Meal On A Budget - #MaxicanFood Episode 21

Click Here to Watch This Episode of #MaxicanFood on my Instagram page

According to the Center on Budgeting and Policy Priorities, the average food stamp recipient receives about $4.46 per day for food. After having recently created a monthly food budget for myself, I can confirm that this is a ridiculously low dollar amount, surely making it difficult for individuals and families alike to rely on a balanced, nutritious diet to help them escape their tough situation. If anything, an inability to purchase the necessary food items to maintain a healthy lifestyle is further contributing to a seemingly endless downward spiral.

With that being said, tonight's mission was to find a way to put together a meal under this $4.46 budget that I would constitute as being somewhat healthy.

Tonight, I found a guy named Joe and he was definitely in need of some food. As odd as it sounds, the idea here was to give him food without him saying 'thank you'; and the reason I aimed for this is because I wanted him to feel that he was contributing to me more than I was contributing to him. So, as immoral as it may sound, I created a lie centered around the idea that I needed to get to Corona and I needed his help with directions. After explaining to him how “my phone had died,” he was able to give me the necessary directions to get to Corona. I thanked him for helping me out, and I also mentioned that I had food in my car if he wanted to take it in exchange for his ability to help solve my problem. He accepted the food without hesitation, and he didn't say thank you because, quite frankly, I wouldn’t allow him to. I had already said thank you five times because I was trying to explain to him how grateful I was for his help. When all was said and done, he was given some food without feeling that he was given yet another handout from someone above him in society.

For people like Joe, it can be a difficult to balance the mindset of not wanting to rely on others to provide for them, while simultaneously getting the food and nourishment they need to get through the day. Fortunately, we were able to do that tonight in a way that did not compromise his pride, but rather provided Joe with a situation where he provided value to someone else’s life. Despite the dishonesty on my end, his willingness to try his best to remember what freeway would be best for me to take meant a lot to me. It was a pure display of one human's desire to be of service to another, something I believe we all aim for in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks for watching Episode 21. See you next time!

#MaxicanFood is my attempt at creating and sustaining positive change in my community. Though this initiative may seem simple and random in nature, my intention is to bring awareness to friends, strangers, and myself on multiple levels. On the surface level, I focus on encouraging others to be thoughtful and caring towards their neighbors, no matter how big or how small the act. I believe this is an essential component to building a strong community of caring individuals who are always seeking to find ways to support those around them. Digging deeper, I aim to encourage intelligent ways of giving. In all honesty, I don’t think giving someone a chocolate shake on a Tuesday evening is making a huge impact on that individual. In fact, there are multiple reports that point to this behavior being detrimental to the individual as well as to the community as a whole. On the other hand, I believe there are ways that we can implement simple gestures of giving in a manner that benefits the receiver. Therefore, I use #MaxicanFood as a testing grounds where I am able to try different tactics in an attempt to discover new, forward-thinking ways of giving that genuinely benefits others in an impactful way. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, #MaxicanFood is a platform through which I can connect with people as I aim to understand and thoroughly enjoy the life that I have been given. Whether this be through face-to-face interaction with the recipients of my food donations, or via Instagram messages from friends who took time out of their day to watch what I have to share with the world, I genuinely believe the time and energy I put into this project is well worth the investment.