Could you eat on just $26 a week?
Posted October 24, 2013 1:41 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Participants in the second annual Welfare Food Challenge say living on just $26 a week for food was as difficult as it sounds.
Jenna Drabble is a post-grad student doing her research on the right to food and says she was excited to do the challenge — at first.
“It seemed like a natural thing for me to do the challenge because I spend so much time thinking about and talking to people who are experiencing food insecurity, I thought it was important that I kind of get a better understanding.”
She tells us by the end of the week, she had had enough.
“It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Basically from start to finish, the whole experience of grocery shopping was extremely stressful. I just got sick of cooking and eating. It was boring and it was depressing. I was just really happy for the challenge to be over.”
She also felt isolated. “Recognizing how important food is to social relationships, being able to connect with other people through food.”
The challenge is meant to highlight how difficult it is for people on welfare to cover the basic necessity of food.
