CHICAGO — Our food was a little less safe, our workplaces a little more dangerous. The risk of getting sick was a bit higher, our kids’ homework tougher to complete.

The federal government shutdown may have seemed like a frustrating squabble in far-off Washington, but it crept into our lives in small, subtle ways — from missed vegetable inspections to inaccessible federal websites.

So how did the shutdown alter our daily routines? Here’s a look at a day in the life of the 2013 government shutdown.

WAKING UP: That sausage patty on your breakfast plate was safe as ever because meat inspectors — like FBI agents — are considered “essential” and remained at work. But federal workers who inspect just about everything else on your plate — from fresh berries to scrambled eggs — were furloughed.

The Food and Drug Administration, which in fiscal year 2012 conducted more than 21,000 inspections or contracted state agencies to conduct them, put off scores of other inspections at processing plants, dairies and other large food facilities. In all, 976 of the FDA’s 1,602 inspectors were sent home.

About 200 planned inspections a week were put off, in addition to more than 8,700 inspections the federal government contracts state officials to perform.

OFFICE HOURS: At a warehouse, factory or other worksite, a young minority exposed to racial slurs by his boss had one fewer place to turn for help. Federal officials who oversee compliance with discrimination laws and labor practices weren’t working, except in emergencies.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was not issuing right-to-sue letters, so people could not take discrimination cases into federal court, said Peter Siegelman, an expert in workplace discrimination at the University of Connecticut’s law school.

Workplaces weren’t inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. One result? Employees could operate dangerous equipment even if not trained to do so.

HOME SAFE: Getting around was largely unaffected. Air traffic controllers were on the job, flights still taking off. Trains operated by local agencies delivered millions of commuters to their jobs.

But if something went wrong, such as the mysterious case of a Chicago “ghost train,” people were left in the dark.

On the last day of September, an empty Chicago Transit Authority train somehow rumbled down the tracks and crashed into another train, injuring a few dozen passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board dispatched investigators, and they kept working when the shutdown started the next day because they were “essential.” But the agency furloughed others whose job is to explain to the public what happened.

The CDC slashed staffing at quarantine stations at 20 airports.

STUDY TIME: Children learned the meaning of shutdown when they got home and booted up computers to do homework. From the U.S. Census Bureau site to NASA maps, they were greeted by alerts that said government sites were down “due to the shutdown.”

Linda Koplin, a math teacher in Oak Park, Ill., a Chicago suburb, asked her sixth-grade pupils to use a reliable online source to find the highest and lowest elevations.

“They were able to find all the elevations for the rest of the continents but they couldn’t find information for their continent,” Koplin said.

NIGHT, NIGHT: After hours is when the shutdown arrived at many people’s homes.

Monique Howard’s 5-year-old son, Carter, has the most trouble with his asthma at night, when his breathing is labored. Her family dreams of a cure, the kind doctors are hunting through federally funded research grants at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

During the shutdown, the doctors had to stop submitting grant applications to study childhood asthma and other diseases and disorders. Hospital officials said the shutdown could have delayed funding for nearly half a year.

The shutdown might have saved raunchy entertainers from punishment on late-night TV and radio.

The Federal Communications Commission investigates broadcast misbehavior only if viewers or listeners complain. During the shutdown, callers heard a voice with a familiar ring: “The FCC is closed.”