SNAP Challenge

[Lutherf]

Assuming that you have some basics (spices, butter, oil, etc.) the following should be plenty for four -

Flour------------$3.00
Eggs------------$10.00 3-4 doz
bacon-----------$8.00 2-3#
lettuce----------$7.00 5 heads Romaine
onions-----------$5.00 (less if you buy in bulk)
potatoes--------$5.00 (less if you buy in bulk)
pasta ----------$6.00 5#
tomato sauce---$6.00
chicken thighs---$12.00 3# bone in
roast beef------$15.00 3-5#roast
ground beef ----$15.00 3-5#
milk------------$5.00 Gal
cake mix-------$5.00 2 boxes
fruit------------$8.00 apples/oranges
veggies--------$8.00 squash/beans
rice------------$5.00 5#

That will keep you under $126 and if you can't feed a family of 4 for a week on that you're doing something wrong.

 

[iacardsfan]

Food stamps are supposed to be supplemental to incomes. People are not supposed to rely on food stamps, they are supposed to be a safety net. 126 dollars is enough as long as there is no funky business going around.

 

[trfjr]

Well, fruits and vegetables are expensive when they aren't in season and you buy them at a typical grocery store. I really needed a hothouse tomato the other day and ended up spending $3 on it.

I can't really imagine $100 spaghetti though. Spaghetti is one meal you actually can make for 4 people on $6, especially if you shop at costco. Of course, it'd just be pasta and sauce, but it's a meal.

here in SC a can of sauce is 1.25 pound of hamburger is 2.50 a box of spaghetti for 4 is about 1 dollar you now have 1.25 left over for garlic bread

 

[soccerboy22]

i live in SC also i don't know where the hell you shop but you are getting ripped off.
SC is very inexpensive when it comes to food especially vegetables every thing you listed is grown locally

Which is why I said it depends on where you live. In Boston it is a little bit more, when I go visit friends in Iowa it is a little less because meat is cheaper out there. I've also found you have to cater to where you live. So when I was in college up north we made a lot of soups because soup was cheap and gave us more money on the important things, alcohol. When I lived in DC some stores we visited had not so good fruits and veggies so it pushed us towards more premade things. For law school we had to do some poverty simulation through a local church where we acted like a family in poverty. In my family imparticular there were five of us, 125 dollars we got always ended us 5 dollars short.

 

[Fisher]

Our milk is less than $4/gal if you buy the store brand. Now, for those who do not know, almost all milk sold in stores come from either Pet or Maola or one of their subsidiaries as they are the Coke-Pepsi of milk. Walmart milk in my area at least is Maola milk for $1 less a gallon. A think Food Lion's is as well. Independent groceries are usually a lot cheaper on raw foods like meat and veg but more expensive on soda and frozen prepared foods.

 

[jamesrage]

Could you feed a family of four on 126 dollars a week? the average amount you get from the SNAP program (food Stamps)

don't know about you but i can easily feed a family of four with 126 a week and eat real well

That would be too easy.18 bucks a day is extremely easy to feed four people,especially if its during the school year where your kids are getting free breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday. Hamburger meat is 2-3 bucks a pound.A pack of 8 hotdogs can be bought for a dollar.You can buy a pack of hotdog and hamburger buns for a dollar each. A loaf of bread is a dollar.A pack of craft sliced cheese is 3-4 dollars,so that is 24 sandwiches or burgers.A half pound block of cheese is 2-3 dollars. Generic hamburger helper can be bought for a dollar, while hamburger helper might be a few bucks at most and the same with tuna helper.Canned tuna can be bought for a dollar or less. A 1 pound package of pasta can be bought for a dollar. Spaghetti sauce can be bought for a dollar.Ramen is 4-6 packs for a dollar.A gallon of milk is 3-4 dollars.A box of cereal is a few bucks.3-4 pounds of chicken breasts can be bought for several dollars.Canned veggies is fifty cents to a dollar each.Frozen veggies can be bought for a few bucks for a 1 pound pack if you know where to shop.Fresh veggies can be bought 1-3 dollars a pound. Heck if you buy flour, eggs, sugar, vegetable or olive oil, and various seasonings you can really stretch that money out. If you can buy stuff of sale and or with coupons you can save even more money.

 

[Texmex]

Yes I could. I have a family of 4 and we don't spend that much more than that on food. If you add in things like toilet paper and hygiene stuff into that amount though, it gets questionable unless you cook from scratch or eat cheap most days and splurge on weekends.

If I'm paying for their food, they can eat cheap every meal. And they need to cook at home.

 

[Texmex]

South Carolina. I made it three days ago and it cost me 90 dollars. Nothing organic.

You're saying it cost you $90 to cook one meal for four people? Sorry, but I think this is a lie. Either that or you don't know how to shop or cook!

 

[Fisher]

You're saying it cost you $90 to cook one meal for four people? Sorry, but I think this is a lie. Either that or you don't know how to shop or cook!

I've done it with surf and turf but never something as low drag as spaghetti.

 

[OpportunityCost]

A head of lettuce every other day for a salad before dinner every meal. Add in 2 onions and 2 green peppers for taste and not much cost. Call it 20 a week.

You dont want to buy small portions. Buy a 5lb package of chicken or pork and section them into servings. Beef (not hamburger) will break the budget in nothing flat. Thats another 15$ to 18$.

3 to 4 packs of steamed vegetables---whatever the kids actually like---corn, peas, carrots, brocolli, call it another 20$ a week. You can go fresh on green beans.

Mix it up with some pastas, and they are cheap---$2.00 a box, 3 or 4 a week is gonna run another 10 to 12 if you buy whole grain wheat.

1/2 gallon of ice cream, maybe some snack cakes as a 2 3 time a week desert or treat or popsicles call it 5$.

You run into trouble if you have to fix every meal though.
Breakfast is thankfully cheap but lunch is about as bad as dinner. Soup and sandwiches works but you are looking at 30$ a week easily.

This is what happens when you have to spend your own money on food and know exactly where every penny is going.

 

[Stewart]

What do you call hamburger beef? Like ground?

 

[trfjr]

Which is why I said it depends on where you live. In Boston it is a little bit more, when I go visit friends in Iowa it is a little less because meat is cheaper out there. I've also found you have to cater to where you live. So when I was in college up north we made a lot of soups because soup was cheap and gave us more money on the important things, alcohol. When I lived in DC some stores we visited had not so good fruits and veggies so it pushed us towards more premade things. For law school we had to do some poverty simulation through a local church where we acted like a family in poverty. In my family imparticular there were five of us, 125 dollars we got always ended us 5 dollars short.

the 125 amount is the average. states with a higher cost of living get more states with a lower cost of living get a little less

 

[274ina]

Can you eat $50 a weeek? NO. What singles get.

Can you get to (gas) the grocery 15 miles away on SNAP? NO

Can you get a buss pass with SNAP? NO

Can you repair your car with SNAP? NO

Can you even change your OIL with SNAP? NO.....

In the YEARS I was on it, I got gas money donated, got the Food bank food, and used SNAP ONLY TO FILL IN the missing items
from the food bank. THAT is how you can make it.

you have NO CLUE WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.

How do you wipe your ass with SNAP? You DONT

How do you brush your teeth with SNAP? WRONG AGIAN

How do you replace your old coths with SNAP? OPPS!

How do you wash with SANP? Opps no soap for you!@!!!

How do you wash your old and tatered closths with SNAP? SCREW YOU AGAIN! No soap at all!

Here is my challenge. Buy ONE TOOTH BRUSH with SNAP.................LMAO this board is full of people CLUELESS to the truth.

 

[beerftw]

Could you feed a family of four on 126 dollars a week? the average amount you get from the SNAP program (food Stamps)

don't know about you but i can easily feed a family of four with 126 a week and eat real well

depends heavily on where you live,like for example in texas that buys alot,due to texas being so close to the beef farms,southern farms,and midwest corn farms,alot is saved from lower transportation costs.

but you can take a state like california,which has more farms than most states,but doesnt have a diverse farming scene,they have to have their food shipped in from all over the country,just shipping alone would vastly increase food pricing,not including any additional taxes added by the state for sales plus inceased cost of business operation adding to the overall cost as well.

 

[Andalublue]

Nope. Vegetables are just expensive here. Just an onion, few carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, sausage, hamburger and then the canned tomato stuff. Plus then the salad, lettuce, tomato, carrot, spinach, cucumber.

I thought you lived in Boston. I cannot believe you could spend $100 on "an onion, few carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, sausage, hamburger" and "lettuce, tomato, carrot, spinach, cucumber" for one meal even if it were for 8 people.

 

[CanadaJohn]

Could you feed a family of four on 126 dollars a week? the average amount you get from the SNAP program (food Stamps)

don't know about you but i can easily feed a family of four with 126 a week and eat real well

Food in Canada is generally more expensive than in the US, particularly fruit and vegetables out of season, but even in Canada $126/week would be plenty to feed a family of four well provided you're not feeding your family packaged meals, junk food, take-out, etc. Learn how to cook, how to make meals in advance that you can heat-up during the week, and supplement them with other healthy choices and it shouldn't be a problem. As they say, stick to the outer aisles in the grocery store if you want to eat well within a budget.

That said, nobody with any self-respect would choose to live on a budget established by the state - I know I never would.

 

[Andalublue]

I've no idea whether $126 is enough to feed a whole family for a week. For a start it will depend on a lot of local price issues and secondly, it will depend on whether anyone in the family has any dietary health issues.


Here that would amount to €94 a week. It would be tough but do-able to feed 4 for that. We're kind of lucky here that there's a lot of free food growing all around us that anyone can go out and collect, such as chard, rocket, campion, borage, fennel and all the herbs you could need from mint to thyme, oregano, bay leaves and basil. From August until around Christmas there's a never-ending supply of cheap fruit and veg.


Most people here tend to share out their excess amongst their neighbours. I often have a bag of something tied to the door handle when I get home. I never really know who it's from or what it might contain, but it's always welcome. That's village life for you.


There's also vast amount of windfall collecting and gleaning to do. My closest neighbour has 2 tomato fields and when the wholesale price of his crop drops to below where it makes sense to pick for sale, he lets me help myself to what's left. I spend a couple of weeks in late-Autumn making passata and ragú and pisto for the freezer.


What would be difficult is meat and fish, both of which are quite expensive. Chicken here costs around €5/kg ($3/lb), Beef is around $5.50/lb, Pork $2/lb. The best way to survive on food stamp money here would be to go veggie. All the good stuff like pulses, rice and salad veg are cheap, cheap. Nuts are expensive in the shops, so you use them sparingly when they are out of season. Almonds, walnuts and chestnuts are major crops here, so from October to March there's an inexhaustible supply provided you have the time and inclination to go collecting windfall... but you'd be unemployed to receive food stamps, right?


I live on around $10,000 a year out of choice in order to be able to live in a beautiful, tranquil place. I know it's not a choice for everyone and that living in the city is an expensive but unavoidable lifestyle for many, if not most people, but if you have a lot of time on your hands, which most unemployed people do, there are a gazillion ways to help feed your family for less.

Keep the TV turned off and the brain switched on.

 

[Andalublue]

Food in Canada is generally more expensive than in the US, particularly fruit and vegetables out of season,

So, don't do that. Eat seasonally: roots, pulses and brassicas in winter, salads in summer. Easy!

but even in Canada $126/week would be plenty to feed a family of four well provided you're not feeding your family packaged meals, junk food, take-out, etc.

Again, don't do it.

Learn how to cook, how to make meals in advance that you can heat-up during the week, and supplement them with other healthy choices and it shouldn't be a problem.

Excellent advice.

As they say, stick to the outer aisles in the grocery store if you want to eat well within a budget.

Better still, find a market or a pick-your-own outlet and see whether there's a food cooperative in your area. I'm a member of one and buying in bulk things like rice, lentils, chickpeas, flour etc brings the price waaay down.

That said, nobody with any self-respect would choose to live on a budget established by the state - I know I never would.

You think most people do this by choice? They are the exception not the rule.

 

[DDD]

no just 126. it is what you get on average if you have a family of four with no reported income

it comes out to be 6 dollars a meal

6 dollars a meal per person? If you have a place to stay and energy, water, hygiene, phone, and internet covered here, then with that much you could be dinning at restaurants for the best stuff here. Think: fish, beef, rumstakes, pasta, spaghetti (with all sauces), etc. Not to mention cheaper options for breakfast such as eggs, toasts, etc.

 

[Occam's Razor]

SNAP is separate from food stamps. It can only be used to by produce and grains/cereals. With foodstamps you can buy twinkies and Doritos until you're in a type 2 diabetic coma...

 

[Baralis]

Could you feed a family of four on 126 dollars a week? the average amount you get from the SNAP program (food Stamps)

don't know about you but i can easily feed a family of four with 126 a week and eat real well

Absolutely!

A typical meal cost me around $2.50-3.00 and Im not as frugal as I could be. The key is to be selective and also not to buy pre-made goods. Things that are pretty cheap per serving are things like oatmeal, potatoes, most frozen veggies, dried beans and whole chickens.
When you purchase convenience the price rises quickly. Take a 1Lbs box of chicken nuggets or chicken strips, here they cost about $5 but with that same $5 you can purchase a whole 4-5lbs chicken. A whole chicken may require more effort but it is a lot cheaper. The same rule applies to almost all foods the problem with most people is they expect the convenience therefor spend a lot more.

 

[Goshin]

Could you feed a family of four on 126 dollars a week? the average amount you get from the SNAP program (food Stamps)

don't know about you but i can easily feed a family of four with 126 a week and eat real well

I already feed me and a teenage boy on considerably less, so yeah.

 

[Drake McHugh]

The thing is,SNAP was not meant to pay the whole grocery bill.