The OSAP Meal Plan - Balanced Budjet, Unbalanced Diet

I read an article in The Toronto Star about an initiative by the Ontario Undergraduate Students' Alliance to bring attention to the inadequacy of the current OSAP loan limit to meet the needs of students. They claim, through their Food For Thought Campaign, that the OSAP annual living allowance for a single student living away form home is below the poverty line and that it only designates $7.50 per day for food expenses. To draw attention to this four students from around Ontario are blogging daily about their own attempts to stay within the limit (to be redirected to blogs press here).

My first impression after reading this article was - ummmmmmm there is NO way I would be able to keep to $7.50 everyday. I mean - maybe I could if I was really good about cooking everything at home, bringing leftovers to school, and stopped drinking coffee outside the house. But I think it would be unrealistic to think I could do all that was required to organize for this while still meeting all my school, volunteer and work commitments. Just thinking about what I had to eat yesterday and how much it probably added up to makes me cringe!

The second thought that came through my head was how much fresh produce could they buy on such a tight budget? I mean at Ryerson University we have the Community Food Room (which is a food bank for the students) but it provides very few fresh produce, if any at all. There is the Good Food Box program that would definitely help - but it cost about $15-$20, and although it would probably last for a couple of weeks, it would still require about two to three days of the OSAP diet budget. The four students that blogged about their OSAP diet experience kept mentioning how they went over budget if they ate fresh fruits or didn't any eat any vegetables or fruit because they were afraid of going over budget - therefore it seems that my initial reaction was on the mark. I can't help wondering about the implications that this has on future generations - when we are getting students in the habit of excluding such an important food group based on budgetary constraints?

It is also obvious that the OSAP diet doesn't take into consideration the guidelines set by Canada's Food Guide. Funny how the government contradicts itself that way.

The government invests all this money into building awareness about eating healthy but does nothing about the obstacles people face in attaining this ideal.

Although I can admittedly be high maintenance when it comes to the food I eat - I just don't see how you can have a balanced, healthy diet AND stick to a budget of only $7.50 EVERYDAY. And it seems that all the Alliance is requesting is a higher loan limit so that students can have access to more money for their food. To me that sounds like a good investment!