Last week, food banks and other organizations asked people to take the SNAP Challenge, in which they attempt to live on the same budget as people on food stamps. I was going to do it and write the results for Chicago on the Cheap, but I ran into a problem right off the bad: the SNAP Challenge budget of $35 per person per week (based on the maximum food stamp allowance) is more than my family spend on groceries.
We are able to do this for four reasons:
- We don’t eat meat
- We know how to cook
- I have been working on ways to save money at the grocery store for years
- My husband keeps a garden that produces lots of vegetables, even though it’s a little city yard
Over the weekend, for example, my husband made up both spaghetti sauce and pesto from garden produce. The only pricey ingredient were the pine nuts. The Parmesan cheese for the pesto was on sale, as was the olive oil used in both. We now have plenty of sauce in the freezer for later this winter. Served over pasta, bought at $1.00 per pound or less, and we now have at least six nights of dinner and another six days of leftovers for lunch ready to go for a total of about $12.00.
That’s how a family of three, one of whom is a teenage boy, spends about $90 per week on groceries.
The price of healthy food is absolutely an issue in the modern world. Poverty and hunger are very real issues. Food stamps can and do go a long way toward making people’s lives better. But the problem is compounded because too many people do not know how to cook, how to garden, or how to manage a grocery bill. Anyone can learn these skills, but it is hard to pick them up when under the stress of whatever situation leads to the need for food stamps.
If you don’t keep good track of your budget now, the SNAP Challenge may be a good way to open your eyes to what you spend on groceries. It may help you find some skills to stretch your budget before you are in financial or personal distress.
Once you master those skills, throw in an extra can or two of soup to give to your local food pantry. With a good sale combined with a good coupon, you can buy enough Chunky Soup to provide lunch for four people for less than $5.00.
I tried doing this a few years ago and I found it to be very tough but not impossible. It helps if you think of the spending on a monthly basis, so you can buy some things in bulk, but you do lose out on a lot of “better” stuff. For example, it’s impossible to buy a lot of healthy products when you’re limited to $35/pp a week.
That’s true, Jim – going week-by-week makes it hard to stock up on a good sale. On Saturday, I brought home five boxes of Cap’n Crunch – it was $1.88 per box if you bought five. That would do damage to a week-by-week budget. (Not like Cap’n Crunch is healthy, but my kid is an athlete.)
You don’t have to eat healthy ALL the time 🙂