Posted on 04/18/2016 3:08:35 PM PDT by Lorianne
The benefit provided by the US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) works out to about $4 per day per person (about £2.80 at current exchange rates). If that weren’t dismaying enough, the government pamphlets that offer advice for grocery shopping on such a restricted budget tend to be flyers illustrated with clip art and little in the way of real tips – “include meatless meals to extend your protein dollars” is about as creative as it gets – and zero inspiration for nutritious meals with colour and flavour.
Leanne Brown decided to change that. As the thesis project for her masters’ degree in Food Studies at New York University a few years ago, she wrote a cookbook based on a SNAP budget called Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day. When she made it available as a free PDF, it suddenly went viral: it was downloaded more than 100,000 times in a few weeks. Brown decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign to make printed copies available to people without computers. That initiative was also more successful than she envisioned: instead of the $10,000 she asked for, she received more than $144,000, allowing her to get about 40,000 copies of the cookbook printed. These have since been distributed to more than 980 food banks and other community organisations in the US and Canada to pass on to their clients. The free PDF, meanwhile, has been downloaded nearly 1 million times now.
And no wonder: Good and Cheap challenges every assumption one might have about eating on a budget. The pages are filled with photographs of luscious-looking food, while the recipes themselves are built around the creative possibilities of cooking rather than the limitations of funds. Often the recipes incorporate the idea of multi-purpose ingredients, or variations on a theme, such as Oatmeal Six Ways (including a savoury version with cheddar and scallions). “I called it a cookbook but I think of it as a strategy guide,” Brown says. Here’s how those strategies translate into shopping for food as well as cooking it.
What’s the key to eating well on less money?
Leanne: It’s really about developing different sorts of habits. What are your go-to meals? How do you frame your visit to the store? If you are looking to spend X amount, and make X number of meals out of that, then adding in considerations like raw ingredients versus prepared is important. There is a bit of an investment in time at the beginning of the process, but over the long term, this kind of planning can actually save time because then you will have the food in your pantry that you want, the groceries you won’t regret.
Then there are things like never buying drinks, either in the grocery store or when you’re out. The way our economy is structured, restaurants and stores make their money on drinks rather than food because they’re very cheap to make but can be sold at a high margin. You can save a lot of money by having coffee at home, or making “health drinks” yourself with water and a little fruit juice.
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got chicken quarters for .79 a pound at shoprite yesterday.
at 16 bucks that’s 20 quarters plus water for four.
Better than starving and I guess better than working.
There is a much better and cheaper way, ABOLISH FOOD STAMPS and Go back to Soup Lines run by Charities, bring the REAL WORLD right out front and in the open.
Another variation of the ‘iron triangle’.
Good food-—cheap-—time.
You may have any two, of the three.
[[What’s the key to eating well on less money?]]
Sticky fingers and knowing where all the security cameras are
Time can come from practice.
Nothing is easy the first few times.
My first kitchen rule I just can’t get the females in the house to follow is “Always start with a clean kitchen and clean as you go.”
I’ve done $4 a day for years.
At my supermarket, the weekly ad says a whole ham shank is .79/lbs, pork chops $1.99/pound. Another nearby supermarket's ad has a whole roaster chicken on sale for 88 cents/pound. Add rice or a baked potato, and you're all set.
You just need forget about processed microwaveable food, and learn to COOK.
First principles: Buy basic raw foods cheap (chicken, pork, tough cuts of beef for slow cooking, vegetables, fruit, and starches) and cook at home. Discount stores and weekly food ads are your friends. Not only cheap but far healthier than heavily processed sugar infused crap. The main problem, of course, is that all requires forethought, intelligence, and a will to work shopping and cooking. None of those characteristics come to mind with today’s “poor”.
Back in my day, most kids had 2 parents in the house and the schools taught “home economics” in addition.
After 2 generations of the “Great Society” a lot of basic life skills have been lost I’m afraid....
It is rewarding though to cook from scratch. I can make an entire turkey last all week along with a bag of carrots, onions, garlic, celery and maybe a few sweet potatoes.
a person can have a small patio or kitchen garden.
if they own land people can plant fruit and nut trees and have free food for years.
Who doesn’t understand the “Supplemental” in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program? Rather than the $4/day quoted average they should look at the maximum benefit as a survival budget.
Or hand out boxes of food like macaroni and cheese, rice and beans, canned fruits and vegetables.
The cost of eggs has been going up, but as a single guy they’re my base in nearly everything. Fry them and stir in almost any meat or vegetable.
Work hard for a living and you can eat like the Cartwrights
@ Ponderosa. :9
The problem is that eating well cheaply requires effort and self-discipline.
Hunt, Fish, Bee Hives, and Garden ....... Keep a Chicken Coop, eggs and fryers........ easy life, Cheap. Annual fish and game license in under 70 bucks.
I barter with a local farmer to drive grain trucks for em during harvest... gets me hunting / fishing rights, a beef cow and hog for meat to augment venison and fish shot and caught......
Still my favorite dish is pinto’s and cornbread or rice an sausage ...... cheap cheap cheap.....
Stay Safe !!
Given to people who can’t read well, do basic math or measuring, would rather be watching Maury or texting on their Obamaphones, have trouble scheduling and meeting schedules, and prefer buying steaks and lobsters at the beginning of the month because they’re really good and the end of the month is too far away to plan for.
It’s probably good for those of us who are forced to pay for SNAP, though.
My canner is ready to go. I also bought a pressure canner and propane hot plate last year for those things that can’t be done with the water bath. I pretty much stick to basics on what we’ll actually use. tomatoes, strawberries, green beans and peaches. I buy the 2nds for canning from local growers.
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