The $10 meal challenge

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Mrs.Anteater

Mrs.Anteater

Just keep going....
Our benevolent fund is often giving out $10 grocery gift cards to people who ask for food.
Here the challenge:
How for can you stretch $10 for one person? What do you buy (and for what price) to make the most out of it?
What do you buy to make it as healthy as you can?
 
Chickpea and stone soup ... made with bones and cheaper cuts ... enough hormones there to drive you towards another meal ... and they do say you are what you consume ... some will not accept much into their head ... a bonnie place to store things you wish to remain sacred! Don't communicate this to the dark web ... the subtle side of face books?
 
Small bag of dried chickpeas, some fresh veggies, makes enough curried chickpeas for several day's meals. Add a small bag of rice to serve it on, and you could eat dinner for a week if you didn't get terminally bored of it.
 
Interesting, Seeler. I know of you folks are very wise in these matters. Seeler, I remember your story of grocery shopping from wondercafe.
 
I'd start with apples and nuts (almonds or peanuts) - both are filling, portable, and healthy choices.
 
Problem with apples that I see, Hilary, is that organic are uber expensive, relatively, and un-organic are always in the top 10 for pesticide residue.
 
Mrs. Anteater. Curious, what is the idea behind the $10 amount. Do you have a food bank or shelter in your vicinity?

I ask because I know that our church quit giving them out and instead refer people to those two locations. Both are within 2 blocks of our church. The reason ws that it was identified that people were hitting multiple churches / ministers for funds in the core. Selling cards is pretty easy.
The church did hae standing accounts with certain places, and would get referrals for things like shoes for families -- and pay for them at a local shoe store.
 
Mrs.Anteater said:
Our benevolent fund is often giving out $10 grocery gift cards to people who ask for food.
Here the challenge:
How for can you stretch $10 for one person? What do you buy (and for what price) to make the most out of it?
What do you buy to make it as healthy as you can?
Click to expand...

Here goes - one person for as far as it goes -

This is a meat 'n potatoes province - so I go for those two items first.
Just last week my local Coop grocery store had chicken legs on for two for less than $2.00. I'll buy two packages - roughly $4.00. Or maybe I can get a small roasting chicken from the 'close to best-before date' bin for the same price.
Potatoes are $3.99 a 10 lb. bag. (Now I'm up to $8.00. But let's pretend that I bought 10 lbs last week. So I'll only be using 5 lbs.) $2.00. So I'm up to $6.00. Cauliflower is on a really good special - a big white head for $1.99. Mini carrots are $.99 for a 12 oz bag. - do you suppose I could get a 2 lb bag of regular carrots for that price and scrape them myself. I'd like an onion and a few stocks of celery but I'm running out of money. (Let's pretend that I can buy an onion, and a neighbour lends me a couple of stocks of celery). I've got a few slices of stale bread left over from breakfast, some salt, pepper, a few herbs, a bit of flour in my cupboard.
Now for cooking.
I put the chicken in the oven. Boil and mash the potatoes, add coarsely crumbed bread, half an onion, a stock of celery, some herbs (sage, savory, parsley, or whatever) and make dressing to put in beside the chicken. Cook half the carrots, some of the cauliflower. And invite my neighbour over for dinner. She brings some cookies. We feast.
Next day I chop up the remaining chicken, and use the drippings (which I saved) to make stock for soup. Finely chop carrots, 1/2 onion, celery, potato. Add herbs and spices (perhaps a different combination then last night). Supper - and then I stretch it out over the next few days, perhaps adding a can of chicken-noodle soup from last month's box from the foodbank, until my disability cheque arrives. I sure do appreciate munching on that cauliflower on the side - too bad I don't have some french dressing for a dip.
No - $10 doesn't go far.
 
Pinga "selling cards is pretty easy". This is why we have an arrangement with a locally-owned grocery store near the church. They accept our food vouchers - but require picture id if they don't know the client. They also advise us if there is anything questionable about the purchases. (One young man spent his on pop and chips - when he came back three months later we had a notation on his file - he explained that he had been on his own for the first time, was living under the bridge, and had no means of cooking or dishes to cook in or eat from - now he had a room and coould use a shared kitchen) (Another client used his voucher to buy a can of frozen lobster - easily resold or traded for booze or drugs - he never came back). It would be nice if we could trust everybody, but we have to be careful to make sure scarce resources are used by the people who need them. The store we deal with gives good value for the money - especially on fresh food.
 
I've thought of trying a week of eating at church meals - potlucks, socials, teas, video course suppers, etc. I think that in a large city like here in Toronto I could easily do this for under $10 per week. Add in a loaf of bread for toast in the morning and voila.
 
Woops! I only planned for one meal a day. Can anybody swap me some oatmeal and a quart of milk for my extra potatoes?
If I could just get out into the woodlot on the other side of the highway I might be able to find some wild blueberries or raspberries this time of year.
 
And herein lies some of the problem. I rhymed off my solution pretty quickly. I made an ASSumption that I was me. With access to all of my dishes, all of my seasonings, all of my storage space. As seeler's "living under the bridge" example shows, those in need come from a very diverse background of cooking facilities, abilities, tastes, etc.
 
Pr. Jae said:
I've thought of trying a week of eating at church meals - potlucks, socials, teas, video course suppers, etc. I think that in a large city like here in Toronto I could easily do this for under $10 per week. Add in a loaf of bread for toast in the morning and voila.
Click to expand...

Church dinners in Toronto are free? (Ours are usually fundraisers of some sort.)

Where you can eat for free with few official questions asked is the Sally Ann.
 
I can make tasty spaghetti for 3 people for 2 days or 2 people for three days. That's my default meal - doesn't require running all over town looking for deals (transportation costs) or a whole lot of prep. It costs about $10 everywhere for the same meal. It's simple, filling, always tastes good - maybe too much starch but it gets the job done.
 
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And you think you could find enough free church dinners in Toronto to live? (Seems a very unrealistic statement to me. If you 're including eating at the Sally Ann, sure.)
 
BetteTheRed said:
And you think you could find enough free church dinners in Toronto to live? (Seems a very unrealistic statement to me. If you 're including eating at the Sally Ann, sure.)
Click to expand...

You do realize I'm only talking about doing it for a week, right? Yes, I believe that there are enough churches in Toronto giving free dinners and suppers that I could survive on them for a week.
 
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