Michelle Kane of Spearfish learned the power of portion control - and more - this past week.

Kane accepted the challenge from the Community Food Banks of South Dakota to eat for a week on $25, the average amount allotted to people living on food stamps.

On the day before Thanksgiving, she ate her last meal of the challenge and gave thanks.

Kane, marketing director of Lynn, Jackson, Schultz & Lebrun, said she was humbled and felt rather small when thinking about the people who do this day in and day out.

"It would be hard to do this for the long haul," Kane said.

Yet many do, and the number of people needing help to eat is growing, according to Tim Lipp, manager of the Rapid City Community Food Pantry. "It's been crazy in the last six months," Lipp said about the rising demand.

One in seven South Dakotans struggled to feed themselves even before this year's economic slump. According to an Agriculture Department report, 36.2 million adults and children nationwide did not get enough food in 2007.

Last year, the Rapid City Community Food Pantry helped 388,000 people in need with food assistance. This November, the pantry in one week delivered 11,459 pounds of food to 224 families, totalling 566 people in need, Lipp said.

"I had 60 people in here yesterday, and I've already had 56 people today," he said early Tuesday afternoon.

To understand their plight, Monica Leitheiser wishes more people would join Kane in taking the challenge to compare what their holiday eating would be like if limited to $25 a week.

"You wouldn't have the same dinner at all," said Leitheiser, Rapid City site manager of Community Food Banks of South Dakota.

She admired Kane's choice of foods, noting her fruit and vegetable selections. But Leitheiser said that even Kane's choices of the basics were limited at the Rapid City pantry. What choices would one have in a small-town grocery store? It would be tough, she said.

"One week is nothing compared to what some go through week after week," Leitheiser said.

For her challenge week, Kane cleared out a shelf in her refrigerator and a spot in her pantry for "her" food. Her son and husband opted out of the challenge, saying they weren't wholeheartedly into it. They worried that they would spend the entire week whining about being hungry and possibly weaken her resolve, Kane said.

She thoughtfully made a food plan and created her shopping list before plunking down $24.69 for eggs, coffee, sauce, oatmeal, Ramen noodles, black beans, lentils, spaghetti, rice, chicken bouillon, spinach, organic carrots, bananas, oranges and potatoes.

Kane, who knows her way around a kitchen, often makes her meals from scratch and thought the challenge would be easy enough. She was surprised at how bland her meals were. She also realized that her foods did not offer a lot of variety.

"When you know you're going home and you don't have a lot of options, it isn't much fun thinking about cooking," she said.

Yet, to reach the goal of eating for the week, she learned to ration and not to waste food. Every morsel she cooked for breakfast, dinner or packed for her lunch was eaten. "I was eating absolutely everything that I had," Kane said.

Because of her rationing, she will have some bouillon, black beans, lentils, rice, one-third pound of pasta and a rogue potato left over. She also has one penny left from her $25.

That's because she splurged in spending 30 cents of funds remaining after buying groceries on a hamburger patty - just the patty - at a fast-food restaurant in celebrating her son's birthday. "It tasted good," she said with a laugh.

She said the challenge taught her how food lodges in her brain - thinking about it, thinking about cooking it, sitting around enjoying food. "If there are any changes in what happens to food, it impacts your life," she said.

"Food is life. We have to have food to survive, but there is such an incredible emotional component of sharing food and eating food with family and friends," Kane said.

She considers the challenge a very good learning and growing experience. Thanksgiving couldn't be a more appropriate time to finish such a challenge, she said.

"We really need to be thankful for our food, because every mouthful is a gift," Kane said.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com.