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Sarah's Food Guide Video

Wednesday, March 11, 2010

So this morning was another early morning accompanied by a big bowl of miniwheats and milk.  Then when I came home for lunch I was distracted by my video blog (which you should watch) and my enormous smoothie.  The smoothie contained raspberries, pineapple and applesauce and was delicious.  However, it cost $2.65.  But it did have 6 servings of fruit.  I also had the carrots from the video cuz they were tempting me.  Anyway, so I lost track of time and didn’t get a chance to grab anything to eat (except for the smoothie) for lunch.  So I came home after rehearsal and had an afternoon snack of chefboyardee spaghetti and meatballs which was $1.80.  I also had a cup of tea with the snack.  I had Earl Grey Green Tea, which is basically Green Tea with bergamot but it is really yummy.  That cost $0.12.  Then I had my third day of work this week and I had a pasta with some tomatoes and mushrooms and a couple pieces of broccoli.  Then for my second break I deep-fried some apple wrapped in pizza dough and I also had a donut.  I was kind of hungry.  Anyway, so that meal was free.  My total costs for the day was $6.79 and that does not include dinner.  Yikes!  But I did have about 8 servings of fruits and vegetables, 5 servings of grains, 1 serving of milk, and 1 serving of meat.  So I got all my fruits and veggies in today but I was lacking in everything else.

Sarah Baker

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Food For Thought: Day 4

8:00am comes bright and early following a 4:00am bed time.  Today was good though, all things considered.  I had a quick breakfast which was, oddly enough, leftover soup from last night, packed a lunch, and headed to campus.  Once there, the day started slowly with a few meetings and some class, and I “enjoyed” a couple of relatively bland sandwiches for lunch.

After another hour of class and some meetings, I took time to grab a quick “dinner” on campus to tide me over until I got home.  I don’t have much left in the budget this week, so I just had a small serving of carrots and some potato wedges.  After dinner I had a few interviews and discussion, at which time we picked some new executive members for one of the groups I work with on campus (which is extremely exciting).

I sauntered in the door around 9:15 or so, and put together a quick second dinner, so to speak, of salad and some soup.  I washed it all down with a big glass of orange juice (which I watered down a bit earlier this week to make it last longer), and a glass of milk for good measure.

The campaign has been really interesting so far for a number of reasons; whether it’s the interview calls we get at various times during the day, or the interesting feedback students across campus give us.  A lot of people seem to think living on $7.50 a day is impossible, while others seem to think that $5.00 would be more than generous.  From my perspective, it’s just great to hear that we’re having these conversations, and actually discussing the issue.  Personally, I wouldn’t want to try and do this for less than $7.50, that’s for sure.

A few times this week, I’ve been stopped while walking across campus by a student I’ve never met before, and they asked me about the campaign.  They recognized my photo and the story from our campus paper’s coverage this past Tuesday.  It’s funny to hear the things these people have to say, the ones I’ve never met before and may never speak to again.  Of course, there’s value in all the discourse that happens.

It’s still far too early to tell what the outcome will be, but this experiment has certainly been interesting.  No matter how it all ends, it’s definitely given me and my campus some Food For Thought.

Meal Breakdown:

Breakfast: leftover soup from last night and a glass of milk

Lunch: two ham sandwiches

Dinner: serving of carrots and some potato wedges

Evening Snack: salad with ranch dressing, some soup, a glass of milk and a glass of orange juice

Estimate on Food Guide Servings:

Vegetables and Fruit: 4-5

Grains: 6-7

Milk and Alternatives: 1-2

Meat and Alternatives: 1-2

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Food for Thought – Day 3

Hump days are particularly busy for me. On top of the usual 9:30am class to 11-4pm office hours, I took some time to attend an International Services event on-campus, paused to chat with CTV to prepare for the campaign’s future tv appearance, then a writer from the Brock Press re: Food for Thought, and finally, celebrated a friend’s birthday in the evening with a trip to the local theatre.

I found time to eat, of course, even though I was feeling a little under the weather. My appetite was not as great as usual, so for breakfast — one cup of tea, a banana, a cup of yogurt, and a bowl of plain Oatmeal a la brown sugar. 94 cents.

For lunch, a turkey & cucumber wrap. About $1.

Guiltily for dinner, a bag of popcorn. $5.

TOTAL for Day 3 = $6.94

I did it!

I didn’t do it in a healthy way, but I made the daily budget.

R

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Food For Thought: Day 3

Today was, as I predicted, a bit of a struggle.  My Wednesdays are always the longest days of the week, just due to my class and extra-curricular schedule, but today was especially long.  I got up nice and early at 6:45 this morning to prepare for a brief spot on CBC Radio Windsor at 7:15.  I think it went really well, and they seemed receptive to our message, which is great.  After that I grabbed a quick breakfast, packed up my lunch and dinner, and headed off to campus.

I only had a few hours of class today, but I had a pile of meetings.  As it turned out, breakfast and lunch weren’t as filling as I would have liked, and by 5:30 my stomache was already rumbling away.  I had my dinner, and headed off to CHRW for the Big Purple Couch Radio program I had the chance to speak on tonight.  After that came a student council meeting – for about five hours.  By the time everything was said and done, I came in the door a little after 2:15, meaning I’d been out of the house for about 17 hours during which time I had to eat two meals.

It’s about 3:30 now, and I’m just putting the finishing touches on this blog before heading off to bed.  Of course, I’m off to prepare some food for tomorrow first (and something quick to eat now), so it’s definitely going to be a late night – I have to be back on campus around 9:00am.

Andrew

Meal Breakdown:

Breakfast: a glass of orange juice, two slices of toast with peanut butter, a banana, and a glass of milk

Lunch: leftover spaghetti prepared last night, and an apple

Dinner: more leftover spaghetti

Late Night Snack: a glass of milk, soup and salad with ranch dressing

Estimate on Food Guide Servings:

Vegetables and Fruit: 4

Grains: 7-8

Milk and Alternatives: 1-2

Meat and Alternatives: 1

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Blog Day 3:

If pizza was its own food group, I would hit my daily requirements EVERYTIME! Seriously though, I have had pizza everyday for the past…I’m not even sure how long. This includes buying a slice of pizza, buying frozen pizza, pizza pops…now, don’t get me wrong, I like pizza as much as the next guy but last time I checked it was not one of the major food groups and I doubt that will change. Given that I have had pizza everyday so far for at least one meal during the 3 days of the campaign so far, I feel as though it will be a common occurrence moving forward. I had (once again) cereal, pizza, and pizza to eat today–I seem to be missing some veggies this time. Given that I was on campus most of the day, I did not have any time to prepare anything for the day. Like I mentioned yesterday, hopefully I can get some time this weekend to make some meals to last me for a few days. Until then, I guess I should bring on the pizza! And as a good Italian would say–Bon appétit! Wait…isn’t that Spanish, or Danish perhaps? Mmmmm Danish…I think this diet has got to my head!

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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

So today started off as one of those days where you aren’t sick but you feel like crap.  So I went back to bed and got up at about 10:00am because I only have one class today.  I then ate three slices of PB on toast (which works out to about $1.16).  I also had a glass of milk and a glass of water with that. Still was feeling icky so I had a late lunch of chicken noodle soup.  The can of soup cost $0.79.  I had a glass of V8 juice before I left for orchestra rehearsal too.  Then at work I ate a wrap with turkey, cream cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, bacon and some sauce.  I also had a bit of pizza dough left over so I wrapped up some banana in it and deep fried it.  Then I put sugar on it, it was really good.  I also had another hot chocolate tonight.  If I had had to pay for this it would have put me over my limit by a lot but luckily I still get a free meal when I work.  While I will count the money I spent today I won’t be counting servings because I was sick at work and don’t really know how much of that food is still inside me.  So my total for the day was $3.12.  I realize that for the past couple days I have been significantly under the limit but keep in mind that I have not been paying for my biggest meal of the day and I have also not been getting all my servings in.  Anyway, have a good night all and you will hear from me again tomorrow when I will hopefully be feeling better.

Sarah Baker

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Food For Thought: Day 2

Day two dawned bright and early here in London as I got up around 7:15 to put the finishing touches on a group assignment which was due this afternoon.  A quick breakfast of milk, toast with peanut butter, a banana, and a few slices of bacon (my housemate convinced me to split the cost of a pack of bacon with him, since I didn’t think I could afford one myself) got me off to an alright start.  I managed to throw together a couple of sandwiches for lunch, and grab my late afternoon snack before heading out the door.

I started to get hungry around 11am or so, so I ate an early lunch, and then had my snack around 5:30.  When I got home at around 9pm I had a heaping pile of salad, and some spaghetti I’ve made up for the next few days.  I’m not looking forward to tomorrow, as my Wednesday is usually the longest day of the week.  I normally get to campus around 9am and don’t leave until between midnight and 2am, so it’s a long period of time to need to prepare for.

All in all I’d consider today a success – I made it through the day and back to my house without getting too hungry at any point, and I would consider my diet at least decently balanced.  I haven’t priced out how much I spent though, and I’m definitely not meeting the Canada Food Guide recommendations in all the areas.

Andrew

Meal Breakdown:

Breakfast: glass of milk, slice of toast with peanut butter, a banana, and a few slices of bacon

Lunch: two sandwiches: margarine on bread with some head lettuce, a pair of bread and butter pickles, and a few slices of ham

Late Afternoon Snack: leftover Kraft Dinner from last night, and an apple

Dinner: salad with ranch dressing, a glass of milk, and some spaghetti

Estimate on Food Guide Servings:

Vegetables and Fruit: 5-6

Grains: 7-8

Milk and Alternatives: 1-2

Meat and Alternatives: 2-3

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Sarah's Shopping Trip

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

So today I was up bright and early at 7:00am.  I had my heaping bowl of miniwheats, which was 2 servings of grains (what can I say, I love my miniwheats) and a glass of milk. When I went shopping I bought the biggest possible box of miniwheats so the bowl only cost me $0.89.  I also like to eat them dry.  I know, I’m weird.  After breakfast I made myself a peanut butter and jam sandwich (hereafter referred to as PB&J).  Now, the only way to make a good peanut butter and jam sandwich and still have it be good later in the day is to smother both sides in mass amounts of peanut butter and then put the jam in the middle.  This ensures that the jam will not seep into your bread and crystallize making the texture “interesting” at best.  The sandwich in total cost $0.92 ($0.27 for the bread, $0.50 for the PB and $0.15 for the jam).  I also packed some baby carrots which cost $0.71.  I also drank 3 glasses of water throughout the morning and afternoon. Tonight I was working so I got free dinner (yay!).  I had whole wheat pasta with tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower in a tomato mushroom cream sauce.  I also had some garlic bread with it and a glass of water.  On my second break I had a hot chocolate made out of steamed milk. This was all free but if I were a student buying this, the pasta would have cost me $5.99 and the hot chocolate would have been around $2.00.  So my total for the day was $3.14 and I had 3 servings of vegetables, 5 servings of grains, 2 servings of milk and 2 servings of proteins.  Note to Self:  You need more veggies!

Sarah Baker

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As I sit here studying for a biopsychology midterm tomorrow, I can’t help but think about the irony I am living. We have learned about the crucial notion of formative years (pre-birth and immediate post-birth) for a human, and some of the issues related to the diet for women during their pregnancies and how even a little bit of bad food, alcohol, etc. can adversely affect the child’s development in very perverse ways. While it is fair that university students are far beyond those formative years that I have described, most of us have not yet made it to adulthood physiologically (even if it may seem so on the outside). So, the irony Im living is simple…I am learning about the importance of development and diet and how even the littlest thing can alter a child’s life forever, and, although I am no longer a child (or so I say :p) my body is going to be sensitive to the crap I put in it. Yes, my body is much more resilient than a baby’s, but that doesn’t mean an inadequate diet over 4 years is not going to hurt my body over the long haul–not to mention hamper my ability to reach my potential at school. Yet, today I ate cereal, pizza, and KD with frozen veggies–not too bad I thought, but then I realized how big the nutritional holes are in that meal plan. Hopefully after my crazy academic schedule slows down a bit, I can cook some meals that will last me a few days that are more nutritious. However I am skeptical that I will be able to eat according to the food guide which is our best guess at what our body needs to function at its full potential. Back to studying for me!

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Food for Thought – Day 2

After the initial grocery shop on Sunday to pick up some eggs, deli meat and pantry staples like canned beans and condiments, I decided to venture to the Farmer’s Market to pick up some fresh veggies. Tuesdays are my favorite, as I often take the morning to indulge in catching up on sleep and a jaunt to the Farmer’s Market, downtown St. Catharines.

For breakfast, a friend treated me to a cup of fair trade coffee and  gooey, delicious cinnamon bun, which would have otherwise costed me $4.

For brunch, I hit the kitchen to whip up a colourful asparagus omelette with onions and fresh garlic. Throw in a banana for a cost of about $1.50

After a session at the gym followed by a session with the books, I rushed out the door to make my office hours at the Centre for Student Leadership and Engagement for 3pm. I munched on an All Bran bar ($.70) in the office and headed to class. My hunger started to build, but I didn’t have time to catch a bus home to make dinner and come back in time for my 7-10. I met a friend on campus for a Veggie Focaccia ($8.50 incl. tax) at our campus bar & grill.

TOTAL for Day 2= $10.70
Yikes. I went a little over budget today… Good thing I kicked it off yesterday with $4.86 left over!

Happy Tuesday,

Rach