Your menu for a food stamp challenge

[Shalmanese]

Governor Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, in an attempt to raise awareness of the recently proposed bill in congress to alter the eligibility requirements for food stamps, recently spent a week living on a budget of exactly $21 per person for food to see what it was like to live on food stamps.

You can see the menu for his efforts here which actually looks to be some pretty decent food. I was wondering what sorts of things egulleters could come up with that would fit a $21 per person, per week budget.

[hummingbirdkiss]

I love this and have done something similar in the past to just see if I could and it was actually a blast to figure out just how to feed a family of six on $75/week ...

I will actually do it again with my kids grown it is my husband and I so I will try for $50/week for two weeks ...(should be easy right?) and report back if you like ...

[prasantrin]

I've seen similar projects, where people try to live off the budget of a welfare recipient, etc. It's an interesting idea, but I have some issues with it.

People involved with the short-term projects are generally middle to upper class in the socioeconomic spectrum. That usually means they have had access to things that would make living on a tiny food budget easier--general knowledge about healthful diets, health and cooking classes cooking classes when they were in school, parents who reinforced healthful eating, etc.

People who really have to live on food stamps usually come from backgrounds which do not often have access to any of these things. They don't even have the general knowledge of what a healthful diet might contain, nor do they have the cooking skills to make low-cost but healthful food.

I actually think $21 is not so difficult to achieve if you break it down the way the governor of Oregon did (he did a cost per serving kind of budget, rather than how much he actually spent buying the item). Ground beef and chicken backs for protein, mixed frozen vegetables (which I hate, but I'd eat), pasta, beans, and rice.

If we could adjust the weekly budget for different countries, I'd give it a try. (What would the equivalent weekly food budget be in Japan? I'm assuming it would be more than what it would be in the US, since food generally costs more here.)

[tejon]

Oddly enough, as a family of four we usually fall within that amount each week. I'll admit that I do a good amount of work to make sure that we keep food expenses low, allowing for more money in other needed areas. I cut coupons, I buy during sales, I get seasonal produce (cheaper and of course better flavored), and make quite a few things from scratch. We're omnivores, but meat is eaten in smaller amounts and not at all meals, though less for economy and more because there are a lot of vegetarian meals we all enjoy.

I think this challenge would be much more difficult for a single person or a couple than for a family. It's much easier to buy most foods in larger amounts and there's more room for greater variety when there is a bit more money to spend overall.

[divalasvegas]

Interesting. Like prasantrin observed there are many factors to be considered. One that comes to mind is how much food did they have on hand when this experiment started? Did they have to start with an empty refrigerator/pantry, or were they allowed certain staples such as sugar, flour, salt, spices, cooking oil, a few canned goods?

Where do they purchase their groceries and how? For instance a poor person may not have a car and thus may not be in a position to take advantage of purchasing items at different stores to get the best price. Also, I don't know about Oregon, but the big box stores that may have the best food deals in bulk like Costco are no where near the poorer neighborhoods in the DC/MD/VA area; these are pretty much located in certain suburban locations. As a matter of fact, many poor neighborhoods in our area are lucky to have a grocery store nearby at all.

I know one thing for sure; in this area a person is likely to starve on $21.00/week for groceries.

Edited to add additional/clarifying comments.

Edited May 2, 2007 by divalasvegas (log)

[helenjp]

Bit short on time, but a quick reccy indicates something like 300yen per day for a single person on income support in Kagoshima, a regional city (I imagine this may be different in different cities), and in another area, 240 yen per person per day for foodstuffs (that is, separate from labor and other prep costs) for institutionalized adults.

At current rates, that's USD2.50 and 2.00 respectively. Note that the 2.50 allowance is for a single-person household, it doesn't mean that a 2-person household gets twice that amount.

I'm extremely aware of this issue, because my brother-in-law has moderately severe schizophrenia, and works at a sheltered restaurant/cafe. They used to cook and provide all working and non-working "members" with a hot lunch for 300 yen (that includes labor , utilities and other overheads), but since the foodstuffs allowance was reduced, that is no longer possible. The loss of this cook-your-own program is huge - many people on income support are unable to manage themselves and their money well enough to cook themselves a full meal every day, so the subsidized lunch made the difference between staying well and getting sick. They also learned food prep and nutrition skills that were helping them in their daily lives between visits to the cafe, but that is now all gone. Now the cafe simply earns cash income by selling coffee and snakck-breads to local workers and residents, and does nothing to help the nutritional needs of those who work there.

My BIL has a strong interest in nutrition, and when he lived with us, we talked a lot about food that was cheap, easy to prepare, and nutritious. However, I'm horrified to think how few people on disability benefits or other forms of income support are in his position.

As somebody said, poor people are often buying from small shops that are within walking distance from their homes and daily commute. They never have enough money to buy in bulk.

That forces people to the 100 yen shops, which sell snacks and instant seasoning mixes pretty much. However, recently some sell 100-yen servings of vegetrables, according to my brother-in-law, and that's a huge help, because a pack of vegetables often costs the entire daily food allowance.

I will see what menus I could make by shopping within walking distance, once I've checked out what the allowance for a 4 person family would be, but since my brother in law is about to visit, we will be feeding him up and indulging him for a few days!

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

As somebody said, poor people are often buying from small shops that are within walking distance from their homes and daily commute. They never have enough money to buy in bulk.

That forces people to the 100 yen shops, which sell snacks and instant seasoning mixes pretty much. However, recently some sell 100-yen servings of vegetrables, according to my brother-in-law, and that's a huge help, because a pack of vegetables  often costs the entire daily food allowance.

It's not that much different here in California... many of the poorer urban and rural areas lack their own grocery stores, and since many poor people may not have their own transportation to get to a grocery store, and public transit (which is an added expense) can be hit or miss.

Those smaller corner stores/convenience stores are generally more expensive and have smaller or non-existant selections of fresh meat, fruit and veggies. With frozen products, you have the difficulty of keeping them frozen as you make your way home.

It's a lot easier to really pare down food costs when you have a car and the ability to go to the places with the lowest prices, when you don't have to figure out how to transport 2 dozen eggs, a gallon of milk and frozen goods on a bus with 2 kids in tow.

I know people who don't keep pantries stocked with staples...I'm going to venture to guess that if you're not used to cooking from scratch, you're not going to have stuff like flour, baking powder, spices, rice, etc on hand.

Edited May 2, 2007 by MomOfLittleFoodies (log)

[azurite]

I used to represent a number of people who received food stamps and a friend (and her son) were on food stamps for close to a year. Pretty much everyone told me their food stamps never lasted the entire month. I was representing disabled people and quite a few of them were too fatigued (from pain, etc.) to cook from scratch or were unable to for other reasons, so if they didn't have friends or family to prepare meals from scratch, the person ate sandwiches or prepared foods. My friend did know how but was occasionally too tired or got home from her job too late to cook. She was able to supplement food purchased with food stamps w/fresh vegetables and fruit from her garden in season, although her veg garden wasn't anywhere near as large as it had been in years past because her increased work hours meant less time for the garden. In earlier years, she had been able to grow enough to almost fill a fairly large freezer full of frozen veg and fruit, plus pick and store (or dry) enough apples to last into the winter.

As others have said, poor people often do not have reliable auto transport. If they're living in a rural area, there may be very little in the way of public transport available, and the closest food store may be more expensive than ones reachable by those with cars. There are quite a few people in this county driving poorly maintained vehicles and without insurance because they are unable to afford either but need transport to get to work, obtain medical care or groceries.

The Master Gardeners in the county have started several community and kids' gardens--some of the produce goes to those who work in the gardens, the rest is donated to the local food pantry. Both the gardens and food pantry supply (for part of the year) much needed supplements to what food stamps can buy.

I live in OR and I appreciate what the governor's doing. Not long ago, OR was high on the list of states w/the most people going hungry. The state made a big effort to change OR's ranking (to one much lower on the list). I hope the WH residents take note of what the governor's doing and themselves do something constructive.

azurite