Summer Lab - Food
Your House will have $500 per week to spend on groceries for all Summer Lab Residents. This is about $60 per person/week. Although the money you receive is based on the number of people in your House, we never envision a single Resident living on any of the resources on food alone. Quite simply, it’s more cost effective for a group of people to prepare and enjoy a meal together than it is for eight individuals to create similar meals in isolation.
The grocery stipend is separate from your personal stipend. It takes a little extra effort to plan and organize your grocery expenses/list, but doing so keeps this money nontaxable. We hope that using the request system will help you track of groceries and manage the logistics easily.
There is an expectation that you communicate your grocery needs by Thursday at 8:00pm local time. Your timely request will make it possible for us to drop off groceries by the following Monday at 8:00pm. If you do not submit your requests by Thursday at 8:00pm, your Coordinator/SLA will let you know when groceries can actually be delivered. Staff is purchasing and delivering groceries to support you, allowing you to focus on the expectations of the program for all five weeks.
There is an expectation that you will cook in pairs at least four days a week, typically dinner on Monday through Thursday. Breakfast will typically be on your own, and there will always be options for self-serve lunch. When thinking about how much food to make consider making one and a half times the amount of food for each house mate. For example, if there are 8 residents, you should consider making food for 12 to have leftovers the next day. During Local Orientation, you will take a trip to the grocery store with the Coordinator and SLA so they can understand more about preferences and needs. You will also practice making this amount of food. You will typically receive leftovers from Local Friends over the weekend. It is likely that a meal will be dropped off by the Summer Support Committee at some point in the week.
Grocery Stipend
“A party without cake is really just a meeting.”
Even when used as a shared resource, the food stipend is modest. It will take work for you to develop a grocery budget that works for everyone. This work is part of your QVS experience.
Remember that local Friends stocked the pantry before your arrival and are eager to be a resource throughout the year. Let Friends know if you’d like a ride to a grocery store that sells in bulk. Let Friends know if you’d like a monthly CSA box. Attend potlucks. Asking the community for support will feel different than meeting your own needs based on the resources you control. Reflecting on this difference is part of your QVS experience.
If you run short on groceries for the week please be in touch with your Coordinator/SLA ASAP!
A Shared Resource
Based on the feedback we’ve received over the years, we know it’s possible to experience abundance when a House pools its grocery money. With the extra abundance of support from local Friends, it might be easy to slip back into patterns of assuming that each person will manage a separate set of resources or only make meals for themselves. Please commit yourself to holding resources collectively. How can you think creatively about meeting each person’s needs?