Can you eat healthy on $4 a day?

fortune ^ | APRIL 10, 2015, | Mitch Rothschild

[DUMBGRUNT]

One CEO tests how healthy low-income families can eat under the U.S. governments’ food assistance program.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Yes they are good!

[dirtboy]

Let's see - two 3 pound bags of onions, 20 pounds of taters, some yams, bag of carrots, head of celery, 10 pounds of boneless chicken breast at two bucks a pound, six two-pound bags of frozen veggies, four pounds of dried beans, canned tomatoes, four bell peppers, brown rice, eggs, cheese, pasta, a large bottle of olive oil, almonds on sale for five bucks a pound at CVS (4 bags per month, good for the blood pressure) and tortilla chips or peanut butter and saltines to snack on. Beef as a treat when it is on sale. Some kielbasa for variety. Seasonings and vitamin supplements. 120 bucks a month for all that food if you shop carefully. Throw in 20 bucks a month for toileteries and dish and laundry soap and tp. That is my food budget for the month. And I can afford more. In the summer it's even lower as I can get lots of fresh veggies from my garden.

The key is to buy enough for the month when it is on sale and avoid processed foods and eating out.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Note that in 1933 modern agriculture was just around the corner.
Chicken was a premium meal, hence: 1928 slogan ‘a chicken in every pot’.

Also in ‘33 work was a good thing to have, today not so much.

[dirtboy]

Oh, and oatmeal and yoghurt as well, forgot breakfast. That works out to about 50 cents a day.

[virgil283]

govt gave free peanut butter....missed that but I did sample 'free' govt cheese....and had the same result.

[Hoffer Rand]

Dried beans - a fourth the price of canned beans (generally under a $1 a lb.), YOU control the sodium, tons of varieties and recipes, easy to cook, freeze great, and they average 6 cups of cooked beans per pound of dried. Can’t beat it!! I cook up 1-2 lb. batches, put them in 2 cup serving sizes in the freezer. At any given time, I’ve got 5-6 varieties of cooked beans in the freezer, ready to go. Since it requires the same effort and time to cook 2 cups of beans for a recipe as it does 1-2 lbs. of beans, any time I cook beans, I always do at least 1 lb. dried, use what I need for my recipe and freeze the rest for later.

[Vendome]

Absolutely

[DUMBGRUNT]

The grocery clerk commented to my wife about EBT cards being used for sushi from the deli!!

That will dent your food budget!

[Marie]

Not only that, but that’s per person. So about $120 a month per mouth. We had a family of 4. That would be $480 a month for food only for a family for four.

That’s actually pretty close to what I spent to feed my family and we did eat healthy. Not only that, but my son needed a special diet (no wheat, oats, rye, or barley) and both my son and athletic husband needed more protein than average.

There was still enough money for ‘steak night’ and fresh produce. We did eat a lot of rice as our primary ‘filler’ carb, but we had meat every day. Lots of eggs and cheese. Beans. Frozen veggies were a better deal than fresh and much more healthy than canned.

After the once a month BIG trip, I’d spend another $25-30 a week for fresh milk and fruits and veggies, but my $500 once a month payday shopping spree also included soaps, cleaners, pet food, personal hygiene products, laundry stuff, etc. So, if we’re JUST talking about food, I did keep it under $500.

My daughter is doing Whole30 for three right now. That’s ALL natural and VERY healthy. She’s spending $600 a month for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for everyone. And they are eating fresh produce and decent cuts of meat with each meal. That’s almost twice the SNAP allotment, but they have NO carb fillers, tons of funky herbs and fresh produce. They are eating steak and salmon and organic chicken, etc. So yes. It’s impossible to eat for ultimate health if you try to rely on the SNAP *supplement* alone.

I did notice that the price of whole foods - like dried beans - went up horribly compared to processed foods and my grocery bill was much higher than when we ate bread and cereals. That’s was frustrating for me. I remember wishing that hunting season would just hurry up and get here already!

[DUMBGRUNT]

And if they don't want to live on the prairie and eat chard and radish greens, they can get serious about joining modern civilization and making a contribution.

Sadly we, the taxpayers are breeding an underclass, used to support the lib agenda.

A very expensive vote buying scheme.

[Marie]

I agree. We should have food banks in every town instead of giving people money. Hell, I’d even throw in one-a-day vitamins. You go, you get a box or a bag for each person. Whatever a healthy human needs to thrive. (male and female - since hard working men do need more overall protein and calories) They have to add seasonings if they want them.

Sadly, too many young people simply do not know how to cook.

[Veto!]

Freeper Grania and I had a contest in Nivember 2013 to see whether we could eat on 30/week. We both did just fine, though our diets were very different. I actually got organic chicken thighs into my menu, she got some cans of expensive Progesso soup. The thread is here at FR somewhere. Here's a copy of my report at the end of the week: I have certain dietary needs, like very low sodium, hard to keep sodium to a minimum with prepared foods, so I cook. I went to the local employee-owned bargain store (Winco) catering to Mexicans. They have xlnt prices and very extensive money-saving bulk bins. Organic oats for $1.12/lb...whooeee. Plus my local Trader Joe, has really good prices on a few things I absolutely have to have organic, like chicken, milk, and yogurt. Breakfast every morning was a big bowl of oatmeal with sunflower seeds and a huge dab of yogurt. Sliced 1/2 banana on top. I eat this every day, sometimes with more goodies, like raisins or cranberries instead of bananas, but saved $ this week with bananas. I bought a lot of fresh veggies and a boxed lo-so organic chicken broth, made a huge pot of soup with cans of beans in for protein, which actually lasted through three meals, two dinners, one lunch. Otherwise, had stuff like french toast for lunch with a piece of fresh fruit. Baked the apples and pears, yum. Open-face egg salad sandwich. Baked squash for lunch or dinner, baked chicken thighs too. Steamed broccoli. I love the stuff! Made a yellow cake with a can of pineapple chunks in it, no need for icing. Sheet cake, lasted all week for dessert. Drank milk, which I gag on unless its organic nonfat. So I had to splurge...the store I went to had it for almost $1 less than Safeway, so I will be going back. I use it coffee too. I know it’s hard for young mothers with kids to cook this much. But not impossible. Back when I had little kids, my neighbor and I cooked together for hours on Saturdays, stuck stuff in the freezer for later in the week, saved a ton of money. Casseroles are our friends:) Here’s my budget: Cake mix .98 Bulk coffee@ 6.00/lb 1.50 1/2 loaf wheat bread 1.38 .70 1/2 gal org milk 2.98 1 lb orgnic chicken thighs 4.99 5 lb bag russets for 1.38 . .56 organic oats bulk @ 1.12 .74 Sunflower seeds bulk .20 Trader Org nonfat yog 2.99 Fresh mushrooms @1.12 .56 Fresh jalapeno peppers @.98 .19 Pears 2 1,08 Apples 2 .77 Bananas 2 .46 Orange 1 .64 9 Eggs @ 1.50 = 1.13 Carnival suash 2 .88 Broccoli 1.59 Onions .65 Organic carrots .78 Celery .50 Cabbage .88 Mushrooms 1.10 Jalapeno peppers .19 2 Cans lo sodium beans .58 1.16 1 Can pineapple 1.49 Org chicken thighs l lb 4.49 Org chicken Broth, 1 quart 2.52 Cookies yummy mexican! 1.11 The Nabisco equivalent is more than $4.00!!!! I really enjoyed this exercise, and want to continue — though I must admit that at the end of the week I bought a nice steak. :) I’d so some things differently too....that pot of soup was really boring, will buy MORE jalapeños, and probably some tomatoes to throw in. More like chili. Will make some polenta, which costs next to nothing and is very versatile. My fave recipe: heat oven to 375. Put 1 cup polenta (corn meal) in bottom of casserole dish, cover very gently with 3 cups water. Do not stir or even shake it much on it’s way into the oven. 40-50 minutes later, you have wonderful lump-free polenta, more versatile than cornbread and probably healthier… I should get a job with the gubmint to teach women how to cook.

[sheana]

Yeah. We had ham sandwiches. Homemade macaroni and chees ewith ham in it. Ham and eggs. Ham and cheese omelets. We had a big bone with a bunch of ham left on it for the beans. lol

[sheana]

And we fed 8 people at Easter with it. That was a lot of ham!

[Veto!]

OOOOPS, DIDN'T FORMAT PARAGRAPHS:

Freeper Grania and I had a contest in Nivember 2013 to see whether we could eat on 30/week. We both did just fine, though our diets were very different. I actually got organic chicken thighs into my menu, she got some cans of expensive Progesso soup. The thread is here at FR somewhere.

Here's a copy of my report at the end of the week:

I have certain dietary needs, like very low sodium, hard to keep sodium to a minimum with prepared foods, so I cook. I went to the local employee-owned bargain store (Winco) catering to Mexicans. They have xlnt prices and very extensive money-saving bulk bins. Organic oats for $1.12/lb...whooeee. Plus my local Trader Joe, has really good prices on a few things I absolutely have to have organic, like chicken, milk, and yogurt.

Breakfast every morning was a big bowl of oatmeal with sunflower seeds and a huge dab of yogurt. Sliced 1/2 banana on top. I eat this every day, sometimes with more goodies, like raisins or cranberries instead of bananas, but saved $ this week with bananas.

I bought a lot of fresh veggies and a boxed lo-so organic chicken broth, made a huge pot of soup with cans of beans in for protein, which actually lasted through three meals, two dinners, one lunch.

Otherwise, had stuff like french toast for lunch with a piece of fresh fruit. Baked the apples and pears, yum. Open-face egg salad sandwich. Baked squash for lunch or dinner, baked chicken thighs too. Steamed broccoli. I love the stuff!

Made a yellow cake with a can of pineapple chunks in it, no need for icing. Sheet cake, lasted all week for dessert.

Drank milk, which I gag on unless its organic nonfat. So I had to splurge...the store I went to had it for almost $1 less than Safeway, so I will be going back. I use it coffee too.

I know it’s hard for young mothers with kids to cook this much. But not impossible. Back when I had little kids, my neighbor and I cooked together for hours on Saturdays, stuck stuff in the freezer for later in the week, saved a ton of money. Casseroles are our friends:)

Here’s my budget:
Cake mix .98
Bulk coffee@ 6.00/lb 1.50
1/2 loaf wheat bread 1.38 .70
1/2 gal org milk 2.98
1 lb orgnic chicken thighs 4.99
5 lb bag russets for 1.38 . .56
organic oats bulk @ 1.12 .74
Sunflower seeds bulk .20
Trader Org nonfat yog 2.99
Fresh mushrooms @1.12 .56
Fresh jalapeno peppers @.98 .19
Pears 2 1,08
Apples 2 .77
Bananas 2 .46
Orange 1 .64
9 Eggs @ 1.50 = 1.13
Carnival suash 2 .88
Broccoli 1.59
Onions .65 >BR>Organic carrots .78
Celery .50
Cabbage .88
Mushrooms 1.10
Jalapeno peppers .19
2 Cans lo sodium beans .58 1.16
1 Can pineapple 1.49
Org chicken thighs l lb 4.49
Org chicken Broth, 1 quart 2.52
Cookies yummy mexican! 1.11 The Nabisco equivalent is more than $4.00!!!!
I really enjoyed this exercise, and want to continue — though I must admit that at the end of the week I bought a nice steak. :)

I’d so some things differently too....that pot of soup was really boring, will buy MORE jalapeños, and probably some tomatoes to throw in. More like chili.

Will make some polenta, which costs next to nothing and is very versatile. My fave recipe: heat oven to 375. Put 1 cup polenta (corn meal) in bottom of casserole dish, cover very gently with 3 cups water. Do not stir or even shake it much on it’s way into the oven. 40-50 minutes later, you have wonderful lump-free polenta, more versatile than cornbread and probably healthier…

I should get a job with the gubmint to teach women how to cook. WE ALL SHOULD.

[Vermont Lt]

For $4 a day if you are careful, plan and portion accurately. If you can grow a garden, the price can be reached easily.

No soda. No candy, and you have to learn how to cook.

[goodwithagun]

This was debunked during last year’s #SNAPchallenge.

[Vermont Lt]

Chicken at $1 a pound? Boy, not in my town. Freakin’ hamburger is like $6 a pound.

[Bob434]

[[Can you eat healthy on $4 a day?]]

Do they sell wine for $4 a bottle anymore?

[crusty old prospector]

For breakfast, I grab a flour and corn tortilla and wrap them together in the microwave. That probably costs a dime. Sometimes I add cheese or some sandwich meat.