The Eat On $30 Challenge? Me? No Problem...

...Or at least I thought. Did you know that I'm the step-mother to a 17 year-old, 240lb, 6 feet tall linebacker who lives with us? Meet Gareth.

Gareth (#72) and his mentees at the Boys and Girls Club

This week, I 've been participating in the Eat On $30 challenge by my dear buddy, Tami. 
 
Tami is passionate about bringing awareness to how many families in our society are struggling and barely have $30. Here are some statistics from her post:

• At some point during the year, 1 in 5 Americans receives food assistance from 1 or more of the 15 programs providing help.
• In 2009, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will help feed 31 million people per month. The average monthly benefit? $101.
• Between March 2007 and March 2008, the global price of food rose 43%. 1 billion people - 1/6th of the world's population - live on $1 per day.

Wow! What a wake-up call.

So...the rule is as simple as this: for one week, I can only spend $30 per person in our home on food...that can be groceries, eating out or a combination of the two.  My kitty was $90 and I opted to plan our meals, buy groceries and cook at home.  This isn't that far outside of the norm for me...after all I am The Broke Socialite. Emphasis on Broke, please.

What has been challenging, however, is marrying my busy schedule this week (and especially having come off a busy weekend) with the time (read: desire) to slave over a stove.  Couple that with a linebacker of a teenaged son whose sole purpose in life is seemingly to eat me out of house and home.  As quickly as I can prepare food, he's gobbled it down.  This week's menus have been filled with meals that can stretch: red beans and rice, tacos, sandwiches and so far, so good.  As y'all saw yesterday, I even made a couple of loaves of banana bread. During the week.  That's an anomaly for me.

The problem?   Remember Gareth, the teenaged boy who eats like he has a hollow leg? It's him.  Normally, I allow him to eat to his heart's content.  He runs at least 6 miles a day and is, well, a growing boy.  This week, however, I've had to instruct him to not be so erra...greedy...because we need to make groceries stretch this week.  I might as well have had 10 heads but then I took the time to explain the Eat on 30 Challenge to him.  Surprisingly he thought it was so cool!  Though we are remarkably blessed, there have been times, years ago, that we've struggled due to job losses and I think he's sensitive to the reality of actually having to be on a budget out of necessity. What a teaching moment (until he went and grabbed two a handful of Little Debbies and retreated to the Man/Boy Cave)!

I've included a picture of the red beans and rice and my recipe (except I do not use tomatoes).

Could YOU eat on $30 for a week?