Reply to Food Stamps Challenge Comment

I had a reply to my Food Stamps Challenge post that I wanted to reply to but, it was written by Anonymous with no way of of me responding to the person directly. So I am responding in this post. The comment said:

My husband and I eat for approx $50 each week, and we are not on food stamps. We eat very well.We eat meat everyday.We don't have a garden or chickens.We don't go 'grocery shopping' we go hunting for bargains, specials,and reduced food. We don't plan our meals in advance, but instead base our meals on the food we are able to obtain, and fill in our grocery list with required ingredients.We substitute whenever possible.We make our bread in a bread machine for pennies.We make a lot of food from scratch. We buy a lot of whole chickens and have the first couple of meals as roast dinners, then a simmersauce and rice meal,sandwiches, and then finally we make a soup with the carcass (this last for days). A roast pork will do the same thing. Cheap steak/pork makes a great stew. Add dumplings.Buy fruit/vegs in season. The best thing you can have is a positive attitude. Don't see it as derivation, but as a first step to gather control of your life.

I'll respond to each part to make it easier to follow along.

My husband and I eat for approx $50 each week, and we are not on food stamps. We eat very well.We eat meat everyday.

Wow! I would love to see your menu to see if it is something that would work for someone with extreme allergies. I am very curious as to what you eat. If you would be okay sharing, I would love to see it.

 We don't have a garden or chickens.We don't go 'grocery shopping' we go hunting for bargains, specials, and reduced food.

 We don't have a garden or chickens either. We live in a small town and the grocery prices here are astronomical! I usually drive out of town to get better deals and make our money stretch further. The bargains here aren't really bargains at all. 

The biggest problem I have in shopping for sales is that we are allergic to so many foods. I can't pick the cheapest spaghetti sauce if it's going to send us into anaphylaxis or an angioedema attack. I have to buy specific brands. Other foods have to be gluten-free and gluten-free foods tend to be VERY expensive.

Once you start avoiding corn, wheat, peanuts, soy, and eggs, the food you can buy already processed is very limited and very pricey. Add in all our other allergens and you are left making a lot of things from scratch. That sounds like it would be cheaper, but most of our flours and other foods are "specialty" foods. Companies know that they can jack the price of those foods through the roof, and they do! 

For example, one 16 ounce bag of garbanzo bean flour here is $4 a bag. Compare that to a large 5 pound bag of wheat flour that is about $3. The wheat flour stretches very far and can make a ton of tortilla's while my little bag of garbanzo bean flour can't make a lot of tortillas at all. Maybe 30 tortillas, at most.

We also don't buy canned foods because they are too high in salt and we're on a lower sodium (oldest son) and low sodium diet (me). 

Plus, the salad dressing I buy, the ONLY one I can have, is $3.99 to $4.99 for an 8 ounce bottle. The price of one serving is easily 2 to 3 times more than other salad dressings.

These are just a few examples. It's just not as easy as some may think when it comes to shopping with food allergies. 

We don't plan our meals in advance, but instead base our meals on the food we are able to obtain, and fill in our grocery list with required ingredients.

We do something similar. Although we buy the chicken we can eat without getting sick all at one time each month. It just doesn't go on sale. Ever. But we do look at what we have and make meals with what we have in the pantry/ fridge/ deep freezer. We do plan an occasional "special" meal, like for birthdays, holidays, and family visits. But mostly we just make sure we have the basics and go from there.

We substitute whenever possible.

We substitute a lot of our foods because of our allergies. Eggs get substituted for flax meal or bananas; Cow milk is substituted with coconut milk (which is expensive!); wheat flour is substituted with rice flour, garbanzo bean flour, sorghum flour, arrowroot starch, or buckwheat flour (depending on the recipe).

We make our bread in a bread machine for pennies.

If we could eat wheat flour bread, I would be right there with you! But, we can't. So our bread is either homemade biscuit style or Franz Gluten-free bread. Unless we can use a tortilla, then I make homemade tortillas. 

We make a lot of food from scratch

I'd say that 99% of our food is made from scratch. We don't have much of a choice.

We buy a lot of whole chickens and have the first couple of meals as roast dinners, then a simmersauce and rice meal,sandwiches, and then finally we make a soup with the carcass (this last for days). 

We eat whole chicken too! A whole chicken, between the three of us, is a meal. There are no leftovers LOL. Since we can't eat the legs or wings, we pick those off for the cats. It works out quite well. Although I don't buy whole chicken often though. The whole chicken I have bought here freezes well. But once it is thawed, it REEKS! So I opt to buy the Costco sized bag of chicken tenderloin.

A roast pork will do the same thing. Cheap steak/pork makes a great stew. 

We don't do pork roast. I am allergic. I don't want to die. I also can't buy cheap meats as they are corn fed. I have to buy grass-fed beef which is considerably more expensive. Because of our live disease, any meat we eat needs to me as low fat as we can get. I usually buy ground beef at 4-6% fat content. That is quite pricey!

Add dumplings.

We can't have dumplings. I haven't found a good dumping recipe that doesn't have wheat. But I am open to suggestions!

Buy fruit/vegs in season

We do, but they are still very pricey. One apple here costs $2 by itself. On pear was $1.89 the other day. While I love fresh fruits and veggies, they are limited as they cost a lot.

The best thing you can have is a positive attitude. 

I do have a positive attitude when it comes to food. I actually love eating a lot of different foods. Having food allergies has taught me to enjoy a lot in life and has helped me be healthier than I have ever been in my entire life! Life, and food, is good to me.

Don't see it as derivation, but as a first step to gather control of your life.

Did you mean "deprivation"? I certainly don't see this as a deprivation and I don't quite understand what you mean by "a first step to gather control of your life." But it sounds good. 

I don't feel deprived. I do have more food income that isn't just food stamps, as food stamps is meant to be SUPPLEMENTAL, not your only food income. It's even part of the programs name, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (AKA SNAP). 

This was, after all, a challenge. This wasn't something I was planning on doing long term. I would end up with serious health issues if I did. I only did it for a week to see how it would be to live on that little amount, with all our allergies and, without leaving this small town/ big food prices area.

I limited myself a lot by doing that. Usually I can leave town. Usually I can buy food cheaper. But for that one week, my food prices were 2 to 3 times more than what they usually are. If I planned this again, I would plan on being able to leave town so I could eat better. The reason I chose to stay put for the week was because most people on food stamps can't leave because they can't afford it.

Please don't think I am being difficult. If you would like to try one week on my diet, I would be happy to share my allergy list with you so you can attempt it on $50 a week. I would be thrilled to see if someone can do it.

Your points are great for other people with your lifestyle. But they don't work for people with extreme allergies and celiac disease. I posted the comment in full so that hopefully someone else can use the information to help themselves.

Thank you so much for replying to the blog. I am really excited about seeing your menu plan. If you don't mind, I can post it so others con use it for ideas of what to make on a lower food budget. I would love to get some ideas for us as well. So please, feel free to email me with it. If you don't mind. I won't use your name on the blog if you don't want me to.

Another Food Stamps Challenge to Watch

My friend, Michy, is also doing the Food Stamps (SNAP) challenge! Only she is a lot braver than I am and she is doing the whole month of October. 

She allowing herself to a little more per day because Food Stamps (SNAP) is supposed to be SUPPLEMENTAL, not the only food budget you have. The name even states that. 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. (I hope I have that right)

She isn't allergic to half the planet so her challenge will probably be easier for her and her family (I hope). But, since she has issues with GMO foods and foods containing high fructose corn syrup, none of the foods she prepares during the challenge will be GMO and HFCS free.

So far, the dishes she made today look awesome! I won't lie... I am a little jealous.

I will be following this all month long! I can't wait to see her dishes. The ones today looked AWESOME! I may have to alter a recipe or two to try them (because of allergies)

Food Stamps Challenge: Food Intake

After the Food Stamps Challenge, I sat down and input everything I ate into Sparkpeople’s food tracker to see how I did nutritionally. Here are my results.

Note: the "goals" for each one was set by my dietitian.

Calorie Deficient! Not once during the whole week did I get even close to hitting my low mark for calories. On my highest calorie day I was still 736 calories short of what my dietitian wants me to have.

Sodium was okay by this report but I didn’t add in the extra salt I added to my cabbage soup because I was craving it so badly! Even still, there were two days I didn’t get the recommended range of sodium. Three of those days, I had much more than I care to have on a personal level. I am finally able to lower my dose of Clonidine (for blood pressure and anxiety).

Carbohydrates were okay. If I were on a low carb diet, I would have loved this week. Three days I didn't reach my low mark of 50.

Fat was deficient. Only once did I reach above my low mark for fat intake.

Vitamin D was non-existent. Which may explain my tiredness all week. Nowhere in there did I get any Vitamin D at all. Although, this is a problem for me anyway. I have to take supplements for Vitamin D. But poor people can’t afford the vitamins they need. If I was working on feeding myself only on Food Stamps, I would have some serious health issues.

Fiber was deficient. My fiber intake for the week was lacking also. Not once did I hit the low range that my dietitian wants me to meet.

Food Stamps Challenge Thoughts

All in all, Michy was right! I was not getting enough nutrients for the week. Not enough calories, fat, vitamin D or Fiber.

Luckily, I do not survive each month on this kind of diet each month. Starting October 7th, I will be doing a week of what I really eat. I am still recovering from my Food Stamp Challenge.

Food Stamps Challenge Rant

Since I started the Food Stamp Challenge, I have noticed some things. This is my list. It isn't an extensive list, but it's the things that I really noticed the most.

I am cold. No, I am freezing. While this may not seem significant to you, I love the cold! I am a northern person and I walk in snow barefoot! But this week, at about the day 4 point, I got VERY cold! I feel like I am freezing to death. I'm not sick. I am not running a fever. But I feel like I am in the dead of winter. I now completely understand why my dear friends, who survive ONLY on food stamps, are always cold. This is horrible!

I am tired. Probably because, as Michy said in the comments, 

"You know, I can't help but look at this and say there is no way you are eating eating enough to sustain life. Seriously, put your food consumption into FitDay and you will see you are WAY below your RDAs and calories for health... your metabolism can literally shut down when this happens, causing weight gain, lethargy, illness and more!I think you are definitely proving the point of this challenge! It's really impossible to eat HEALTHY and sustain yourself on this low of a budget!"

And then I sat and thought about it last night. This is the first week I haven't lost a little weight. In fact, I gained a pound. Back in 2010 when I headed to Bremerton because I couldn't eat anything, my average daily calorie intake was 583 (second post down)... average... a day! Yes, that was redundant. I am trying to make a point. 

You should be consuming, on average, 2,000 calories a day. I was literally starving. Not the "Oh meh ger, I haven't ate anything in an hour! I am starving!" No, it was the real "We're about to throw your butt into the hospital" starving. And, weird thing, I gain weight when I am starving because every little bit I put in my body goes to storage because my body KNOWS I am starving. Guess what happened this week... I starved myself. I gained a pound. (I am working on a post to show the daily intake)

I am hungry. I kept myself occupied and drank coffee to keep myself from noticing this, but trust me, I still noticed. I was hungry. Although, oddly enough, I wasn't really hungry when I first woke up except for a couple of days. But the first time I ate for the day, I really noticed it! I was VERY hungry.

My stomach keeps growling. While I am lucky, to an extent, and can't feel hunger pains until I am seriously starving, BUT my stomach keeps growling... constantly. It's getting embarrassing. 

The kindness of neighbors, friends, family and random strangers. I have had several friends and family members offer to buy us food this week. My neighbor gave us veggies from her garden. A random stranger offered to buy me a sandwich. Why? You can tell when someone is hungry. Even if you don't LOOK hungry or stare longingly at every food in sight, the growling stomach gives it away. Each time I stopped and explained why I am doing this (and why I am hungry). Everyone felt the need to argue the points that

• Most people have family that can help them
• Most people go to the food bank
• Churches will give you food
• Some people have gardens
• We have plenty of people who will just GIVE you food.

My reply to them? True. All very valid points. But I am not trying this challenge for those people. I am doing for the ones who don't have a support network. 

1. I am doing this for the poor who don't attend church. 
2. I am doing this for those who have an issue taking charity from a church when they won't go to one. 
3. I am doing this for people who have no family, have few friends, are isolated in a rural area. 
4. I am doing this for people who can't garden (or can't afford to). 
5. I am doing this to make a point... That you can't eat healthy on food stamps. 
6. I am doing this for every single mom who has gone hungry so she can feed her children. 
7. I am doing this for every single dad who has gone hungry so he can feed his children. 
8. I am doing this to show support to my friend, who I will not name, who rocked her crying child to sleep at night because his belly hurt and she had no more food to feed him.
9. I am doing this as an UP YOURS to the politicians who cut the food stamps budget because they worried people are abusing it.
10. I am doing to show support to my disabled friends who don't have enough food to feed themselves, who WE feed as a community.
11. I am doing this to show support to Libby's Kids Kitchen who volunteers to feed children on the weekend because their parents can't afford to.
12. I am doing this for the kids that live here who have celiac disease and can't eat the free breakfast and lunch at school.
13. I am doing this for the people that don't have a food bank they can turn to (because of allergies)

While I really appreciate the kindness, there are many people who don't have that. 

I am not getting enough food. I am tracking my foods through sparkpeople and there is a definite lack of calories and food in my week.

I can't think. It's like my brain has said "screw you" and left me on my own. I have serious brain fog. Probably because I am so tired right now. 

I am craving salt. What gives? I am a salt-hating person. But this week on cabbage soup day, I was craving like mad! I can't get enough salt. Thank goodness I am on blood pressure medicine. I could give myself a heart attack with this craving!

I keep shaking. For no reason whatsoever, I occasionally start shaking uncontrollably. It's like I am having tremors. I scared my dear friend with them too. Not fun! What is that all about?

Ignorance is... well, I'd say bliss, but since I started this, I have run into people who think that food stamps is the work of Satan himself. You know, since people use them to get drugs and alcohol. I haven't met a person, IRL, that has done that. I would seriously love to punch these people but I have no energy from lack of nutrition.

You cannot eat healthy on food stamps without being hungry. There is no other way to say this. You just can't. If you don't have allergies, I could see being able to add more to your diet but...

Fresh fruits and vegetables become a luxury. No matter what diet you are on, eating fresh fruits and vegetables is a huge part of a healthy diet. You cannot afford these things if you are on food stamps and they are your only source of food money. They quickly become a luxury that you can't afford. When you have $4 a day to feed yourself, a $2 apple is out of the question. I'll be working on a week of what I really eat to show you how different it is for us.

Food becomes your life. I noticed that I started staring at food, thinking about food all the time, dreamed about food... Food became a huge part in my life. I was in the store wishing I could buy that larger package of chicken, have gluten-free breaded chicken, a huge bowl of vegetables and an ice cream for dessert. I salivated when I saw someone buy a sandwich. I've seen children who live in poverty stare at people with food/ any food like they are starving... and now I understand why. Because they are starving.

People are judgmental about those on food stamps. I didn't really notice it before until this week but people are very judgemental about the people on food stamps. I heard quite a few comments like "They should get a job!" The friends I have that do have jobs, are single parents, AND are on food stamps makes me wish those people could eat like this for awhile so they can see what it's like. 

And also have them live on their income. They aren't just paying for food, they also have rent, electric, medical bills, gas, insurance, etc. I'll use a friends bills to show you the problem here. She asked to remain anonymous.

She makes $9.50 an hour, works a 40 hour week with rarely any overtime. Her paychecks are usually about $760 every two weeks. She has about $1540 in income a month. Wow. I am jealous. 

BUT then, she has to pay rent for $700 a month, electric is about $130 on average (winter months are higher. She says as high as $240), her medical bills are $200 (4 bills of $50 each), plus what she has to pay for medical supplies for diabetes and co pays and such. To drive to work each month is about $100 in gas, insurance is $44 a month, and her phone bill is $50 a month, plus internet is $50. 

That's a total of $1270 a month leaving $266 a month for everything else. Clothes, food, school supplies, uniforms for work, etc. She gets $112 for food stamps a month. which means she gets LESS for food to feed her family of 3 than I get.

She is not lazy. She isn't mooching off the system. She works 40 hours a week because she can't afford child care. She works herself to death to make ends meet. She doesn't have a cell phone. Her only luxuries are the internet and new panties. But because she is on food stamps, people see her as a lazy mooch.

Food is too expensive! I generally love talking about food. I love eating food too! But I really noticed that living in a small town, the food is very expensive. It's cheaper for me to drive 53 or 89 miles away to buy my food for less. That $15 in gas makes the trip worth it when you are saving $200 on groceries. It not only makes my trip worth it, it feeds us more and we can have junk food that way. And by "junk food" I mean pizza, cookies, bread, and yogurt. We you are allergic to 54 foods, some foods become junk food!

Being on food stamps is not the end of the world. For a long time, we managed without food stamps. It was hard, but we made it. We weren't always eating fancy foods, but our bellies were full. When I finally decided to apply for food stamps, I felt like a failure. You are not a failure for accepting food stamps. You may feel like it, but I promise, you are not a failure.

I don't plan on being on food stamps for the rest of my life. Probably a couple more months while I get back on my feet.

Most people I know use them responsibly as a means to supplement their food budget, not replace it. They use food stamps to help them get on their feet and hopefully, not need more assistance. And, if it makes you feel any better, you earned these benefits by working. I pay taxes every year. I have seen some rude comments like "I work so people can buy junk food on food stamps." I don't look at it like that. I don't look at it like that.

I pay taxes and work (at home) to help people who need a hand up. I pay taxes and earned my food stamps benefits to help feed my family in a time of need. Just because a few people abuse the system, doesn't mean that everyone will.

We've only been on food stamps twice. Once for 6 months and then this time. I've been on them since June and my goal is to have enough income to get off of them in a couple of months.

FAQ: How do I make money? I blog, write, sell items on eBay and yard sales. The ads on this blog help me earn some income. Want to help support a single mom without clicking on ads? You can do that buy shopping at Amazon. 

When you click that link, I earn a little money each time you buy something. Whether you are buying normal inexpensive shampoo for $3 or something fancier, diapers, or something more luxurious, you help support a single mom. I get to keep blogging, earn some income and stay off disability as long as I can. 

And I thank all of for that!

Food Stamps Challenge Day 7 (FINAL DAY)

This is a series for the Food Stamps Challenge. 

You can read Day 1 here and Days 2, 3, and 4 here and Days 5 and 6 here.

Our remaining food Stamps balance from day 6 was $8.18.

Breakfast for Day 7

As usual, I had coffee, this time with no coconut milk because we ran out. Miles had tea. Both were free since we have had these since day 1.

One frequently asked question has been: Why do you drink coffee? Why not just skip it and use that money for food?

I drink coffee because it keeps me from feeling hungry all the time. And, seriously? What the hell am I going to buy for $2.50 that would make this weeks menu any better? Do enlighten me! No, really! I am listening!

Lunch for Day 7

I decided to make a pot of soup again because it stretches quite well. Okay, so it's quite "brothy" but it kind of feels like you actually ate something and the all the liquid helps to fill the belly.

SO, chicken was $4.99, broth was $2.39 and a carrot for .50 makes for a total of $7.88. I already had rice from yesterday which I added to the soup. I honestly cannot wait until this challenge is over. This has been the longest day EVER! I want to actually eat something!

Today's Lunch total is $7.88
Remaining Food Stamps: .30

Dinner for Day 7

Soup. We're still having soup. And if we are really hungry, I can make some wraps from day 1 garbanzo bean flour, drain the liquid from some of the soup, cook down the stuff and have a chicken soup tortilla. You have to get creative sometimes. 

Dinner total: My Sanity
Food Stamps left: .30

My honest overview of this whole experience:

Throughout this week, I have noticed a few things. Here they are, not in order of priority, just jotted down as they come to me and created a whole new post about it. I'll be linking it here when it goes live. And breaking my "I only post once a day" rule, I am posting right after this one because I am venting in it.

Food Stamps Challenge Day 5 and 6

This is a series for the Food Stamps Challenge. 

You can read Day 1 here and Days 2, 3, and 4 here.

Our remaining Food Stamps balance from day 4 was $22.34.

Day 5 and 6 Breakfasts

We had coffee and tea, as usual for both days. I had one fruit leather strip for .50 We really aren't huge eaters in the morning.

Total for breakfast: .50 
Remaining Food Stamps: $21.84

Day 5 and 6 Lunches

On day 5 for lunch we had leftover cabbage soup (FREE).

On day 6 we had leftover cucumber salad (FREE).

I am seeing how great leftovers can be and soups really seem to stretch the best. I like this idea!

Day 5 and 6 Dinners

Dinner for day 5 was cucumber salad. We bought enough cucumber salad to feed eight people. The cucumbers were $2 (.50 each x4). The rest of the ingredients were condiments which don't count toward our total. We also had rice (one bag for $1.49) and still have rice leftover for tomorrow.

Dinner on day 6, we splurged. We feel a little guilty but we needed something junk food like. So we had gluten-free cheese pizza. The dough mix was $3.79, the sauce was $2.39 and the cheese was $3.99 for a total of $10.17, which isn't as bad as expected since the cheese was on sale. I felt like I ate a horse! It was very good!

My friend made chicken Parmesan and I have to tell you, that was hard! I stared at it longingly and wandered back up to my apartment knowing I couldn't eat it. I love her chicken Parmesan! *sniffle*

Total for dinners: $13.66
Remaining food stamps: $8.18 (OUCH!)

Overview of the Food Stamps Challenge so far

I am really noticing that, compared to other people, we don't eat a lot of food. I think if we ate like most of our friends, this would be a lot harder. The hardest part so far is not buying ice cream, hummus and chips, chocolate chips, chocolate syrup, soda, canned tea and other foods that are our junk foods. 

I will have to retry this without the kids too because I think it would definitely be more of a challenge on one person because of the way foods are priced. I did see broccoli on sale today and I am definitely going to buy some for tomorrow.

I noticed I am looking at foods for the lower prices and paying attention to sales more. With our limited diet though, this has been interesting because, in a few cases, I have had to step outside my comfort zone (like cucumber salad for dinner).

I am also rationing my coffee much more carefully and I am hoping it makes it to Sunday without having to buy more or skipping coffee. I would die without my coffee!

Food Stamps Challenge Day 2, 3, and 4

I didn't realize the posts weren't posting to the blog, they were saving to draft. Sorry about that guys! 

Okay, here are the meals for days 2, 3, and 4 of the Food Stamp Challenge, with totals, arranged by meals.

Our remaining total from Food Stamps Challenge Day 1 was $34.64 and so far we aren't doing too bad. 

Breakfast Menus

Day 2 and 3 we had coffee and tea. Since we still had that from day 1, breakfast was FREE!

Day 4 we had coffee and tea. I also had a piece of fruit leather for .50 because I was actually hungry when I woke up.

Total for breakfasts: .50
Remaining Food Stamps: $34.14

Lunch Menus

Day 2 we had leftover tortillas and chicken so that meal was free.

Day 3 we split a bag of veggies from the store for $1.49 and added seasoning to it (which is free for the challenge)

Day 4 (Today), I made a pot of cabbage soup. The head of lettuce (.89/lb), 2 carrots (1 pound at .69/lb), spaghetti sauce ($2.39) totalled to $5.75. Wow, cheap deal! Adding that to my list of cheap meals! 

I added 1/2 a packet of Uncle Dans Ranch Mix for flavor and then I was torn. Is that considered seasoning/ spice or a condiment? Or do I add it into the total? I decided that it was seasoning/spice and not to add it in. 

If I was adding it to the total, my soup would cost $7.25 which is still cheap, even for the Food Stamp Challenge.

Total for Lunches: $7.24
Remaining Food Stamps: $26.90

Dinner Menus

Day 2 for dinner, we had a slice of cheese each for .79 a piece. We weren't really hungry.

Day 3 for dinner, we each had a bag of mixed veggies for $1.49 each.

Day 4 (today), we are still eating cabbage soup. We had a fairly big pot. It might be lunch tomorrow too LOL.

Total for Dinners: $4.56
Remaining Food Stamps: $22.34

Food Stamps Challenge Overview

So far, we are doing good. We haven't had much of an appetite this week though. If this was a hungry week, we would have to eat a lot of soups or something. I can see I will have to get creative towards the end. I plan on buying rice and eggs too. And if I have enough, some rice flour for pancakes. 

I'm also getting ideas from my readers! Thanks so much you guys! I am going to do a series after this for Food Stamps friendly recipes with all the tips. 

Until tomorrow!

Food Stamps Challenge Day 1

This post is a series for The Food Stamps Challenge. You can read about what that is here and also follow along as my oldest son and I try to eat for a week on $56, or $28 a person for a week... or $4 a day per person. Will we starve? Maybe...

The first issue I ran into with the Food Stamps Challenge is that I already bought our food and spending more money just for a challenge isn’t realistic when your income is $744 a month. Instead, we are tallying up our food cost by what we are eating, keeping a careful inventory and pretending we had to buy each package or thing we’ve used.

The second problem with the Food Stamps Challenge… oh yea! I remember why I don’t shop solely here. They don’t carry the foods we can eat. While the stores in our small town tout the “Shop Local” plea to the locals, I have had too many problems getting them to order foods or coconut milk, or anything we ask them to, like we requested.

How can we solely support our local store when they WON’T support us? The month we shopped local, we spent very hungry.

Our solution? Let’s pretend we don’t have a car. Let’s also pretend, for a moment, that we actually want to eat something other than lettuce and apples for a month. What would we do?

Oh yea! We would shop Amazon.com because of the Amazon Prime free 2-day shipping. I get nothing for saying this, I just love Amazon. So, for this week, we will figure out how much it would cost per item on Amazon and pretend we had it mailed to us.

We’re also counting the total and taking it off the weekly price of $56 because, really, who buys 1 egg?

Our Meals for Today (with Prices)

Breakfast: I know… major faux-pas but, we don’t eat breakfast. I had a cup of coffee. I buy whole beans and grind them for coffee.  My son had a cup of green tea. 

SO… 1 pound of coffee beans is… EGADS! $12.99 a pound. Luckily, this week it was on sale for $9.99 a pound. I searched the internet and found this helpful page. I figured I drink about 41 cups a week (or about 6 cups a day?) and the rest of the time I will be drinking water. Since I can buy coffee here, I am stuck with the local prices. Also, I drink my brew much weaker than regular coffee and grind it fine. I will probably only use 1/4 pound of coffee. 

One fourth pound of coffee is $2.50. Damn. Ouch.

Green tea comes in a box of 40 tea bags for $3.89 here. That’s .10 per cup of tea.

I was going to have coconut milk in my coffee but I priced it on Amazon. I found So Delicious Coconut Milk for $36.98 for a package of six. Or $6.19 a box. SWEET BABY JESUS! Did they milk a golden coconut? Okay, no coconut milk for me. 

I then found that they sell So Delicious Coconut Milk at our local store in the refrigerated section for $4.19 a half gallon. I may need that later in the week but for now, black coffee it is. No sugar either. I can't afford to sweeten my coffee.

BREAKFAST TOTAL: 6.39
AMOUNT OF FOOD STAMPS LEFT: 49.61

I better start planning a little better. 

Lunch Menu and Pricing

For lunch we decided to splurge and have Annie's Gluten-Free Rice Pasta and Cheddar Mac and Cheese. That's $2.30 a box. Not bad. That's better than I can get at the out of town store. And since they refuse to sell it here, $2.30 it is!

We made it with, crap!, I had to buy Coconut milk for $4.19 but I'll be using it to cook other dishes too.

LUNCH TOTAL: $6.49
AMOUNT OF FOOD STAMPS LEFT: $43.12

Let's recap, I have coffee, tea and coconut milk for the week. And we aren't having mac and cheese again for the week because... ouch, that is pricey!

Dinner Menu and Pricing

We decided to have tortillas for dinner and bought Garbanzo Bean flour to make them. What we wanted looks like this. What we ate was chicken on flatbread with a little mayo (remember condiments don't count toward your total). We have 4 chicken tenders left for tomorrow too!

Chicken tenders were $4.99 for 8 pieces. This is why I don't shop here...

Garbanzo bean flour was $3.49 for a bag. We can use it the rest of the week too. I left of the flaxseed meal that I like to add for flavor and only used water to make the flatbread.

DINNER TOTAL: $8.49
AMOUNT OF FOOD STAMPS LEFT: $34.64

Well, at least we'll have chicken wraps for lunch tomorrow. So that will be a "free" meal. And I will keep track of the coffee consumption throughout the week.

Stay tuned!

The Food Stamps Challenge

Read about Day 1 on the Food Stamps Challenge here.

For those of you who don't live in the USA, foods stamps are vouchers that you can get from the government that you can exchange for food.

Although, now they are electronic debit cards instead of paper vouchers. They changed the program name to SNAP also, which stands for “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program”.

What is a food stamp/ SNAP challenge?
Oh it’s easy. Pretend you are on food stamps and only buy food on the budget you would have if you were actually receiving food stamps.

How much is that?
For the Houston Food Stamps Challenge, introduced to me by my writing friend, Michy, that is only $4 a day per person.

But I have a tiny advantage. I am actually on food stamps. My family of three gets $526 a month for food and most of the time, that is all we have for a food budget.

I did the food stamps math
$526 a month X 12 months = $6312 a year for food

$632 a year for food / 365 days a year = $17.26 a day for food for three people.

OR $5.76 a day for one person to feed themselves 3 meals a day (assuming you eat three meals a day)

OR $1.92 a meal per person. Hungry yet?

Well good! Because my oldest son and I are going to do the food stamps challenge Houston style. Our meal budget will be $1.33 a meal!



The Food Stamps Challenge Rules
From the Houston Food Bank SNAP Challenge page, the guidelines are

SNAP Challenge Guidelines

1. Each person should spend no more than a total of $28 on food and beverages during the Challenge week.
2. All food purchased and eaten during the Challenge week, including fast food and dining out, must be included in the total spending.
3. During the Challenge, only eat of that you purchase for the project. Do not eat food that you already own (this does not include spices and condiments).
4. You may not accept free food from friends, family, or at work, including at receptions, meetings or parties.
5. Keep track of receipts on food spending, and take note of your experiences throughout the Challenge week.

Considering that we are two people doing this challenge together, our weekly food budget is $56. This includes all drinks and food bought, even eating out. We don’t eat out, so that isn't problem.

So what’s the catch?
Here’s the part that will throw us. We have many food allergies, so we can’t just buy top ramen and call it good. We still have to plan our meals around foods we can eat.

Wait? There’s more?
AND In the spirit of the challenge, we are going to shop only locally. Usually we buy some foods locally and do a lot of our shopping out of town. But I know from my friends around here, that people can’t always afford to drive out of town to buy cheaper food.

We will be shopping at our local stores, on $4 a day per person, and posting our experiences throughout the week with menu plans. 

Who’s with us? Want to try the Food Stamps Challenge?