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 ...
She “can’t afford oatmeal”??! Where does she shop? And she is paying 2-4 times as much as I do for almost everything she names, and I am not even a careful shopper.
Here is the part that I really want to highlight, though:
“I will avoid any free food from friends, or at work.”
Why? Because if you are temporarily down on your luck the only legitimate source of help is the government? That’s your problem right there. Because I’d happily accept gifts from friends and neighbors, and offer the same to them.
I actually thought of you and coupons when I read the article and posted it.
You got kids JOhnny? Cause if you want to serve them pig tendons and bugs, be my guest. But I am betting you will have better bang for your buck with the menu I suggested.
I found out, there is no point in serving kids stuff they won’t eat.
Oh, and I can just anticipate your loving response to your kids that don’t want to eat bug bodies “You’ll eat what is put in front of you or you will starve.” Yeah, that ain’t cool either, my friend.
I just went to Trader Joe’s, and I was thinking about this article when I was there.
They have a yummy chicken fried rice that is $2.99. It says it has 4 servings, but I think it’s more like 2 servings. It has chicken, rice, carrots and peas.
They had bananas for 19 cents each.
They have other cheap entrees.
You could easily have oatmeal or cereal for breakfast. A dozen eggs is under $3. Lots of things you can do with eggs. Scrambled, omelets, egg salad, hard boiled, etc. Then a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and a banana for lunch. Get a good tasting entree from Trader Joes.
He sure was. One of ten children, worked every day of his life from the time he was 4, when he started plowing fields with a mule, until he had his stroke at the age of 79. He knew everything about growing vegetables and fruit and could name every plant on his farm. He got over 1200 cherry tomatoes off of one plant 6 years ago. At the age of 5 he got up at 3 am to go check his 40 rabbit traps over a 5 mile path he made. He would kill and clean the rabbits and sell them for 5 cents each to help support his family. At the age of 5. He knew tractors inside and out and could diagnose problems over the phone if necessary. He knew farm animals and people would use his expertise rather than go to a veterinarian. He was the best barbecue man in the county- being in Georgia, that is a big deal here. He knew what was what and who was who. No one could fool him with fakery. He knew moonshine and once I was in the picture, fine wine.
We were good friends.
You can eat better than that on $30 a week.You can cook large pots of beans, freeze or can leftovers,rice and beans are cheap and can let more than one meal.Eggs and scrap leftover can be made into fried rice which is cheap cheap and makes a huge amount.One whole chicken can make stock, soup and the leftover can be made into other things.You just have to plan and cook a lot.
I also pick up corned beef when it is on sale for a good price and stock up. In fact I stock up on any meat that is on sale at a very good price (always under $2 per pound). I only spend over $2 per pound for something special. Having the extra freezer helps me to stock up when meats are cheap and skip buying meat when it isn’t cheap.
I usually cook Corned Beef and Cabbage with carrots and onions at least once a month too. I even save the leftover cooking liquid and then use it to make a big pot of split pea soup or beans. Any leftover veggies get choped up and thrown in the pot with the split peas or the beans for added flavor. They are really extra delicious when made with the cooking liquid from the corned beef and any leftover veggies.
Your budget is the same as mine $75 a week.Up until last year I never spent more than $55.
OPPPSSS sorry I can’t count today.Wow how many people are you feeding on that? I try hard but at $75 a week for two people...I’ll admit we eat fairly well but you spend 1/2 of what I do.
The calculations were changed to include the change in housing costs, so as long as the real estate market stays down, it offsets the increase in food and other prices, giving the illusion of little or no change in total costs.
And yes, it’s complete bull. Which is why I’m so suspicious that the census bureau is changing the way they calculate poverty rates, just in time for the next election cycle.
I will accept food from others too, although I don’t solicit it since we are doing just fine without the need for any food stamps or hand outs.
We had a close family friend with a huge garden this year and ended up with more veggies than her family could eat, or that she had time to freeze or can. She gave us a bunch of zucchini, yellow squash, green onions, and tomatoes. I gave her some of the freezer jam my family makes every summer. We both felt good sharing our bounty with eachother, and felt lucky to have such wonderful foods to add to our own food stores.
TJs is a great place. Really good food and most of it is surprisingly cheap. When we started shopping there more our grocery bill went down. There’s some stuff that expensive, especially the cheeses. But their prepped to semi-prepped stuff (salads, various frozen things, easy add 2 things stuff) can usually keep you going solid for 3 or less bucks a meal, and is tasty. My biggest complaint there is the difficulty of finding plain utilitarian bread. I like fancy breads to eat on their own as a snack or side, but to do stuff like make sandwiches I want just regular whole wheat no screwing around with oatmeal cluster crunchy crap, and that’s a rare item at TJs.
Uh, yeah, less than $30 per week, even without food stamps or any other kind of welfare.
OMG $4.69 for chicken breasts? Hello it is called shopping when it is on sale.I believe bones ones are $1.29 this week and if you want them boneless you can learn to do it yourself....
I feed just myself. All 6’ 2”, 330 pounds of myself...:)
I love to cook (and I have the belly to show it - my grandmother, a German immigrant who taught me how to cook, told me many times never to trust a skinny cook), so that really cuts down on the costs. I can’t remember the last time I bought a loaf a bread (versus making my own), or ordered a pizza, or bought a burger.
Last night’s dinner was chile verde with my own tortillas, tonight will be chicken tikka masala with a salad and homemade naan bread, and tomorrow night I’ll make a curried shepherd’s pie using the remnants of the chile verde and chicken tikka I didn’t eat.
I love making all kinds of food, and if you buy in decent bulk (10 pound bags of flour and sugar, bulk-packs of chicken and beef - grind your own hamburger!) and cook for yourself you’ll end up spending $3-$4 per day for food.
I don’t spend little because I’m cheap (I do eat out 2-3 times a month at nice restaurants because I’m always on the lookout for new dishes to try/savor - I don’t mind spending $50-$80 for a meal if it’s a good meal), but because it simply doesn’t require a lot of money to cook for yourself.
$0.30 of flour, $0.10 of yeast, salt, and sugar, $0.02 of water, 8 hours of stand-around time, 10 minutes of work and 40 minutes of oven will make you the best tasting $0.42 loaf of bread you've ever had! ;)
Oatmeal is certainly among the cheapest breakfast foods and there is absolutely no reason this woman could not afford oatmeal. Even eggs run about 10 cents each (at least they do where I buy them) and I consider them to be cheap.
My daughter loves the instant Apple Cinnamon oatmeal for something quick to fix for breakfast or a snack. I just picked up another box the other day and it was less than $2.00 for 10 packets of oatmeal, so even the expensive stuff like this is very affordable That would work out to less than $.20 per serving.
Even a large 2 lb. can of Quaker oats is less than $2.00 and the container says it makes 30 servings. That works out to less than $. 07 per serving. If you buy oatmeal in bulk it is even cheaper that that.
OK I don’t feel too bad now since there are two of us.My maiden name originally was Hettrich before it was Americanized by a prior generation so know the German side well.I make a mean pickled beet egg.
Yes - with food to spare! That's the point of my blog A Buck A Plate.
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