Why I started "Brown Bag Organics" back in 2002

"Healthy Habits for Body and Soul"

I started "Brown Bag Organics" in 2002 because I believed in making a difference. After suffering from debilitating nausea, cramping, and irritable bowel syndrome for years, I HAD to learn the importance of nutrition and health. After much trial and error, I found a wonderful nutritionist who helped me to change my life.

I discovered I was allergic to wheat and dairy products. Changing my diet made all the difference in my life. I know now the impact the right nutritional choices can make. That's what this blog is all about-the right nutritional choices.

Mary L Johnson
Brown Bag Organics

The Poverty Diet

A way to live and eat for less than $20.00-25.00 per week

 

For several weeks now, I’ve worked out what I call, “The Poverty Diet”. Several members of Congress have followed a plan calling for about $20.00 a week, or around $2.85 per day for one person. Some could use $25.00 for a model, or even $40.00 for two people.
 
None of this is even possible if there is no supplemental food. By that, I mean, even if you subsist on food stamps, you would need to supply staples to your pantry to cook. And the best way to get any nutritional value at all would be to buy in bulk and plan ahead.

There are different cases, obviously. You would need to have a kitchen, and electricity. You would need pots and pans to cook, or a microwave. This is for those who don’t think about the basics of life, such as how you would subsist. And WHY people who live in poverty are so heavy.

 Some of them don’t have kitchens or means to cook. McDonald’s (i.e., Fast Food), is one of the only alternatives. And if you live in a “food desert” area, a low-income, at-risk neighborhood, chances are slim to none that you will have healthy choices like fruits and vegetables.

There are food pantries and food kitchens available. Believe it or not, some people are too proud or too sensitive to avail themselves of these last resorts for food. But the problem is real, it does exist, and there’s no need for certain members of Congress, an elite body where the average income is in the six figure category, to glibly state, “I even gained a little on this diet!”

My response to this is: “Yes, Congressman, that is the problem. You WILL gain on this diet if you are forced to eat the Poverty diet every day. And you may actually gain weight if you are forced to live this life of poverty. Watch the movie “Trading Places” and you will laugh, but then you will stop and think… , “This could be me.”

The following menus are from the local grocery. As stated, there are many variables, but unless there are other sources, (family members to help stock a kitchen pantry, and money for electric to cook), these menus are not possible.

MENU Week 1:  I call this, Chicken & whatever...week. You can buy one whole chicken, and then make several meals possible. The caveat is: you should have a pantry stocked with mayonnaise. Plus, it depends if you have one or two children to feed.

$7.39 whole chkn

1.99 brown rice

3.99 stir fry

=$14.00 + ADD:

 Oatmeal or peanut butter to eat

1-2 meals day

Oatmeal and peanut butter are going to be staples in your diet.

2.39 soy milk

1 apple

1.99 bag carrots

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Menu week 2: Soups-Stretch...+ Protein powder! One of the ways to stretch a budget has always been a pot of soup simmering on the stove. This is one meal than can stretch over a period of days. One item to suggest on the poverty diet would be canned protein powder.

This can be made into smoothies for lunches and dinners. And the protein powder is an added boost.

Chicken soup or other canned soup:

1 can = $2.59

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Menu Week 3: Tuna + Risotto

For week 3, the can of tuna, of oourse would have prominence in any low-budget pantry. It’s a cheap and easy source of protein. You can doctor it with mayo and onion, and add apple and spices to liven it up.

Also, tuna can be served hot with cheese or black olives and pimentos to make a decent hot dinner.

1 Tuna can

1 onion

1 apple

1.99 tea bag

1.39 peach tea

3.99 risotto

 ADD: 

$ 11.49 protein powder (cheapest is around $10.00)

1 oatmeal box

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Menu week 4| Eggs

Eggs would be another mainstay of the Poverty Diet menu. For this, you can make omelettes, stir up scrambled eggs and add all kinds of garnishes, and use the eggs in casserole dishes surrounded by veggies. It’s one of the cheapest and healthiest sources of protein available to the mass market for a reasonable price.

 To put together a small stockpile.

Make ahead foods: If you do get a chicken, take the skin off the sides and freeze for chicken soup. Or use some of the white meat and dark for a chicken salad.

Freeze some chicken/protein:

Salmon or veggie patties: Eggs will freeze if you make up patties of canned salmon or frozen veggies mixed with eggs. This is good to be able to pull out quickly, make ahead once a week, and to have on hand if you are running low on dough at the end of the week!

 Staples to collect- Things to have on the shelf:

Protein powder, oatmeal, peanut butter

You will eat a lot of:

Oatmeal in AM or PM

Peanut butter on apple-for breakfast

Always Freeze fruits: bananas/apples

Stockpile of can soup-chicken, low sodium

For weekly menus.

By the end of the week,  you will be low in protein. Here is where it is handy to have staples on hand.  USE staples to mix with protein powder and to make shakes!

For the Poverty Diet, it needs to be emphasized. It can be done...BUT the end of the week is crucial, in that you will have less stock in your pantry. It’s vital to plan ahead!

 

Keep Staples on shelf

To stretch soups

Have frozen supplies, no waste!

Veggie pancakes: Mix eggs with onions, frozen or cut up fresh vegetables and mix with flour and milk to form batter. Make in skillet like pancakes, and freeze remainder. This freezes really well. 

Pasta is another great staple to keep on the shelf-to stretch- and to add veggies

Things you can add to pasta: Garlic, mayo, spices…canned peas, black or green olives, and mushrooms.

Greens: A great way to add bulk to soups and to add veggies-

 Cook dinners in bulk to stretch budget

Chicken with rice casserole-to stretch-

A Small crock pot (or a larger one, depending on the size of your family), will come in handy. Most thrift stores have cooking utensils and crock pots available at low prices.

 It all depends on the size of a family. Food stamps are available, food pantries will help to stock items. But, keep in mind that time and energy and initiative to do this are not always available to those in need. Variables such as health and work hours may simply prove too much to make cooking at home even possible.

If there is no way for you to cook, then look to the whole chicken to eat at least one or two healthier evening meals per week, and also, to look for fast food places that serve salads.

Steak N’Shake has a pretty good salad. So does Chick Fil A, plus good chicken soup. Soups are good and cheap. Chinese food always has plenty of volume. For low prices, you can get vegetables and rice and soup for under five or ten bucks.

And usually, they give you enough for at least one or two more meals. These are some of your best choices if you are a young person out of college, or an older person who is living alone and trying to make ends meet.

 

You will learn to freeze what you don’t eat, you can also freeze bananas. You can plan ahead to make simple meals to pull out of the freezer.

**This is a continuing series-but this is also an ongoing problem

**If more charities and churches/non-profits would find time to host workshops and print meal planners for at-risk neighborhoods and new mothers, it would help.

 **With budget cuts across the board, we all need to pull together to combat the problem of rising obesity and nutritional deserts in our own communities.