February Update- Hunger Solutions

It’s a re:solutions hunger update.

It’s been a little over a month since we started our ‘new year solutions’. So far, we have purchased $20 in food to donate. Money was a little tight, so I did not get to do a full $10 each week.  As a family, we decided that once a month we will make a drop off even though I am buying weekly. I also decided to try to find meals that are non-perishable but that include a meat.  (i.e. canned beef stew, Banquet’s boxed complete dinners, etc.)

We found it more difficult to stop eating out that we thought it would be; we are still grabbing something out of the home about once a week. But having committed to the idea, I am getting better at planning for our hectic days.  I  used January as a baseline to see how much we actually spend, which should make it easier to see what our donation amount needs to be.

My children are slow to get on board with the decrease in snacks in the house.  Or the suggested alternatives (fruit and veggies, not chips and cookies).  They’ll get over it. What I used to spend on snacks alone in a month could have probably fed a family of 4 for a week.

We still waste more food than I would like.  I hate all the food that get scraped into the garbage after a meal. A chart is now up on our fridge to see what our favorite meals are. If at least 3 of the 5 of us will eat it, it stays. If not, I’m chucking that menu option.  It’s a balance to get children to eat healthy but also to just eat well. I found that when we all like the meal, there is less snacking later.It’s difficult to enforce the “eat at the table always” but that has cut down on snacking too.  (It seems it really isn’t important to have that piece of cake, if they can’t watch tv while they eat it!)

I have not begun the budget friendly cookbook, but am storing ideas in some corner of the brain to be listed for myself soon. *Update 2/3: I saw a great spot about a woman who can show everyone how to cook on a budget. Great tips at groceryshrink.com to feed your family for $50 per person per month.

Last month I spent my two hours of research time on the Kentucky proposal for drug testing welfare recipients.  I read several statistics and some interesting information. But, I’ll leave the numbers for the feisty blog post I have planned for that topic.

The following is a video of  an interview with author Sasha Abramsky on hunger in America, the focus of his latest book. It’s long, but if you can at least view the first two minutes, there are many facts on hunger and poverty that highlight what 60 million Americans are dealing with every day.

So, why am I updating you?  Accountability.  By telling you my progress, I am honoring my commitment and keeping myself humble in my objectives.  Too many times people expect others to fix the problems of the world. By sharing my update, I keep myself on task and make the goals fresh every month. I stay motivated.

I don’t feel overwhelmed and this isn’t taking much extra time.  Anyone could do this for whatever their cause is.  Many people probably already do.

Simply Put- If you’re going to talk the talk, be transparent in your walk.

Re:solution for hunger 2011

I am in phase 2 of my Re:solutions goal. I decided not to make resolutions this year, but to create solutions I can commit to. (If you want to know where this comes from, check out the previous post titled Re:solutions.) After making some notes I have come back to the same issues that ignite me.  Let me share an example of one, to show you my process.

Memo to self

RE:Solutions to fight hunger

I don’t want anyone to go to bed hungry.  It makes me sad and disturbed to think of anyone without food, especially children.  There have been times where there has not been enough food in my home.  More recent than I would like to admit.  It is a terrible feeling to want to eat, but have nothing available.  And to know your children need to eat, but barely be able to scrape enough together.  I can’t imagine what it feels like to live in a constant state of hunger.

Most of us know this is a problem.  We can talk about it. Or we can work on ways to solve it.

In thinking about how I can become a solution, I decided four things.

1. There are programs that assist those in need.  Solution one: every week this year I will spend an extra $10 when I buy my groceries and donate the food to the local food bank.  In addition to this I will find a hot meals program to volunteer for along with my older children at least once per season.

2. Not everyone takes part in these programs for one reason or another.  Solution two:  spend two hours a month researching existing programs, statistics and literature for ways to help fight hunger and help families in need.

3.  Healthy meals don’t need to be expensive. I am a queen at meal planning and using a budget when buying groceries that uses multiple meals out of similar groups of ingredients.  Solution three:  Research and/or create tasty, simple inexpensive meal planning ideas and compile them in a cookbook.  Donate the cookbook to local organizations that service the hungry.

4.  Most of us don’t know what true hunger feels like. We live in a face-paced, eat-on-demand society.  Solution four:  Reduce leftover waste in our home as well as out of home eating.  Analyze savings from eating at home instead of eating out and donate the monetary difference once a year to an organization that fights hunger, possibly on a promoted Day of Giving like PGDOG that matches donations.

The by-product of my solutions plan is that as a family we will eat healthier( and what would have been my “lose weight” resolution might have potential to succeed) and become aware of others in need (i.e. my old “volunteer more” resolution seems more important now). None of these ideas seems overwhelming to me or impossible to maintain. This memo is going straight to the refrigerator.

Is anyone else up for the idea of being the solution?  What’s your goal? What issues speak to you? Please feel free to share your plan in the comments.

Simply Put- Planning a solution on a heartfelt issue feels better than making a resolution.