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With a ball of pizza dough, cheese, homemade tomato sauce, olives and pepperoni at her disposal, Valerie Levanos worked to make an inexpensive, yet nutritious meal for her two young daughters Thursday evening.

Levanos, a resident of the King Farm community in Rockville, was one of dozens of families and individuals throughout the county who took on the task of living on a food budget of $25 per person last week as part of Manna Food Center's Food Stamp Challenge.

"I didn't realize how hard it would be until we started doing it," the 33-year-old said.

Amy Gabala, executive director of Manna Food Center in Rockville, said the idea of the challenge, which began Sept. 21 and ended Saturday, was to bring attention to the growing problem of hunger in Montgomery County and to demonstrate how difficult it is to eat nutritiously on a food-stamp allotment.

Each person in the challenge used $25 for food for the week, the average food stamp benefit for one person, Gabala said. That amount works out to about $1 a meal.

Many people said they were surprised at how difficult it was, especially those that have children, Gabala said.

"I think people did find it to be a valuable experience," she said. "A lot of the people I talked to were glad they did it, but probably more glad that it was over.

"Hopefully, this exercise helped a lot of people understand the struggle our neighbors go through on a daily basis," she added.

Gabala took the challenge, too.

"I was surprised that I was able to eat on $25 for the week," she said. "I had a sufficient amount of food, but no money for snacks, even if they were healthy snacks."

She said grocery shopping took twice as long because she was counting every penny.

Levanos said her family of four usually spends about $200 a week on groceries. She usually shops at the Rockville Farmers Market, Whole Foods and Safeway, but that changed last week.

"I didn't realize we'd have to change the places where we shopped and that we would have to cut out so much," she said. "But I think it's valuable because you really learn what it's like to have to live on so little and the fact that a lot of people in this country have to live like that makes you really appreciate what you have."

To buy food for the week, Levanos went to Trader Joe's, the Rockville Farmers Market, Magruder's and the Lancaster County Dutch Market in Germantown. Her family also budgeted in the food they get from Maryland Community Supported Agriculture, which is a partnership between a farm and supporters that provides a direct link between the production and consumption of food. Levanos' family has purchased a share of the harvest at Red Wiggler Community Farm in Germantown, which means they get produce straight from the farm.

As of Thursday evening, she had spent $95 and was saving the last $5 in case one of her daughters needed more milk.

She said 2-year-old Lulu and 3-year-old Mimi ate breaded chicken tenders and fish sticks from Trader Joe's with noodles and broccoli, as well as homemade pizzas. The girls are served breakfast and lunch at school.

Levanos and her husband Tom Esch, who was out of town on business Thursday, had meals of pizza, pasta with garlic and olive oil, and white beans and greens.

"My husband said the only reason he didn't starve is because he cleaned off the kids' plates when they were done," she said, laughing.

She and her husband also usually splurge on wine to have with dinner.

"But not this week," Levanos said. "I've never drunk so much water in my life."

It would be difficult to normally live on $25 a week and eat nutritiously, she said.

"Our diet was a lot more starchy than it normally is and I think people have to eat a lot of starches and poor-quality proteins and probably not get enough fruits and vegetables," Levanos said. "So, I think it would be really hard to eat a healthy diet on food stamps. It would be impossible, I think."

Still, Levanos said her family would not rule out doing it again.

"I think I'm going to go back to my normal spending habits, but it does make me appreciate more what I have" she said. "Also, it's something that I think we're going to do as a family once in awhile — like maybe during Lent or something — so that every once in awhile we get reminded that we should be appreciative of what we have."

Gabala said she hopes to offer the challenge every year.

Levanos participated in the challenge because she thought it would be a good lesson for Mimi, who has a "very generous spirit" and regularly puts part of her allowance towards charitable events, she said.

On Thursday morning before they dropped off a donation of $100 to Manna — the additional money the family ordinarily would have spent on groceries — she said Mimi asked if they could buy some milk for the "hungry kids."

"They're so close to us," Mimi said as she ate a slice of pepperoni. "They should have milk, too."