Budgets and Emergencies

I am again working on my budgets.  At the end of one financial month, before the beginning of the next financial month, I try to plan how I can make my small funds last until the next infusion of money.  It has always been a survival issue for me... started way back when I had kids and lived on welfare only.  Now I only have a small Social Security Retirement check along with a small amount of food stamps (currently called SNAP).  Not much has changed in my income, despite lots of efforts to change it, but it is only me right now.  My kids have grown.

Right now I am at the end of my food supplies and planning to create a better emergency pantry than I have had in the past.  I know I have talked about it before, but let me update what I can as I write this new post.

Awhile back I purposely tried to live on my back-up food supplies.  I discovered the meal options were not very good.  I had a lot of easy to store foods like rice and dry beans, but little to go with them to make a decent meal.  I decided then to make a change in how I prepare for unexpected food emergencies.  I am trying to make a pantry that would create meals I like to eat.  I am now working on that challenge.

Since I live at such a low income level, I am going to work on a three month pantry first.  My food budget is so low (only $126 each month), I can only use a small amount of food money to begin the building process.  This morning I decided there is only $11 available for my emergency pantry efforts each month.  This will be quite a task.

I have created a plastic container to act as my starting storage option.  Naturally, I will eat the food if I have to, but the bigger goal is to stretch my other purchases to meet the regular food needs of November.  I see a lot of rice and pasta ahead... maybe a steady diet of ramen, a great meal stretcher !!  😃

Actually, I have been reading a lot of materials about food and diets and weight loss.  FOOD RULES by Michael Pollan is the latest book I have been reading.  Eating healthy and eating cheaply is the main difficulty in poverty.  I hope to find some useful solutions to those problems.  I will share them with you when I do.

What will eleven dollars buy for my first month doing this?  I don't know...yet!  My staples for quick meals are Rice-a-Roni Spanish Rice, ramen, and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese... they will probably start the process.  Canned milk is good to have on hand.  That might be all I can get in one budget.  Dried fruits store well, so I need to decide which ones to get and how to package them.

By the time we get to December's budget, I should have more meal ideas to start collecting for.  Let me know if you have any good ideas for this effort.  I search lots of resources, and will try to share those with you as time goes by.

In Christ,  Deb  💛

Friday, 6 MAY 2016 :: Checking in and catching up with everything

I have been trying to develop an Excel sheet for farm income options this week... it has been a challenge because I am just trying to get the data into some kind of a projection order.  I haven't been able to operate a farm yet, so I need to know maximum CSA possibilities before it can even begin to make sense, but the idea of making money farming is important to me and to Working Together. 

In my ongoing research about food issues, I decided that CSA's are the way for small farms to go because each farmer can work to find their own customer base.  Income sources can be expanded to other products or activities, like Farmer's Markets, restaurant supply, and finished products for retail sales, but the funding that CSA's provide can be the base that keeps a farm going.  Once you know the minimum and the maximum number of CSA's your farm can handle, they become your goals and your limits.

My primary focus is poverty populations.  I have never been able to take advantage of CSA's because they are often way beyond my income level.  I would need some kind of monthly payment plan.  In my Excel effort, I have CASH and CREDIT options at FULL, HALF, and QUARTER share levels.  The cash, paid in full, option receives a major discount, the credit, pay by the month , option is charged a 20% credit fee.  The product shares are the same for each category, but the pricing levels are different.  It works on paper as a guide, now I need the real figures to decide how to make it work in real life.

A lot depends on what is available during each month of the year... and I have the price of the share as my guide for product contents.  It seems to me that vegetables and fruits are not the only food that needs to be included... eggs, cheese, meats, and other farm products can also be included in the share contents.  The details are the issue for me... I need to know how many acres, what kind of land, where it is located, what to grow, how much it costs to produce and deliver.  Just a little bit of details....  :-)

These are the directions I am moving in, and business plans with cash flow projections have gotten me started. 

I am wondering if a co-op would work, if urban options can work, if I can find land on major bus routes to let low-income households reach me, and lots of other possibilities.  I want to find a way to make it achievable... and have a lot more to learn about the process of reaching these goals.


If you have any great details to share, let me know them...

In Christ,
Deborah Martin

http://work2gather.us

4 AUG 2015 :: Learning about healthy foods

My latest listing at my Etsy shop (work2gather.etsy.com) was a digital form for tracking your food intake.  It is part of my quest to eat better and lose some weight.  I have finally started moving in the downward direction in pounds, so I don't want to stop that trend!!!   :-)

Every information source I go to has a "unique" twist on the food issues they are concerned about.  It has taken some time (in years) to get through all this mixed information and begin to create a plan I can live with.  My new form is the latest of many, and already I am thinking of revisions to make it better.  I have decided just to keep developing my forms and list them all, watch which ones are preferred by people (if any), and continue developing healthy food directions as one of my priorities.

I know that a lot of people are connected to internet apps and other smartphone products, but I like to have paper options to work on...so, I will act as though there are others like me who want to have that information in a private place, not on the internet, and where notes can be kept about the process for their personal history.

In my quest for information

• I discovered a Canadian government source that was a lot better than the American government sources I had accessed before.  I will have to find it again so I can share the web address.
• I discovered a website that has some great information products I can use, and is from the vegetarian/vegan perspectives.  (Healthy foods are all about the recipes... I will look almost anywhere for a good recipe that might become a favorite.)  I was happy to find an infographic on nuts because I haven't quite figured out how much of what nuts are the best to eat. (I have read about almonds and walnuts being protein sources, and know that sunflower seeds have great nutrition, and wonder about other nuts and seeds.  I thought it was good to eat some every day, then I read it was every week.  This part of my nutrition quest is still being researched!)  I printed a lot of pages to read and add to my main collection. 
• I found out the US government food site is updating their serving size materials... and will have to check back for that.  I had to use a 2011 PDF for serving requirement information for my new record form.
• I discovered a popcorn website when I was trying to find out how many calories were in the amounts I eat all the time -- and whether it was part of the grains food group.  (It is.)  I discovered some recipe ideas that I never would have considered for popcorn, but want to try, including making popcorn into a crumb mixture like we do for crackers, bread, and other foods.  Reading through their recipe book inspired me toward making some flavored toppings that are different than what I normally eat.
• I returned to the 21day Fix program's blog website for more videos and recipe ideas.  I discovered some great salad ideas that go beyond lettuce and dressings.  (I had my first "Cucumber Salad" the other day because I noticed one on this site.)  More about this site follows....

Portion control is a huge problem for everyone that wants to lose weight.  I loved the color-coded containers that the 21day Fix program uses.  Their containers go in this order and are sized largest to smallest...

PURPLE  ::  fruits
GREEN  ::  veggies
RED  ::  proteins
YELLOW  ::  carbs
BLUE  ::  healthy fats
2 ORANGE  ::  seeds and dressings
and now they have a drink cup for their newest "smoothie" product.


I decided their containers follow the USDA recommendations in some ways.  I looked for the exact measurements of the containers when I first went to the site awhile back, but couldn't find them anywhere.  I did find some of them with the recipes and/or food videos.

• I think the YELLOW carbs container is probably 1/2 cup size because the regular portion for brown rice and other grains is 1/2 cup. 
• I wasn't totally sure about the GREEN container.  I know that dark leafy green servings are suggested to be 2 cups by the USDA, but regular veggies are listed as 1 cup portions.  I think the program container is probably 1 cup.  (I did see a YouTube video that measured the volume in the containers with water in a measuring cup and BOTH the Purple and the Green containers were about a 1 cup measure.)
• The ORANGE container is for seeds and dressings, which I have read are both recommended at 2 Tablespoon portions.  The photos make it look larger, almost at a quarter cup portion, which would be 4T.  I still need to find out more.

If I had enough money to spare, I would purchase the program, but it is approximately $80.  From what I read or heard the first time I checked on this site, the cookbook would be worth the price!  :-)  -- not really, but it sounded like a great thing to have.  There are YouTube reviews of the package you receive through your purchase and food prep hints and more.  (In checking on the YouTube reviews I noticed an ad for the containers separate from the kit - at about $18, and probably plus shipping.)


In watching some of the videos, I discovered other links to calorie/container guides.  You might find these helpful, too. 

I need to find my previously collected materials and try to figure out some more menu plans, maybe using the container guides for a week or so.  I will try to let you know how it turns out.  I wish I could make a video like all those other people!   :-)  One of these days....