Helen and Dan on the high life vs. food stamps

I feel rather guilty posting this in light of the other posts. But I suppose increasing our own awareness is part of this effort.....you guys rock for doing this!

Friday:

Breakfast:

Shredded wheat ($5 box lasts us both around a week) with milk ($3 carton last us around a week), tea (helen) coffee (dan - zabar’s coffee - 6.99 lb so probably the first impossible thing on the food stamps budget), Orange or grapefruit juice (we get through about 2 cartons a week at approx 5 dollars each) – total: about 3 dollars a day each – this would eat a lot of our budget! I guess the juice and coffee would have to go or be limited. Dan points out a donut is cheaper….

Lunch:

Dan- chocolates from lab mate who went to Aruba (free), pizza (free as part of a meeting but probably about $8 worth)
Helen store bought sandwich and drink $6.30
Dan – 2 cans diet coke $1.50

There goes another days budget….we try to save money by making our own lunch or having leftovers but this was one of those days….
(OK we are already overspent compared to the others)Dan’s father is visiting – it has been months since we saw him so great to spend time together. He arrives on Saturday night and Dan decides to make some pasta. I run to the supermarket and spend $24 on final ingredients for dinner and some eggs etc. for breakfast.

Dinner:
Ravioli – pasta flour, eggs, spinach, ricotta, garlic, sage (approx 24 dollars total but we have eggs and ricotta left over and some ravioli in the freezer for another meal) – could only get a large jar of ricotta in our supermarket – enough for about 6 meals but useless on food stamps. This would likely be do-able on the budget. However, we also used olive oil which costs nearly $10 a bottle – would be hard to buy with stamps and drink a $20 bottle of wine and 2 $3 bottles of Perrier water so the budget is fully out of the window. Oh and a glass of whisky.

Total for day: Around $70 including drinks e.g. 35 dollars each and we have blown our whole weeks budget. Though we did feed Dan’s dad too.

Saturday:
Breakfast: Dan’s dad wants bacon and eggs. With juice (half a 5 dollar carton), tea and coffee. Bread on the side was $3 a loaf. Oh and a bit of marmalade - $4 a jar! Probably $6 per person.

No lunch but tired by hours of shopping finally stopped mid-afternoon at Vintage wine place in Soho to have a glass and had a plate of Artisanale cheese as a snack ($18 for 3, 8 dollars per glass of wine – basically more than a days food stamp budget right there!!!). also bought a bottle of water and cranberry juice on the street as we are thirsty – another $3 gone!Saturday night – Dan’s dad treats us to dinner at Gilt – in the Palace Hotel. We have the tasting menu. I don’t want to upset anyone but it went as follows: chef’s appetizer (parma ham with pea puree and asparagus), tuna tartare, grilled prawn appetizer, grilled sea bass, sirloin steak with vegetables, chocolate dessert and a chocolate to finish. This is $110 per person, not including wine. Of which we have 2 bottles pushing up the tab to around $180 per person including tax and tip. This is Dan’s dad’s treat however by now feeling horribly excessive in view of what the others are experiencing this week. We just blew 5 or 6 weeks food stamp budget on one meal. It was fabulous though….I suppose we justify it by experience as much as nutrition.Total for the day: About $210 per person. OK this is not ‘average’ for us by any means but still quite sobering.
Dan and his dad have a glass of whiskey when we get home. Probably another ½ days budget equivalent. It was a lovely day. Am now going to stop blogging but am scrutinizing much more carefully what we do spend on food and I now plan to donate at least the cost of my Gilt meal in food to the Yorkville Common Pantry this month. Gilt indeed!!!Reading Ian’s blog re. an Irish meal for St Patrick’s made me think about how food stamps must affect plans for special or family occasions. We are lucky that when it comes to special occasions, money is really not much of an obstacle. However, I am sure we would have had a wonderful with Dan’s father even without the banquets and wine.