2. Canned food from Target

Thanks to all of you who have responded to the post about Lenten plans. Several have sent recipes for cheap, tasty, nutritious food, and with your permission I'll post some of these.

Now that I'm thinking about the Lenten Poverty Experiment, grocery shopping is turning into a challenging brain exercise. Monday, while at Target, I decided to pick up some canned goods to take to the People's Resource Center. I spent $19.21--about 25% of the weekly food allotment for two (I had no idea how expensive fruit is!)--and here's what I bought:

• Progresso chicken gumbo soup (on sale), 2 cans, 8 servings, 28 grams of protein
• Diced tomatoes, 2 cans, 7 servings, 7 grams of protein
• Corn, 2 cans, 7 servings, 14 grams of protein
• Green beans, 2 cans, 7 servings
• Chili beans, 2 cans, 7 servings, 56 grams of protein
• Applesauce, 12 lunch-sized portions
• Sliced peaches, 2 cans, 7 servings
• Pear halves, 2 cans, 6 servings
• Pineapple, 2 cans, 9 servings

If I were buying this for myself and my husband, I'd have just bought

• about a day's worth of protein
• about a day's worth of grains (corn)
• enough fruits and veggies for four or five days (but nothing fresh!)

Still to buy for the week, and $57.79 to buy it with:

• milk, yogurt, cheese
• breakfast foods, bread
• meat, beans, eggs
• more vegetables

Looks like a week like this could be balanced, but not very tasty. Fortunately I'm still in the planning stages. My bag full of canned goods goes to the food pantry this afternoon, and I hope it will supplement someone's food stamps so they can buy fresh vegetables and fruits, meat, and good brown bread. Nobody should have to live on canned vegetables.