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.
... snip
I have diabetes, which means I cannot eat anything whatsoever.
Nothing. At all.
I’m down four pants sizes so far.
Whole grain rice with red beans. Affordable and healthy. Add a green veggie and a glass of water and the meal is nearly complete.
What part of that is so hard for folks to understand? Not "complete", not "total".
Supplemental, to complement, to complete, in addition to.
Don't get me started on the latest WIC fraud going on..."buying" formula with WIC and then selling it on line...a crime.
That’s me. I simply can’t cook in a dirty kitchen or with a sink full of dishes. My kitchen is ALWAYS clean.
I love eggs. I eat a lot of eggs. When I’m on my boat by myself I can buy $20 groceries for a week and bring half of them home.
I’m lucky we have a friend with lots of chickens so I get my eggs free. I take her something once in awhile. ;)
I don’t do the grocery shopping, so I have no idea what it cost.
I am diabetic, so I suspect it’s not cheap.
I occasionally cheat on my diet. This last Friday I decided it was a cheat night. Friday is steak night for us, but instead I wanted a bite of nostalgia. ??We roasted hotdogs over a campfire of real wood.
My bride says the entire shopping trip cost about $6. That is for a package of 8 hotdogs and buns (that’s the cheat- I can’t eat bread). I made a pig of myself and ate 3 hotdogs....two on buns. LOL
I even drank a half a can of diet Coke..... I get about one of those a year.
We have nice store bought roasting sticks, but we chose to make our own using trees libs from an Alder tree. The wood was free, apple and alder...I have lots of that around.
OMG it was great! I roasted my own dogs over the fire... it was like being a kid again. I’d bet I haven’t had a hotdog for well over 20 years.
We used Hebrew National’s delicious kosher hot dogs...for me, this was even better than steak. The smell, the taste, smoke, atmosphere....and the memories of my youth -—EXCELLENT. It was a beautiful evening down in our orchard.
I was the oldest of 6 brats of a dirt poor family. I know full well what it’s like to be poor. I have been what some would call wealthy, I retired at 53 and now at 67 I am ‘comfortable’.
While I don’t wish to be poor again, from my memories, it wasn’t all that bad. Frankly, I didn’t even know I was poor until other kids told me I was and made fun of my hand-me-down clothes.
Anyway, if things turn for the worse, I’ll survive and I think I will even enjoy some of it.
I sent a text to my wife and told her I want to have Hobo stew this next Friday. It’s just small chunks of cheap cut beef, potatoes, onions, carrots all tossed on tinfoil wrapped loosely and set on the coals to cook. I remember loving that stew.
Just the other day I saw Spam being sold by the case at Costco.... I might buy a case or two the next time I am in that store....just for fun, and of course — the memories.
Bon Appétit ......
In 2008, there was a woman posting who asked for creative ways to feed a family of four on a can of beans and tortillas. She said they had that every day.
Stopped me cold.
She also said she’d passed up a $1 shirt at a Goodwill because of the expense.
There was also a young doc posting on here who said bye because he was leaving for Panama.
UPDATE: My bride texted me...says we’re going to have Hobo stew tonight. We will be near the fire pit cutting wood for next year, so we might as well. I am excited. I think it’s been over 35 years since I had that dish. I’ll bet that dish with cost less than $4 each. ;>)
What? You expect all those fatso Gibsmedats to bother themselves all up by standing in some sucker lines at a genuine charity just to get real meals instead of trading their EBT cards in for cigs, alcohol, pot, and maybe an occasional bucket of Pop-Eyes?
How demeaning.
Where's your entrepreneurial spirit?
Why do you hate poor people?
When I was a kid in the fiftys, we rented a house with two apple, two pear, a sweet cherry, and sour cherry trees and what seemed like a gigantic blackberry patch. Heaven for a 5 year old. Of course there was an outdoor toilet and baths in a galvanized tub.
Nailed it!
The benefit is 6 dollars a day... so that leaves only 60 bucks for cigarettes and booze every month.
Well that’s only enough for one or the other, it’s barbaric to make people choose between cigarettes and booze... something MUST be done!
“Just the other day I saw Spam being sold by the case at Costco”
I’ve noticed that Spam isn’t a “cheap” food any more. I like it fried, on a sandwich, with lots of mustard. Haven’t had it in a while, though. It’s in the pantry, though, for a possible emergency.
You are in good company. Last week I met a young Marine who had just completed his initial training successfully and he said he had lost four pants sizes!
I love chicken. Maybe SNAP is for me?
I remember some of those.... I believe my basic needs should be just that . Cheap and simple. Quality products from known sources..... just don’t need much these days....:o)
Want a cookie ?
It’s all that “hittin”.
Baby Ham
Try baking spam. Get it out of the can, make cross cuts on the side (top), poke in a few cloves and sprinkle with a little brown sugar.
Bake at high heat until the outside starts to get a touch crispy.
Not bad, not bad at all.
“I’m down four pants sizes so far.”
You better leave enough to “hit it” or you’ll be suicide watch! Our dear Laz,,we know you so well!
Congrats on the weight loss!
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