30 Days on $30 of Food, Inflation Edition: Day 1: Improvisation due to Inflation

Day 1 down, 29 to go! This is my 7th time to do this challenge and while it is certainly a challenge, I enjoy doing it. It's been almost five years since I did it last in March of 2019. And it has been almost 15 years since I did my first challenge!

For those of you who haven't followed my previous challenges, the idea is quite simple: I buy $30 worth of groceries and improvise to make it stretch over 90 meals in 30 days, in an effort to better empathize with, and advocate for, those struggling with extreme poverty— millions who often live off of a similar food budget.

My son Noah, a finance major / philosophy minor often engaged in activist efforts himself, urged me to keep the challenge at $30 despite inflation, saying it would be a more interesting challenge. Haha. He’s right but an extra $10 sure would have come in clutch.

I was happy to find a lot of deals at the mega Fiesta mart near NRG Stadium here in Houston.

I haven't yet calculated exactly how much less food I'm getting on this challenge due to inflation, but my shopping list is up, you can check it out here to see what I managed to secure. 
I would guess I'm getting about 20% less food this time due to inflation, however it's hard to say, as I'm getting more rice this time. More on that in the days ahead.
 

Why do I do this? 

1️⃣ It’s a great way to be more intentional and aware of what you’re eating, while making you very aware of all that we take for granted. It’s a type of fast, you could say, with all the related health and spiritual benefits of a fast, just with a twist. Ok, health benefits debatable in this case, but I’ll let you be the judge. 

2️⃣ To raise awareness of extreme poverty and its effects, especially in light of inflation and unfair wages, and the choices this forces on those facing poverty to eat low quality food. 

3️⃣ To inspire us to realize how our consumption makes a difference in our spending while others go without. How we can consume less and then take the savings and invest in farmland projects that empower those struggling with extreme poverty. 
 
Why not just adjust for inflation and give yourself a raise?

Fair question, but as my son suggested, there are so many who are not getting fair wages, many who do not get raises in symmetry with inflation, so I will use this challenge to document what choices not getting a raise forces me to make.  
 
As for point 3... here's how we're going to achieve this together. It's all about the beauty of incremental multiplication and teamwork to see small, consistent efforts turn into monumental ones over time.
 
My charitable goal is to find monthly recurring donors to help sustain the needs of our work beyond the 30 days of this challenge. 

I do this because for these I am advocating for, the challenge goes on well after day 30, and because I know there's a sustainable way we can be a part of the solution. 

I'm going to use a small "heart-chart" to visually demonstrate our progress toward my goal of finding 25 new monthly sustainers.
 
Just tap on the chart and then on the next screen, enter the amount you'd like to sponsor monthly, and then by tomorrow I will fill in the heart(s) to show that it has (they have) been sponsored! 
 
Together we're stronger: $16 + $17 + $18 + $19 + $20 + $21 + $22 + $23 + $24 + $25 + $26 + $27 + $28 + $29 + $30 + $31 + $32 + $33 + $34 + $35 + $36 + $37 + $38 + $39 + $40 = $780/month = $9,360/year * 5 years = $46,800

The magic is in the simple math: if we fill in all these hearts during this 30 days, that will represent $780 in monthly, recurring support for orphans and trafficking survivors, every single month, or $9,360 annually!
 
It's the power of the sum of consecutive integers plus the power of recurring or incremental investment into solving the problems of extreme poverty among society's most vulnerable.

Because our programs are supported by farmland and gardening projects, your consistent recurring support will be multiplied even further!

And with our monthly donors giving for at least 5 years on average, the math then gets multiplied out to $46,800 we could invest into these programs together if all the hearts get filled!
 
And this is how, together, we turn $30 into $46,800!  
 
In my next post I'll review how the multiplication is coming along from when we did this in March of 2019, almost five years ago! 
 
PLOT TWIST:
 
Let's make this a little more interesting. To simulate the impact of charity on those struggling with poverty, every new monthly donor who fills in a heart on the heart-chart will unlock 1/25th of the oatmeal and flour that I had to set aside due to the $1.57 overage I had to spend to get those in bulk. 
 
Your charitable act will therefore help me gain back a little of what inflation took away from me.

Now onto what I'm sure you're curious to see... the first three meals...

Meal 1 of 90: Savory oatmeal with fried egg.

Meal 2 of 90: Bean and egg tacos with my attempt at homemade tortillas.

Now for some behind the scenes, including my first tortilla making fiasco that turned out to more like naan. Lol.