For enveryone doing the... "Is it really that hard" Challenge.

[Flytyer24]

Alright,

Well, I was mulling this over in my head. I want to know more about this.

I am from the stance that ole funky charlie daniels stated.

'Cos I ain't askin' nobody for nothin',
If I can't get it on my own.


That being said I come from a state where more people collect welfare than pay taxes. I know sounds crazy but true. So I said where do they get this $35. (maybe I missed a lot of the convos).

So the SNAP program as it is called developed four different cost level nutrition guides. Going from thrifty, low, moderate, and liberal. These were the sample groups seeing what people ate at all these levels of income.

They then put out guides to eating healthy on a budget. But they are short-sighted. For instance, a serving of apple may only be 23 cents but you don't just buy 1 serving of apple. I believe that having more than one person on this plan would be a greater benefit. I say this because you have a greater flexibilty in spending. I can't buy a 1/4th of a box of spaghetti. But one box will feed 4 people. So I would have to choose to eat spaghetti 4 times that week... Just an example.

Below are a few of the links on the usda websites. They have average food costs per month since 1994. THe averages are based on June that is where the minimun benefits comes from. There are also different guides and suggested menus. These are also variable in quality. Overall some interesting tid-bits on what you guys are attempting.


http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodPlansCostofFood.htm

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodCost-Home.htm

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/healthy-eating-on-budget.html

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings/

Explore the links on these pages they might help

 

[ORChick]

I'm not quite sure what your question is. Are you wondering where we got the $35 amount from? Or what the "rules" are for our little exercise?
Thanks for the links. I'm going to look at them now.

 

[moolie]

Alright,

Well, I was mulling this over in my head. I want to know more about this.

I am from the stance that ole funky charlie daniels stated.

'Cos I ain't askin' nobody for nothin',
If I can't get it on my own.


That being said I come from a state where more people collect welfare than pay taxes. I know sounds crazy but true. So I said where do they get this $35. (maybe I missed a lot of the convos).

I believe the number was an average of the amounts members here are aware of.

I live in Canada and the system is totally different, we don't have food stamps/SNAP or anything like. We have Social Assistance and Welfare programs, which basically don't kick in unless you have absolutely nothing (no money in the bank, don't own a home etc.) and can prove you are looking for work OR you are in post-secondary ed/have a young child at home to care for and can't get low-income-subsidized daycare.

I believe that having more than one person on this plan would be a greater benefit. I say this because you have a greater flexibilty in spending. I can't buy a 1/4th of a box of spaghetti. But one box will feed 4 people. So I would have to choose to eat spaghetti 4 times that week... Just an example.

This is absolutely true, I'm doing the challenge for my family for 4 (two parents, two teens) and have no problem at all with the budget. In fact, our menu plan for next month will have quite the surplus because during the first month of plans we made, we included the cost of kitchen basics like condiments, spices, and baking ingredients. Next month we won't need to include those costs, other than what we've used up, and we'll be doing well enough to pick up some bulk items.

But for a single person, $35/week is a serious exercise in budgeting. Especially if you aren't starting with those kitchen staples.

That said, I do believe it can be done, and without the monotony of spaghetti (or ramen, or macaroni & cheese etc.) four times a week. But it does take planning, and cooking/baking from scratch. Thinking about meals differently.

 

[Flytyer24]

I'm not quite sure what your question is. Are you wondering where we got the $35 amount from? Or what the "rules" are for our little exercise?
Thanks for the links. I'm going to look at them now.

I didn't have a question. I was wondering where 'THEY' got the $35 from, so I found out. I was looking at my food budgets. All of you guys doing the challenge got me thinking. Am I being thrifty?

I did this post to give people doing the challenge more information. Maybe no one cares about understanding more about the origions of this topic. Just thought I would share what I found.

 

[ORChick]

I'm not quite sure what your question is. Are you wondering where we got the $35 amount from? Or what the "rules" are for our little exercise?
Thanks for the links. I'm going to look at them now.

I didn't have a question. I was wondering where 'THEY' got the $35 from, so I found out. I was looking at my food budgets. All of you guys doing the challenge got me thinking. Am I being thrifty?

I did this post to give people doing the challenge more information. Maybe no one cares about understanding more about the origions of this topic. Just thought I would share what I found.

Oh, I see now. And thanks again for the links; they were very informative.

You, and Moolie, are perfectly right about the more people on the plan the easier it is. $35/week for one would certainly be harder than $70/week for two, because, as you say, one doesn't buy half an apple or 1/4 spaghetti package. The first week of this challenge for me showed how hard it is to get a varied quantity of food when starting from minimum (just condiments and spices {in theory}); in fact, I "ran out" of veggies before the end of the week. But, because I had bought certain things "in bulk" during the first week - 5# of flour instead of the 3 cups I needed for a loaf of bread, for example - I started the second week with a certain surplus, and was able to fill out a more well rounded menu plan with money left over. Next week I could even start putting a few things on the pantry shelf for the time when my "welfare" runs out

 

[Denim Deb]

I got the $35 from the radio. There was something on the radio about how hard it is to eat on that amount. And I know that when I cook (not my hubby), I eat on well less than that.

 

[beerman]

I have 6 people in my family and we spend about $50 a week on food and we always have extra. We don't dine on steaks and lobster but we do OK.

 

[Flytyer24]

I got the $35 from the radio. There was something on the radio about how hard it is to eat on that amount. And I know that when I cook (not my hubby), I eat on well less than that.

I meant the government. The Minimum allotment is right around there. It is based of the price of food. Which is based of the thrifty food plan. To me it is more important that I eat a good variety of foods than to stick to a rigid budget. That's not saying I don't bargain buy. But good for you guys on the challenge...

 

[ORChick]

I got the $35 from the radio. There was something on the radio about how hard it is to eat on that amount. And I know that when I cook (not my hubby), I eat on well less than that.

I meant the government. The Minimum allotment is right around there. It is based of the price of food. Which is based of the thrifty food plan. To me it is more important that I eat a good variety of foods than to stick to a rigid budget. That's not saying I don't bargain buy. But good for you guys on the challenge...

I think that most of us on this forum feel the same way; I know I do. That is actually part of the challenge for me, to see if that can be accomplished on $35/week. It seems to be an article of faith among many people (not here on SS) that collecting food stamps is tantamount to being required to live on junk food, and starvation rations. As I enter the 3rd week of my challenge I am seeing that this is not at all the case.

 

[moolie]

When I checked your links the other day, one of them led me to a "how much should your family be spending on food per week" page--for my family (two adults, two teens) it said that it wasn't possible to feed us well/properly on anything less than $195/week.

But we do it every week, year round--and we eat quality food: pastured beef, pork, and chicken along with organic veggies & fruits, grains & legumes, local cheese, local free run eggs, and good butter and milk.

The real secret is in knowing how to shop/look for deals/buy in bulk, how to cook rather than buying pre-made or packaged convenience foods, and to not eat out all the time.

We don't drink pop/soda except when we eat out, and even then I don't drink it although my kids and hubs do--I order a lemonade or an iced tea. We each have 4 oz of real (usually organic apple) fruit juice with breakfast, water or milk the rest of the day (hubs drinks coffee on the weekends and at work, the kids and I will have an occasional cup of tea). I find that pop/soda and drinks like Kool-Aid get mentioned here a lot--neither hubs nor I were brought up drinking those things, so we just don't and thus our kids don't. It's just a treat, when we go out.

We do have a family weakness for potato chips (Sunday family movie night) but we try to make our own popcorn rather than cave in to that craving because it's not healthy. We still buy potato chips, but maybe a couple times a month rather than every Sunday night. Junk food is pricey, and this month we've chosen to leave it out of the budget--but I can see it coming back in next month just because we haven't had potato chips for a while now.

And I'm amazed every winter at how far our summer canning goes, especially this past year when we started a real garden again for the first time since moving into this house (it was our 3rd summer). Previous to this past summer we had only grown veggies in large pots on our deck, as we got used to our new home and yard routine. We always stock up at the farmer's market throughout the summer as things come into season, making jams & pickles, canning fruit and tomatoes etc. and it was nice to supplement this more from our own garden. Seeds are cheap--and entire row of lettuce for the cost of one head at the grocery store etc., most soil will grow something, and the Victory Gardens of WWI and WWII should be ample proof that it doesn't take much land to grow at least some supplemental food for a family--even if you need to get creative with a small front yard or pots/planters on the deck. Canning jars do have a cost, but this can be mitigated as so many on this forum have shown by finding cheap and free jars from so many sources (most of mine came from freecycle and kijiji with a few from various thrift stores, there is also Craigslist, and several on here have found jars in unlikely places like the dump.)

A limited budget should be a ticket to learning better problem-solving and planning techniques, to creativity and growth, not despair and fast food