the world does it. I checked into two subjects: the Great Depression and The Third World.

From the Great Depression I learned that folks knew how to stretch what food they had. People didn’t have a lot, but many of them shared with others because they were either better off than the next guy or wanted him to think that. Pride counted for a lot back then. People had gardens, canned their food, and raised chickens. They also learned to live on a lot less.

From the third world, I learned the value of staples such as rice and beans.

From both I learned that to survive on fifteen dollars a week, you mustn’t let anything go to waste and you better get use to living on leftovers.

Now I’m a pretty resourceful guy, so I had my shopping list made up pretty early. This is what was on it:



1 Pkg of Frozen Mixed Vegetables

1 Loaf of Bread (not sliced)

1 Quart of Milk

1 Pkg of Stewing Meat

1 Box of Rice (not Minute Rice)

1 Can of Beans

1 Dozen Eggs

2 Whole Chickens



Grand total at the check-out stand: $14.85.

I came home and started planning out my menu. The whole plan for me was based on the idea that we have become a society of convenience. We eat fast food because it’s easier than staying home and cooking it. The downside of that is that most of us have forgotten how to cook. That convenience is something we pay dearly for, not just at fast food restaurants, but at the grocery store, too.

I decided to first attack the rice. A little of that goes a long way, but I wasn’t quite sure how long it would take to cook it, so I jumped right in.

Lesson One: Read the directions. Rice isn’t hard to cook, but you really have to pay attention to the directions. Also, be willing to settle for eating your mistakes the first couple of times.

Lesson Two: Frozen means frozen. It took four days for the whole chickens to thaw enough to cook, so I survive on fried egg sandwiches for dinner, a boiled egg for lunch, and an omelet for breakfast the first couple of days. That made the last two days a veritable feast with basked chicken, beans, and mixed vegetables.

Lesson Three: You can live on leftovers. This is where all that reading about the Depression came in handy. They use to do a lot of mixing and matching back then; you know, beans and rice, etc.

So, now comes the moment of truth: How did I do?

I survived and could survive if I had to, but it made me a lot more appreciative of what I have. On the first day, I had to give a speech to a group of Rotarians in Brownwood. It was a lunch engagement, so I ate as their guest. It would have been impolite not to do so. I don’t consider that a violation of the rules because that’s a normal part of my job. Second, on the very last day, my wife’s father passed away and the house became filled with mourners bearing gifts of food. I made up for it later, though, by going back on the challenge for one extra day. Those were the only times I hedged.

But I learned a few things, too. First, things are not so bad when you are in it with someone else. We found out that by coming together and sharing with one another, we had plenty of food and perhaps even more importantly, a variety of food. We also thought about using a business model being employed more and more these days in the workplace: the power of bulk buying. Instead of each of us duplicating what the other was getting, we considered comparing notes and working as a team to stretch our food dollar even farther. We didn’t do that because we just didn’t have time to test our theory about it. Maybe we will next time.

Finally, something very unusual happened. Just like in the Great Depression, we all began to watch out for each other and to share what we had with someone else who might not have as much. We didn’t throw anything away and nothing was wasted.

It was a great chance to look at all that we have to be thankful for in this country, compared to what most people in the world do not have. It was also a sad reminder of how much we take for granted. I was ashamed, but proud, too, of how well we did.

You know, I couldn’t help but think when the idea was first pitched that it’s not a good thing when your boss asks you if you can survive on just fifteen dollars a week for food; especially in these tough economic times. I’m glad we did it, though. I learned a lot about myself.

It reminded me of a "real world" hunger exercise I was involved in some years ago. Do you know what happens to you when you don't eat? Your blood sugar falls and you become very lethargic. After just a few days, you get to the point where you are just too weak to do anything about overcoming your own predicament. It was a real education in what we must do to attack hunger on global basis. Unfortunately, there are still far too many in the world who use food as a weapon.

Still, if you really want to be impressed, look at the people of the world who feed an entire family on a fraction of what we spent. We really are the land of plenty, but keep acting like we are the only ones in the world doing the suffering. It's time to wake up, America! You can't use food deprivation as an excuse anymore.

Downing Bolls