Gwyneth Paltrow couldn't live on food stamps for a week. I did. And it practically killed me.

[G_j]

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-food-stamps-buy-2015-4

KATHLEEN ELKINS

APR. 26, 2015,

Last week, Gwyneth Paltrow accepted Mario Batali's Food Stamp Challenge, designed to raise awareness about obstacles that low-income families face. For a week, participants live off of roughly $31 worth of food — $1.48 per meal.

Paltrow dropped out after four days when she realized her seven limes and bundle of greens was unsustainable for an entire week.

I decided to craft a more realistic grocery list and give the challenge a go.

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) recipients receive a daily average of $4.17, so I chose to limit myself to a budget of $29.19.

Since this challenge is an extreme version of the realities that low-income families face (the SNAP program is meant to be supplemental), I know that this week did not authentically replicate food insecurity. I did hope that it would help me better understand the day-to-day struggles that millions of people living off SNAP benefits face.

It turned out to be one of the most physically and mentally grueling weeks of my life. Here's how it went:



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-food-stamps-buy-2015-4#ixzz3YS4OBepA

[djean111]

1. Interesting! The having-been-very-poor person in me says buy a box of oatmeal,

not the instant kind, and buy dried beans, not canned beans, and yikes! $3.99 for a dozen eggs! although I understand why that happened. A squeeze lime or lemon would provide vitamin C, if he did not have vitamins. I have never quite qualified for food stamps but I understand you cannot buy vitamins. That sucks. The TJ prices make me appreciate sav-a-lot. A lot. If I had that much to spend every week I would try to invest in butter or oil and tea bags.
And yeah, you do dwell on food when you don't have much and cannot just run out and buy some more. I have a bit more money to spend on food now, but I still shop as if I am almost penniless. Habit.

[pangaia]

5. Buy loose tea instead of teabags..much cheaper..

[Enthusiast]

9. I think it's better too.

[NJCher]

69. harmful ingredients in tea bags

I researched tea about six months ago and found that it was very difficult to buy a tea bag that hadn't been treated with some kind of ingredient that was useful for the seller but not so good for the health of the tea drinker.

You'd think Celestial Seasonings wouldn't have that problem, but no, they certainly did.

I bought a large tea infuser and only order from the few suppliers I was able to find that don't put harmful or unappetizing substances in their tea.

There's a food blogger out there who has an excellent analysis on this topic.

Cher

[Revanchist]

88. It may be better...

But in the terms of this challenge it would also be extremely cost prohibitive. Lipton or generic would work better.

[Quantess]

13. Yes, it's apparent that the author is not familiar with food insecurity.

I also would have chosen more frugally.
Oatmeal (not instant) sugar. cinnamon, and milk to go with the oatmeal. Potatoes, carrots, onions, dried beans, peanuts, cheap whole wheat bread, cheese. Also I would have made coffee a priority, unlike the writer.

No canned foods, no pre-packaged soup.

[pangaia]

29. Not only is this idiot not famiiar with 'food insecurity,'

he is not familiar with FOOD!

Look at all that canned and pre-packaged stuff.
Baby spinach ! great and healthy but .. in a bag? regular 'adult' spinach is cheaper.

[Jamastiene]

64. My list would be very similar to yours, only I would substitute

Ovaltine and milk for the coffee and skip the cinnamon and peanuts.

[Quantess]

70. There is still room for personal preferences when you're extremely frugal. which is nice.

I can eat oatmeal with cinnamon & sugar every day. Some people lean toward ramen or hot dogs, also cheap staples.

I forgot: popcorn popped on the stove with oil.

There was a month of my life that I ate spaghetti noodles with oil. salt, and sunflower seeds.
Oatmeal. Cooked carrots. Peanuts. I also picked apples off a tree in a nearby park, so I got some fruit in my diet.

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. Someone commented at the end of the article the same thing.

And I thought the same thing, too!

My student/starving days taught me how to make really good soups.
and then there is always Top Ramen as a base for all sorts of steamed/stir fry vegies.

Would not give up coffee unless I had some caffeine pills to keep the headache at bay. Caffeine withdrawal headaches are the worst.

[yeoman6987]

53. Dang. I could never do it

A meal for two of us Sunny's this afternoon cost 35 dollars before tip. But those baby back ribs were great. Why shouldn't the poor be able to splurge occasionally on a meal like I get to. We are screwed up at times.

[gwheezie]

2. I lived on food stamps for 2 years

I was thankful for it but it was difficult. I always ran out of food. I remember once someone gave me a bag of oranges as a gift. It meant so much even 40 years later.

[Vinca]

3. That's really touching. It's funny the stuff that sticks with us that we'll never forget.

[closeupready]

75. Yes, it's stuff like a bag of oranges that sitcom writers dismiss

as 'just a bag of oranges' but to YOU, it meant SO MUCH. A sort of O. Henry "Gift of the Magi" - the important thing is NOT the material or even simple nutritional value; the important thing is you were almost starving and you received a fruit gift that was full of flavor, sunshine, nutrition - basically HOPE for the future.

[Lucky Luciano]

4. Soft or silken tofu. Only $1-2 per container.

Very nutritious and the creamy taste is great! Add rice and beans. That might work. Tge lack if real produce is bad though with what I just described.

[Enthusiast]

6. The Righties® hope you die. We must first understand this.

Food stamp recipients are useless eaters.

[Orrex]

7. During the time that we lived entirely on food stamps...

I could come on DU almost every day and read a thread condemning SNAP recipients for their food choices, their decisions, and the circumstances of their lives.

Good for Paltrow for making this absurd effort. We should all be forced to get by on food stamps for a year, to see how the "other half" lives.

[Heddi]

21. "Oh well I *love* beans, who woudn't want to eat beans 3 meals a day for a year?"

that kind of condescending bullshit?

Yeah, it's horrible.

"Oh what's wrong with RICE? Rice is GREAT. Who NEEDS anything else? When my gal pals and I were playing poverty back in the 70's, we could PUT DOWN some rice and beans. I mean it was great. So why can't more poor people be happy with rice and beans and oatmea and lentils? You know what I wanna know...why don't more people who live in the upper floors of high-rise tenament buildings GROW TOMATOES AND CORN? I mean, with a little $50 investment and some buckets and soil and good light source and water, you can have tomatoes ALL SUMMER LONG. Poor people are just stupid."

I have patients that get the $37 a month on food stamps. They're diabetic, they have heart failure, they have kidney failure. Try to eat a low-carb, high protein, low salt diet on $0.38 a meal. It's impossible. EVEN IF YOU BUY IN BULK. It's impossible.

And the shaming. Oh the shaming. Goddamn people for wanting a treat. A soda. A fucking rotisserie chicken. A $5-$7 rotisserie chicken can last for DAYS, plus the bones give you stock. Oh no, though That's A LUXURY. Beans and lentils and rice and potatoes for you, serf.

Then, when you get fat (or fatter), they'll shame you some more for not buying the $6.99 a bunch asparagus, or $3 per anemic head of lettuce (no nutrition there). Why didn't you spend $8 on the bag of spinach? Why didn't you take 7 busses to the farmer's market for some free-range cheese?

fuckin' poor people...

These folsk don't get YES WE KNOW THAT HAMBURGER HELPER IS AWFUL FOR YOU...but when you can get 2 or 3 boxes for a dollar, hey! I don't have to add hamburger to it, it's the noodles and flavor for $.50 or .33. Cheaper than eggs, cheaper than veggies, cheaper than fruit.

You make that money SPREAD and fuck me if I don't want to eat fucking BEANS AND FUCKING RICE every fucking day of every month til I get out of this life hole.

Fuck me if I want a soda. YES I KNOW poor people shouldn't know joy. We shouldn't be allowed flavor. Sorry. I forgot.

[SusanCalvin]

25. Amen!

I have not been in this situation, but I like to think I have some empathy.

[Orrex]

27. Holy shit

That is one of the all-time righteous rants, and right on the money from start to finish!

Wish I could k/r your reply, much more eloquent that what I was trying to convey!

[Starry Messenger]

31. Post love!

[Bettie]

32. Very well said!

It makes me nuts that people are so pissy about what others buy.

How can people begrudge other humans something as basic as food?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

34. .

I wish there was a more somber version of that. TY.

[G_j]

38. The cumulative effect of poor nutrition

is well documented. It's a very unhealthy situation, especially for kids. Eating is about more than just trying to fill a stomach.

[vive la commune]

47. + 1000 n/t

[Initech]

61. Conservatives are absolute monsters.

They torture us by not paying competitive wages. Then the only supplemental income they give us is food stamps. And if we spend it on anything but the bare essentials, they shame us. And then they shame and shame and keep shaming. Shit, in Kansas they stupidly passed that fucking law against poor people spending food stamp money on cruise ships, cruise ships!!!!!!!

[Jamastiene]

66. +1000000

Great post.

[smokey nj]

67. Damn, you nailed it!

[fishwax]

72. well said!

[Lyric]

73. Choked me up. Been there. AM there.

Every day is an exhausting chore just to tread water. I don't even have the energy to be mad about it anymore. This is just life, forever, I guess....

[closeupready]

76. Love this rant, Heddi. Thank you.

[laundry_queen]

82. Absofuckinlutely!

Excellent rant. So much judgement, even here on DU from 'liberals'. You should make this an OP. Wish i could rec this now.

[beam me up scottie]

84. Heddi strikes again!

What did I just tell you about suffering fools gladly?




You are teh awesome.

[Enthusiast]

8. My wife gets beautiful, giant free range chicken eggs for $1.50 a dozen.

But very few people have access to such a supply of eggs.

[XemaSab]

16. I get beautiful, giant free range chicken eggs for $6.00 a dozen.

It's my boss's kid's UC Davis fund.

[Enthusiast]

18. At least they're beautiful, giant free range chicken eggs.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

35. How big are these giant free range chickes?

[Enthusiast]

50. I guess I should word that differently.

The eggs are giant. I mean much larger than super market "large" eggs. I would imagine 30% to 50% larger.

[cwydro]

44. I have chickens and ducks

and more eggs than I can eat. I give them away to friends and family who want them.

They're delicious. I haven't eaten a store bought egg in over three years.

Any DUers near me in NC who want any, let me know via pm.

[XemaSab]

45. If I ate hella eggs it would be too expensive

but I eat maybe 4 eggs a week, tops.

I've done the math on having chickens before, and I'd spend more money taking care of them than I spend on eggs.

[cwydro]

51. Well, I'm lucky enough to live on a large piece of land,

and they are completely free range.

I do buy feed for them, but they eat scraps, grass, worms, bugs of every type, etc. The ducks eat EVERYTHING. The chickens lay every day...ducks vary. I get six to 10 eggs daily. Sometimes they hide them, which is annoying. The ironic thing is that I'm allergic to eggs lol. I can eat them, but not as often as I'd like.

50 lb of layer feed at 12.99 lasts a good long time for my 8 chickens, one rooster (who is useless), two geese, and four ducks. I've got five new Cayuga ducklings (pure black), who are supposed to be great foragers when they grow up. Right now I do have to fork out the money for their starter feed however. But I consider them all as pets too, so it's a win/win for me.

[REP]

54. I buy the "fancy" organic layer feed

It's still dirt cheap and lasts forever. We just have one chicken at the moment, but nothing goes to waste - she eats everything except citrus peels. We are fortunate to have enough land for her to roam (we're going to get her some friends) and it's nice knowing the eggs are coming out of a spoiled chicken.

[beam me up scottie]

85. My s/o gets his from our neighbor for $2.00 a dozen.

We know the chickens personally, they seem happy.

[Enthusiast]

92. That is funny! Happy chickens that you know personally. What could be better?

That's good karma!

[ColesCountyDem]

10. It's a challenge, and even more of one if you're diabetic, etc. .

If one has diabetes, e.g., eating properly can be very difficult-- not impossible, but very difficult. The problem is that so many affordable foods also contain tons of sugar, simple carbs or fat. I've been very fortunate in that regard, because a classmate of mine is a dietician and a certified diabetes educator, and she was able to help me figure out how to use my limited resources and still be able to stay within dietary guidelines.

[DirkGently]

11. Jesus. No one should go hungry here.

It kills me that people have been persuaded to believe we give people in need of real help too much, at the same time we shower the richest with tax dollars and favors.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. Lemme share this, to emphasize your point:

[DirkGently]

23. SNAP costs most Americans about $36 in taxes / year.

Tax subsidies to big corporations -- $6,000 or so.

Not only do people have no idea where there tax money is going, or what is really "burdening" us, they are told wealth "trickles down," when in fact is is vacuumed UP.

In 2012, the average American taxpayer making $50,000 per year paid just $36 towards the food stamps program.

(SNIP)

Simply put, the American taxpayer isn't paying much for social safety net programs like food stamps and Medicare.

But we are paying a lot for the billions of dollars the U.S. government gives to corporate America each year.

The average American family pays a staggering $6,000 a year in subsidies to Republican-friendly big business.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/19844-food-stamps-are-affordable-corporate-welfare-is-not

[Thespian2]

28. Great!

and that is just one place the government stores expensive products to rot away in the sun...

[jmowreader]

74. Those aircraft were "unscrapped"

The Air Force couldn't keep them thanks to budget cuts, but the Forest Service, US Special Operations Command and Coast Guard were more than pleased to take them.

[yeoman6987]

55. The Republicans say that poor in America is the best

Now you want poor go overseas.


Or another one I heard from Republican politician "ever see a skinny poor person?" That is their attitude.

[FLPanhandle]

12. I remember working my way through college

Cafeteria line for coffee was $0.50. Fill up the cup and drink as much as possible before getting to the cream so I could put as much as possible in my cup for nutrition.

Those work treats she avoided were a good part of my diet.

[XemaSab]

14. Interesting article

but I wonder if doing it for longer would actually work out better.

If you're just shopping for a week, you have to get everything you need NOW, no matter what's on sale.

If you're shopping for a month with $124, it's much easier to make a vat of spaghetti sauce and freeze it into meals, make a vat of chili and freeze it into meals, make a vat of minestrone and freeze it into meals, and so forth. It's also easier to find bread for 99 cents a loaf, get three loaves, and freeze two of them; get a 5 lb bag of potatoes for $2.99; get some cheese for $3; and so forth.

Economies of scale, yo.

[Phentex]

22. I am in no way saying this would be easy or implying that people should live off so little...

however, it does make a difference whether you are buying for a week instead of a month which is how the benefits come. You need condiments and cooking items but you don't need them all in the same week. I am not knocking the challenge, but it leaves out a lot - like if you are feeding young kids or teens. If I lived alone, I'd probably never buy milk and I wouldn't want soda or gatorade. I might get a box of powdered milk for recipes if necessary.

Still, it's a real shame that there are idiots who believe people should have to struggle to feed their families.

[daredtowork]

46. One thing people don't factor in when they proffer advice

is that poor people lead lives filled with appointments and lengthy travel times between appointments (mostly walking b/c no subsidized transportation). There are medical appointments, social services appointments, social security appointments, department of rehab appointments, center for independent living appointments, mental health therapist appointments, various "group" appointments, employment center/job club appointments, job interviews, and numerous one-off errands and appointments of all sorts. This does not cover the "volunteer commitments" or anything other survival activities you're engaged in to try to make it while General Assistance is only covering $336/month of your rent. I had to add on top of all of this a sort of "life coach" for 9 hours a week because the Dept. of Rehab was concerned I wasn't "work ready" since I was always running late - but I was always running late because my life was triple-booked, and the "life coach" subtracted yet more available hours. Now my days are meticulously scheduled, but I end up letting a lot of things go I used to do during "flex time". I spent a good deal of today doing various "homework" assignments like researching low cost phone plans, reviewing affordable housing resources, and pursuing correspondence with a medical case manager. Posting here is the closest thing that counts as any sort of micro-break.

In short, poor people might not be able to schedule in large cooking projects (which would also involve a lot of packaging and cleaning). And who is to say we even own a vat? These strategies all work out very well on paper, but they don't in real time when you come to realize there are a lot of other agenda items competing for attention.

[Retrograde]

58. Transportation is indeed an overlooked factor

Even if one is lucky enough to live in an area with decent public transportation, without a personal vehicle one is often limited by what one can buy - groceries have this tendency to seem heavier the further you have to carry them .

[XemaSab]

79. You can make 2 gallons of spaghetti sauce in an hour

Yeah, time is limited, but it's easier to carve out more time than carve out more money.

[daredtowork]

90. Time is just as limited as money

You would be surprised at how taken for granted your time is when you're poor. The fact is another thing that makes poor people ill is lack of sleep from trying to fit in all the things that have been imposed into their theoretically limitless "unemployed" days!

[jtuck004]

19. If the administration would champion opportunities for people as hard as they do sending money

to bank$ter/donors, there would't be as many families, children, and people who work but still need food assistance.

There would also be less of these "poverty tourism" articles, a pastime of people who own nice tennis rackets and digital cameras and lazyboys with cable to give us their impressions of a life they can leave behind at the appearance of any real shortage or danger, unlike several million children tonight.

This one thinks his or her poverty tourism is more moral than someone else's. There is no difference.

I would bet the author of this piece has no real idea of what a "physically and mentally grueling" life can be. First consideration would be about 5-10 years of a lack of nutrition, lack of education, lack of jobs, absolutely no hope of ever getting out and the same true for generations of their kids - in other words, far back from where the start was in the article.

It's a problem, but a better menu isn't the answer.

[Enthusiast]

20. Our meat of choice is venison.

The deer is free. We only have to pay to have the deer processed. We get it mostly ground to use in various dishes.

Like yesterday afternoon we made Shepherd's Pie. Just substitute the venison for the beef burger. We actually like the venison better. When you brown a pound of ground venison there is no grease to drain as with hamburger.

[Telcontar]

24. My wife and I do venison shepard's pie often

Very satisfying meal, cheap and filling. We do ours with venison, onion, and shredded carrot cooked in a skillet. Then a bag if frozen peas and topped with mashed sweet potatoes and shredded cheese. What makes it awesome is Lee and Perkins sauce.

[Enthusiast]

52. We add Lea & Perrins too.

Never thought of using mashed sweet potatoes. That sounds good. We add cheese to the top too.

[Telcontar]

59. Doh! I had to go look at the bottle

Ok, now I feel stupid. I've been calling it Lee&Perkins for years. Who knew?

[Enthusiast]

93. We don't quibble about that. I got the message.

Whatever it is, it's good stuff. I thinks it's the anchovies. They are a powerful influence even in small amounts.

[ghostsinthemachine]

26. if you have a drug felony ,you get nothing

Try living on that for a while. (CA has made drug felons eligible since 4.01.15)

[AZ Progressive]

36. And people wonder why there's so much crime in this country. People doing crimes just to survive!

Again to the same problem: stupid idiotic government policies made stupid by Three Stooges type Republicans and Third Way centrists!

[ghostsinthemachine]

60. thank god for the churches

For food banks (always church oriented) or I would be dead. As it is I have lost 60 lbs since November when I lost my job. I so long for a piece of meat.

[daredtowork]

30. SNAP is meant to be SUPPLEMENTAL - BULL! @#$#@!!!!

For people on General Assistance Welfare, SNAP is the only food subsidy they get. What is it supposed to be supplementing? Picking nuts and berries that grow on the road side in major urban environments? Or maybe supplementing begging on corners and shoplifting from 7-11 - that seems to be the unspoken assumption of how people on welfare are supposed to "get along" since Clinton's Reform of Welfare as We Know It made the situation insupportable.

People waiting through the SSI process can be living on SNAP, and SNAP alone, for YEARS.

Jesus H. Christ, this is what I've been trying to tell people.

[druidity33]

37. that's referring to the acronym...

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

[daredtowork]

39. Still the notion is outrageous

And the experience in the article explains why.

Every single persons who "takes the food stamp test" only has to hold out for a week, and then they can go back to their normal lives. They have no idea what kind of toll is racked up from living like that week after week after week after week. Hence the "workarounds": begging, petty crime, prostitution, etc.

And the infuriating thing is that social workers secretly EXPECT you to be doing that because they know the terms of the situation are untenable. Yet there is no sort of "citizen witness" to create the public will to do anything about it. There is just a population that is unilaterally maltreated by this situation and can't do anything about it.

[LeftyMom]

81. On paper it is. Here's how it works:

The FDA works up something called the Thrifty Food Plan. This is their monthly budget for how you can feed yourself using scratch cooking. This is the federal government's best guess at the minimum you can spend on food and eat healthfully.

The maximum food stamps will pay you- assuming you have no other income (cash aid, SDI, whatever) that reduces your eligibility is 70% of that figure.

By their own rosy calculations, food stamps aren't enough to survive on and you're expected to chip in at least 30% of your grocery budget EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO OTHER INCOME.

Thus "supplemental."

So of course nobody manages on the budget. It's not enough to get by on, by design.

[AZ Progressive]

33. The RW would say: "Your not supposed to like being on welfare"

But what it really is is torture, a prison without walls. It's punishment for, in their eyes, not working hard to get out of poverty. But not only are they just cruel and callous, is that if people don't get enough food to eat, they can't be productive enough to be able to get out of poverty. In essence, with such a meager amount of food assistance, your trapping people into poverty!

[daredtowork]

41. Exactly

And if they have pre-existing health conditions that get exacerbated by this malnutrition, this situation pushes people into SSI - which, unlike SSDI, is on the taxpayer's dime.

Food and shelter uplifts people back into productivity and the mainstream workforce. That's a Profit Center for society.

Ongoing medical care and disability support? Mental health crisis counseling and the whole array of "poverty services"? That's a Cost Center for society.

You be the judge about where the wise tax penny should be spent.

[G_j]

43. just as they will say you are not supposed to like prison

so it follows that poverty is a crime.

[hunter]

40. Big fucking deal. I was living in my car and eating dumpster food.

Lots of food left over at fast food places too. It's amazing how much food is simply thrown away in the U.S.A..

Dangerous maybe? I was a feral human at that point. I didn't care.

In a civilized nation the welfare system is generous enough to compete directly with the crappiest employers, providing good food, safe comfortable housing, appropriate medical care to everyone, the unemployed and unemployable; education and work opportunities for all, inhumane living situations for none.

The U.S.A. is not a civilized nation.

[AZ Progressive]

56. Thank American protestantism for that

Northern Europe is protestant and happen to be far more civilized than America. What the hell happened to the direction of protestantism in America? Maybe calvinism didn't have the same effect in Northern Europe that it had in America.

[alphafemale]

48. It would be doable I suppose.

But there would take a miracle worker to find pleasure in eating at that price.

Black eye peas flavored with a bit of meat?
Some boiled greens and a few cheap boxes of corn bread mix?
Yeah that is yummy enough to eat for a week.

It is not a game. assholes.

The Ramen is every fucking day.

[Liberal_in_LA]

63. plus one

[PowerToThePeople]

49. ramen is your friend. n/t

[Retrograde]

57. That was a weird shopping list

7 limes, one tomato, one jalapeno, one avocado, a bunch of cilantro: ok, after you make and eat the guacamole or add some salsa to your black beans and rice you're left with - lettuce and eggs? I suppose you can make tostadas (assuming you have some oil to cook the tortillas in) but that is one of the strangest diets I've seen. It has the feel of someone who never had to seriously shop or prepare meals. There's an over-emphasis on flavorings - the limes, cilantro, green onions - and not much on basic calories.

The writer of the article does mention one thing a lot of people overlook: your food budget also has to include provisions for cooking oils or fats, not to mention basics like sugar, flour, salt, spices that a lot of people take for granted.

[AZ Progressive]

65. I have to say though, this woman is still far disconnected with what everyone else eats

Seriously, almond milk? Organic eggs? Buying at Trader Joes?

I'm not poor but I would think that most poor people would be much more likely to buy at the Dollar store and Walmart than Trader Joes.

She still lives in her uppity bubble and still can't fully connect with poor people.

[closeupready]

80. I thought that, too. Trader Joe's is the cheapest place she could think of.

A rich person playing poor. And as another NY resident, the prices she paid were MUCH more than what I can get at even higher-priced borough groceries - for example, $0.89/can of chickpeas is higher than $0.69/can I can get, and at a $30 budget per week, that 20 cents MEANS something.

[AZ Progressive]

68. Some additional options for people in the west

Del Taco is a western mexican themed (much like Taco Bell) food chain, and they have 1/2 pound bean burritos for $1 (about 450 calories) and have tuesday taco nights, 3 beef tacos (480 calories) for $1.09 to $1.29, and on thursdays they have 3 chicken soft tacos (660 calories) for $2.09.


If I had to go on $5 a day for food, I would eat instant oatmeal (super cheap and I'm an oatmeal addict) and eat canned soups (chili for 99 cents at the dollar store, progresso soup packs at Costco for $10.29 for 8 cans or $1.50 at Walmart) and maybe the Del Taco for lunch, or cook beans and rice or lentils. Sticks of cheese can be had for 3 for 99 cents, but I'd probably depend on bread or large packs of things like chips for snacks.

However, I do have a problem if my diet is boring enough, so I can think that it wouldn't be pleasant at the least.

[strategery blunder]

87. That only works if you have outside income

Someone who must rely on food stamps for all their sustenance would not be able to go to Del Taco because you're not allowed to use them for food that is prepared and served for you--no matter how inexpensive or nutritionally dense the food is. :/

[LeftyMom]

89. You can't use food stamps for fast food (excepting a few pilot programs for the homeless)

You can't even use them for hot prepared food (like a precooked chicken or a toasted sandwich) at your grocery store.

[merrily]

71. All this talk--at long last--about the problems of the poor and the middle class is

starting to make me uneasy. Can I take it at face value? If so, who can the inhabitants of Dante's Inferno thank for freezing hell over?

[geomon666]

77. The most affordable place she can think of to buy groceries

is fucking Trader Joe's? No offense to Trader Joe's but that's expensive as hell.

[AuntPatsy]

78. Not impressed, she should have already known

[JEB]

83. Beans and taters from scratch. Salt.

[Binkie The Clown]

86. There was a time 25 or 30 years ago when I lived on $7 a week for food.

Flour, bulk rice, bulk oatmeal, blackberries picked along the side of the road, apples taken (with permission) from a neighbor's tree, potatoes, dry beans, onions. Everything bought in bulk, and all meals prepared from scratch. Fortunately it was summer, and another neighbor in the cheepo apartment complex where I lived was growing balcony tomatoes, and gave me a couple pounds of them to blanch and freeze. I even made my own potato chips in a shallow frying pan half filled with crisco.

Thank goodness it only lasted for a few months before I found work again. And thank goodness I was living alone with no family to support. (My kids were grown and living far away, and my ex was with her new boyfriend)

[AZ Progressive]

91. is that $7 back then?

That'd be about $14 to $18 nowadays.

[Binkie The Clown]

94. That sounds about right. n/t