Here’s a recap of all the happenings around Hunger Action Week on Tuesday.  I hope everyone is doing okay taking the challenge and bringing attention to hunger in the community! Also, don’t forget to sign up to get our Hunger Action Week emails! Just fill out the form on the right side of the screen!

Hunger Fact:

Nearly one in five Americans said they lacked the money to buy the food they needed at some point in the last year, according to a survey co-sponsored by the Gallup organization and released Tuesday by an anti-hunger group.  The numbers soared at the start of the recession, but dipped in 2009 despite the continuing rise in unemployment. The anti-hunger group, the Food Research and Action Center, attributed that trend to falling food prices, an increasing use of food stamps and a rise in the amount of the food stamps benefit. [Source: New York Times, 1/26/2010]

[Kathleen Flinn's Pasta]

Blogger Posts:

Magnolia Preparatory Academy: On day 2, the blogger made sure that her kids “paid” for the food they bought.  They asked for a banana and pop tart, so they had to run to their coin jar and get 45 cents.   It was a cute exercise to show the value of food.  She also talked about the issue of making sure her kids had enough to eat paramounting her own stomach, saying “I’m sure there are many parents in Seattle, in Washington state, in the United States and the world ’round who go to bed hungry every night. It’s their trade off for having children who go to bed with bellies that aren’t as empty.”

Savory Sweet Life: Alice talked about how her family going out ended up messing up the budget and causing her stress.  She recalls a story she wrote about during last year’s challenge about how it felt growing up poor: “I recall several times being at the grocery store with my mom and watching her disposition change on her face when the cashier would total our bill.  She would mentally scan all the groceries figuring out which ones would have to go back.”

Kathleen Flinn: She shared her recipe for pasta with olives, tomatos, and tuna (pictured above).  She describes it as “a cheap and easy meal to craft from pantry staples. The tuna bumps up the protein quotient, but it’s optional.” I think it looks delish!

The Hazel Bloom: She said, “We’re eating healthier – and less all around – so maybe I would have been hungry anyway, but, yeah. I was really sort of hungry yesterday. So much that I ate two little sweet pickles that weren’t on the menu, but the cost was negligible and didn’t bust our budget. Whew.”

Foodista: Made it through another day just under budget and gave some advice: “As challenging as it seems, $7.00 for three meals can be done.  It’s all about getting creative with the resources that are available. “

Family Friendly Food: She wrote about how food plays such an important part in everyone’s lives and we usually all take it for granted.  For me, Hunger Action Week is about refocusing and recognizing the importance of food and helping those who must go without.  Here’s a quote from her post:  “We go on date nights, game nights, mommy nights, book club nights… All these gatherings have food. //  I take the children grocery shopping with me. They always ask for a doughnut, or a fruit salad, and vanilla or chocolate milk. // Sometimes they get a special treat, we go to the ice cream shop. // There’s so much food around us.”

Eric Rivera’s Cooking Blog: He followed up on his chicken from the day before and made a “Braised Chicken on Carrot and Leek Bed with Herbed Potatoes”. Yes, that beat my sad dinner I had last night.

Diggin Food: Willi had a great post about the value of gardening and it’s role in helping relieve hunger.  She was also on KUOW Radio talking about Hunger Action Week and gardening. You can listen to the broadcast here (she starts around the 15 minute mark).

Dianasaur Dishes: She continues to make cheap and delicious looking meals!  Unfortunately, she also got sick yesterday, which brought up an interesting point about living on a tight budget: “It was a good reminder of something else someone on food stamps has to be mindful of.  If you spend all your food stamps on the beginning of the week, and suddenly need something else, you could be out of luck.”

Cook Local: She shared her Simple Roast Chicken with Vegetables recipe and also talked about what she missed while taking the challenge: “Snacks are another thing we miss. We don’t snack a lot, but we’ll usually have a few bites of cheese and a couple of crackers while cooking dinner. After dinner, we usually have a single chocolate truffle (to split). That’s out too this week.”

The Murray Family: A United Way of King County employee and his family are taking the challenge and blogging about it!  They showed their pantry filled with their week’s supplies, which is pretty telling.

Other Challenge Takers

Brian Calvert of KOMO news is taking the challenge for the second year.  You can see a clip he did embedded at the top of his post and you can also read how he’s doing on his blog.

Our comments continue to be filled with great stories of people taking the challenge and sharing their experience.  You can find them on this post and also on our Facebook page!

Speaking of Facebook,  this Facebook Page shows 190 Seattle U students who are also taking the Hunger Challenge!  How cool is that?

Well, that’s all for today.  Thanks for everyone’s support in making a difference around hunger in the community!