This post was sponsored by Y-USA as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central.
When you hear the term “food desert”, what comes to mind? Are you able to imagine the millions of children, who during the summer break from school, have limited access to food? The hungry bellies of children who live in areas without readily accessible fresh produce and grocery items? A food desert is just that – an urban area where it is difficult to purchase affordable or good-quality fresh food. For many children, summer break becomes a very difficult couple of months because the free food offerings at school (breakfast and lunch programs) come to a halt, and many just can’t eat. It’s hard to imagine so many children going hungry because for many, food is always there.
If it helps to know the numbers, around 22 MILLION children benefit from free or reduced-cost meals through school, and only 2.7 million of those children will continue to receive food assistance through summer programs.
Woah.
It’s so incredibly important that more children have access to food, so through the commitment of YMCA’s Y’s Summer Food program and with the support of the Walmart Foundation, 5 million meals will be made available at 1,500 YMCA locations around the country. But it doesn’t end there. You can help support and raise awareness for food deserts and the programs to help feed children.
You can take the challenge – feed yourself for $5 a day, for 3 days. This real world experiment will show you exactly what it’s like to have limited access to food. That means no fast food and you must eat three meals a day. No coffee runs, no stops at the gas station for a snack. It means taking a good, hard look at your money and your grocery store and figuring out how to make it work.
It’s a task that many families face every time they visit the store. How to make their money stretch but still feed everyone, and feed them healthy options. What adjustments will you need to make? Will you try to live off of just sandwiches and fruit? Every time your stomach grumbles with hungry, remember the millions of children who are “used to” that feeling. Hunger. Lack of attention and focus at school. Low energy. It’s not fun and yet so many will spend their youth hungry.
Feeding a family of 5 using the challenge guidelines, we had $25 A DAY to spend on groceries. That’s a maximum grocery budget of $75 for the three-day challenge and I can tell you right now, our typical weekly grocery shop is between $100 and $150 so this was a hit. This meant going to the basic and planning our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners before shopping. This meant making sure there was a balance of protein, carbs, and fresh produce.
Breakfast options that could fit our new budget: cereal and milk, scrambled eggs, toast with peanut butter, pancakes
Lunches options: sandwiches (peanut butter and jelly, bologna), possible leftovers from dinner (not always available, though), chicken and cheese quesadillas
Dinner options: slow cooked chicken and potatoes, sausage and rice, pasta (nothing fancy just noodles and sauce, maybe add a small salad)
Snacks: applesauce, sliced apples, popcorn
It’s tough. We have several grocery stores we can shop at, and the budget can really make a difference at each. At a larger store, the $75 won’t go very far at all. But by going to Aldi, we can really stretch that. In fact, that’s my store of choice for when the grocery budget it smaller. You can also really pay attention to mark downs and clearance to help purchase more food within your budget. I can’t imagine not having options and having to make this work with just one store because of living in a food desert. It’s stressful, it’s heartbreaking, it’s difficult. As a mom, it’s my responsibility to feed my children and to struggle to do that? It feels like failure. My heart is with every parent who faces this struggle daily.
I urge you to help spread the word about the summer food program offered through your local YMCA (you can find them HERE). I urge you to share this post to help spread the following resources:
- Y-USA Website: http://www.ymca.net
- Y-USA Summer Food Program Website: theyfeedskids.org
- Y-USA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/YMCA
- Y-USA Twitter: https://twitter.com/ymca
- Y-USA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ymca
Take the challenge yourself to help spread awareness. The more awareness we can raise, the more attention we can bring to the issue of food deserts and the more resources and programs will become available for those who need them.