Allan Thompson, Food Box Challenge Participant

Day 1 (May 7th)

Today was the official launch of the Caledon Community Services (CCS) Hunger Awareness Week “Food Box Challenge”. All the participants met this morning for the media photo opportunity and to share our comments, thoughts and ideas about how to make the week the best learning opportunity possible.

Many of the participants share the same concerns that my wife and I have, including the challenge of filling adequate daily nutritional needs on the limited list. While the items are few themselves, it is the limitation on the number of pantry items (what my wife, Anne, would call staples) that she says is presenting some of the biggest challenges. She tells me will need to be creative to make this work.

The project was supposed to start Monday at noon, but in this house we got a bit of an early start on it with our first meal last night, because throughout the week there are several other community events and fundraisers that I was already committed to, and in order to cover off the required number of meals for the week, we got a head start, and we will probably continue through the coming weekend as well. 

Other participants were just as concerned as I was about the one lone can of meat. I told the group we used our can allowance to buy salmon, and that Anne had told me she would be making salmon loaf to stretch it out further. The group thought that was a good idea.

My wife is a great cook. Born and raised on a farm herself, her parents came through the Depression, and that sense of frugal, make-do attitude that many people of that era used was just common farm practice and it continues to influence the way she cooks. The group asked if maybe we could share some of the recipes and ideas we would use through the week to make the food items stretch. We all agreed.  But I have to be perfectly honest here. I may be the participant but it is my wife doing the cooking for me during this exercise. I’m sure she will be happy to share some of the recipes, and so I’m sure you will get to meet Anne here too on the blog as the Thompson family participates in Hunger Awareness Week 2012.