Last Thursday, Gwyneth Paltrow tweeted a picture of some groceries saying she had accepted a challenge from the Food Bank For New York City to live on a grocery budget of $29 per week per person, AKA the “food stamp challenge”. Twitter, predictably, had some things to say about her grocery choices, which included healthy foods that obviously wouldn’t last an entire week. And they didn’t. Paltrow admitted on her website that she failed the challenge after four days.
Here’s the picture of her haul again:
https://twitter.com/GwynethPaltrow/status/586168041576116224/photo/1
She says this cost $24.40 instead of $29 (to allow for the additional cost of olive oil and salt from her pantry), and she pointed out “things like avocados and limes are cheap in Southern California”, a necessary addendum since those were the two items she took the most flack for buying.
She writes, “Dubious that I could complete the week, I donated to the Food Bank at the outset, and all of us at the goop office began the challenge.”
I’m sure everyone at the office was so happy to be dragged into this, especially the lower-income ones who are already living on beans and rice and don’t see this as an interesting little lark to try out for only four days. I say “four days” instead of “one week” because GUESS WHO COULDN’T KEEP HER MITTS OFF THE LICORICE?
As I suspected, we only made it through about four days, when I personally broke and had some chicken and fresh vegetables (and in full transparency, half a bag of black licorice). My perspective has been forever altered by how difficult it was to eat wholesome, nutritious food on that budget, even for just a few days—a challenge that 47 million Americans face every day, week, and year. (Via)
She closes by sharing a few low-cost recipes using her ingredient list, as well as recommending a few charities and giving her effort a final grade: “I would give myself a C-.” Maybe after tackling the high cost of fresh veggies and the gender wage gap, she can take on the issue of grade inflation.
(Via Goop)
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