The drive to feed your children is one of a parent's most primal instincts.

Yet this need is a daily struggle for many families, even here in Westchester, one of the most affluent counties in America.

The Food Bank for Westchester, the organization that collects, warehouses and distributes food to pantries and shelters in the county, estimates more than 200,000 local residents are hungry or at risk of hunger, one-third of those children. And the recession has only made the situation worse. During the past fiscal year, Food Bank Executive Director Christina Rohatynskyj has seen a 30 percent countywide jump in requests for food.

"The reality is that there are people living paycheck to paycheck and deciding between rent, medicine or food for their families," she said.

But there is much you can do.

In partnership, The Volunteer Center of United Way and Patch hope you can help meet the basic needs of a  family of four—two adults and two children—for just one day's meals.

Here is a list of organizations from Millwood to Mamaroneck (and many places in between) that will gladly accept your non-perishable items, along with some shopping suggestions. It's a worthy effort to share, especially with your kids, leading up to national Make a Difference Day on Oct. 23. Please call ahead to coordinate a drop-off.

But as wonderful as it sounds to give another family the gift of a day full of nutritious food instead of hours of worry, we couldn't shake the idea that hidden hunger could be affecting someone we know, perhaps a friend or a fellow parent at school.

So we asked Patch columnists with families to step into those shoes for two days.

The idea: Feed every member of their family for two full days, a total of six meals for each person plus any snacks, on just $20. No pantry stocked with staples, no credit cards, only whatever spices they had on hand, cooking oil and that limited amount of cash.

Like nearly all parents, they didn't want to resort to a fast-food dollar menu but struggled with the high prices of fresh food. They also learned just how ever-present stress can be when trying to stretch to the last penny.

*** 

Krista Madsen, Sleepy Hollow

In honor of Make a Difference Day, and to address the issue of the hidden hunger among the working poor, my family and I took up the challenge to subsist, healthily, for two days on $20 worth of groceries. Our family includes a 2-year-old with a fickle, fitful appetite and a penchant for "meatcheese" (all one word); a hungry husband who wants to gain, rather than lose, weight; and myself, a 8.5 months pregnant, grazing snackaholic.

A super-frugal shopper by nature (blame my couponed parents, and my parents' Depression-era, immigrant parents), this bare-bones budget still had me nervous. It's one thing to be minimal as a single person, but I have a growing family and a growing belly that all require tender-loving-care in the form of unlimited peanut butter and avocados.

Also, the older I get and the more I learn, the more I've committed to caring about the derivation and quality of our food, to buying organic when possible, farmers' market, free-range, corn-syrup-free. These choices, of course, are a luxury. How locally grown the produce, or how happy the chickens, are the first concerns to get tossed when three square meals times two days needed to be purchased for less than the cost of two movie tickets.

I did some preliminary research to get myself prepped for The Big Small Shopping Spree. Apparently eating for $10 a day is a popular theme, as there are many links online on the subject. But many assumed a single person would be eating for that amount, which allowed them little eating-out splurges—like a $2 slice—that a family of 3.5 could not enjoy without eating up the entire budget.

There was one book I discovered on Amazon.com, Feed Your Family Fast, Healthy Meals on $10 a Day, published in 1993, which means it's missing out on over a decade of inflation. Between an eHow.com  article on How to Eat on $10 a Day and CBS Money Watch.com's  Feed a Family of 4 on $10 a Day I did gather some helpful tips, most of which are somewhat obvious but helpful to revisit:

*Shop the periphery of the store, where the fresh stuff is. The middle of the store is more expensive packaged/prepared foods.

*To contradict that for a second: dried and canned beans are cheaper than fresh; frozen veggies can actually be healthier, cheaper, and fresher than fresh.

*Shop lesser known brands and generic (whose quality and ingredients are often identical to the name brands) and look out for specials. In my own experience, I've noticed the budget items (Krasdale was my friend), are always stocked out of the sight-line on the bottommost shelves.

*Buy produce that's in season.

*NO: fish, steak, red pepper, pre-cut fruit, avocados (sorry family!).

*YES: bananas, beans, potatoes, oatmeal, whole chicken, eggs, rice.

*Drink water, tap water. Not that I'd ever buy bottled water but my husband and daughter demand their juice. I bought a lime to squeeze into that plain old tap water to, we hope, appease them. And we can't live without our milk, so consider that our "splurge."

The "spree" was stressful. Armed with a calculator but no scale to be found, I had to guesstimate my way through the market. Relief set in at the cash register as I saw the total lumbering toward the $20 goal as my last item got scanned. Then—magic—saved $.10 by bringing in my own two bags and we're safe at $20.18.

Here's the receipt from the Tarrytown C-Town:

GROCERY

Carolina Rice, long-grain white, 1 lb. bag                               $ 1.09

Goya Beans, black, 1 can, 15.5 oz                                                     .67

Krasdale Oats, 5-minutes, 18 oz. (on sale)                                    .99

MEAT 

Whole Fresh Fowl, 6 lbs                                                                     6.55

PRODUCE

Bananas, three, 1 lb.                                                                               .59

Carrots, 1 lb bag                                                                                       .89

Corn, 2 ears                                                                                                .40

Limes, 1                                                                                                        .25

Onions, white, 1                                                                                        .25

Potato, Idaho white, 1.27 lb.                                                            1.13

Squash, green, 1 large                                                                            .81

DAIRY

½ Gallon Whole Milk                                                                          1.99

Guerrero Tortillas                                                                                 1.59

Krasdale Colby Jack Cheese, 1 lb, (on sale)                                1.99

Pine Belt, XL Eggs, dozen                                                                   1.09

OTHER INCOME

Earth Friends

2 bags/.05                                                                                                  -.10

TOTAL                                                                                                 $20.18

I was feeling pretty proud of my shopping skills but the real test was yet to come. When I called my husband to tell him my happy tally, mentioning my big find of the mysteriously labeled and very cheap whole "Fresh Fowl" (which could be chicken or turkey and who-knows-from-where), he asked if it were spelled 'F-o-u-l.' Hmmph.

PART II: FEED

Funny how a big haul at the store, once settled into the fridge and pantry, always looks like not-much. How was I going to feed my family on this measly pile? I put off fulfilling this second, essential part of the experiment for a few days, waiting for the opportune time to subject my hungry hippos to this. Then, upon receiving the news that we would have company on the weekend, I was forced to just begin.

The first day, my husband would be at work for 12 or so hours so I had to pack all three meals for him in a big sack and hope he wouldn't sneak in too many extra trips to the MoMA staff café. The second day, we would all be home and accounted for which might be easier to police (and require less plastic containers).

So, what follows is the daily meal-by-meal. I should note that in addition to my groceries, I was allowed to use only basic pantry staples like oil, salt, pepper and dry spices, which really makes all the difference between mere eggs and something exquisite like frittata.

DAY 1

• BREAKFAST: Oatmeal with cinnamon, milk and banana

This one was easy. My family eats oatmeal about every other weekday as it is, and my daughter requests it daily. Check.

• LUNCH: Zucchini frittata with homemade tortilla chips and carrot sticks

My tweaked version of an online recipe called for 6 eggs (upped from the 4, since I had so many to spare), 3 Tbsp milk, 2 Tbsp oil, s&p, garlic powder (substituted for fresh garlic), 1 large zucchini sliced thin (instead of 3 small), 1/2 large onion, 1/3 cup shredded Colby Jack (substituted for parmesan), 1 Tbsp dry basil and thyme (instead of fresh).

Sautee the onion in oil; add zucchini and cook until wilted. Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, milk, cheese and seasoning in bowl. Remove veggies from pan and add to eggs. Heat oil in pan, pour in egg/veggie mix and cook at medium-low until browned on bottom, about 5 minutes. Then place whole pan under broiler and brown top for 2-3 minutes.   

Cheese is the magic elixir that makes the medicine go down for my daughter, so I stressed the point that she would be eating a "cheese pie." She ate some of this. This might have been lighter and better proportioned for the adults if I stuck to the recipe and used less eggs and more zucchini, but then she'd be even less inclined to try it.

Tortilla was our bread throughout this experiment. We ate it with every meal as a wrap or as a chip, and we ate it as a snack in between. Making homemade tortilla chips (non-fried and low in salt), is as simple as quartering them, laying them on a cookie sheet, spraying (or brushing) with oil, salting, and baking for 6 to 7 minutes at 400 degrees.

A meal that looked beautiful and colorful, tasted great and, for the most part, a success.

• DINNER: Roasted chicken with pan-roasted potatoes, carrots, and onion

I've discovered the best recipe for roasted chicken, that simply requires blotting the thing dry with paper towels and raining sea salt and cracked pepper down on it, inside and out. Place it on a pan and roast for a shorter amount of time than usual at a higher heat (for a 2-3 lb. bird this is 450 degrees for 50-60 minutes; for my 6-pounder I was a bit perplexed).

This recipe usually makes for an extra crispy skin, extra moist flesh, and always sets off the smoke detector. In our case, doubling the cooking time for double the bird was probably a mistake that led to a tougher, dryer meat in some parts like the legs and wings. Adults preferred the veggies. Toddler loved the meat and ate more than her share, which provided some relief to the over-poultried adults.

• SNACKS: Carrot sticks, tortilla chips, chunks of cheese.
• DRINKS: Milk, water, water with lime.
• CHEATS: My husband fessed up that he had a Coke to make it through his long day; I snuck cocoa into my milk; my daughter stole a kid's banana out of his grasp at the playground.

DAY 2:

At the end of Day 1, we were dreading the redundancy of the second day and its leftovers. I knew there would be another round of eggs, endless tortilla and more meat than we could eat. Buck up campers, it's time to go again.

• BREAKFAST: Scrambled eggs with s&p, dry dill, leftover roasted potatoes, a few heated tortillas, banana.

I made my toddler's eggs hard-boiled, which she loved. Husband and I were feeling a little over-cholesterol-ed. But we do love our eggs.

• LUNCH: Black beans, onions, and rice, with tortilla and cheese, garnished with lime.

I sautéed the leftover half-onion in oil and added the canned black beans in their own juice, simmering briefly with salt, pepper, dry oregano, garlic powder.  I sprinkled the rest of the shredded Colby Jack onto the tortilla and heated them in the toaster oven.

The verdict: yum. We were happy at this point to not be eating super-sized eggs and fowl. Being momentary vegetarians was satisfying. And I'm a sucker for anything wrapped in tortilla.

• DINNER: Leftover roasted chicken with steamed corn, served with leftover rice and tortilla.

This was my meal of least pride. If I could do it again, I'd exchange a few pounds a meat in the grocery store for a few more greens. Even tortillas were reaching their limits. But the fresh ears of corn, just at the tail end of their prime season, were the best.

• SNACKS: Down to just tortilla chips with some cheese on them now.
• DRINKS: Milk was growing scarce. Water water with lime all the time.
• CHEATS: McDonald's large Mixed Berry Smoothie shared between the three of us. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Then, I watched a friend's kid at night and they made the mistake of mentioning they had Italian pastries in their fridge. Guiltiest.

But we made it! How good it felt to be done with this food-as-work project and fall into a bowl of boxed cereal the next morning—bought on sale, of course.

Some final observations:

*Cheap food tends to be various shades of yellow, off-white, brown. Makes for a blah looking plate unless you make a point of garnishing with some of those carrot sticks, a lime wedge, anything for the love of color!

*Extra large eggs are really large; it's creepy. Next time, I'd go for standard size and not the low price get the better of me.

*I still only think the fresh fowl was chicken. I'd opt next time for the pre-cooked grocery store roasted chicken you find in the deli department for $5.50. Smaller but way more delicious – not to mention, easy.

*The trick to cheap eating is rice, beans, tortilla.

*It is really hard to live without special beverages and snacks. Especially if you are pregnant, a toddler, a man, or well, just about anyone.

*Because of my $20 budget and two-day constraint, I had to buy a much smaller oatmeal container than I usually would, a 1/2 gallon of milk instead of a gallon, a mini-bag of rice. All of these are better priced when you buy more bulk. (Still I had leftovers after two days of the rice and oatmeal, and enough meat on the bones to make a decent chicken soup.) In the end, I'm thinking we probably could live just fine—and most likely do—on less than $10 day when averaging spending over a week, or a month. As long as you don't count those sneaky Smoothies, dining out, the farmers' market...

Feed a family today by clicking here.