Walking in shoes, dancing with food

I can already tell this 30 day project is going to be full of trial and error. But that's the point right? I have the resources and the time to devote to all the possibilities. When we are given abundance we must not hoard it. This is something I was taught from a very young age through the teachings of Jesus. I am so thankful for my upbringing and the support I've had throughout my life. This quote is a big part of who I am, I used to have it painted across a wall in my house as a reminder:

"If I could become the servant of all"

Quoted from mewithoutyou

Becoming a servant of all used to mean: being walked all over and sacrificing my own comfort for others. Now, while this is true some of the time, there are a lot of sacrifices to be made, I burned myself out living that way. I needed to spend some money on myself, feed myself good food and have some comforts in order to serve others. For the last 2 years I've done just that. Johnny and I traveled together, we both got new jobs so we could live without roommates for a while, we stopped running a hospitality house, and we started eating really really well. I have healed so much from this time and now I am full of energy and ready to start giving back again! Hence this project (among other things). I know how energizing proper nutrition is and I want that to be shared with others! I've aways felt this deep sadness that some could not afford this luxury, so I wanted to put on their shoes and see if there was a way we could all have deeply nutritious food. 

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It's Begun!

It's May 1st, yes. But I've actually decided to officially start the project next Tuesday and I'll just carry it out for 30 days after that. These next few days will be my prep days. Yesterday…I went to Costco as well as Cash and Carry. I haven't been to these places for years as I mainly shop at my CoOp. The main thing I wanted to do with this project is make sure people could access and afford grass fed meat/eggs and local, organic produce. In order to make it all fit in the budget I had to decide where to cut corners. But I won't fully cut corners. Even though I shopped at Costco (membership is $55 a year by the way) I picked out the best quality products I could. (Another option that I'll be checking out next week is Winco, which requires no membership and has similar deals.) Here is what I'm started with:

Now, when it comes to buying in bulk on a food stamp budget, its more likely that you'll have to buy a few things every month and build up a pantry. Let's say I've built up this pantry over a few months time. 
Here's what I got:

Organic Brown Rice: $13.99 for 12 pounds
Organic Raisins: $8.49 for 4 pounds
Organic Coconut Oil: $27.99 for 5.5 pounds
Lentils: $4.99 for 5 pounds
Adams Peanut Butter: $8.39 for 5 pounds
Sprouted Bread: $6.69 for 2 loaves
Popcorn: $2.40 for 1.5 pounds

Some things to note: I will be sprouting the brown rice myself and pre soaking the lentils every time I cook them. The coconut oil is not only organic but it is cold pressed, which is the best process for retain it's healing qualities, Adams peanut butter is just straight up peanuts with no hydrogenated oils, sprouted bread is the best way to go with sourdough in second, when you sprout bread you make it a hell of a lot more digestible. I actually purchased the popcorn at my co-op the other day, I'm curious to know the price of it at other shops. I'll be looking into it.

For this project I will only be consuming what is in the budget so I've weighed out different amounts that fit in the budget and I will update them if we end up eating more or less. So far this feels like a dance, I have to learn the steps in order to move smoothly, this project morphs everyday and I'm sure I'll be carrying it on past 30 days. 

My next steps:

-Sunday is the first farmers market of the season by my house. Now I know not everyone has access to these markets, but I will begin here for those who do. My hope is to buy all my produce from local farmers. Using food stamps at farmers markets will actually save you $5 every week you go. 
That means a $20 savings for the whole month! 
-Monday I'll be heading out to a farm to purchase part of a cow. This is another bulk purchase that would have to be done with friends if you couldn't afford it on your own. 
{That reminds me, buyers clubs are another good way to buy in bulk with other people, but I've been having a hard time finding ones in my area that are accepting new people, so, if you have close friends that are also trying to save money see if you guys can go in on stuff together.}
-I'll also be researching which CSA's take food stamps. 
-Stay tuned for all this info and more! Thanks for coming along on the journey.

-Bailey