Food Budgeting and Ending Hunger

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Posted by Anniepooh • 10/01/09
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Last night there was a Twitter event hosted by Share Our Strength to bring awareness to childhood hunger and help to find a means to an end.

Part of the discussion was how we, as bloggers and on the internet, could help. I brought up teaching people to budget for food and to use that budget wisely.

For myself, I feed our family of 9 on about $150 a week. For many, that seems like a very small amount, and for many others, it's about right or even a bit more than they spend per person. What does your budget look like?

If you had less money for food, would you know how to stretch that to feed yourself/your family?

budget, food, hunger

Discussion Replies

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amybyrd21 (10/01/09)

I have used in the past budget101.com they were teaching you how to budget groceries for 200 a month for a family of four. We are on a tight budget and I could learn how to do more. I grow alot of ours and I am trying to learn the freezer plan. We spend $220 a month and then I but milk, bread, and butter every week.

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amybyrd21 (10/01/09)

forums.budget101.com/dinners-under-2-50/

dinners under $2.50 a person. Some of them you want to eat others just sound gross to me.

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  Theresa111 (10/02/09)
  
  The salmon dinner you see there cost me about $2.75. Now the 2 glasses of milk was $1.25!
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Theresa111 (10/01/09)

I believe if you are to budget then the meals must be planned out. I have not had to budget for food throughout our marriage, until the financial dilemma and the bottom falling out last year, I then had to watch every penny very closely. I clipped coupons, watched the sale papers to compare and cooked a lot more spaghetti than ever.

It is a good skill to develop and now, even though I do not have to watch the pennies anymore, I'm still clipping coupons, watching the sale papers and turning leftovers into brand new creations.

Example: I prepared Annie's Lemon Orzo and tonight I made a transformed side dish for my meal.

I am now having a love affair with ORZO. Who knew. Thanks for introducing me to my new love, Annie!

I can see midnight trysts with this cool food!

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  Anniepooh (10/01/09)
  
  I think orzo is a really fun pasta - the texture is very different from other pastas. The kids like the small shape, too. Glad you liked it!
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  Theresa111 (10/01/09)
  
  I am usually eating pasta in one form or another, or rice. Orzo seems to be the perfect middle ground and because it s small I have to chew it longer to ensure I do not swallow it whole. This makes for better digested food and a very pleasing experience.
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Theresa111 (10/01/09)

I wish everyone had plenty of healthy food to eat. We feed homeless cats, people and tithe to support our church and the ever far reach of our church's charities. We donate to help the needy and to save children and animals. I wish the world would come together to feed the world and to improve daily life. I do not want to feel guilty about food and eating or maudlin about what I have no control over.

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amybyrd21 (10/01/09)

yall would be shocked at how much corn is in the field behind the house. I get sick that they waste enough to feed several people for a year. We pick it up when they get thru to feed our animals and the last time they planted corn back there we had a feed room full of waste and could have kept picking up and fed off of it for 3/4 a year. We went back there today after they picked it and there wasnt near as much in that field but we havent made the trip to the other field yet.
I had a freind (when i lived in Alabama) that would not eat until his family was finished. then he would eat off thier plates before getting out of a pot. He even did this at a food buffet. I was shocked but could see his point in wasting food. We plant extra every year to feed others. I planted over 50 cabbages this year (not on purpose -long story) and I shared them with 5 different families and still had plenty for us.

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  Theresa111 (10/01/09)
  
  My Grandfather, I never got to meet him, he was the chief engineer on the Chattanooga Choo Choo. During the depression, he and Mama, my Grandmother, would help feed and support five local families. They never turned anyone away from their backdoor and he would buy shoes and bread, to throw to the children in different towns the train passed through. The children would run after the train. My Grandparents, when Mama was forty, adopted my late Mother, when she was 2 wks old. Her Mother died a wk after she was born and my Mother was the last of seven children. They moved to Knoxville and her two eldest brothers and a cousin found her when she was ten years old. It is a lovely story. They are all gone now. I have only my memories.
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Penny (10/02/09)

This is certainly a timely topic! In our chaitable giving, my husband and I always focus on organizations that feed the hungry here in the U.S., as well as children's and animal charities. Having said that, I feel we can still do so much more and I am interested to pursue how we as food bloggers can use our forum to help. I am getting ready to start a bi-monthly column for our local newpaper on budget-friendly meals and plan to use the FDA guidelines for people on food stamps as my "litmus test" on what a weekly budget should be. Makes me ashamed that I am spend so much more than they do on my grocery budget when it clearly is not necessary. How much food do we waste that someone else needs??

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  Theresa111 (10/02/09)
  
  Hey this ia a great venue to direct all of the newspaper readers right here to HHM! GO for it Penny!
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  amybyrd21 (10/02/09)
  
  on the people on food stamps issue we are on them due to cut backs where hubby works and get enough a month to help out a little. A friend of mine gets $900 a month on food stamps and she has 4 kids.
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