Hunger.

Need I say...even with my killer skills at getting a deal on food, I went to bed my first night hungry. However, after my middle-of-the night snack and a poor night's sleep the first night, I had managed to make it through day one eating healthy, organic food. Still, I couldn't last like that and go through my typical day without burning up all of my energy and crashing. I had A little over $22 left to spend and desperate measures were called for....

SMOOTHIES! My first day I lived, largely off of smoothies made of ice, kale, banana and a date, plus a honey packet in each I picked up in the coffee/tea café section at the Coop (shhhhhhhhh!). I went to bed only to awake- hungry. That NEVER happens. I made myself a baked potato and ate it with salt and some mustard from a packet I also picked up for "free" at the coop's Deli counter (Shhhhh). It tasted amazing.

My nearly-post-less week of eating on $7/day comes to an end. Here's the deal: Monday I buy 2 large bunches of Kale for $3.98. I'd already bought 1/2 pound of organic rice for 80 cents, 5 bananas for $1.01 (!) and $1.50 worth of organic dates, or, 5 dates. Add to that $3.67 for the organic, fair trade coffee beans and I'd spent $10.98. Add-in a few small potatoes and I was already at $12.20 spent. I knew I'd need more food for my 5 days but I was off to a good start. ALL of the food I bought was on special, and cost considerably less than the regular prices. Much of what I bought at Madison Food Coop and bought most of my goods in bulk. The bananas came from Safeway, where I'd loaded up my Safeway card with a special "custom" deal from their "JustForU" program for bananas that cost only 44 cents per pound.

I'll actually start with ONE cup of very good Kalani Fair Trade Organic French Roast coffee from beans I bought on sale ($9.79/lb) at PCC (aka Pacific Community Coop). No, not a pound's worth. Not a 12 ounce bag. Rather, 6oz of beans for the whole week. They cost me $3.67. And, most of those days that I'll have coffee this week, I'll be drinking it black. Time to go and brew some coffee!

Here we go... So, my friend Diana Woodall's been participating in a program presented by the United Way of King County (Seattle) whereby one pledges to eat only $7 worth of food a day, the same meager amount that one gets to live on if one is on food stamp assistance. This year, I decided to give it a go alongside her. Consider this day one.