Posted on 09/22/2011 7:36:30 AM PDT by Abathar
(CNN) -- That is the reality for the more than 40 million Americans who rely on food stamps. According to the Food Research and Action Center the average food stamp allotment is just $30 per week.
I began thinking about taking a food stamp challenge earlier this month when I met several women who we profiled on hunger for two CNN stories airing this week. These women had to make tough choices between paying bills and buying food. Often they skipped meals so their children could eat. Often the amount of food stamps they received was not enough.
Living on a food stamp budget for just one week won't begin to put me in these women's shoes or come close to the struggles that millions of low-income families face every day; week in and week out, month after month. But I do expect to gain a new perspective and a better understanding.
(Excerpt) Read more at theindychannel.com ...
Frozen veggies are actually nutritionally better than fresh unless you have picked them yourself.
Most veggies and fruits are flash frozen closer to the time they are picked. If you steam them or microwave for a small amount of time, they are better for you.
“But I do expect to gain a new perspective and a better understanding.” Of what? I hope she understands who is actually responsible for this.
True, but if you have a whole $30/week why not spoil yourself. :-)
Yeah, she would fry slices of it.
Actually if you throw out 2 of my meals (weekly lunch with former co-workers and weekly visit to the sports bar) I probably do eat on close to $30 a week. Home cooked dinners and leftover lunches. It ain’t that tough.
Frozen veggies are actually nutritionally better than fresh unless you have picked them yourself.
Compare a bunch of fresh spinach, and how it cooks down to a tiny blob, compared to a brick of frozen spinach.
Well, Heck! If you can’t use them on liquor, what’s the POINT? LOL!
Awesome scores. I find deals like that at Walgreen’s. Sis & I exchange gift cards from there for birthdays; $20 limit. Then we report back to see who can stretch that $20 the furthest. :)
Yep. That’s what constitutes EXCITEMENT in our lives, LOL!
I agree completely. Most beans can be purchased for under a buck a pound. My favor breakfast is brown rice mixed with two scrambled eggs diced ham and onions. Well under a dollar and it is enough to get me to dinner time.
Exactly.
Unless I grow it myself or get it cheap at the farmer’s market, I buy frozen veggies. Frozen fruit too, all winter.
We pick and dry apples but when those are gone it’s raisins and frozen fruit. One minute at 10% power in the microwave and we have a decent fruit salad.
My father-in-law recently passed. When he was alive and I was able to, I would cook for him, my MIL and hubby and we both got a kick out of seeing how cheap I could cook a good dinner for 4 using quality ingredients.
Grilled tuna ($1.60 per steak bought at BJs)
baked potatoes ($.50 each with butter and sour cream)
and a salad (approx $.15 worth of lettuce each with home grown tomatoes, cukes and bell peppers grown in garden.)
=$9.00 dinner for 4 ($2.25 each)
Optional:
Chocolate icebox pie
graham cracker crust $1.00
cooked chocolate pudding (not instant) $2.00
Cool Whip $2.00
$.65 per slice
Brunswick stew with cornbread was usually less that $5.00 for a pot that would serve 4 people twice (8 good sized meals) or 4 people and 6 dogs once.
I miss my father-in-law.
Reading her recipe, I just figured out that I make this dish pretty often:
-1cup of rice
-1 link Andouille sausage (Aidells, great stuff, even if expensive)
-1 can of black beans
-sazon to taste
-sofrito to taste.
It is enough for me for 3 meals, and based on what I paid last week at the store is about $17 a week if that is all I had to eat. I’d have to mix in some fruit and veggies on the side, but I think I could get by on $30 +/- a week. If bought in bulk (50 lb bags) and cooked my own beans, I could even whittle it down to $10-12, maybe less.
I’d have to break my coffee addiction though. Well, tea is cheap.
Nonsense. Ever hear of risotto? There are thousands of recipes for it with tons of different ingredients to mix in with the rice. And there are so many different kinds of beans, you can find tons of recipes for those, too, soups, salads, hummus, side dishes, entres, you name it. Free, too, look online.
My mom would make that (fried corn meal slices) for us as kids, and serve with syrup.
“I mean by your definition fried insects would be on the menu.”
Termites are very nutritious. Just ask anyone in East Africa. I prefer mine roasted, rather than “fresh on the hoof”.
As I said, you have a highly romanticized veiw of food.
And yes, fried insects are on the human menu. Several cultures use them for their high protein content.
/johnny
As I have posted before, we need to get rid of food stamps and open government stores. Sell canned goods with generic black and white labels, flour, sugar, rice, beans and fresh vegetables. No cookies, beer, poptarts or sodas. Just healthy basics.
And why doesn’t the First Lardy go after what people can buy on foodstamps? No sodas, cookies, fattening foods or sugared cereals? She is such a hippo-crit.
The Rice and Beans Diet Inspiried by Dave Ramsey
The recipe at the link calls for canned beans. Why on earth would you use canned when dried beans can be bought for a fraction of the cost?
Good ol’ Dave is falling down on the job.
>>No I could not feed my family on 30.00 a week. Does this include wine?<<
If you want to be a wine snob, you have to have a job.
I’m sure you do and that is why you don’t have to feed your family on 30.00 a week.
You don’t have to eat dull to eat cheap. You just have to eat smart. Made kielbasa and kraut for dinner last night, maybe $15 worth of ingredients, made enough to make dinner for the wife and I and give me 2 lunches worth of leftovers, so about $3.75 a meal, and not a single grain of rice or a bean. And the great part about kraut is it steeps in storage, the leftovers are going to taste better than the original. Italian food is like that too, sauces always get better as they age.
Hubby and I are financially pretty comfortable (thank you, Lord), but every time we go in the grocery store, we head for the "Manager Special" bin in the meat section and check out what's there. More than 75% of the time, there is something there that we'll use, and at a great price. We've gotten some killer deals. I figure, if I'm taking it home and immediately cooking it or putting it directly in the freezer, who cares that it's going to "expire" in two days. Why pay more when you don't have to, right? Sometimes people look at us like we're nuts, picking through the discounted meat, but I don't care what they think, I care about being a good steward of what God has given us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.