Canadian Anglican Archbishop keeps a journal describing 3 days on 'food bank diet'

I rushed off to attend the press conference at Queen’s Park officially launching the campaign to ask the government to give a $100 healthy food supplement to each adult on Social Assistance. There was a small crowd but only a single reporter with a few camera people in the audience to hear the three panellists with me speak about the campaign and our experience. Breakfast had been instant oatmeal with milk ”” bland; and a small juice box. No coffee. I was tired and beginning to get cranky. …

The diet on offer is meagre. By noon I was hungry and tired. A photographer was going to snap pictures as I prepared lunch. It was more complicated than I thought. I had planned on soup with some milk and a tuna sandwich, eating half my allotted can. The milk had turned sour, so a package of microwavable noodles substituted. Just add boiling water, cover and wait. I added 1/4 of my one onion to the tuna but there would be no mayo or vinaigrette to moisten it, and no butter and lettuce for the bread. And what to do with the leftovers that I needed to save for Wednesday. If you can’t afford food, you won’t have plastic wrap. I took the groceries out of the bag and used that to cover the tuna and onion mix. I had planned to add cooked rice to stretch it out a bit and perhaps help moisten it. There was no way (or time) to cook the rice. I hadn’t planned it right. And there was no point in adding salt. The noodles alone contributed 58 per cent of the daily recommended sodium intake …

Read it all.