A dollar a day
Feb. 25th, 2009 06:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chargirlgeniusLast night on NPR, I heard the story of a girl working on her PhD thesis in Afghanistan. Her project? Spend a dollar a day, or less, on all of her food and water. Even a dollar a day is more than many people have there, and for them, that dollar has to cover all living expenses, not just food and water.
One US dollar a day is the defined international poverty line. Can you imagine? We are rich. All of us. All of you who are reading this. We are all wealthy. Even when I was a poor college student, or after my ex and I separated and I was less than getting by, I was still incredibly wealthy. A dollar a day?
I heard this story when I was on my way to the pharmacy, to pick up a medicine that my insurance was covering. It wasn’t even critical – just a cough medicine to get me through this cold so I could sleep at night. Just like that, go to the doctor, drop off a script, and a couple of hours later, you have the drugs that you need. I’d been to the grocery store earlier in the day, and picked up a few things we needed, and a few things that I wanted. Even though we bemoan the lack of really tasty fruits and veggies, compared to the fresh markets of other parts of the world, I have EVERYTHING at my fingertips.
I honestly don’t even know how much food costs. Even in college, I didn’t pay all that much attention. I need milk? I buy milk. I need bread? I buy bread. I bought toilet paper, buttermilk for Shrove Tuesday pancakes, sausage, fake crab, spinach, bananas, brie, and more. I did all of this without even thinking about it.
We’re rich. We worry more about eating too much, not about eating too little. We worry that we’re getting too fat, not that we’re going to starve. We have so much. We can eat lunch without worrying whether or not that means we can afford dinner.
How would we eat on a dollar a day? Could we? Would it be anywhere near equivalent? I was thinking about this last night. I’d start with a big bag of rice, dried beans, and some onions. In Afghanistan, cooking oil is like gold, because the more oil you have the more calories you’re able to consume. I’d get oil. Milk? What’s the most economical way to get calcium? Would I even be able to? The girl on the radio said she’d wanted some fruit or yogurt, but it was a luxury she couldn’t afford. I don’t even know how much those things cost – just that if I want them, I buy them.
I probably had more than a dollar’s worth of cheese on my salad today.
She also talked about the generosity and hospitality of the people that she met. These people had next to nothing, but insisted on bringing out the best for guests, invited them to stay for a meal or overnight. One family insisted on killing their last chicken for her visit, though they hadn’t eaten any other meat in months.
I don’t really have a point. It just struck, me, and made me think. It’s one of those things that you intellectually know, but don’t often think about. Of course I know that we have a lot, and that there are people who have so little. Rarely does it punch me in the gut like that. The gut is where I feel this – I haven’t had an appetite since last night.
One US dollar a day is the defined international poverty line. Can you imagine? We are rich. All of us. All of you who are reading this. We are all wealthy. Even when I was a poor college student, or after my ex and I separated and I was less than getting by, I was still incredibly wealthy. A dollar a day?
I heard this story when I was on my way to the pharmacy, to pick up a medicine that my insurance was covering. It wasn’t even critical – just a cough medicine to get me through this cold so I could sleep at night. Just like that, go to the doctor, drop off a script, and a couple of hours later, you have the drugs that you need. I’d been to the grocery store earlier in the day, and picked up a few things we needed, and a few things that I wanted. Even though we bemoan the lack of really tasty fruits and veggies, compared to the fresh markets of other parts of the world, I have EVERYTHING at my fingertips.
I honestly don’t even know how much food costs. Even in college, I didn’t pay all that much attention. I need milk? I buy milk. I need bread? I buy bread. I bought toilet paper, buttermilk for Shrove Tuesday pancakes, sausage, fake crab, spinach, bananas, brie, and more. I did all of this without even thinking about it.
We’re rich. We worry more about eating too much, not about eating too little. We worry that we’re getting too fat, not that we’re going to starve. We have so much. We can eat lunch without worrying whether or not that means we can afford dinner.
How would we eat on a dollar a day? Could we? Would it be anywhere near equivalent? I was thinking about this last night. I’d start with a big bag of rice, dried beans, and some onions. In Afghanistan, cooking oil is like gold, because the more oil you have the more calories you’re able to consume. I’d get oil. Milk? What’s the most economical way to get calcium? Would I even be able to? The girl on the radio said she’d wanted some fruit or yogurt, but it was a luxury she couldn’t afford. I don’t even know how much those things cost – just that if I want them, I buy them.
I probably had more than a dollar’s worth of cheese on my salad today.
She also talked about the generosity and hospitality of the people that she met. These people had next to nothing, but insisted on bringing out the best for guests, invited them to stay for a meal or overnight. One family insisted on killing their last chicken for her visit, though they hadn’t eaten any other meat in months.
I don’t really have a point. It just struck, me, and made me think. It’s one of those things that you intellectually know, but don’t often think about. Of course I know that we have a lot, and that there are people who have so little. Rarely does it punch me in the gut like that. The gut is where I feel this – I haven’t had an appetite since last night.
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Date: 2009-02-26 03:18 am (UTC)Lincoln Nebraska has a program called FoodNet, where volunteers pick up day-old, dented, and otherwise "unsaleble" food from the grocery stores & distribute. The fruit & veggies often have a bruise or soft spot. But if I picked that tomato from my garden with a soft spot, I'd just cut it out, and the same can be done with unattractive fruits & veggies. The dairy items are often close dated, like expiring today or tomorrow, and the bread isn't "just from the oven" fresh.
http://members.cox.net/foodnet/sites.htm
This is a huge program, with 26 different sites each week. There are no questions about income, or residency status. It's just about keeping usable food out of the landfill.
I usually pick up food from 2 sites per week, and get plenty of bread, fruits & veggies, donuts, and the occasional odd cereal or unpopular snack. The sites I prefer often have dairy, be it milk or yogurt or sour cream.
There are a couple of other programs that provide a bit of chicken or other meat, donated by local meat processors. We get about 3#s usually
So I spend $40 on school lunches, and about $120 on eggs, milk, and the odd item to complete a meal. I've got a bit of that for restocking pantry items when the sale price is really low.
It makes meal planning more spontaneous, and more healthy. We've had a lot of stir fry's with under a pound of meat for 6-7 people, or soup.
The high gas prices last year killed the budget, and the credit, and this allows us to keep paying all the bills. And lots of food stays out of the landfill.
What I don't know is why more cities don't start this same type of volunteer led program. (The volunteers also get food too.)
But without that, no way could we eat on $1 per person per day, except in the height of summer, when the garden is abundant.
FoodNet, etc.
Date: 2009-02-26 03:14 pm (UTC)What I don't know is why more cities don't start this same type of volunteer led program
I don't know whether we have an exact match, but here in NYC we have City Harvest (http://cityharvest.org/), which collects leftover food from restaurants, greenmarkets, etc. and distributes it to soup kitchens/homeless shelters. There's also a Freegan (http://www.nypress.com/article-13739-dumpster-dining.html) demimonde :-)