Montgomery County, MD politicians try to feed themselves for a week with only food stamps

[Redfairen]

Joshua P. Starr, superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools, peered at the shelves of coffee Monday morning at the Rockville Giant supermarket. He grabbed a can of Nature’s Promise for $4.69. Then he saw the Cafe Bustello at $3.09 and swapped.

“What’s the least expensive bread?” he asked a clerk, who guided him to the Arnold Whole Wheat, on special this week, two loaves for $3. Still, Starr took just one.

Over in the produce section, County Council member Craig Rice placed a $3.50 bag of potatoes in his basket, next to the two oranges and three apples. “You can make french fries and hash browns in the morning,” said Rice (D-Upcounty). “Gotta have good starch.”

Starr, Rice, other county officials and community leaders agreed to spend just $25 on food for the next five days, an attempt to simulate the everyday fact of life for residents enrolled in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, once known as food stamps. Americans are receiving SNAP benefits in record numbers: 46.2 million people in 22 million households last spring, according to the Congressional Research Service, at a cost of more than $70 billion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/montgomery-officials-try-eating-for-5-a-day/2013/02/04/4fe35c00-6e37-11e2-8b8d-e0b59a1b8e2a_story.html

[elleng]

1. Good place to live,

for more reasons than one.

[southernyankeebelle]

2. It sure is. Progessive state with great people and politicans who really care for their

citizens. I miss living there very much. Only bad politican that I can remember that represented us was Spiro Agnew and we all know how that ended for the country.

[elleng]

3. Right. Wasn't in MD then,

not even close, but glad I'm here now.

[southernyankeebelle]

4. You living in Maryland? I use to live in Odenton, Maryland. May family still in

Maryland.

[elleng]

6. Yes. Lived in DC 25+ years,

in MD since '06, and between Silver Spring (MontCo) and Hagerstown (Washington, County) since them.

[southernyankeebelle]

12. My father retired from the military in 1963 and we moved to Maryland.

We lived in the Dundalk area and I worked at Ft Holabird back then. Then we moved to Odenton after my dad died. I worked at Ft Meade and found my future husband there. We married and moved on. We retired in Tn because he was an only child and his parents were getting old. It was something to get use to in the beginning. People are nice but my family are all in Maryland. I sure miss it. My 2 sisters live in Mechanicsville and my brother lives in Fredericks. Both moved to new areas and I haven't been to their homes. We are getting old and the travelling is getting to be to much for us. I wish there was a train close by and I sure would take it. There is so much to see and do in your area. That is why I love living there.

[hootinholler]

5. Actually Agnew wasn't involved in Watergate

You can add Steele to the list of bad politicians.

[southernyankeebelle]

13. No I wasn't referring to watergate. He was in trouble for money laundering or something

like that when he was governor of Maryland. It also could have been a bribe. I just can't remember.

[hootinholler]

24. I thought it was tax evasion

Was indicted as VP and resigned.

I had to go look:

During his fifth year as Vice President, in the late summer of 1973, Agnew was under investigation by the United States Attorney's office in Baltimore, Maryland, on charges of extortion, tax fraud, bribery and conspiracy. In October, he was formally charged with having accepted bribes totaling more than $100,000 while holding office as Baltimore County Executive, Governor of Maryland, and Vice President of the United States. On October 10, 1973, Agnew was allowed to plead no contest to a single charge that he had failed to report $29,500 of income received in 1967, with the condition that he resign the office of Vice President. Nixon replaced him by appointing then House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford to the office of Vice President.

[southernyankeebelle]

25. Yep, I just couldn't remember. I knew it had nothing to do with watergate.

[madinmaryland]

15. We have Bobby Ehrlich and Mike Steele for four years 02-06; and the only other blemish

in Maryland is Andy Harris out on the Eastern Shore.

[southernyankeebelle]

16. I wasn't in Maryland at that time. I'm glad I wasn't. I heard they didn't do great work.

I haven't heard of Andy Harris. I moved away from Maryland in 1980. I was overseas for awhile and then when we came back they sent us to Montana, then NC, Ft Campbell and ended up at Ft Belvoir VA. Retired in 95 to Tn.

[madinmaryland]

17. I moved to Maryland in 2004 from Connecticut.

Ehrlich lasted one term. Andy Harris (R) ran against the ACA in 2010 and won that Congressional District. When he got elected and was in the Orientation for freshman representative he asked where he could sign up for his Government Healthcare. What an idiot. Maryland only Repub Representative.

My mom was from Tennessee.

[southernyankeebelle]

19. Oh now I remember Harris. I had heard that. Is Harris still in? Ct is a lovely state.

Well at least the pictures I have seen. I always wanted to go that way. Yes, I am still living in Tn only because of my son and granddaughter. If it weren't for them I think we'd pack it in and move back to Maryland. I miss being with my family. I do talk with my sister every day by phone. I guess we never should have moved here but you do what you have to do. Maybe god wanted us here. I will say it is nice area because we are surrounded by nursery country. We live in the country and I like the peace and quiet.

[Pendrench]

20. Yes....Harris is still in...and (unfortunately) he's my representative.

I currently live in Severn, but grew up in Catonsville.

Tim

[southernyankeebelle]

21. Isn't Severn close to Odenton?

[Pendrench]

27. Hi southernyankeebelle -

Sorry for the late reply to your question!

Yes - you are correct, Severn is right next to Odenton.

Tim

[southernyankeebelle]

29. I don't even recognize Odenton anymore. We loved living there. Now is so built up

you hardly have any privacy.

[madinmaryland]

23. Heh!

I'm in Columbia!

[oldhippydude]

26. had some biz in Columbia a couple of years ago...

great people..crab cakes at Timbuktu

[southernyankeebelle]

30. I loved the Columbia area. Of course that has really built up also. My son was

born in the Hospital in Columbia 32 yrs ago.

[yellowcanine]

18. Eh. Marvin Mandel was a crook (I know, conviction overturned, but still) and Schaeffer was no

progressive. Among other things, he endorsed Poppy Bush over Bill Clinton and put the taxpayers of Maryland on the hook for the Ravens stadium in Baltimore.

[wandy]

7. I wish them luck. It's not that easy.......

Part of a correspondence with an other retired old friend.....

Have you ever noticed the deck appears stacked against older single people.
Something like this.
Ya wants a sammage. Going over the bar and grill, well 12 to 14 bucks is about the least you will get away with. So make it you're self.
$3,49 for bread, $3.50 for lunch meet, $3.29 for cheese, $1.50 for lettuce, flippen $4.00 for mayo, so you might as well toss in the $2.39 for a carton of eggs as over four days of sammages for dinner a hard boiled egg sammage breaks up the monotony. Then on the fifth day it's an omelet on a bed of lettuce whether you like the idea or not.
This weekend will be the Italian version of rice and beans. Pastfazool! Don't get me wrong. This is sole food. Even if you get fancy it might fit a food stamp budget. Just theirs no way in hell you can make it for one night. Come Tuesday, anything left becomes starter stock for Minestrone soup. Another 3 day menu.
This Teapublican bitch about food stamps really pisses me off.
It's what, about $5.00 per day.
OK projected menu for the next week I might beat that, that is if you don't consider that it involves a high end crock pot, two freezers, a well appointed kitchen and the luxury of being able to afford to stock up on pasta, canned goods, frozen veggies and stuff like that when they can be had at an attractive price.
Resources that a working single mother of two might not have.
Here's an example. Barilley pasta. The good stuff. Some times as high as $1.85 per pound. Some times 10 for $10.00. Get some strange looks at the checkout ringing up 20 boxes at a time. Hint, mason jars and cleaned out mayo bottles are excellent for storing pasta. Works great if you happen across 10 pounds of rice at a good price.
But here we go again.
You have to have the resources in place to deal with it.

So even if they 'make it' on a food stamp budget, it may only be because of things they have but others don't.

[Xyzse]

8. Good for them...

Even if they can make it just because they have things others don't, I still have to give them credit for attempting such a thing as a group.

Glad to be a resident of Montgomery County.

[justabob]

9. good for them

Five days really isn't long enough for them to REALLY understand what it means for people, but I appreciate the effort and attention to the issue.

I am not on SNAP, but have just a little more than that for food budget. It is possible to do, but you have to be so careful shopping and absolutely go where you can get whatever pieces of your list the cheapest, and that isn't possible for people with limited transport. And....the monotony of the menu formula gets tiresome, even if you can make some tasty dishes.

[logosoco]

10. I applaud their efforts, but

hash browns for breakfast. Maybe I was just a lazy mom, but back in the day when my kids had to get to school and I had to get to work, peeling potatoes and cooking hash browns for breakfast would only have worked if I gave up on sleep time (and I really needed that with the work I did).
So, they are giving this a try, but there are factors they are not having to deal with at the same time.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. I think we, the people, ought to require all seekers of federal office to

do the same and past a random drug test.

[southernyankeebelle]

14. Wouldn't it be nice if before these people want to cut safety net programs they

should be made to go on the program they want to cut for a week or 2. Yes even in congress.

[RC]

22. Coffee? That is not a food. It should be only a sometime luxury for someone on food stamps.

[hfojvt]

28. that's what I said

coffee with food stamps?

unlike pop, it does not even have caloric value

it does have some potassium and magnesium, but I am not sure how much of that is from the coffee and how much from the water, since they also mention fluoride http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beverages/3898/2