Posted on 08/07/2007 11:00:37 AM PDT by NEMDF
Me, too!
We're a family of four and I spend less than that...with a teenage son! With grocery prices going up I've been avoiding the canned goods and buying rice and beans in bulk. Steel cut oatmeal is $.89 a pound at Whole Foods and I can't think of a more substantial breakfast.
I did my monthly shopping at Sam's this morning. I could've spent $500 easily -- not including laundry soaps and toiletries -- and we would've eaten like kings.
The party was in december. It’s now august, are the bones still broken?
I go to work every damn day with my ankle in a brace from an accident years ago. I’ve never missed a day of work because of it.
Paging Jesse Jackson!
There was an interesting story in the Lansing (MI) State Journal a few weeks ago about this -- a group of poor neighbors banded together and started small gardens. They grew enough tomatoes, beans, peas and other veggies not only to feed themselves, but to give to the homeless that were STEALING from their gardens!
In a clever twist, they made a deal with the kids snurching the tomatoes using them as paint balls -- if they spent a few hours in the garden each week, they got a big bag of them. Pretty soon they had all the gardening help they needed -- and a security team to boot!
Yep, she’s quite the hefty hiker.
Smart move. Now the kids will learn the benefits of gardening, too.
I was just going to post the link to Hillbilly Housewife until I read your post. You are right, it’s a great site.It’s all common sense, I honestly think that it’s lacking in a lot of people these days.
I have never made sloppy joes for 7 people with more than a lb. of hamburger. I add corn. For tacos, I add cubed potatoes.
Spaghetti certainly doesn’t need more than a pound. Goodness.
Read the entire article. She gets $500.00 for food and an additional $500.00 for housing. That works out to an hourly rate of about $9.40 (pre tax). Then she gets additional “free” money from the Earned Income Tax Credit!
No wonder her foot still hurts! I expect that it will never heal.
Not any more. Not they have EBT cards. Stands for Electronic Benefits Transfer. You see, having actual food stamps was stigmatizing and damaging to their self esteem. So now they have a card just like a debit card that has their "stamps" on them.
Or as Neal Boortz calls it, Push Button Plunder.
If I understood the article in our local newspaper from right after schools let out for the summer, the schools here serve breakfast and lunch to all children, ages 1-18, whether they attend the school or not...they just need to show up. But I don’t know if it is free or not. I didn’t get the impression that it is. Maybe I skipped that part...lol
This is just ridiculous...if see can walk through a supermarket see can do many jobs or at least look for work on the internet...these people do not want a job they have the best one already..it a government job you know.
makes me sick that I get bled dry by taxes and fee to support people like this.
I'm with you on that.
I fed them last month for $200 and change. Granted, there are only 3 of us, but still...
Same here.
Every few months I will do a $200-$300 major freezer/pantry stock-up shopping and then I'm pretty much able to keep the monthly in the $150-$200 range including all the stuff like paper products, laundry detergent, toothpaste, aspirin, etc.
If what I see at my local grocery store in Houston is any indication a good portion of them are probably here illegally. What amazes me is that it seems a good portion of them have cell phones. And I don't think they are the pay as you go type plans judging by the fact that it seems they are always talking on them. In Spanish.
I didn’t even notice the motorcart.
Well, let’s just kill her now. She’s fat. Proof enough that she doesn’t deserve to live.
Well, let’s just kill her now. She’s fat. Proof enough that she doesn’t deserve to live.
Glad I’m not the only one who thinks $500 a month on groceries for 5 is very little. (I include cleaning supplies and health and beauty aids along with food.)We are probably running at twice that amount. Also, houses with kids are always feeding whoever happens to be there at meal time. Plus I try to bring lunch and that comes out of grocery money too. In addition, with kids you always have to send or contribute something (drinks or snacks) to school or scouts or church, or soccer, etc.
I also buy certain things in bulk at Costco, that I repackage and freeze. It is not exclusively food, probably only about 50 percent. So that shopping trip is on top of the weekly supermarket run. The monthly Costco shopping trip usually runs over $400. You can get GREAT bargains on cleaning supplies, groceries, clothes and office/school supplies, but there is a temptation to buy things you don’t really need. If you stick to basics and avoid prepared foods (though they are MUCH cheaper there) you can do very well. However, most folks on a very limited budget just can’t come up with the money to buy in bulk. That is a catch-22. I admit I would shop differently if I was on a tighter budget, like cheaper cuts of meat and more starchy, filling foods.
I don’t like the whole idea of glorifying the welfare lifestyle. That said, the woman in the article is trying to make do in a better way than I see many other food stamps folks do. Many don’t get the idea of buying large sizes, passing on prepared foods and going for generic brands.
I don’t quite see the point of the article, and I agree with those who question where is the support of the father(s) and older children. But I do feel empathy for those who have to shop by cab, whether they are paying with food stamps or cash. We sometimes take little things like throwing our groceries in the back of our own cars for granted. And many of us, feeling slightly smug, may ourselves be only an accident, illness, layoff or even a bad investment or decision away from ultimately needing some assistance.
Yeah, I see that now...I got curious and looked it up. They can buy whatever they wish, as long as it is not pet food, non-food items or hot pre-cooked food. WIC is apparently the thing I was thinking about, where there were restrictions to what could be bought.
I must wonder...why the difference? Does it suddenly not matter what the kids eat after they hit age 5???
It sounds pretty good ... I should try that, though with better quality sausage than weenies. Andouille, maybe.
Yeah, like that’s exactly what i said!
Dope!
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