November 6, 2019

by drplasticpicker

I wanted to do a follow up post regarding the $8 I found on the beach two mornings ago. As my mother had suggested, we decided to use the found cash to buy food for the San Diego Food Bank. I told the kids I would match it with another $8. So those vague plans to donate it were filed in the back of my mind, and the cash left on the kitchen counter.

Today after school, I mentioned to my middle-school daughter that we could go ahead and see how much healthy/less plastic wrapped food we could get to help feed some needy San Diegans. She replied that she was caught up with her homework so we could go today. So off we went down Friars Road in our plug-in hybrid, off to Food4Less – bargain grocer.

We looked through the aisles trying to find somewhat healthy, non perishables and more bang for our buck. I wanted to get cans of Ravioli, who doesn’t love Ravioli? But my daughter made a better decision. She wanted to buy something we often eat as well, dried pasta and sauce.

So in the end, $8 became $16 with my matching which we were able to purchase 10 boxes of dried pasta and 8 cans of pasta sauce. That is about 80 servings of pasta and which costs only $0.20 a servings for a needy neighbor. I know its not the healthiest, but at least its somewhat real food and hopefully someone else can supplement with fresh fruits and vegetables and a lean protein.

As we were in line at the check out, I had our items separated from the items for donation. I said to the nice female cashier that we wanted 2 different checks. As she was ringing up the pasta and sauce, I shared, “We found money on the beach and thought we should buy food to donate.” She looked up and smiled kindly, “That is a very good thing to do.” I gestured to my daughter who was stacking the food in the cart carefully, because drplasticpicker forgot our reusable bags and did not want to purchase any plastic ones. I continued, “I had my daughter figure out how to get the best bang for her buck with the $16.” I think the cashier must have been a mother too, as she smiled at me and replied, “That is REALLY smart.” Yes, I think she also knows the power children have.

Here is a story about how my aluminum cans I recycled went to a young man I met https://drplasticpicker.com/aluminum-cans-the-high-yield-salvagable/