[...] The Food Stamp Challenge [...]

Since we’re just talking food, not other things like toiletries that often get lumped in with groceries, I’m pretty sure I already keep under this budget. I got food stamps for a time when my twins were newborns, and the amount seemed high to me; when we stopped qualifying we had a balance of a few hundred bucks left. Of course, families who qualify for food stamps also qualify for WIC and free meals at school, so that makes the money go even further. That’s something weird about food stamps—a newborn gets as much money in foodstamps as a teenager, even though the newborn is being breastfed or getting free formula through WIC, and thus doesn’t really need much foodstamp money at all.

Doing the Food Stamp Challenge has been a really interesting experience. I went into it thinking I would blow that $404 per month for my family of four out of the water. Real life got in the way. I’ve been cold/fluish over the past week, and nothing sounded better than Thai takeout. Nothing. Twice.

I will be coming in under $404, but mostly because I do two huge grocery shopping trips at the beginning of the month when our local newspaper runs a “Spend $50, get $10 off” Safeway coupon. This is how I buy all my staples.

I am really looking forward to July, not that I plan on a huge spending spree, but I miss being able to choose my food based on what I want rather than how much it costs.

My normal food budget is $450 per month. I will donate any money saved through this challenge to The Oregon Food Bank.

Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

We come under the guidelines for our family of four, generally spending $150 to $170 every two weeks. BUT our big problem is eating out which we do 4-8 times per month, probably at a cost of about $30-50 each week. Ug.

How do people sell food stamps–do any states actually issue paper food stamps anymore?
a lot of families on food stamps may have ;imited access to cooking facilities because they are in homeless shelters or living doubled up with relatives who do not allow them to stock the fridge and use the kitchen regularly ( i worked with homeless and at-risk families for several years, so i saw this first hand over and over again). I’d be interested to see a real weekly shopping list of someone who can buy healthy foods their kids will actually eat and still come in at or under the foodstamp budget for a family of four.

I feed a family of 6 for well under the allotted amount! I’ll take the challenge~

Going by the chart, yes we keep it well under that amount, and I’m including toiletries, which aren’t covered by food stamps. Granted I have to portion out every food, there is no snacking on the fly, and if I forget to put something on the shopping list I have to make due without it for a week. We did recently start getting WIC because we qualified and honestly it was very stressful to shop. That extra $50/month in WIC food has really taken the stress off, and my kids get a little more healthy variety than they were before. I appreciate that immensely!

If I had that budget of food stamps for our family I know that my husband wouldn’t be starving at work on days when there aren’t leftovers from dinner because I planned it out to be exactly the amount of food we needed. I also know the kids would eat more breakfast than they’re currently allowed. I have to make that soymilk and cereal last a whole week, and I could buy a second box if I had the extra.

If I think it like “two $200 trips to Costco” then it sounds like plenty of food.

I work full time and only receive $100 per month in food stamps. I use it only to buy fresh fruits and veggies. I have a cart that I wheel to the store on foot. This ensures that I get plenty of exercise in the process. I am grateful for the stamps and I make full use of them. Let me also add that I have a hubby and 13 yr old son that loves to eat. I make my trip twice a month. I am a vegetarian but any meat the guys want is paid for out of pocket. No processed food or soda here!