Not for just 5 days.

There's a few points I found disturbing with the participants of The Michigan Food Stamp Challenge.

First of all I don't think there are any rules when it comes to survival.  Of the blogs I read, some felt that they may be cheating if they took a trip to their pantry.  I'm guessing, but if the occasion arises and you actually have to go on the Michigan Food Stamp program I can assure you, your thoughts won't be "well that would be cheating", it would be more like "Yahoo!!! lucky me".  Or perhaps your a little guilty that your pantry is better stocked than most supermarkets, there's no way to telling, but again I say "lucky you".

Secondly, I found that the participants just couldn't imagine feeding themselves on a mere $5.87 a day.  How would they survive, and would they make it to the end of the week.  Please, it was only for 5 days, not 9 months that the average participant of the Michigan Food Stamp program actually exists on $5.87 a day.  Now I say, 9 months would be a real challenge.  Oh, and by the way, take the money out of your own pocket next time.  I'm a little offended that you found it necessary to eat off the taxpayers of Michigan even if it was for 5 long miserable days.  I know your weak from your ordeal, perhaps you should run to your pantry for a quick snack.

Third and Lastly,  Not only are the individuals working really hard to stretch $5.78 a day, with planning, and actually cooking their own meals, it is required that they be highly creative.  It takes imagination, creativity, and ingenuity not only to qualify for the program, find an reputable authorized vendor in your area that participates, and then make sure the items you have chosen are on the approved list of items you may purchase under the program.  Not one person in any of the blogs that I read said that the items they chose weren't on the list of approved items, but my intuition tells me this happens quite frequently.  That's why they have an approved list of items you may purchase. 

But enough about you.  I don't think that The Michigan Food Stamp program is failing.  I know that personally I have lived on a lot less than $5.78 a day.  And that's not a complaint that is a fact.  Of course it required drastic changes to my diet (you see I was once like you).  And now I follow the Asian/or Mediterranean food pyramid, in place of the American food pyramid.  In my research I just found them to be healthier, and contained more volume for the dollars spent.  These diets have worked for thousands of years for other cultures, there's something to be said about experience.

Perhaps education is the answer to The Michigan Food Stamp program.  And the tools people need to succeed.  Why should the administrators have access to the necessary tools to make the program a success, but the actually receivers of the program have not.  And so the story goes. 

I choose to be a success at this test/challenge, not a failure.   As you will see in my subsequent posts.