That's the food stamp budget for a family of 4
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comEating well on $68.88 a week
Seeded on Wed Apr 14, 2010 1:43 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
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In addition to what they purchased, I'd also be interested in know where they shopped. Many who llive in low income neighborhoods don't have easy access to the big box grocery stores which generally have the lowest prices.
That's exactly what I was going to say.
I live in an upper class neighborhood with some mandated low income housing. There are several big grocery store chains within 5 miles of each other and they have chicken on sale all the time! Also, if you are a "club" member you can get additional discounts.
$69/week is a lot of money really! That's $10/day. Toast for breakfast with coffee and maybe a banana or any piece of fruit. Salad for lunch with a can of tuna thrown in, and a hamburger patty with mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner. Yum yum! And definitely doable for $10/day.
It's the alcohol and the cigarettes that throw these people above their budgets. They would rather blow the $69 on a bottle of Jim Beam and a carton of Marlboro's!!!!
One in eight Americans? NO. One in eight people who live in the US. That's a lot of money? That is $2.50 per person per day. That also includes bathroom tissue, soap power, shampoo, razors, etc. You have to be almost a genius to be able to eat for $2.50/day. And these people cannot afford to shop at big box stores. The initial layout would be too great. The things we should eat like fresh fruit and veggies are sometimes extremely expensive, depending on the time of year. Lettuce is over $1.00 and to make a salad for that family, you need one head plus anything else you can scrounge up. Even chicken is not cheap. There should be places people on stamps can go to learn how to handle this. Instead, some on stamps trade them for things you can't buy with them, thus their families go hungry.
Auzziegirl - that's $69 a week for 4 people, not one. And you can't buy alcohol or cigarettes with food stamps (nor paper towels or aluminum foil or toilet paper or toothpaste.)
Most people on food stamps are working every day (despite the stereotypes). I'd like to see how many of these chefs could live on a food stamp food budget if they were gone from home 9 or 10 hours a day and could only food shop and cook after "work" hours. I'm sure they're also using spices and prep materials that they already have in their kitchen - oil, salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, etc., which would also need to come out of the average food stamp family's budget. Yes, it's cheaper to cook from scratch every meal, but when you have kids and work there are only so many hours in the day!
I know from personal experience that my budget for a family of 3 is about 400 bucks a month, and we don't exactly eat like kings. I traded in most processed foods for fresh a while ago too. It does take more time, and the schedule doesn't always allow it, but I mean if I'm really in a rush, takes no time at all to boil some pasta and add sauce, bread and salad - don't have to go all out every night.
Beats chef boyardee every time.
Real American -
I completely understand! It's the same with Social Security.
If you live from paycheck-to-paycheck your whole life (like most people) and haven't saved for retirement but you have paid into the system, the most you can expect to get if you wait until you are 67 years old to retire is about $2500/month. Now, remember, that's the most you can get and that would only be for those who made above average wages during their working careers.
And as mentioned that's not meant to be the entire food budget, it's meant to supplement income you earn from work. So let's say you work and make $640 a week with two parents working 8 hours a day for minimum wage, this just makes adds to it making it $700/week.
Now let's say you can budget $120 for food... the $60 helped, did it not?
The allotment for food stamps should be increased. The program was originally implemented to help farmers and it is successful at that but also helps business in general. It raises the GNP, employment, revenue for grocery stores, improves nutrition for kids, etc. The program should be expanded during this recession to help people make it through.
My family of seven can eat for just over $400 per month and that includes teenage boys. It can be done with beans, whole wheat pastas, rice and canned or frozen vegetables.
Optomyst, you are wrong about having to buy bathroom tissue and soap. Food stamps can only be used for FOOD! Years ago I worked as a cashier at a convenience store when people still used paper food stamps. They would come in all day and buy 5 cent candy and get the change in cash and then come back when they had enough cash for a lottery ticket or pack of cigarettes. The people on food stamps bought more beer, cigarettes, candy, ice cream and lottery tickets than any of our other regular customers.
My son now works in a grocery store and he says you can always tell when it's the END of the month because the people using food stamp cards realize they have money left and come in and buy shrimp, steak and lobsters. We need to teach families how to cook quick, healthy meals and use their food stamp money more wisely.
I am a single mom of two boys and one is adolescent and eats me out of house and home and a 7 yr old who is a rail and has VERY high metabolism and eats non stop. I make 8.75 and hour and we get for a family of 3 145.00 a month on food stamps. It's impossible to do that with using my own money and try to shuffle other needs around. I have high BP and so does my youngest and we have to watch our salt intake. Alot of canned vegetables, broths etc have to be done organic because of this. I browse the sales papers for deals, cut coupons and use our crock pot ALOT. If we have turkey burger one night for dinner we make enough to use in another meal that week. I try very hard to squeeze every bit of food out of what I can to make it stretch. It makes it hard because I pack my son's lunches because I can control what things they eat. I think it's terrible that people like my neighbors who choose not to work get $400 or $500 a month and someone who works a full time job gets less. The system is very wrong. Not to mention I have to pay for all my personal items, meds, daycare etc. I don't recieve child support from their father. Its hard to do on a budget of that size.
Depending on where you live, is there a latino population there? Orientals? Look to their markets for discount prices
2 deleted, Fst Ede with a race derail:
Come on. That's just taunting. You're suspended for a day for violating #5 of the Code of Honor.
To begin with, stop buying bottled and canned beverages and drink water instead. Make homemade iced tea, nonfat no-sugar fruit yogurt smoothies, and occasionally mix up sugar free powdered drinks.
Serve smaller portions, include both a fruit and vegetable component to meals, reduce meat-based entrees, include more soup and salads as main dishes, and reserve desserts for once a week or on special occasions.
Buy in bulk when favorite items are on sale, use coupons when possible, look through the shelves of perishable items and purchase those with the latest expiration date, and freeze milk, meat, and bread you won't be using in the next three days.
Grandma's advice? "The most expensive food is that which you throw away."
I have been on stamps twice in my lifetime; both times for less than three months. I used to buy the chicken leg quarters for .99 per pound, country style pork ribs, a 10 pound bag of potatoes, a flat of eggs, a sack of onions, canned veggies on sale (usually 4 cans for $1), spaghetti noodles, canned tomato sauce & paste, rice, cabbage, beans, bananas, bags of apples or oranges, and always drank water. We got on quite well. I know I sure didn't lose any weight. The problem was always when it came to non-food items. I remember swiping toilet paper from public restrooms on occasion.
That is so true. The poorest neighborhoods often pay more for everything. Gas, sales tax and they don't have discount and big box stores close by usually. So they have to drive a distance to get there or shop at the little Mom and Pop places that are very pricey. It is rough. I don't know how families do it. My two kids are grown and out of house. I spend 70-80 a week for me and Hubby and let me tell you we aren't living high off the hog. Plus I'm not including non-food stuff like soap, detergent, mouthwash etc. We also have pets (2 dogs and a cat) so I am inlcuding pet food. By the time i buy milk, meat, cereal, potatoes, maybe a few canned good, we are up there. I do use the store discount cards and I do clip coupons here and there but still groceries are very expensive. If i was by myself I would give up meat for the most part, and wouldn't miss it that much. I would not buy all the pop that I do now (hubby's a popaholic, I could easily get by on 1 coke a day) Those are our 2 biggest expenses, meat and beverages, (pop, milk, coffee and occasionally juice or lemonade)
Great story...getting us all prepared for Obama's new Amerikka.
No, helping us cope with the old America that Bush left behind...
28 years of Bush aristocracy, secrecy and the plundering of the budget in favor of "pay offs" got us to this place.
Read "Family of Secrets" by Russ Baker and you will realize America was lost to the pentagon and CIA in the 1960's.
That $68 on food stamps is pretty misleading. The amount you receive depends on income level and a family of four at the poverty level gets closer to $140 a week.
I believe it's called an average.
It's called misleading. Nobody expects a family of four to only spend 68 dollars a week on food. It's based on the level of monthly income. A family of 4 getting that level of food stamps has an income of somewhere around $24,000k per year, in addition to which they're probably getting an earned income credit that doesn't count against their monthly income.
I have a single friend on disability, and she gets $90 a week in foodstamps. She is by herself, with no kids. I don't know how they figure the amount, but she gets more than she could eat herself and sometimes buys me stuff.
Now, we are a family of 4 on my husbands single income, and also could qualify for The Stamps, but I really don't want them. If I had to to keep my kids from starving I would of course, but we are (somehow) managing. Meat on sale. Coupons and sale shopping and cooking from scratch. Yeah it's a pain, but it's how I grew up and don't know any better lol. What the heck is Stove Top anyway? My DH asked for it when we were first married and I laughed my head off. Hamburger helper??? Are you kidding me?
We also have a nice sized garden, and that helps to supplement a LOT. Fresh veggies in spring summer and fall, canned during the winter. It's nice to get the occasional steak from my over-food-stamped friend though :)
I would love to see a program that helps low-income families set up a home garden wherever feasible, teach canning/preserving, etc. - skills all those of my grandmother's generation had and then abandoned when processed foods became so "convenient" and plentiful.
Katie - a great idea, but most people on food stamps work full-time. In a way, our individual financial crises lead back to the need for two or more incomes just to make ends meet. I left the work force twelve years ago when I was pregnant with our second child. My husband made less than $60,000 per year then. It wasn't easy; but the first thing we did was eliminated processed foods. They are outrageously expensive for what you get and are loaded with chemicals. Our budget for food back then was $150 per paycheck, which came twice a month. So, basically, we lived on $75 a week, and we were buying formula and diapers. I repeat, it wasn't easy AND that was twelve years ago. But, it forced us to eat a lot healthier. I even tried canning - it was A LOT of work and scorched my fingers! I was home and focused on my homemaking. But most people in this situation will have a hard time pulling this off when both spouses work; especially at today's prices.
I am a family of 3 and we get $145 a month that comes out to be 36.25 a week. That is nothing. It's sad that they would give a person who chooses not to work $500 a month for family of 3 but for someone who works 40 hrs a week gets less.
Welfare for the needy is well and good. Get rid of the useless, irresponsible trash and their children who have milked the Welfare system to death for generations. If the people who run the system can't do it, get rid of them also.
I have a better idea - lets get rid of the $185 billion in corporate welfare our government hands out each year and feed the children instead. What's an economy for if not to feed the people?
Charles, good point!
There are families who do live off of the system and they teach the next generation how to do it too!
Yes, it's what they do! They learn how to manipulate every avenue to get money for not working! They have a zillion babies and claim disabilities and live in Section 8 housing, and they have no qualms whatsoever about doing it.
These are the people that ruin it for everyone else who is honestly needy.
RAF,
You might also add to that amount the cost of 3 unsustainable wars! (Iraq, Afganistan, Columbia)
Okay, here is the hard reality. We have this idea in this country that there are the deserving poor and the undeserving poor, that you can distinguish between the two, and that you can keep help from going to the undeserving poor, who will somehow vanish from the landscape or disappear in prison (where they will cost us about $45,000+ a year to support).
That is not rational and it is not reality based, but it has not prevented us from developing a system that is designed to keep people out instead of help them, and that favors pouring billions into corporate welfare because that is somehow at a higher moral level.
What we have is many more people who need and deserve help who do not get it because of the unreasonable fear that a handful of freeloaders will make out in some trivial and marginal way. Guess what? They already do! And if you want to at least try to help the deserving poor, there is nothing (repeat "nothing") we can do to stop that. I have seen it, at the social worker level, and it is simply not possible. If they jump through the hoops, you have to give them the help.
And we have huge corporations that pay little to no taxes and "earn" all kinds of breaks because that's supposedly good for the economy. They made hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars that should have gone into the US Treasury but instead it went right into their executive and upper management bonus system.
Then they repaid the US for this generosity by scamming the economy and gaming the system to the tune of trillions of dollars, sending us into an economic tailspin in the process, and financially ruining tens of millions of people with a national mortgage scam/con game that went global.
What these guys made in a month from American taxpayers would pay for every welfare cheat's penny ante ambitions for ten years. THAT corporate welfare system is the welfare system we need to do something about.
Thank God, a voice of reason! I am so sick of people talking about welfare recipients as if they're living high on the hog. Meanwhile not one of them would trade places with them.
The amount also fluctuates based on other income you may have. One of our formerly homeless roommates had her food-stamps cancelled when she got a Pell grant to go to school, something my unemployed adult daughter could NOT get because she lives at home and for unexplainable reasons, MY income is somehow figured into the equation!
Food stamps shouldn't have disappeared when she got a Pell grant. Title IV funded federal financial aid is not considered income when calculating assistance. I know this because that is how I was able to obtain my bachelor's degree after my divorce and I was lucky enough to get a case worker that was very experienced and knew his job. At one point, I was transferred to a different case worker - she wanted to count my Title IV funded federal financial aid. I told her what my last case worker said, she confirmed it was true with her supervisor. I am also assuming that this would be the policy/rule across the country - though, it could just be the state I was living in at the time.
As far as your unemployed adult daughter living at home - are you talking about not getting a Pell grant? If so, that is based on her age and if she has children. Without kids, the age to be considered an independent student is 25 or 26 (I can't remember the exact age). If the student has kids, they are automatically considered an independent student. Also, if the person has been homeless recently - they are considered indigent and independent.
Pell Grants are based on income, either from parent's or individual who apply. If you're receiving food stamps and you get a grant (any kind) it translates into money coming into the home so it raises your income so goodbye food stamps or other aid.
My adult unemployed daughter received her own food stamps yet she was told if she planned on going back to school she would loose any assistance if she did. How's that for idiocy, school would allow her to obtain a better job someday yet you can't go to school to get off aid.
I don't know why this is, but it is....
B Garcia - Re: assistance and pell grants: Not according to the case worker I had all through undergrad and his supervisor. Pell grants and other Title IV Federally Funded Financial Aid don't count as income, according to them. Of course, the documentation from the school had to not only say "Pell Grant" or "Stafford Loan", but also had to say how much of the funds were Title IV Funded. Only the Title IV funded funds didn't count as income. Scholarships or other non-Title IV funding did count as income. After my first year of undergrad, my assistance went down because I got several scholarships - so the Pell Grant went away. The total $ of funding didn't change - only the source of funding. I still took the scholarships because it was good for my med school apps to be a recipient of academic pre-med scholarships. Of course, I don't know when your daughter was told this - I graduated almost a year ago and haven't received assistance since then - so it could've changed since I was there.
It goes by household income, or if your parents have some money or don't they expect them to help with your education. Instead of putting money towards your education they just lessen or give more towards the Pell Grant, or FASFA.
I will share a little trick my Mom used when I was a kid. She would buy #10 cans of tomato paste. Then she opened the can and put it on saran wrap in the form of a slight larger Wendy's hamburger patty. She would wrap them up and store in the freezer. While not all have freezers big enough to store, this is a staple you can use over and over. When you need it, break off a chunk, throw it in your chili, sauce, soup, stew and put the rest back in the freezer. It takes me about a year to go through paste. Now here is the kicker. A #10 can of paste at Costco is under $5 for about 6-7 lbs of paste. Six cans (12 oz) is over $5. Buy the hamburger in bulk and make your own patties...so many ways to save gang...
I have to say, that is a really good idea. Thanks!
I wish people would realize that places like Costco can save you SO much money. My membership pays for itself within 3 months and it's just me and my daughter! My freezer is my best friend.
PS...now I use quart Zip-Lock bags instead of saran wrap....
The article didn't really go into detail on what the week's worth of meals were that the chefs planned, just a vague idea on ingredients. So I was disappointed not to learn more details.
Aldi, Aldi, Aldi.Â
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I love Aldi's. It is a no frills store with cheap basic foods, including a pretty impressive produce selection.
I shopped there when I was poor....when the economy was great and so was our income...I still shopped at Aldi's. Things are very tight now....still shopping at Aldi's :)
The only reason I don't shop at Aldi more is because the grocery store I use gives me gas discounts for every $50 I spend on my groceries, plus they will double coupons and take competitor coupons. I actually spend less between gas and groceries by shopping at this store. Where I use to live, we didn't have this same grocery store, so I got a lot of our groceries at Aldi. There are somethings they don't (didn't?) carry that we need - like soy milk, soy butter (it's a peanut butter alternative), gluten free products. But, for other things - great store.
Yeah, Aldi's is great if you have a family. But for us singles out here, buying large packages doesn't work, especially veggies and fruit. I went into one of their stores about a year ago because I needed a Bell pepper, just one, but they were pre-packaged in groups of three to four. And, though I hate to say it, it quite often costs MORE to feed one than per person in a family because it's a choice between buying the large amounts at a lower price and having most of it spoil, or paying more for smaller sizes. Can't win for losing.
Kitty - I remember that before I had kids. I have two kids now - so things are rarely wasted, and I use left overs all the time. When my kids complain - I just tell them I'm not a restaurant. Most of the single, childless people I know still live with roommates and they split the grocery bill to help avoid this problem. But, if you don't have a roommate to do this with - it pretty much sucks. Good luck with that...
The real story here is why food prices keep going up at the same time the packaging keeps getting smaller. Another story: Why can't organic producers get their prices down? I'm not paying $1.50 for one organic orange or $6 for a tiny box of organic cold cereal, especially in these hard times. Organic food is overpriced and unaffordable to many Americans. There's a food caste system in this country.
Dry beans, oatmeal,powdered milk,generic instead of name brand. Ban ice cream/chips/sodas/cookies from food stamp purchase list,and wait for the screams of indignation.
Walk through your local food stamp office if you want to see the obesity epidemic.
I read an article some months ago, about families that are struggling to get by every month on their food-stamp money, which is the only food money they have.
Alas, food stamps were never designed to be your sole source of money for food. The system was never designed to be permanent life support. A hand-out is just that: a hand out. It's not designed to replace people who CAN be self-sufficient, being self-sufficient.
I have no doubt that some people desperately need food stamps so not to go hungry. I wonder how many people get them who don't need them, simply because they can? and how many people are dis-incented to get off the system, who could otherwise do so?
And the other thing is this: it would not be desperately difficult to program grocery-store computers to disallow things from being debited to an EBT card, which are not allowed. Think of WIC: it pays for certain kinds of foods. It doesn't buy you lobster. If a person gets to the counter with packages of cookies etc, that package will not be paid via EBT. Maybe half the items in the person's basket won't be paid out of EBT. If they don't have the money, they don't leave with that stuff. Too bad.
I've heard the argument that "even poor people deserve to eat nice food". Maybe. But they don't have a right to do so at other people's expense, which is what this is. My family doesn't eat lobster, and I can't remember the last time I bought cookies that weren't on some loss-leader sale. Yet my tax money goes to pay for other people to feed their families what mine cannot have.
Reprogram the computers. Let them buy whole-grain bread, pasta, sauces, fresh, canned and frozen vegetables and fruits, milk, soymilk, meats under $5/lb....and if they want the fancier stuff, they can pay for it themselves. You know. Like everybody else.
I hate paying taxes just as bad as most any other person, believe me I had to write a check to Uncle Sam in celebration of my income a couple of days ago. I don't get where you think it is OK for you or others to put limits on people that you have no idea what their circumstances are. Who cares if someone wants to have a little treat of a package of store bought cookies or a piece of cake. Just because someone is poor and needs help doesn't mean they should be treated as less as any other human being. How do you know if that person might just make it into a better place and want to pay back to his society. I know several people that this has happened to. There is just way to much going on to worry about how a fellow human being is spending his food stamps.
Well put, Angela...and Pepster, I completely disagree. It's okay for us to put limits on people's food stamp purchases because it's our money that's paying for it. They already have the advantage of receiving food stamps. If they want something fancy, let them pay for it. I've seen people using food stamps eating better than me and it's not fair. Again, some people really do need the help and I'm glad to help. But honestly, a lot of people take advantage of the program. Your 'giving back to society' argument sounds lovely, but that's not what most are doing. They're milking the system and popping out more babies. Which brings me to my next gripe: parents complaining that they're not receiving enough assistance to feed their family. Why the hell do you keep having kids then? I'm broke and I accept that. I also don't have kids because I know I couldn't support them without help. Get a second job or close your legs! We're not supposed to be supporting your family, just assisting.
I guess I live in a better area than you do. I have worked with a lot of people and pretty much all of them that had to go to a food pantry or go on assistance were devastated and embarrassed. I also look at it as the fact that we all have to eat, we can't get around it. It seems meanial to micro manage others food choices.
I remember that back in my college years, Aldi was the place to shop if you were trying to feed yourself on a shoestring budget. I rediscovered Aldi about six years ago when I was briefly on unemployment and haven't looked back. It's still the place for college students, old people, and those with EBT cards to shop as it was in the past, but more middle class people have joined the Aldi shopping ranks. We're lucky that our local stores are fairly clean and well stocked with pantry basics such as flour, sugar, powdered milk (great for cooking and baking) and cooking oil. Their produce purveyor is the same local company we use at my workplace, a fine dining restaurant. It's true that sometimes I have to root through the onion bin to find a good bag, but the savings are well worth it. I usually pick up all that I can on my shopping list at Aldi, then fill in at one of two local grocery stores that accept coupons. Note: I typically work ten to twelve hour days on my feet and still manage to come home and cook a basic, yet satisfying, meal. I have little patience with those who say they've not time to cook. Once you've set up a basic pantry, such as my mother taught me to do(who in turn learned from her Depression-era mother), cooking a quick,simple meal is as easy as boiling water or cooking an egg. I feed myself and my husband for about one hundred fifty dollars to two hundred dollars a month. With that amount we are able to eat a diet which includes a great deal of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables. That's three meals each day five days a week, and two each day on the weekends; it also includes some household staples such as laundry detergent and toilet paper. I could reduce the dollars I spend by not buying certain types of meat, but right now we are lucky enough to afford splurging a bit. Avoiding the regular purchase of junk food and soda greatly helps the food budget as does eating at least one meatless/minimally meaty meal a week. There's nothing the matter with an occasional treat, though:-).
Jose Garces is invited over to my house any time he'd like to retry this experiment - really!!!
Where I live, food prices are 2 to 3 times the national average. Impossible to feed a family on that amount of money. I've had to live off food stamps temporarily and it's a lot of hard work. As it is, with my current doctors orders concerning my diet, I have to cook everything myself anyway. Anyone who thinks people on food stamps are eating well or better than they are hasn't tried living on food stamps.
I'd like to see our congresspeople be forced to live on minimum wage and food stamps for a month. That would be an eye opener for them. Not that any of them have a conscience in the first place.
Boy! There are a lot of misconceptions about food stamps, the people that get them and how people can live on what they get. Let me clarify a couple of things.
1-I am a very experienced cook. My family of 4 adults (husband is retired, adult kids and I are unemployed but we keep trying. We live on $1400 a month, no EIC no rebates not a penny more. (I wish we got $2400!) We get $250 a month in food stamps and pay $700 rent for a 2BR apt. We also pay bills so do the math. We don't have any health insurance but we're still healthy.
2-We are now able to eat better (since we got food stamps) since we now can spend a little more on better quality food. We buy NO processed food. No soft drinks (ok, I bought 2 -2ltr bottles of coke one month for .89 once). I buy in large family sized packaged whenever possible, split and make daily packages. Plenty of fillers to stretch protein like pasta, rice, potatoes, salads and veggies. Everything is from scratch since my husband and son are allergic to chemicals, etc.
3-I use a pressure cooker faithfully, it makes long cooking times disappear. I don't know what I'd do without it. I also bake a lot and make biscuits, pizzas, casseroles and many old fashioned dishes people don't make anymore. We eat a wide variety of cuisines as well: one night Asian, 2 nights Mexican (real Mexican, not CaliMex), we like French, Italian, Chinese, Greek, etc. I don't buy imported items either.
4-I shop at Mexican markets that have the best prices over the chain ones. Large packages, rice & beans in bulk, produce is sold 3-4 lbs for .99 or even more. Just got 24 lbs of oranges for $2(not only did we have plenty of fresh OJ but I've got great Orange Marmalade and Habanero Orange Glaze and cristalized orange peels. Got 10 lbs of chicken for .39 a lb. I watch the weekly specials that come in the mail and take advantage of them. I cut coupons, I compare prices and I visit 4-5 markets a week and I always have a list and stick to it.
We recycle all food and never have any waste. If one night we have Baked Chicken, then we also will have Chicken Enchiladas another night, then Chicken Tostadas or Taquitos another day and then finish it off with Sopes for lunch or Chicken Salad another day. I also save the innards and keep them to make broth to use in rice. Got a 9lb Ham for $5- baked it, cut off the fat and skin to cook with beans (heavenly!) and had dinner, casseroles, pasta and sandwiches for everyone. Also made Eggs Benedict one day too! I also saved the bone to make a Cassoulet with leftovers, chorizo and white beans.They sell Tuna at 2cans for $1. Got $10 and have them ready for Pasta with Lemon Tuna Sauce; Tuna Salad; Stuffed Poblano Chilies and Tuna Melts.....
I have my "basic pantry" full of my Tier 1 ingredients: flour, Maseca Corn Flour, Corn Meal, all my baking essentials, buy pasta in bulk when it's offered at 2 x $1. I also keep Ramen Noodles (they're only 9 x $1 and are fine when you add veggies and a nice sauce to them, like leftovers). Large flour tortillas, corn tortillas, beans, rice, tomato sauce cans, canned veggies when they're 3 x $1), etc. so that I can make a meal anytime and "fill it in".
We have a main protein every day, then it's converted with "sides" that will change it and stretch it as far as it will go. We all like Oatmeal and have it for breakfast often. We eat well and within our budget.
Sure, we don't have any extras and we hope our old car keeps going and nobody gets sick. Even though I have plenty of experience, at 56 no one wants to hire me yet I will keep trying until I get a job. I am grateful for the food stamps and even though I wish I didn't need them, they help us a lot. Oh, this isn't because I have the time to do all this- I've always done this and my kids grew up this way so this isn't anything different for us, it's just the first time we've ever gotten assistance.
You CAN do it. It will take time and patience, but if you're willing it IS possible.
I am very impressed with how you can stretch food and $. There are lessons in your way of living that will pay off for your family in the future.
I had hard times years ago and the frugal habits stuck with me. Which is why i am not in debt and find myself in financial trouble..
Great description of your frugal methods, B Garcia. And, wolffchad, I also went through some seriously lean times years ago and found that the ways that I invented to stretch food and dollars stuck with me. I still do all of those things now, when things aren't quite as tight as they once were.
I felt the article left some grey areas. Also it seems like the shoppers bought some items that let's face it many people would already have in their pantry. Sure there are some things you buy every week but there are other things that you have on hand and it seemed as if they were shopping from scratch.
I also looked at the web site out of curiosity and it seems that depending on the circumstance a family of four can receive up to 668.00 per month which is about 167. per week. although i realized they averaged this there are others that receive a higher amount.
You can feed easily feed a family of 4 for $68.88 a week. Just use the five finger discount method.
Then all of you, including those five fingers, will be in jail for stealing. If I'm going to go to jail for something, it's going to be for a better reason than stealing a pint of Ben and Jerry's.
Also, I forgot to mention. I volunteered to teach families "How to make your food stamps last all month" to AFDC (welfare) recipients and every one of them told me they wouldn't cook this way because it was "too much trouble"- yet they had problems feeding their family's for half the month! Go figure! People ARE lazy. This is also a reason for overweight, people (look at what people buy at the market) eat Mac n' Cheese, Pizza and lots of empty calories.
I would NEVER consider expensive meats nor do we consume them. I would love organic but they're too expensive. All of our meat is under $1.99 a lb, the lower the better as long as it's good quality.
If anyone would like some help planning menu's, I'd be glad to help, just let me know. I've had restaurants and am an experienced food professional with a big family.
I used to volunteer at a local food pantry and had similar experiences to what you've described, B. Garcia. Some of the recepients would look at a two-pound sack of government rice and ask me, "What am I supposed to do with this?" Then they would ask if they could have a few extra boxes of macaroni and cheese instead. They didn't even want to hear what simple, filling, and delicious meals could be quickly made from that sack of rice with the addition of some inexpensive protein and vegetables. To be fair, some did let me write down some recipes for them to use, but they were in the minority. I'd like to follow your example and offer my services to anyone wanting help with menu planning on an extreme budget. Short of that, there's a great website called the Hillbilly Housewife that has great ideas for meals on the cheap.
You should write a book on frugal eating. Include all your strategies as well as lots of recipes! I bet you would do well. I would buy something like that! I am tired of recipes with odd ball ingredients that I either can't find or are so expensive, I would never buy them.
Anybody wants to offer suggestions I would be MORE than happy to take them. I will share my email address with you.
Where i live (not that i would want to) but a family of 4 can survive on 68.88 a week.
Angela in Seattle:
I agree with you that the Food Assistance Program should be like WIC, i.e., a person using an EBT card should only be permitted to buy basic, nourishing food from an approved list. It's unfortunate that so many have only government food assistance to feed them, but it was never meant to be a sole source of nourishment, only a supplement to prevent undernourishment and malnutrition. Another resource for families on a budget is Angel Food Ministries, a non-profit that sells mixed boxes of protein staples such as eggs, chicken, and hamburger at or just below cost. Each box is about a month's supply of protein for a family of four, depending on household usage. Angel Food Ministries offers this service to the general public at large, not just low income households. Also, food pantries help to augment the budgets of those on public assistance by providing various produce and dry goods, as well as personal items such as toilet paper, toothpaste, and soap.