April Challenge: Food Stamp Budget

The less said about being gluten-free the better. Neither of us liked it. We felt irritated a lot. We cheated (and it was worth it). I did enjoy experimenting with gluten-free flours (and adapted a kick-ass muffin recipe) but I'm glad to be done.

Which brings us into April.

Alex and I shop at Whole Foods. We indulge in exotic spices. We thoroughly enjoy eating out. We [unintentionally] waste food.

Not this month.

In April (starting on Saturday, to give us four full weeks, Saturday-Friday) we will be eating on a food stamp budget. The maximum benefit for a family of two in King County is $12/day or $84/week.

This was a blogger challenge back in January but I found out about it too late to join in. So we're doing it for a full month.

The challenge said you couldn't use any pantry items, couldn't accept food from anyone, and the only "free" spices were salt and pepper.

We're fudging that a bit, because, while it's fine for a week challenge, I think it's unreasonable for a month.

We will use pantry items on a case by case basis. AP flour, sugar, and white vinegar are some examples of what we have that we will continue to use. Our "fancy" flours and our extensive spice cabinet are off-limits.

We will accept food when it's offered. Easter dinner, for example, will be eaten at my dad's house.

We have pre-determined exceptions:
-April 23rd we're having an Iron Chef dinner. It's been planned for months. That dinner is exempt from the budget. (Meaning we only have $72 that week for food).
-If I get into graduate school, we are celebrating.
-I make cakes for people, for money and as gifts. If I need to exempt those ingredients, I will. But whenever possible I will include them in the budget. (I have two coworker birthdays, a baby shower, and Easter to supply baked goods for).

Everything else falls into the purview of the budget. We will eat breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks on $12/day. If I get ambitious, I'll scan in our receipts for each week.

So that's the deal.

Half-way point

While I enjoy the challenge presented by gluten-free baking, neither of us is very happy. We both agreed that dairy-free, while difficult, was manageable and acceptable.

However, half-way through March, both of us are gladly looking forward to April when we can eat gluten again.

Alex, who I think is taking this far harder than I am, told me today: I LOVE GLUTEN, AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT.

Dairy-free we could live with. I doubt we'll ever be gluten-free by choice again after this month.

The ease of not needing to think

I've mentioned before how lucky Alex and I are. Excepting for tasting cilantro as soap, we don't have any good sensitivities or allergies. That means if we end up eating something we've chosen not to, we won't notice. That's not true of people with allergies or sensitivities.

We went to PF Changs yesterday for lunch. Since most asian foods contain soy sauce, they're typically a no-no for gluten-free folks. However, PF Changs has a gluten-free menu. It wasn't the most amazing food I've ever had, but it wasn't bad at all.

We went and made a point of ordering off the gluten-free menu. Our waiter saw and acknowledged that we were ordering gluten-free. When our food arrived, I asked for GF soy sauce, and the woman who brought our food looked at us and then at our waiter and asked, "Is it all supposed to be gluten free?" We responded that yes, it was, and they both profusely apologized and said they'd remake our food.

It came back, and was gluten-free and wasn't bad.

When we were paying, our waiter brought us fortune cookies. I raised my eyebrows and asked politely if the cookies, too, were gluten-free. The waiter, stunned, said no, they were not. Smiling, we gave them back (they were in packages, not loose). I explained about our project (he was worried about an allergic reaction) and he felt better. But you could see that he was thinking hard about he fact that he always brought cookies, even if people had specifically requested everything gluten-free.

For most people, the cookies wouldn't be a problem. And our waiter never really thought about what they were. Like I said, we're lucky that we don't have the allergies or sensitivities because nothing bad happens if we consume our "tainted" food. But this experience made me think, and I hope it made our waiter think too.

An interesting side effect

Well, we're gluten-free now. After my initial devastation at realizing I can't really go out for asian food, I'm doing okay. I've already attempted GF cookies (I wasn't pleased with the result, but Alex liked them) and GF buttermilk biscuits (which are awesome).

We're still mostly dairy-free, at least I am, but it's by choice now. The fact that I lost 3.5 lbs in February without eating dairy was really a wake up call.

But here's an interesting side effect. I buy one latte a week from Starbucks (on Thursdays, which are my long days) and this week I got it with non-fat milk since I didn't want to pay extra for soy milk. Upon drinking it, however, I realized I felt guilty. I have no reason for feeling guilty, but I definitely do. I suppose that means that next week I'll get a soy latte.