Food scrounging has ensued.

 Due to ::rude words:: government and ::more specific rude words:: president, our food money has been delayed for who knows how long.

So. Looked up the best prospect for a food supply event and the one that everyone, it seems, saw advertised up in Mira Mesa (Sorrento Valley) at the headquarters for Feeding San Diego. Now if you recall four or five years ago when we would drive to a location and then do a drive through pick up, that is basically what this was, except it was standing in line. 

I was trying not to be obvious with taking a picture because so many, so so many in that crowd were every possible ethnicity. Being in Mira Mesa, there was the three major groups, Islanders (Phillipino and others), Hispanic and Asian. So very much the usual crowd for a food distribution these days and I was in the middle, single older white lady. There were a good few thousand people there. Lined up in rows like they would do for cars, so I was about the 5th row away from the yellow canopies. Behind me, there were four or five more rows and three times as many people. Yeah. There were collapsible wagons people had brought, bags, crates, boxes and multiple people in family groups. 

It started distributing around 10, me remembering previous experiences got there around 9. So an hour waiting in line, luckily it being Mira Mesa there was marine layer and it was pleasantly cool, I wore a ¾ length sleeve shirt over a t shirt and was comfortable.  A mother was in the row next to me (just to the right of that cone) with four little girls age 5 or 6 down to maybe a year old she was holding. $ girls and she had two more older ones at home. Wow. The girls started to get antsy and rambunctious so I finally had to step in. The mother wasn't offended and thanked me, told her I'm a grandmother and I know the struggle. That was only at the half hour mark and they continued to do little kid things, which I curtailed occasionally. By the time the lines started moving they were a bit tired and minding a little better. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 One of the girls pointed up in the sky and said something (I thought she was saying bird) but no, it was a small drone. Dipping down low, climbing up, moving off to a side, hiding behind a tree from my perspective and then moving off to another location. Could have been police, could be news, who knows. I didn't see any police cars, no obvious armored individuals, nothing at all  that would imply 'spying'. 

So that was my excitement for today. My long wait in line got me the following: 4 potatoes, 4 cucumbers, (I turned down the 1% milk and off brand spaghetti-o's as well as a small jar of peanut butter), a package of spaghetti, two boxes of off brand mac and cheese, a bag of black beans, 8 starbucks ham and swiss cheese sandwiches on panini rolls, 2 clamshell containers of strawberries(in good condition!!) and finally, a huge bag of frozen shoestring fries. I was so ecstatic about that, the woman who handed it to me said, 'I've not seen anyone be that enthusiastic' I told her I love french fries. That was a pretty good supplement for what we have and sure it's not a lot but it's better than nothing.

Got home, put everything away, heated up one of the sandwiches augmented with some mustard and that was breakfast. Total turn around time was hour and a half from arriving to leaving. 

Now then, we still needed a few staples so I did some calculating and decided that having some needed supplies was worth cutting into budget for bills.

1 doz eggs

1 loaf wheat bread

1- 5lb bag of rice

2 small cans tomato sauce

1/2 gallon of (whole) milk

1 jar of mayonnaise

1- 2 lb bag of frozen shrimp

1 case of water

 

That was what I deemed necessary for at least two weeks of meals at this point. Total cost: $36.45.  That small list of items is almost $40.  Most expensive thing on the list was the shrimp but that is three meals for  us. Rice and potatoes can go a long way for meals, we luckily have chicken and some hamburger still so hoping that this crises is resolved in the next week or so.  

We went to Costco the other day to get paper goods and a few things all on Jon's money which is our usual division. I was so depressed and frustrated not being able to even look at anything because I didn't know when I would be able to afford shopping again. I ended up crying on the way home and essentially shut down. Jon definitely noticed and it was a very quiet ride home and the rest of the afternoon. Still not up to my usual self but feel a bit better about having food for another few weeks at least.

But it's far from over.