I/..

,10

ON THE

Staff photo by Armando Rios

Metropolitan Detroit in West Bloomfield,
suggested the project as a way to fulfill a
school community service requirement,
his parents joined him, from Dec. 5-12.
After a week of packing his lunch instead
of buying it and turning down friends'
offers of additional foods, Ben said, "I
was able to follow the diet, and I wasn't
starving. But it was a lot harder than I
thought it would be — especially when
I had basketball practice and was doing
something more physical with less food
in me."
And with less nutritious food, added
his mom. "We basically lived on carbs,"
Lea said. Instead of the more balanced
lunches Ben usually ate, he was taking
jelly sandwiches (he doesn't like peanut
butter), a muffin, an apple and lemonade,
mixed at home and carried in a thermos.
"We found the cheapest foods were
pastas, potatoes, rice and breads:' Lea
said. "And the free foods that were offered
in places like my office kitchen were junk
foods like cakes and muffins!'
However, to stay on course the family
decided to avoid these freebies altogether.
"In the spirit of the exercise, we just ate
foods purchased with our allotment;'
she said. "I took my own can of coffee to
work and we definitely did not take Equal
or ketchup packets from restaurants!'
But that's partly because, to remain
within their allotted amount, they didn't
eat out anyway. In synagogue after
Shabbat services,where a Kiddush lunch
of cholent (stew) and cake was served,
was the only time they ate food that was
not part of the plan.

The
Stamp
Of Hunger

Lea Luger

Special to the Jewish News

A

rmed with a calculator,
my son Ben and I arrived
at Meijer's to spend our
$100.17 allocation for a week's worth
of food, the amount we would receive
if we qualified for the maximum
amount of food stamps from the gov-
ernment. Suddenly, shopping became
more complex as decisions had to be

14

January 4 • 2007

Allan and Sharon Sefton sort
"We started our week
They were careful to
through
a limited amount of
— Dec. 2-9 — by mak-
ignore food and drink
groceries.
ing a list of what we
that was already in
would need for seven
their home when they
began the week, instead clearing out and
days," said Richard Simtob, who partici-
reserving a single shelf in the refrigera-
pated in the project with his wife, Aimee,
and their children Brooke, 7, and Brad, 5.
tor for food purchased for the project.
"Then, we did price comparisons."
"Everything that was already there, like
Added Aimee, "I thought about every-
milk in the fridge and a brisket in the
freezer were off limits:' Lea said.
thing I bought. I spent hours shopping."
In preparing her children's school
Cutting Corners
lunches, she said, "Instead of buying
Although the families didn't share the
crackers in small, prepackaged bags, I
bought a big box at Target and made my
discomfort of clients who shop with the
electronic benefit transfer cards that have own snack bags." Her husband remem-
replaced paper food stamp coupons, they bered, "We counted out the pretzels that
still had to focus on the same preplan-
came in one bag and rationed them out
with the kids' lunches!'
ning for shopping and cooking.

made.
We were prepared to spend about
$80 to begin with, enabling us to
plan most of the meals for the week
and leave us some funds to spend as
the days progressed. Immediately,
this exercise began having an impact
as my son was forced to choose
between a cup of soup and a pack
of gum for the same 89 cents. It
became more complicated when
debating whether to buy a no-name
brand of peanut butter or splurge
on Jif, an extra 20 cents. Could we
afford the "name" brand?
For someone who is undisciplined
when it comes to food (my food
groups are caffeine, sugar, fat and
salt), I was concerned about MEN
withdrawal (the ones with peanuts
cover all my categories) and the need
to recycle food to provide enough

meals for the week. After a
meeting in our kitchen sur-
rounded by food that was now
off limits, my husband, Richard
Ben and I established the
ground rules (we wouldn't con-
sume anything that we hadn't
bought for that week; no food
from friends, no cookies offere
at meetings,
Executiv
nothing that was
Director Lea
in our refrig-
Luger in Yad
erator or freezer
Ezra's ware
from before, no
house
freebies from
Costco!).
We planned
our week of limited consump-
tion. "Limited" was a nice
euphemism; we each had $4.77
a day to spend on food based on
the federal food stamp

The Lugers too spent much time dis-
cussing and organizing their shopping
trips.
"We made sure to buy foods that
wouldn't be wasted, but whose leftovers
could be turned into another meal," Lea
said.
The Seftons began "by doing our big-
ger shopping at the beginning and saving
enough money to fill in what we still
needed during weer Sharon Sefton said.
But by the end of the week, the families
found there wasn't much left to spend.
"On the last day, Richard went to the
supermarket and bought an apple and an
orange and we all shared them:' Lea said.
And there was no spontaneity in
meal planning. "We couldn't just run to
the grocery store every day:' said Allan
Sefton.
"We went to Costco before we started
our week (Nov. 5-12) and ended up buy-
ing things like frozen lasagnas that we
could share and that could be used for
more than one meal.
"The way we were eating changed our
whole lifestyle. We couldn't plan dinner
meetings where everyone paid for their
own meal, we packed bag lunches —
which I don't think I've ever done — and
skipped coffee out."
While accepting outside invitations
was not permitted, including a dinner
guest worked for the Lugers. "My friend
Zev Newman was here a few times during
the weer Ben said. "My mom just made
him something else for dinner, since we
couldn't use our food. And then, he ended
up eating something better than us."

