Raw Foodie, eh?

So ya may (or may not) wanna know about my eating habits lately... I'm right into a RAW VEGAN DIET which began in July 2009, moving along from vegan to raw vegan. Not such a leap as I thought, initially. The recipes took some getting used to. I shopped at Church Bazaars, garage sales and second hand stores to find 'new' appliances needed in my kitchen. At first, I was gritting my teeth with worry about 'getting it right' in meeting all my nutritional requirements but have found that raw vegan is not much different from vegan, in that regard.

The benefits from this diet are many. I've lost the craving for sweets; have stopped looking for snacks to eat in the evenings; notice an increase in mental clarity; am far less tired during the day; the bloating I was suffering from has disappeared; there has been a slow but steady weight loss and an overall feeling of delightful well-being.

However, I am not eating everything raw. I indulge in the occasional baked potato/yam or I may steam some broccoli. The raw foodies would say I was about '97% raw' (now THAT sounds a little weird!)

I'm saving a wee bit of money, too: on the hydro bill, as the electric stove-top isn't used as often and there are fewer dishes to wash up. Also, the overall grocery bill is lower, as I'm definitely eating less.

Someone asked me if I feel the cold more because none of the food is heated. No, actually, I don't and some of the food IS warmed up. I use a dehydrator when called for and the entrees I make are often warm at time of serving. Like a dish called Canadian Neatsticks... yummy!

I admit this style of eating is not for everyone, but I'm pleased to say it is working for me.

Anyone Can Grow Shit Themselves

Well, not quite anyone. If you've not a patch of land or a balcony or suitable space indoors for growing pots (not to mention the required additional equipment), then you're out of luck.

But otherwise, yea, anyone can grow shit themselves, as Ms Broke-Ass Grouch makes so eloquently clear in this fantastic article.

Here's a snippet:

Listen up, locavores, opportunivores, dumpster-diving fermentation fetishists, and Dave Matthews Band fans: A great many of us live by the same ecologically sound principles that you do. We, however, are not doing so because we nurture an abiding desire to "create choices" for ourselves or to "live intentionally." We don't have any more than a passing interest in "sustaining biodiversity." We are known as poor people.

Now go ahead, read the rest.

[Cross-posted at Challenging the Commonplace]

So Terribly Sad

According to Ian Tostenson, head of the BC Restaurant and Food Service Association, people who dine out are paying more for their meals.

Tostenson blames it all on the HST.

I don't doubt that he is right.

Paying more than you would for a meal you or your companions made yourselves is the cost of dining out. Whether you pay extra in tax for your meal or not, you pay for your consumption.

That is the beauty of taxation policies that emphasize consumption taxes over taxes on earnings. Lower taxes on income and investments encourage rather than discourage enterprising activity; and applied intelligently, carrot-and-stick taxes guide consumer behaviour and are among the best tools to drive that enterprising activity toward greening the economy.

The people who can pay for their over consumption will, among them those who continue to dine out.

Besides, whatever happened to the packed lunch?

The Relativity of Small Things

Alternative title: Go through your cupboards; improve another's quality of life.

...I am fresh out of having a bubble bath; sprinkled myself with body splash; treated my feet and hands with lotion; and dressed myself in my stay-at-home flannel pants, a blouse and a sweater.

At 7:30 this morning, I ate a homemade mix of oatmeal, sesame seeds, almonds, (barley?), and other goodies I can't identify. After cooking (nuking) it, I topped the mix with brown sugar. Just now, I had a banana. A pear sits in the fruit bowl for later.

Yesterday, as I prepared to go out for a walk, I considered my footwear options. Would it be the winter hiking boots? The Doc Martens? Or the Sauconys? I went for the boots, having previously chosen and slipped on one of several pairs of warm thick socks. (How lovely to have options! And how wonderful to put years of aching cold wet feet behind me!)

Then I donned a black wool London Fog coat, the second of two London Fog coats now in my wardrobe. I completed my outdoor outfit with a hat, scarf and glove set.

Every one of the items italicized above were given to me by friends; in one case, my son.

The list goes on of course. My kitchen today is unrecognizable from that of one year ago. Thanks to Cowichan Valley Recycle/ReUseIt and the friends I've met through that wonderful online group (1156 members!), my kitchen has pots, a cast iron frying pan, an egg poacher, a steamer, a small food processor, an electric can opener, a wooden block of high quality knives, a coffee bean grinder and a lovely red apron for the 'cook'. There's likely more I can't remember.

Then as recently as last Friday, my kitchen cupboards acquired spices. Since spices tend not to be a nutritional requirement, I'd been going without them. As I remarked to the friend who delivered the spices and so many other items that day, all with my special needs in mind: at least if your food is bland you've less incentive to eat much!

The point of this post is to drive home the importance of the small stuff. What may seem insignificant to one person can make a significant difference to the life of another. Because of the generosity of friends, new and old, and a wonderful online community, the quality of my life has steadily improved despite my significantly low income.

On Being Happy

Am back from having gone to the food bank, and am now eating a pickle sandwich and some almonds and feeling happy for the first time in several years. Not just content, but happy.

Several factors have contributed to this turnaround, from chronic depression and chronic pain, to episodes of happiness and substantial reduction of pain.

Foremost is having finally qualified, now at age 60, for rental assistance from the BC government in the form of the Supplementary Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER). Effective August, I began receiving a monthly payment geared to income that substantially contributes to my rent. Payments from the Canada Pension Plan also began in August. These two payments, one provincial and one federal, plus my small income from savings, have combined to increase my income by a whopping 40 percent - to $10,100 annually.

Regardless of what measure one uses, I am still several thousand dollars below the poverty line. However, the 40 percent increase has made a huge difference to me, not least because I've been able to buy items I've desperately needed. More important, however, is the considerable lessening of stress due to daily financial worry.

As to pain, my financial situation has finally been reflected in my BC Pharmacare coverage. Since July 1st, I've not been required to contribute anything to the one prescription medication I take (Synthroid). Prior to that, I'd had to pay at least 30 percent of the cost, plus a deductible. (I don't know why it took so long, given my income has been sub-$8,000 for several years.)

I avoided the doctor because, what was the point? It was shut up and put up, to hell with the pain.

With so many things having changed, including my Pharmacare coverage, a few days ago I visited the doctor to ask for her help with pain management. She prescribed Gabapentin and I'm on a schedule to gradually increase the dose. (From one/day, to two/day, to three/day. Am up to two/day now and shall be glad when I reach the full dose. The pain returns in full force just around the time pill number 3 is due.) Already, there has been a difference, though. At night, there's less pain, so I sleep better. In the mornings, I'm able to walk, climb stairs, do light housework and pull my shopping cart with considerably less pain. The result is greater mobility and better quality of life.

Am also grateful to our local food bank and the businesses, organizations and people who contribute to it. I've only been getting bread there, but today, for the second time since I've been going to the food bank, I stopped for some coffee and a bran muffin; and met and chatted with some people while there.

Perhaps I appeared more approachable. I know I was smiling.

Can You See My Grin?

Today, I went to my post box and discovered a card from a special friend. My smile lightened my step as I went forward to my little shack in the woods. Once I got home and opened the envelope to find a treat from one who could least afford it, I was elated. It is amazing to feel so uplifted! Such a small thing, others would say, but I know how much it means to receive this unexpected present. The least I can do is say THANK YOU!

On Liberals' Proposed National Food Policy

Don't be fooled by the big numbers. Here's what the Liberals propose to be included in their national food policy as reported by the CBC:

* $50 million to improve food inspections and ensure imported foods meet domestic standards
* $80 million to promote farmers markets and local food
* $40 million to help 250,000 low-income children get healthy food (my emphasis)

Let's look at that last one, shall we?

Any program has administrative costs, so it's not clear that the entire $40 million would go to 250,000 children. However, let's assume it does.

The numbers reduce to this: $160 per year per child, or $13.33 per month, or 44 cents per day.

Wow.

Food costs are higher where people of low income live. Most of us haven't the means - a vehicle or bus fare - to get to where the bargains are. We must walk everywhere or transport ourselves in a four-wheeled scooter (if we're so fortunate to have one and live in a building that provides plug-in facilities). If we've a scooter, then accessibility to, from and in stores becomes a further barrier.

How much do you suppose someone can buy for 44 cents in a neighbourhood where there's only one grocery store and accessibility for people with disabilities is an issue?

Here's another bone to pick. Children under a certain age don't have income. Their parents or guardians do.

You can bet that hungry children have even hungrier parents. Parents will deprive themselves of food before they'll let their children starve.

Politicians and poverty activists should stop the "child poverty" crap. Because you can't lift a child out of poverty unless you treat the whole family - hell, unless you treat the whole community.

Incidentally, by the time the Liberal plan would come into being, inflation would have eaten up all or a good chunk of that 44 cents.

To Vegan

In a previous post, I said I would talk about how I came to embrace a vegan diet.

When I left home, in my late teens, eating 'red' meat was a once a week occurrence, if that. Eggs, chicken and cheese were the regular fare. Often our meals were vegetables only. Fine by me.

When I married, I found that my partner wanted pork, almost unheard of in my nuclear family. I learned to fry chops or purchased 'cured ham' for the dinner table. This was not what I wanted to eat.

So began my quest for an alternative.

Why? Health. Economics. Ethical. Environmental. And spiritual.

For years, I continued to consume meat, all the while loathing what I was doing to my body and to animals raised for food. Eventually, after much research, I decided that a 'vegetarian' diet was as close as I could come and still stay healthy. Dairy and seafood were often on the table in those days.

Not until I met my current room-mate, did I know about a vegan diet. Switching from vegetarian to vegan took two years. Two years to stop the imagined craving for sardines, cheese, eggs and butter. That was well over twelve years ago. I've never looked back.

Last summer, I began leaning toward an all raw vegan diet. It's been easier than I anticipated, perhaps because I was already content as a vegan.

Almost immediately I noticed positive differences. I've lost a few pounds, feel brighter, have fewer troubles with the dreaded 'change of life' symptoms, reduced the grocery bill and am enjoying new un-cooking experiences in the kitchen.

I value the choices I've made concerning my diet.

What is 'Healthy' Food'?

Just what is 'healthy' food, anyway? And how does someone living below the economic edge acquire 'healthy' food on a consistent basis?

As consumers, we are deluged with messages that promote healthy lifestyles, attainable when you choose 'healthy' food. In most cases, this leads to persuading us to buy the commercially sanctioned 'health' food, which is about corporate profit, not personal health.

Healthy food means whole food. Whole food is a fresh apple, bread made at home, a pot full of reconstituted lentils, simmering in a spicy vegetable broth. It is not necessarily certified organically grown fruits and vegetables. It does not come in pre-packaged items adorned with lovely pictures. It is not clustered in expensive vitamins from the local 'health food' store. Nor is it found in animal muscle, an udder product or a chicken's ova.

Replacing convenience foods with whole food; eliminating animal and animal by-products from your diet; eating less; shopping for local produce whenever possible will all aid in the quest for 'healthy' food.

I consume 90% whole raw food, do not eat anything animal related, am healthy and my daily budget spent on food is $3.40.

Not for you, you say? Fair enough. Changing lifelong eating habits is not easy but it can be done. More later on how to make the switch. Hint: it took me two years to acquire vegan status from a vegetarian diet and have been changing to a raw vegan cuisine since August 2009.

Feeding Yourself on a Dollar a Day

Two teachers in the USA set about doing an experiment to see if they could eat on less than $1.00 per day for 30 days. Then they published a book about it.

They needn't have bothered.

This is old news for anyone who lives in my peer group of income. I live like that all the time and have detailed on this blog the struggle to eat nutritional food and still stay healthy. What differentiates those in true poverty from those merely experimenting are certain assumptions:

• that one has a car for toodling around to get the best deals, usually in bulk; 
• that one has a fully equipped kitchen; 
• that one has a garden or balcony or other area from which one can grow one's own food and the tools with which to do it.

In Canada, income in the lowest decile category demands no more than a $1.00 day spent on food.

Let no one suppose there is no poverty in this country. It is all around us.

Bargains Scarce in High Poverty Areas

It's a well-known phenomenon, driven by market savvy (and corporate greed), that areas of high poverty have the least access to low prices for necessary goods, including food. More often than not the places where the deals are require more than mere foot travel. In some cases, not even public transportation goes to these places. And when it does, there's still the problem of being able to carry back enough of sale-priced goods to justify paying the bus fare.

In essence, the people of lowest income, those with the least choices, are a trapped market. (Whatever would corporations do without us? Maintaining an underclass appears essential to the single bottom line: profit.)

It's also the case that unless you've a car, you can't properly capitalize on bulk deals.

All of which further limits choice for people who are already desperate.

Previously I'd written about how our food bank culture limits choice. One example I gave was the discontinued practice of local grocers to sell day-old bread; hence, their reducing the choices for bread from three to two for people of low income: either go to the food bank, or go without.

In response to that post, I received an offer from a friend of Daphne's.

Teri wrote that she regularly gets day-old bread at a Cobble Hill bakery that produces fantastic organic, multi-grain breads. The day-olds usually sell for $0.50 each, but sometimes even for less.

I can't get to Cobble Hill, of course, but Teri can and that's what she was writing about. She said that when she goes to buy bread for herself, she'd be happy to pick up some loaves for me too. She'd put them in the freezer, then next time she's in Duncan, drop them off.

Now that's a choice I prefer than the two I'd been left with.

Teri contacted me a few days later to say she'd picked up TWENTY loaves of bread, some for herself, some for others and as many as eight for me, subject to room in my freezer. The price: $0.25 per loaf.

Just got my first delivery: six loaves of wholesome bread for a total cost of $1.50. I tried to give Teri $1.50 more, to help pay for the gas expense in getting to my place, but she wouldn't accept it.

A Day in the Life: Visiting the Food Bank

A week ago, I described one of the ways in which the food bank culture limits choice.

Almost two years ago, in a post on Challenging the Commonplace, I wondered how much thinner I could slice my bread. Since then, of course, bread prices have shot up even further, as have the prices of flour, yeast, molasses, honey and oil - all ingredients for making whole wheat bread in a bread-making machine.

I acquired one of those machines not long after writing that post, thanks to friend Daphne. And for almost a year I did make my own bread. Then those prices went up and up and up and I couldn't do that anymore either.

All of which is a roundabout way of telling you why I visited the food bank today. It was to get bread.

It was my third visit in as many months. Only to get bread, you understand, not to stop for a meal or to sign up for a hamper once a month. I don't do well in social situations and asking for help is a non-starter, so I would go in, get my bread, and quickly exit.

Each time I've been to the food bank, I couldn't help but notice the brightly-coloured food laid out on the table directly behind me, opposite the bread shelves; with plates and utensils alongside, inviting anyone who wanted to, to sit down and dig in.

So, yes, today I went to the food bank, to do my grab-bread-and-run errand.

But it was not quite run. It was more like a slow inch-by-inch exit with eyeballs glued in the opposite direction to that of my body.

Having exited, I headed off to Sears to pick up two camisoles I'd purchased on a gift card - thanks to the reward points I'd earned from having made wise use of my credit card. All the while I thought of those cold salad dishes at the food bank: wild rice mixed with tomato and what looked like currants, seeds and onion and a great bowl of mixed leafy greens. There was more, but those were the two dishes I'd had my eyes on.

Still thinking of the food, from Sears I went to the pet store to get some canned stuff for Kiltie, who needs a special diet. She eats better than the human, natch.

I returned home by way of the street that has the food bank. And walked into the building. Went directly to that table, grabbed a small plate and fork, put a scoop of wild rice mix and another of greens on the plate, sat down and ate.

Oh. My. Goodness. It felt like my damn veins were flowing like a spring river, the food was that good; and I hadn't realized how much I'd missed the different textures either.

We are fortunate in the Cowichan Valley. Over the past two years or so, our local community gardens have set aside a place for growing food for the food bank. That explains why the spreads at the no-longer-just-soup kitchen include fresh fruit and veggies over our long growing season. But how our food bank is managing it in the off-season I don't know. Regardless, this is one very grateful recipient.

Today was my first meal at the food bank. I may eat some more meals there.

Thank you to the people who run the Cowichan Valley Basket Society, including Dave the cook, and the driving force that is Betty Anne Devitt. Thank you to the grocers and the people of the Valley who make such nutritious food available.

Frugal Food Budget

In my last post I wrote about WHAT I eat on a daily basis but left out the cost factor. Here it is:

To start, I keep a spread sheet to track exactly where my money goes. Last month, my total bill for food was $107.93. A further $8.98 was spent on other items that I must have.

The most important of the non-food items is the $3.99 I expend on cat food. Unfortunately, it is the cheapest brand the stores have to offer. Fortunately, my precious feline resident doesn't seem to mind, bless her furry little heart.

The other is toilet paper costing $4.99 per month. Imagine having to find an alternative for that! I have contemplated cutting up worn out flannel pillowcases and sewing piles of hankie-sized 'sheets'. However, after considering the extra laundry soap and electricity to operate the washer that would be consumed, not to mention the yuck factor, I opted to buy the bathroom tissue. And I refuse to entertain the idea of scrunching up bits of unprinted newspaper....

The largest portion paid out is for produce at $83.71. Nuts and seeds are $15.91. Finally the three food 'have-to-haves' that don't fit in the first two categories are tea at $3.99, nutritional yeast at $2.72 and spices at $1.60.

A Day in the Life: Daph's Daily Intake

Unlike Ocean, I only eat twice a day. So boring, I know, but it works for me and my pocket book.

Breakfast starts by boiling water, adding fresh squeezed lemon juice to make a hot beverage. I usually drink two or three cups over two hours. Next is an apple, cored and carefully sliced into eighths, followed by an orange or grapefruit, if I have any, which depends upon price and availability. I wait for half an hour then indulge in 12 - 15 pre-soaked and de-skinned almonds. Around 11 am I use a blender to whip up a concoction consisting of 1/3 cup steel cut oats, two dried dates, four raw cashews and a sprinkle of quinoa that have been soaked in water overnight. The quinoa have sprouted, resulting in increased food value. I process this assortment of organic grains, after adding a little more water, till it is the consistency of paste. Sounds terrible but tastes great! Really.

I brew up a pot of Chinese tea to sip on during the day, adding hot water as the tea cools.

Dinner always begins by digging into a mixed greens salad tossed with my own dressing, topped with sunflower or sesame seeds, a few mung bean sprouts and sprinkled with nutritional yeast. Entrees consist of raw dips, served with uncooked vegetables and flax/garlic/ginger crackers. This early evening meal varies somewhat, depending on sale items in the produce section, my finances and my fancies.

I do treat myself, occasionally, to avocado, sun-dried tomato, baby bok choy, pears or fresh dates.

If I snack at night, my preference is fruit.

That's it!

A Day in the Life: Lunch and Snacks

I tend toward grazing.

Am also a recently lapsed vegan. A few weeks ago, I developed a strong craving for eggs and old cheddar cheese. The craving became all-consuming. Since a small child, whenever I've been sick I've craved those foods. Didn't matter that I might get sick after eating them; I craved those flavours and textures. Since my body might be trying to tell me something, two weeks ago I relented and bought a dozen eggs. The cheese will follow when it's next on sale.

Three meals a day has never worked for me; four or five is more like it. The following is a full day of meals and snacks:

1. Breakfast: Between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. Oatmeal, unless there's a problem as described in link.
2. Snack: Between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. Four ounces or 120 ml of orange juice.
   The orange juice is made from concentrate. Why cart home water? That's what you do when you buy orange juice in bottles or cartons. Add water from your own tap instead. Directions call for 3 cans of water to 1 can of concentrate. I use 4 cans of water, so get almost two quarts or litres of OJ. Lasts me over two weeks.
3. Lunch: 1:30 to 2 p.m. One boiled egg OR one-half slice of whole wheat bread spread with homemade hummus OR one-half slice of whole wheat bread with one ounce of old cheddar cheese. My hummus has more water in it than usually called for in recipes. The bread I've recently started getting at the food bank. I try to have a dark leafy green vegetable on hand. If available, I eat some of that too, wrapped around the cheese, hummus bread or egg, or on its own.
4. Supper: 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. My lentil concoction.
5. Snack: Before 8:00 p.m. Eight to 12 almonds OR one apple. The number of almonds depends on their price. A typical sale price is $0.99/100 grams or $9.90/kg from the bulk bin. Regular price has been as high as $18.90/kg. I won't pay that. I buy 1/2kg at a time and store the almonds in the freezer (as I do the bread). I love a good crunchy apple but can't manage to have them all the time. If the price works out to 20 cents per apple or less, then I may buy a large bag of them.

Recently I won some free coffee, so my days start with that now, suitably diluted. A great treat.

Am very sensitive to caffeine, so the rest of the day I drink rooibos tea (a naturally decaffeinated tisane) which I buy in bulk from Upton Tea Imports in the US. Would love to buy my rooibos locally but prices are more than double here, even with the exchange rate and shipping costs factored in. For a total of $40.00 I get enough rooibos to last up to 14 months.

In the late afternoon and evening, I start adding soy milk to my tea. Totals to about 1/2 cup or 125ml per day.

ETA: I try to follow the above but, like today, it seems like a lot to eat. And I get distracted with my unpaid activist writing and miss one, sometimes two, of those meals or snacks. Usually it's the evening snack I skip; more rarely, it's lunch. I NEVER skip breakfast or snack #2, the orange juice.

ETA March 20, 2010: Well, that was a short experiment. Have resumed my vegan diet. So no more eggs, no more cheddar cheese. Didn't like their results.

Food Bank Culture Limits Choice

I used to buy day-old bread, buns and rolls; over-ripe produce; and non-food products whose packaging was damaged, e.g., toilet paper, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products such as toothpaste and toothbrushes. All these would be substantially marked down in price.

That option no longer exists in my community, except at the local corner store whose prices are already marked well above supermarket levels.

For the past several years, all my local supermarkets have sent such items to the food bank. Which means people of low income must go to the food bank, go without those products, or pay a regular price for them. I understand a similar phenomenon has happened in other communities.

There are those of us who don't appreciate the choice the new food bank culture has forced on us, that of going to our local food bank or going without. There used to be a third, dignity-preserving alternative for those who could still manage it.

For some, visiting the food bank isn't an option. In the words of one WISE storyteller, Sheree:

I just can’t. It’s begging to me. I can’t beg my family for anything, I can’t beg society. I did all kinds of begging when I was growing up: Please don’t hit me, please love me, please look at me as a person. Now I won’t beg anybody for anything. Policies of Exclusion, Poverty & Health, p109.

Anytime I say to someone that I can't go to the food bank, I get back comments loaded with judgement: that I should 'swallow my pride', that 'the food bank is there to help', that 'there's nothing wrong with it'. On and on it goes.

Well, pride is one of the few things I've left, I don't want help, and that solution isn't right for me given issues they know nothing about.

I'm sick of people expecting a justification for this or any other decision I make. Those who do this should think carefully about the position of privilege from which they make their judgements. I include other people in poverty; there's class consciousness at work at all levels.

Why is it that the more financially destitute a person is, and the more of themselves or their independence they try to hang onto (think of homeless people who refuse to go to shelters), the more they are judged as inadequate or somehow deficient?

ETA: A reader sent a link to this. There's a "gleaming new food centre" for the Greater Boston Food bank.

A Day in the Life: Supper

As food and rent prices continue to rise and your income remains the same; as you cut back on everything else and still there's no room, you're left with only one choice: Cut down your food expenses or lose your shelter.

As with breakfast, supper for me is - with rare exception - the same everyday: a lentil soupy concoction with rice or pasta.

I make a batch of it in a pot and it provides me with meals for eight to ten days.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dry green lentils. The local grocer sells them in bulk at $0.21/100 grams or $2.10/kg. I buy one kilogram at a time. (Red lentils are sold at twice the price.)
• 1 small can tomato paste. I buy the NoName brand sold at the local Canadian Superstore. Regular price is $0.54; sometimes it's on sale for $0.50. I used to use a large can of tomatoes but that became too pricey. Tomato paste delivers the same nutrition and flavour; it's just minus the chewy pulp.
• 3-4 cups cooked rice or pasta. Rice is cheaper, even with the price having gone up so much, and I understand it's better nutritionally. If you can manage it, use brown rice instead of white. Beware of false economy. I buy Basmati rice. While an expensive variety, it absorbs much more water than regular rice does. If you've pasta, you can substitute that in place of rice.
• Juice of 1/2 lemon or lime, including the pulp. Use the real fruit, not juice extract. Realemon or Realime are more water than juice.
• Optional: 2 cups of frozen veggies. The dish has a nicer consistency, adds important nutrients, and fills your belly more if you can add this. I buy frozen veggies only if they're substantially reduced in price, however. It's a great treat when my budget can manage it.
• Optional: 1 tsp. tumeric, if you have it. Check out the bulk bins. It might be cheaper than in the little bottles, but be careful to comparison shop. Food sold in bulk bins is often higher priced than when sold pre-packaged.
• Optional: 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. cayenne, if you have it. Same advice re purchasing in bulk.

Method:

Pour lentils into a container of cold water and soak for 24 hours. Drain. Sprout the lentils for two days. (You can skip the sprouting and just cook the lentils, but that's less nutritional.)

To sprout the lentils,

1. Line a colander with a clean cotton cloth. I use an old handkerchief.
2. Pour the drained lentils into the colander.
3. Rinse the lentils thoroughly under a cold tap.
4. Fold the corners of the cloth over the lentils. Pour cold water over cloth to soak it.
5. Let water drain through the colander. Put aside for 24 hours.
6. Uncover the lentils and repeat steps 3 through 5.
7. Do one final rinse of the sprouts.

Once your lentils are sprouted, pour 1-1/2 litres, or quarts, of water into a saucepan. (Less water, say 1 litre, will thicken the consistency, but the dish won't last as long.) Add the tomato paste and optional tumeric and cayenne. Heat to boiling.

If you're using frozen veggies, add to boiling water, reduce heat to simmer, and cook covered for ten minutes.

Remove from heat.

Add the sprouted lentils and stir.

Add the cooked rice or pasta. Add lemon or lime juice - don't skip this step; the juice is a natural preservative. Mix well.

Store refrigerated.

Bulk Bin and Checkout Prices

Beware those bulk bins in your grocery store.

One would suppose that products sold in bulk, sans packaging, would be less pricey than the same goods sold in boxes, cello-bags and vacuum cartons, or in boxes of individually-wrapped single servings. But one would be wrong.

In just about every case, unless the bulk bin product is on sale, the price is HIGHER, oftentimes MUCH higher. Even with sale prices, be very wary.

Take oatmeal, for example. (I've a particular interest in oatmeal of late.) My local grocer sells quick oats in the bulk bin for $0.29 per 100 grams. That's $2.90 per kilogram. The current regular price of a 3kg cello bag of Robin Hood Quick Oats is $6.99. The same weight purchased from the bulk bin is $8.70. The bulk price is 25 percent higher.

The situation is worse for tea bags. Not long ago, I did a comparison at another store, between the bulk bin price for regular orange pekoe tea bags and the price of a 144-bag box of a lesser brand (read, 'cheapest') of the same tea.

Don't recall the exact prices but have never been able to forget this: the bulk bin price for tea bags was double the regular price of the 144-bag box.

Also be aware, before you go to the checkout, of the price of everything you buy. Include an approximate calculation for items that must be weighed - use the scales in the produce or bulk section of the store to check the weight of the food you're buying.

Then keep your eyes glued to the checkout screen to make sure the prices match. More often than not, a purchase will include an item whose price is higher than advertised.

A Day in the Life: Breakfast

For as long as I've been in the poverty well, I've had oatmeal for breakfast.

You see, I've always known about the benefits of good nutrition - hence oatmeal and not, say, a donut - and the importance of having breakfast. Anyone of my acquaintance in like circumstances knows this; which I hope dispels another myth about people in poverty.

Given the affordability issue, oatmeal has been the best choice for me, if bought in large 3kg bags, not in boxes of ten or 12 single-serving instant and/or flavoured packs.

I rarely buy anything that isn't on sale, oatmeal no exception. The most I've paid for the 3kg bag of oatmeal is $5.99. If I can make the bag last for ten months, which I do (despite the shelf life being nine months after date of manufacture), my breakfasts cost me $0.60 per month or two cents per day. I make the bag last by using 1/10 cup (10 grams) of oats per serving, not 1/3 cup (40 grams) as recommended. I'm 59 years old, below average height and have a small skeletal frame; I don't need as much as someone larger or younger. Granted, I should probably up the amount, but a life at this level is all about choices among limited options.

So now I face a dilemma typical for someone living in the poverty well. I've been watching sale flyers for months as my oatmeal supply has been dwindling. No sales on oatmeal. The current price of the 3kg bag of oatmeal locally is $6.99. (Sometimes it's as much as $7.99.) I won't pay $1.00 to 2.00 more for it; that money could go to something else, like lettuce or a few apples.

This morning was my first day without oatmeal. (I had a Ryvita cracker instead.) Not only did I miss that warm bowl of stick-to-the-ribs goo, but I missed the ritual of making and eating it. Which highlights a key point: Routine or small rituals can soothe a life when everything else underfoot is unstable.

ETA: Given I've had to cut back my food intake over the past year, I've been losing weight. Haven't been concerned, since I'd gained 20 pounds over nine months from taking the wrong dose of thyroid medication three years ago. Still, it may be time to start getting concerned. Not only do I now fit into my old jeans, which I wore in my dance-teaching and mail-delivering days, but there's this study, which suggests "extra pounds" may be beneficial to seniors.

Then again, the study also says that, regardless of weight, seniors who lead a sedentary lifestyle are more subject to early death. But if you live in the poverty well, you must walk or, if you're fortunate, ride a bicycle everywhere; hence, a sedentary lifestyle is just about impossible for the still able-bodied poor.

Food Factors

For working poor people, like me, food and shelter are always at the top of the list in the 'have-to-haves' department. With little money to go so far, the learning curve is steep. To supply my family with nutritious food, day after day, has been a challenge, to say the least.

To meet the needs of growing children, I made sure fresh fruit and vegetables were a constant. Snacks consisted of these almost exclusively. No pre-packaged junk food found it's way onto my kitchen shelves. Ditto for those handy dandy frozen condensed juices. Water is a best choice for beverage and costs nothing.

Some say fresh fruit is too pricey to serve all the time. It isn't, if that is the only choice. There are always sales on for certain items; neighbours and friends with fruit trees (and vegetable gardens) that share the abundance of their crop when in season and trades to be made. I, at one time, blanched and froze excess fruits and produce for consumption over the non-growing months.

Grains and protein are integral for complete nutrition. Most of us consume far too much protein, causing many of the health issues we see today. After much research and soul searching, I chose to provide a vegetarian diet for my small family, slowly changing to vegan over the years. I now embrace a raw vegan diet for myself, as my offspring have gone on to live their own lives elsewhere.

Meals made at home save a lot of money. Preparation time is spent with family creating a hands-on appreciation for nurturing your body, fostering teamwork and learning safe and sanitary habits in the kitchen that (hopefully) will last a lifetime. Without the television as a distraction, meal preparation becomes entertainment with the immediate reward of eating the food prepared. Even the youngest of children will participate, if given positive encouragement. In my opinion, the hassle is worth the effort in the long run.

I cannot understate the amount of personal discipline I undertake, daily, to stick to the program and live within my meagre, miserly means.