Yesterday I was so nervous about the food not lasting throughout all five days. You see, I usually buy 2-3 times the amount of food compared to what I bought on Monday (see photo in this post). I ate every bite of food as if it’s going to be the last one.

Today I was more relaxed about it and feel more secure but still keeping an open eye about the quantities of food. I realize this feeling of relief is coming from knowing that I can always use the extra food I have in my fridge, pantry, or freezer, or I can just go and buy some more. We won’t go hungry. But a person, or a family, who really has nothing besides the $110 worth of groceries is probably worried about the food supply and how long it’s going to last.

My husband, L., and I had a discussion about what’s it like to be hungry or opening the fridge only to see that it’s empty. L. told me that when he was a boy in Romania they used to stand in line for 10-12 hours to get meat, that is IF you were lucky enough to have any meat left by the time it was your turn. He and his brother used to ride their bikes up and down the street hoping to find any eggs, or milk, or cheese in any of the government-owned stores. Food was scarce, he never heard of fish, and rarely saw beef, there was no import of foods from other countries so they only had what was in season and local, and, of course, what the government had to offer at the time. He doesn’t recall being hungry but more sort of “hunting” for food.

My story is a bit different. I hardly have any memories of food from my childhood but I don’t think it was because we didn’t have enough money, more likely, because no one cared much about cooking or home-making. What I do remember are envelopes of powdered pasta “sauce” (I’m not even sure how to describe this weird “food”) and envelopes of powdered “whipped cream”. What the hell was that?

My first culinary epiphany is from fifth grade when someone made me spaghetti with ketchup and (probably cheap) grated cheese on top. It was a very “Wow” lunch for me same as the second pasta dish I remember made with fried onion, tomato paste and powdered chicken “bouillon”. That was by the way, the first time I asked someone for the recipe. How funny is that 20 years later?

So day #2 went well.

Breakfast: coffee, tea, milk, yogurt, fruit, home-made bread, cheese, butter.

Lunch: leftovers from last night’s dinner, onion quiche, sandwich for school and fruit.

Snack: yogurt, fruit, bread, milk, coffee.

Dinner: Sweet and Smoky pork chops, Mashed yams, small arugula salad (with only a splash of lemon, salt, and olive oil), and a sliced tomato and 1/3 cucumber. We have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

I was hoping that after this time I could show you some nicely grilled pork chops but as the grill was heating up we ran out of gas. But these look pretty good too, don’t you think?

   

Previous posts:

Hunger Action Week – 1st day & grocery shopping

Hunger challenge – Budget, groceries, and menu

Lots of planning… and cakes

Related Posts:

Hunger Action Week – 1st day & grocery shopping

Hunger challenge – Budget, groceries, and menu

Hunger Action Week – Days 3-4-5

Categories : Food events