$3, 3 days

I wish I had written this blog last week when it was fresh and before I heard the sermon.  First of all because the effect is not as strong as it was but also because I just heard Micah quote Pastor Phil almost word for word what I wanted to say.  So for those of you who heard that, I promise I am not just copying him.

Last week my church did what we called the 3 for 3 campaign.  We had three days where we were allowed only $3 worth of food per day to try to understand a little better what so much of the world goes through.  I checked the box and did it and thought to myself that the hardest part would be no convenience food.  Even McDonalds is too expensive for this if you want to eat more than once a day.  I knew that I would have to give up sweets. (A can of pop at work is $.65, more than half the cost of one meal.  A bottle is more than an entire meal.)  I knew I would have to plan, because I wouldn't be able to stop by the store on the way to work to pick up a salad. (More than a day's worth in one mostly unsatisfying meal)  I knew snacks like almonds were going to be off the list. (unless I could force myself to stop eating them after two)  What I didn't expect was hunger.  I know that sounds strange, to only have three dollars and not expect hunger, but I thought I could eat enough chicken and rice to be full. Surprisingly, that wasn't the case.

The first shock came when I figured out how much my homemade veggie soup cost per serving, almost $2!  This is the meal that I make for myself in large quantities and freeze in order to save time and money. Even my cheap food was too expensive.  If I had divided each of the frozen containers in half, I would have been okay, but I would have been hungry.  I planned out my meals carefully, counting pennies.  I had the three days planned out and was feeling good.

Until I ate lunch on the first day.  Spaghetti. I was hungry long before dinner, which was strange because this is a common meal for me.  I guess the more you think about food the more hungry you feel.  Oh well, dinner came soon enough.  Two slices of bread, two tablespoon peanut butter, ten carrots and sixty-five cents worth of salad.  Don't forget to count the dressing too.  I was hungry, but that made sense because I had budgeted some wiggle room for snacks.  Problem was, I didn't think to bring any.  There is a vending machine at work but everything in it would have put me over my budget. Snacks would have to wait until I could pick up some Ramen on the way home at 9:00.  Ten cents. Piece of cake.

Strangely enough I must have caught my manager coming off of his break because he held out a cookie and said, "Want a cookie?"  I accepted it without thinking but then reconsidered.  Of course if someone was actually starving they would accept this gift without calculating how much it cost, but the point of the exercise was to live like the other half lives, not to see how much free food I could acquire. How much does a cookie cost anyways? I figured it was probably less than the forty-five cents I had left for the day and so I ate it, but I  was more grateful for that cookie at that moment than I thought possible.

I went to bed hungry.  Why is it that on any normal day a pb&j with carrots and a salad would have been just fine but the day that you are told you cannot have anything else is the day that you are suddenly obsessed with food?  In the morning I decided to skip breakfast so that I could have more food for lunch.  I've never done that before.  Okay well, I do every year for Thanksgiving I suppose, but that's only so I can be even more of a glutton by the time the turkey gets done.  I've never had to decide whether or not eating this food now would be better or skipping this meal so the next one could perhaps be big enough to be satisfying.  Reality check #1.

I became more and more aware of what other people have to go through when each meal became less and less satisfying.  Its one thing to have one meal that is slightly too small, but every meal?  That is something I've never experienced.  I've fasted before and so I've been so hungry that you can't quite see straight and your head begins to hurt, but to feel that way after three days where I could still eat, just not enough?  I never imagined I'd feel that way.  And then when Thursday rolled around and I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted I realized just how spoiled I am.  The people who have to live on less than three dollars a day don't have any clue when or if their hunger will ever end.  They don't always know when their next meal will be and they would be willing to bet their life that it won't be satisfying.  I was counting down the meals to Thursday while they are just trying to find something to eat today.

I don't really know how to end this post, only to say that if you want an idea what many other people go through, you should try  this challenge.  Just remember though, much of the world lives on even less.  Can you believe it?  Feel spoiled yet?