Food insecurity has been a large, looming issue for me throughout the summer (and it’s an ongoing issue). I qualify for food stamps, I had stamps and things were OK – and then it all went down the toilet.
I mailed my recertification paperwork in April. It was due on tax day – impossible to forget that date.
They couldn’t find it.
I went to the office to recertify in person. Additional information was needed, it could be faxed in by the employer.
They said it didn’t show up in time. They closed my case.
I reapplied. Called to verify paperwork had been received. I got no return calls, so I assumed things were being taken care of.
They weren’t. My case was closed again. Why? They hadn’t received the paperwork. The paperwork they did receive was blank.
I re-reapplied. They have 30 days from the date I applied to process the paperwork. (Each of these episodes has a 30-day processing period). I’m still waiting.
This has been going on since May. Every time I see a PSA encouraging people to apply, I cringe.12
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At the end of May, someone went for a popsicle or ice cream and left my freezer door open. It stayed open all night.
The good news is that I was already eating out of the freezer, trying to get it empty so defrosting could happen. The bad news is that I still lost a few full meals as well as a month’s worth of sides.
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After the first paperwork snafu (but before the freezer snafu) I looked forward to the challenge of feeding the family out of the cabinets and the garden. I wondered how long I could make what we had last, and how many different things I could get the boys to try (and maybe even like!).
It didn’t take long for me to realize that I didn’t have the endurance to work a full shift and then come home to cook from scratch.
The garden…oh the garden. A handful of tomatoes, a few cukes that disappeared as quickly as they were picked. The lettuce came up, but instead of an earthbox of butter lettuces and an earthbox of mesclun (bitter lettuces), I’d planted two boxes of mesclun. In a normal situation, unfortunate.
In this situation, horrifying. (The “good” news is that Kiko likes bitter lettuces. I didn’t have to worry about choking it all down by myself.)
It also didn’t take long for us to go from “that’s a weird combination for dinner” to “Mom? There’s a can of beets in the cabinet and THAT’S IT!!!”
That was my cue to visit the food bank. God bless the souls that volunteer at the food bank, y’all. They went out of their way to normalize this ZOMG THIS IS NOT NORMAL situation. I had to fill out their income verification paperwork and speak with a counselor about my situation (little did we know then that it would take +6 months and counting for this “little paperwork problem” to get straightened out).
The grocery budget has been adjusted. I’m not always successful, but the goal is usually to spend under $100/pay period (every 2 weeks). I shop with a calculator, and make two passes through the store. The first is for the bare bones “we must have this to survive” food – milk, eggs, bread, peanut butter, cereal, vegetables. Then I go back through and prioritize what’s left on the list by how much of that $100 is left.
I’ve adjusted my food storage ideals. The old standard of “two months of meals” is gone, replaced by a stressed gratitude if the groceries I buy last for two weeks. I’ve found my “level” for scratch cooking (Waffles and pancakes, yes – and make enough to toss in the toaster for weekday variety. Pizza on my day off. The boys rejected homemade mac & cheese). I’ve accepted that there is no escape from chicken nuggets. I’ve thanked the boys for working with me, trying new things, and added new foods to my own diet.