The Challenge
The challenge is simple, but difficult too: in October, maintain a foodstamp budget while feeding your family wholesome, nourishing and unrefined foods.
Due to loss of jobs, inadequate wages and other unfortunate situations, many, many families derive the bulk of their food budget, or even their entire food budget from governmental assistance programs. Mothers often wonder just how they can feed their families well while subsisting on supplemental nutrition assistance programs like WIC and foodstamps. Just how can you make good food work on a few hundred dollars a month?
While a challenge of this sort may seem patronizing at best, there’s a real and sincere need to illustrate just how wholesome food can be purchased and prepared on even the slimmest of budgets. So in October, I’m ditching my CSAs and farmers markets, cutting my budget to $227 for October and focusing on real food done real cheap. Besides, who doesn’t need to save a few bucks?
The Number
Settling on a final budget for the project proved difficult. The benefit allotment for foodstamp program is directly related to the USDA’s cost of food. In essence, the government assumes that nutrition assistance recipients will spend approximately 30% of their budget on food and the aim of SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is to supplement a family’s low income until the USDA’s thrifty food budget is reached. This means that the maximum foodstamp benefit for a family of our size is $527 – not too shabby. In fact, eating well on $527 a month is hardly a challenge at all.
Despite the fact that foodstamps are intended as a supplement, many recipients rely on nutrition assistance benefits exclusively. So, while a family may receive $227 from the government in nutrition assistance, they are unlikely to make up the remaining $300 of that thrifty food budget out of their own pockets. With rising healthcare costs, childcare costs, transportation costs and rent, there’s often no leeway to increase the food budget at all.
In 2008, the average individual on SNAP received $101 and the average household on SNAP received $227 in benefits each month. Undoubtedly, this number has increased since then – though probably only nominally. Were our family to have only one earner making minimum wage, we’d likely receive $332 – $342 in benefits. Were our family live right at the poverty line, we’d receive $235 – $245 in benefits. We settled at $227 – the average benefit in 2008 for a single household.
The Assumptions
To keep us honest and on target, let’s assume a “worst-case”:
- It’s unlikely that most SNAP recipients have access to a farmers market, farm stand or CSA accepting EBT (this is quickly changing thanks to grants from the USDA) thus all shopping must be done at a EBT-accepting grocery store.
- It’s unlikely that most SNAP recipients have access to a food bank served with organic, local foods.
- It’s likely that many SNAP recipients are relying exclusively or close to exclusively on nutrition assistance benefits to purchase food.
- It’s unlikely that most SNAP recipients have well-stocked pantry to use as a reserve well, and must build one on budget.
The Rules
The $227 budget must supply:
- 3 Meals a Day for a Month for Our Family of Three
- 2 Snacks a Day for a Month for Our Child
- Only Whole, Unrefined Foods
- Everything eaten during the month must be purchased that month. In other words: you can’t rely on your pantry!
Charting Progress
I’ll post each Monday through October outlining our trials, failures and successes – and for those of you who would like to follow along, I’ll be posting downloadable shopping lists, menus and recipe guides.
I really like the idea of this challenge and I would be interested in some of the meal planning tips. My husband and I are faring pretty well in this economic crunch, all things considered, but we do want to tighten up our budget while still eating healthy. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with how to do that. My husband is gluten intolerant and I recently have started a special diet that restricts quite a few things, including processed foods. I know the key is planning, but some tips on the how and the what would be wonderful. Thanks, Jenny!
This is a great idea! This issue of frugality has been on my mind for gluten free famlies, especially since they are prone to buying expensive GF processed foods. They are real budget busters! I did a blog this week that addresses this issue, http://www.thinkingoutsidethebreadbox.com.
I received food stamps and WIC when I was a young, teen mom. I found WIC more helpful as I could get some better foods than what was avaialble that the government would give you for free such as cheese and canned foods that were full of sugar. The food stamp personnel seemed to want to keep me on the rolls. They routinely (except one gentleman) discouraged me strongly from going to school. I eventually gave up getting food stamps and borrowed more student loan money to make ends meet because I couldn’t take the berating.
Anyway, that sure seems like another life time.
I am anxious to follow along.
Optimal diet on a limited budget? Easy: All meat!
Thank you for doing this. My family of 5 is on a $500 budget of FS. We also do recieve WIC. I began my TF journey this past year and am now considering giving up the WIC. IT’s not very useful as of late although there is promise of change thsi fall. The changes being made to the WIC program in some ways will help a bit,but in others still fall short. I have 2 small children with autism spectrum disorders, aspergers and SPD, and the baby is being evualuated this week with Eraly Intervention for some issues. It became very apparent early on in my oldest DD life that she had some food sensativities. I am still trying to figure that all out,but have at this point cut out milk and now soy also. I think she would be fine on raw milk,but it is not legal nor available in my state. Processed foods containing colorings and flavors, HFCS ect ect seem to make my kids sick.Gluten seems to be a problem also. Here are some thought on the WIC program in my state:
I do read these food blogs and crave grasfed meats and fresh raw milk for my kids who so obviously need it.
-We asked (begged) for lactaid milk. It is the long shelf life milk,but does not have the hormones in it. The hormones are definately a problem (where do I need to move to find raw milk so readily available? lol)
- I often buy oatmeal as thats the least processed although recently the program was changed to only allow us to buy the single serve packs of non flavored (who is running this program?..)I open all the packs into an old oatmeal can and use it like the regular stuff. Although you can visibly see it’s of a lesser quality.
The amounts of juice the program gives is crazy. My husband takes it to work and we use apple juice as a sweetener for some things. I also mix the juice with Kombucha for the girls.You can make jelly from apple juice and while its not organic jam it is still better than store bought jelly with colorings and HFCS.
- for 2yrs now we havn’t gotten the farmers market checks. We were told there wasn’t eneugh and that they go to seniors first.
- this fall the program is changing and we have been told we will only be allowed to get 2% milk and soy milk for dd. Neither will sit well in her belly. If I let her drink all that soy and dairy she will have awefull diareah.
- I do culture the lactaid in my crockpot to make yogurt. I am not so sure it’s the best yogurt in town,but the recipe makes alot and it’s free.I strain it for the whey. I also make buttermilk from the lactaid for soaking the beans and my flour.
As far as making the FS last through the month. We splurged for a BJ’s membership. They accept EBT. If hams are on sale for $5 I buy 5 and put em in the freezer. We freecycled a stand up freezer to do just this. I never pay full price for meat,butter really anything. IF butter is on sale I buy a bunch. We try to stick to the outer edges of the store to avoid anything that will upsette dd food intolorences. So we eat mosty meat,fruit, veggies and cultured dairy. I thik we eat well this way. My kids are never hungry and IMO they are eating better than some of my wealthier friends kids. There are no fruit snacks and processed cookies ect ect… lotsa apples and bananas though
I look around my WIC office and realize that my kids are the only kids who eat this way. I try to tell others about making yogurt and lentil dishes, but I think they all look at me like I am nuts.So while I think your expierment is great I am wondering how we can reach those who really need to hear the info?..
This is great!
Our family receives financial assistance currently due to my boyfriends job loss. For a family of 3 with one earner, we get $365/mo. Our grocery bill usually exceeds this because of the amount of meat we eat and the quality I demand we buy. Additionally, I am lucky in that our farmer’s market accepts EBT so I can buy locally with my cash assistance. I have to admit to being amazed by the dollar amounts some of the responses have quoted – that is impressive budgeting on everyone’s part!
There are definitely ways to lower one’s grocery bills by buying real food, however there are also distinct expenses when buying real food (raw milk, and grass fed or pastured meat being the best examples). I look forward to seeing how you do it!
It should also be noted that on average, US households only spend 9% of their income on food – European households spend between 15 and 20%! Even if your focus on Real Food exceeds your budget and requires sacrifice elsewhere, is that really a bad thing? Good food = good health.
– RFM
Jj- i’m sure you’ve moved on to other blogs by now, but your comments seem very ignorant and offensive, and I ampersonally surprised that the only response was from Dara. WIC is certainly agovornment program, but guess what? so is the military (or militaryindustrial complex), so are the courts, so is congress, so are safe roadsand public transportation… i could go on and on. our lives, whether you “believe” in it or not, are enmeshed in institutions created by us, taxpayers and therefore created by “govorment”. what is so terrible about people eating food? would you rather children starvedor were severly malnourished and became mentally retarded due tomalnutrition? yes, WIC has problems, so does any public institution. its not great that WIC won’t allow organics any more and its sad that so many WIC recipients choose formulaover breastfeeding, but at least children are getting fed.
I’m THRILLED you will be doing an allergen free week–this has been a major topic in the MDC traditional foods and allergies forums lately.
We are gluten, dairy, soy and corn free due to ds’s sensitivities and I’d LOVE to see what you can do to feed your family of 4 for a week w/ a/b $57 while cutting (hopefully) those alleregens out in a TF manner!
Thank you for doing this! Can’t wait to check back on this!
Excuse me–$57 a week for a family of 3–not four. This will be REALLY helpful for me, as we are a family of 3 as well!
One more thing I wanted to add!
Efforts to put EBT machines at farmer’s markets make a huge difference, and it *is* happening in some places!
I’m in a small city in NYS with a pretty poor urban center, (surrounded by much wealthier suburbs). Our major ‘public market’ is located right in the poorer urban area–accessible to many of the poor living in our city–and it is AMAZING–open T/Th/S, with lots of local farmers and homegrown produce (for awesome, low prices), some grass fed meats available and lots of pastured eggs. And VERY cheap, MUCH cheaper than buying any produce at the grocery store. I feel so fortunate to live here after reading about folks not being able to spend their EBT dollars at their local farmer’s markets. But I think, in time, with enough folks speaking up for change, it will happen!
I’m just grateful there are so many folks (like you Jenny) working to make farmer’s markets options for everyone, even those who are poorer…
Sarah, what you’re doing with your EBT/WIC foods is amazing! You are an inspiration. We’re not on EBT or WIC b/c we don’t qualify, but right now we’re working hard to pay off debt and save for an emergency fund so our food budget is often under $400 for a month for our family of four. I’m so programmed that organic is the only healthy food these days, but I can’t always afford it. You’re right there are degrees and most of our kids, if we even have a little interest in nourishing foods, are way better off than the majority.
My son and I have health issues (mild autism for him, mild fibromyalgia for me) that are affected by what we eat. I love coming to your blog, Jenny, and getting inspired by what people can do on a budget!
Hold on there, Emily. One cannot compare military benefits to food stamps or WIC. Those in the military are WORKING for the government. Their benefits come with the job and risks; you should know that.
I’ll take it one step further and say that the roads for which the tax payer pays is used by the taxpayer.
JJ’s argument is that many people who receive food stamps don’t work and don’t pay taxes.
Keep it real, and compare apples to apples. I sure hope you can find peace and not hold grudges against those who don’t agree with you. Don’t let him/her get to you!
I was impressed that with oregon EBT you were allowed to buy garden seeds and starts for veggies. I was not impressed that you can buy papa murphys take and bake pizza.
Jenny, I wish I would have seen this earlier!! Is it too late to start?? Would love to join in, maybe go a week longer?
Diana –
Absolutely … I’m glad you stumbled across it! The low-budget food’s been healthy, but I’m a snacker and this budget is seriously lacking in dark chocolate and artisan cheese.
Glad to see you around!
- Jenny
My sister runs a small store with many food stamp recipients. She recently commented on all the soda and junk foods being purchased with money from the program (and also recipients are allowed to purchase lottery tickets and beer from a slightly different pool of funds within food stamps?). This would seem to only exacerbate the obesity/health care problems in this country. Wouldn’t it make sense to not allow the purchase of soda and high sugar processed foods? How did this get passed (or has it always been this way)? Would love to be enlightened on this!
Hi everyone. I just stumbled across this post so I missed the challenge but I think it’s a great topic. I wrote a post about nourishing your family on WIC/SNAP benefits. It’s geared towards West Michigan which is where I live, but the overall ideas can work for anywhere. My husband is being placed on a heart transplant list after having a reaction to an antibiotic that damaged his heart and sent him into heart failure. Our family has been facing challenges we never thought we would face. It’s good for everyone to understand that it can happen to you too. We are trying to make the best of it and keep our children nourished.
http://westmicrunchy.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-nourish-your-family-using-wic.html
I live in Iowa, I’m not sure what the national standing is, but I receive $520 in benefits for a family of 4. I have 2 children, one is 8 and the other 2. I only eat 1 maybe 2 meals a day so my kids can eat. I’m not lazy, I work hard and go to school full-time. I receive TANF as well, but the lousy $426/mo (unemployment gives you $375/week) isn’t even enough to pay our rent. To be eligble for TANF I have to go to school full time for a program THEY approve (which is why I am working for 2 degrees at the same time, because my liberal arts won’t count and I’m going to be an archeologist) or job search for 30 hours per week. Minimum wage is $7.29 here now. On TANF I make $4.05/hour.
I was on WIC, and I hate it as much as I appreciated it. I had friends who were able to get CHOCOLATE milk with their WIC, but I couldn’t even get the proper formula for my 4 mo. premature son because the Dr. worded it a little wrong. The doctor lived 1.5 hours away, so I couldn’t just run back up and have him change it. He has always had trouble with weight, and was supposed to be on formula for longer:
1. because he was 3 months early, so his “year” of forumla shouldn’t have ended with his actual birthdate. Both my doctor and the WIC people agreed, but they wouldn’t change it. I tried to buy the formula myself, but then we wouldn’t have any food at all after the first week or week and a half of the month.
2. because of his low weight, he was actually supposed to go on the stage 2 formula after we were done with regular. This isn’t covered either.
3. I breastfed. Or at least as long as I could, since my breast pump was from WIC, I was only supposed to get the pump OR formula. However, even in the NICU (intensive care unit) I had to mix breastmilk with high-calorie formula so he got enough calories. The doctors called WIC and explained this, but I could not get the formula if I breastfed. period. I had to stop breastfeeding, because I couldn’t produce enough milk on my own anyways and when I told them that, they said I was a “horrible mother” and gave me a half-hour lecture about the benefits of breastfeeding! With all of my “new mom” emotions, it made me more depressed than I’d like to recall. There is NO support for breastfeeding supplementation or for any “special needs” cases. I was able to get lactose-free milk after getting a note from my doctor, but I wasn’t able to use them because I can only purchase gallons and lactaid-free milk here comes only in half gallons.
Formula is about $80/120 a week when I was on it. The only formula you can get is Similac. It used to be Enfamil but they changed it. It can’t be any kind of Similac either-only the one written on your check. If they’re out or don’t have as many as your check states, then you just can’t get formula. No substitutions or “rain checks” (going out and buying the rest later).
Our food stamps never last the month, and us adults don’t really eat so that our kids can. I really look forward to learning some new ways to try and make our budget stretch.
Also, thank you for realizing that most of us on FS aren’t supplementing unless we take it out of our bills!