Hunger Challenge Day 1: Common Food Bank Items
By: Sheri Wetherell
Published: March 21, 2011

Today begins day one of the United Way of King County's Hunger Challenge, a week-long exercise in empathy —to live in someone else's shoes for one week and learn how we can help fight hunger. This week, the Foodista team will create healthy meals for $7 a day (for an individual) or $12 a day (for a couple). We'll be creating meals using items commonly found at food banks (see list below) as well as with fresh meats and produce. It's easy to simply bulk up on cheap starches and we're trying to avoid that. Consider this shocking national statistic: one out of every six adults and nearly one out of four children struggle with hunger. Eating nutritiously can be a challenge for anyone, let alone on a tight budget. We hope to inspire you to do what you can to help end hunger for good. We'll be donating what we save this week to our local food bank. Common Food Bank Items

Dry beans
Rice
Peanut butter
Canned peas
Milk
Eggs
Potatoes
Onion
Canned Carrots
Yogurt
Oatmeal
Frozen corn
Stewed tomatoes
Wheat bread
Canned tuna
Macaroni and Cheese
Chicken Noodle soup
Applesauce
Pasta
Ramen Noodles

Photo by: freezelight

Comments:
Chris
March 21, 2011

A little disturbing to see how many canned &amp; processed items are on the "common items" list.
Sheri Wetherell

Indeed it is. The processed foods I think are particularly disturbing. That's why I want to focus on how to incorporate (inexpensively) more fresh proteins and produce and use only the food bank items as part of the meal.
Kathleen Flinn

Great post. What I find interesting about this exercise is that it takes a serious effort to find good options for fresh produce. As this shows, food banks can't generally supply that, either.