London Food Bank Challenge Part 3: Answering questions about my food choices

I am taking the London Food Bank Challenge this week, am eating meals from food items purchased for $30, had to drop St. Pat’s Day celebrations from my calendar (who can afford 3 pints of Guinness on a $30 budget?) and just finished lunch made with my own two hands.

The Food Bank wants to know how I’m doing, so here are a few words:

I think I can live on 30 bucks for 7 days and wait until 5 p.m. this coming Sunday for Guinness.

Preparing breakfasts for the duration was simple and cheap. I routinely eat a ton of oatmeal each winter and an eight-day batch, containing rolled oats supplemented with 1 or 2 teaspoons each of flaxseed, raisins, dried cranberries, bran, cornmeal, millet (birdseed), quinoa, and bulgar, totalled $1.25 or about 16 cents per day. Add a slice of toast and jam and I’m under 50 cents per day for a healthy start to the day.

Purists will take me to task about my oatmeal recipe (“What’s with the birdseed? It ain’t real oatmeal?”), I might be stepping outside the rules each morning by using my stash of free coffee cards from The Little Red Roaster (Guinness I can put on hold, but caffeine waits for no man) and my reputation for Spartan-like self-reliance may have been tarnished when I happily accepted a gift of chocolate chip cookies from a neighbour.


Pancake lunches and a huge homemade mac and cheese casserole keep costs under 50 and 75 cents per meal respectively.

Though I don’t look too manly in a frilly apron I’m finding my way around the kitchen without problem.

My wife even eyed my casserole enviously when I pulled it from the oven yesterday. I may be asked to create it again.

Conclusion: Meals can be cheap but I’m not eating a balanced diet so far. How do low-income families manage that important task?