Peanut Allergy | Downs Family

The Fruits of our Labor – 2 weeks of groceries

Yesterday we began the Fast of Excess challenge that our Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Todd Ousley, challenged us with this week. You can find more information here on the FB Event page, here where our Bishop was interviewed for the Saginaw news, or here is the Times Herald article that was written. We started our fast yesterday and found it easy since we hadn’t been grocery shopping yet. My daughter requested Ramen for dinner (she likes the squiggly noodles). We shopped this morning. The very first thing I noticed about this challenge is that our budget {$200 for food and paper products, including diapers} already mirrors the average weekly benefit of a family of four {$103.55}. The difference being that we have cash in hand. I like to shop once per pay period so we doubled the benefit {$207.10} and set out. We waited until we got to the store to plan our meals, we wanted to see what was on sale or discounted for quick sale. Our goal was to cut back where we can and then use the extra money to eat out once or pick up some extra-special coffee one day (most likely Monday). We could have done better but we faced our own challenges within the challenge.

Our daughter, Sophia, has a peanut allergy. We have to be very cautious about what we buy. We are big fans of fresh meat, fruits, and vegetables. They are safe. We buy many name brand products because we know we can trust them. They label their products as nut free. A barrier we came across is that many generic brands either do not label for cross-contamination/facility sharing or they label that their products are made on the same equipment as other products with peanuts. As a mom that has had to watch my daughter go through an anaphylactic reaction, I will not take any chances on my daughters safety. It’s not an option for me. The name brands can afford to separate their products which makes them safe for us. So much of what we bought could have been replaced by a store brand if we didn’t have to be cautious of what my daughter consumes. But we do. How do allergy parents live off of $103 a week when they have to be mindful of peanuts, egg, tree nuts, milk, soy, etc? The brands that are safe cost more. Sun Butter is twice as much as regular peanut butter. Also, I pack Sophia’s lunch for school everyday. We can’t trust the school lunch 100% but I can trust what I make 100%. I also try to make sure she doesn’t want to share with her friends so I buy the safe alternatives of a lot of the favored kid snacks. Many families using SNAP also qualify for free or reduced lunch. That helps the allergy parents stretch their dollar but how comfortable are they sending their child to school with only a semi-comfortable feeling about what they will be consuming that day? They can avoid what they know like peanut butter but what about what they can’t see? I don’t feel comfortable taking those chances and I’m sure they don’t either but what choice do they have? This challenge is eating me up inside.

A Happy Peanut-allergy Kid

A bonus for us today was that many things were on sale and ended up being less than the store brand or generics so we were still able to buy our favorite yogurt and cheese products for less then the generics. We found some great deals on chicken and beef that had been discounted for quick sale. We were also sure to include flour so that we {and by we I mean Drew} can make bread. Living on a tight budget is nothing new to us. There was a time in the not-so-distant past that we were making do on much less. We rarely let things go to waste. I should have taken a picture of my cupboards before we shopped. The only thing left was a couple boxes of raisins and some ramen. And my kids don’t like raisins. There was more, of course, because things get left behind every week but usually it’s baking supplies, spices, soup cans, and the occasional box of baking mix. I’ts not uncommon for us to be down to our last can of chicken noodle soup or black beans and there is always the freezer…..I can almost always find a forgotten chicken breast and a bag of veggies. I know that other families don’t have that luxury. We bake a lot (it’s peanut free) so we enjoy cinnamon rolls and pancakes (except today because we ran out of milk before our shopping trip so we had dry cereal). And we NEVER let leftovers go to waste.

Total $195.81 / 2 = $97.91 {one weeks spending} with $5.64 left over for milk if we run out. There can be no surprises. That’s nothing new for us but again, we are blessed with cash in hand. Looking back at our trip there were definitely things that I didn’t *have* to buy. My justification at the time is that I’m taking care of my kids. But what parent isn’t?