Welfare Food Challenge 2016
A few weeks ago I met with Councillor Chris Wilson for coffee. At this meeting, he mentioned that he was getting ready to start the Welfare Challenge. I had seen his post on Facebook but I didn’t pay much attention to it, it didn’t affect me so why read right? After learning what it was all about, I was inspired to join him in the challenge.
A little background information about this challenge; it is sponsored by Raise the Rates, a coalition that wants government to raise the welfare rates from the current $610 per person per month to $1500.00. Welfare rates in BC have not been raised since 2007, consequently, BC has the highest poverty rate in all of Canada. With the housing and rental rates soaring as they have been, how can one survive on $610.
People on welfare have approximately $18.00 per person to spend on food per week. The average Canadian family spends $56.00 per person per week. To start the challenge, On Sunday October 16, I set out to go shopping with my $18. I went to Walmart, Dollar store and a local Mexican Tortilla factory to get corn tortillas that were on clearance for $1. After all was said and done, I had $2.50 left over so I used it to buy coffee and milk from my husband. I felt like I was cheating but someone said to me, those on welfare can go into places that give free coffee and tea and enjoy it. I was therefore okay paying my husband for my 7 cups of coffee.
On the 1st day, I used my 3 cans of beans, 1 can of corn, half of the tomato paste and half an onion to prepared a big pot of chili. I then used the remaining tomato paste and onion to make spaghetti sauce. I was all set for the week. My meal plans were:
Breakfast: Oatmeal and coffee. Lunch: Tostadas – 2 or 3 corn tortillas with beans and lettuce or beans and cabbage (not the best combination but it was good for variety. Dinner: Penne with sauce, a side of beans and cabbage. Some days I had tostadas with eggs, beans and lettuce. Snacks Boiled eggs
By far, the tostadas were my favorite. They were flavorful and filling. I also made a discovery that I like burnt cabbage. My husband called it roasted cabbage. I left it in the pan for too long, since I couldn’t afford to throw it away, I ate it. To my surprise it was delicious. I encourage you to try seasoned roasted cabbage it next time.
By day 4, delicious as my food was, I was tired of the monotony. I was constantly thinking of food. My dinners were at 5pm which is early for me. One of the reasons why I was eating early was because I was starving, another reason was that I just wanted the “chore” of eating to be done with…. YES! eating had become just a chore!
The early dinners were followed by intense hunger around 11pm, my response to this was to go bed and sleep tummy down that way I wouldn’t feel hungry. Come 5am, I would wake up starving again. My energy level was very low at night and in the morning. My gym class being at 7am on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, I was not able to eat before so after one hour of intense workout, I would be super deprived and weak. After the Thursday workout, I sat in my car for 20 minutes for no reason at all, weird!!
The hardest thing was sitting through all the meetings I had that had meals. On Tuesday at the Chamber business showcase, it was appys all night long. On Wednesday I visited the Autism parents support group in New West and there was food. Thursday morning was coffee with the MLA’s and the doughnuts were looking at me. I don’t even like doughnuts but they looked good. Friday was the absolute hardest – 12 noon was Valley Women Network luncheon at the Vancouver Golf club, 6pm was an open house for a friend’s online radio channel, with a nice spread of food and drinks. 7pm was the senior games Chair and Director appreciation banquet. Tons of food, unlimited drinks, everyone was having a great time. After being tortured all day, I left early to get home and have my beans for dinner. I had a dinner and a movie date with my daughter so on my way, I picked up her Thai food and we enjoyed our respective dinners while watching The Boss.
The temptations were plentiful. It got me thinking of how often we are faced with food away from home. I honestly thought I don’t eat out a lot but I need to look at how much food is offered at meetings etc.
There were several highlights from this challenge. I shared with a lot of people and got quite a few to sign the petition, mission accomplished. Another joy was that I lost 7 pounds in the one week, Yay!!! A few people were quite concerned about the fact that many people abuse the welfare system. They are even more concerned that raising the rates with make the problem escalate. While raising the rates in a priority, our government should also prioritize streamlining the system to ensure that it does not get abused. We cannot punish those that need the help because of a broken system.
The number one victims are always the kids. Please sign the petition and lets join hands and call on our government to #RaiseTheRates. Thank you Chris Wilson for challenging me to participate. Gill McCulloch, thanks for accepting my challenge.
You can find my halfway food challenge video and other related posts on my Facebook Page
