It is very difficult to feed a family of four (4) on a food stamp budget specially two active teenagers. Our family’s weekly food stamp budget was $124. It was also very hard to eat what we generally eat with that amount of money. We generally spend $125 to $160 a week on groceries but we are just replenishing the pantry and refrigerator not having to buy everything we need. It was very difficult to stay in the budget. I started the week like every week, I made a list of groceries and clipped some coupons and checked the weekly supermarket ads. As I put my list together I quickly realized that the trip to the grocery store would be a challenge. Generally in my home we buy three types milk, and two types of bread because we each have different things we prefer. I knew that we would not be able to buy different things on this budget. …show more content…
I went to buy two packs of strawberries, it is what I usually buy and realized I could only buy one. Strawberries are $3.99 a pack this time of year. I usually buy the wash packaged salads and mix greens I could not buy those either it was cheaper to buy the whole head of lettuce. I left the produce section with a lot less things than usual. Shopping was a huge challenge but I bought groceries that I could use to make recipes.
Breakfast was very limited I couldn’t eat my normal greek yogurt and fruit. We all started the day with bread which I bought for a $1.00 a bag or cereal. Let’s just say my husband was not happy with breakfast he is an eggs and bacon kind of guy. What I choose to do was make a lot of food for dinner. We packed the left overs for lunch the next day. A lot of the meals involved rice or pasta. Both rice and pasta are filling and inexpensive. The budget did not allow for meat every day so some days it was just pasta with sauce and
By being constrained to only a certain amount of money made me more cautious about the quantity of products that I was buying and what brand the products were. By budgeting it made me realize that going to big name grocery stores isn’t always the most ideal option, such as Walmart and Meijer tend to be more expensive where Family Fare and Aldi’s are fairly more on the cheaper side when it comes down to prices. I realized that shopping at Family Fare and Aldi’s is more convenient for people to shop at when trying to save money and way more affordable while on a budget. While being constrained it made me find out how much cheaper the off brand products are rather than the name brand ones, which is surprisingly different when the product is basically
Food Stamp is a government-funded program in the United States. This is a program that helps people buy food for their families; in other words, it is a very important program to families living in poverty. It is the nation’s most important program in the fight against hunger. This program was developed in the 1960’s; it is made to improve the nutrition level and food purchasing power of people with low-income. This program is offered to people who cannot afford to buy groceries for their families, regardless of age, color, sex or religion. Food Stamps can only be used to buy food items not hygiene or household items, and it’s offered only on a monthly basis.
With more and more people becoming unemployed and applying for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), it is imperative that we understand the benefits as well as problems this causes. Even while researching this topic and talking to some of my family and friends about it, it surprised me the amount of those who do not understand food stamps. Coming from the SNAP website, “Food stamps offer nutritional assistance to millions of eligible low-income individuals and families and provides economic benefits to communities” (United States). This program helps millions of people per year and gives upwards of $75 billion and rising. With the prices of food increasing due to inflation, beneficiaries are receiving around $400 at most per month. Using the Electronic benefit transfer systems (EBT), beneficiaries can buy goods from a grocery store using a credit-card like transaction, which takes the money off of their card. The benefits are received monthly on a specific date and vary in amounts from person to person. One family may receive $300 per month because they have three kids and need the extra money, while another may receive $100 or less depending on financial status. The application process includes completing and filing an application form, being interviewed, and verifying facts crucial to determining eligibility. In the past, these applications did not require a drug screening to get benefits, but more and more states are adopting this. There are many drawbacks to SNAP as well such as taking money from working people’s paychecks every week and people abusing the system. Talking about a very opinionated subject, we must remove bias and answer whether or not the Food Stamp system should be limited.
People should be able to purchase junk food with food stamps. Others might assume that they have no money so why waste it on junk food? Food stamps help numerous people if they struggle with food at home, or don’t earn enough salary. Moreover, why waste it on junk food?
My name is Monica Pope; I am 20 years old and I am a sophomore at Texas State University and I am apart of the SNAP program otherwise known as Food Stamps. According to the USDA “SNAP offers nutrition assistance to millions of eligible, low income individuals and families and provides benefits to communities” (2015). I get a set amount of money for food every month. Right now, I receive $200 every month and I have to make the food that I buy last me the entire month. I have truly learned that I only get what need for that month and nothing more. (Question 1)
Many of the people living in food deserts are people with low income. These low-income families often turn to the junk food provided at the convenience stores and fast food restaurants because it is all they can afford. Socio-economic status is a defining characteristic of food deserts. Food deserts are most commonly found in areas dominated by minorities and low-income families. Studies show that wealthy areas have about triple the amount of supermarkets as poor urban areas do. In addition to this, predominantly white communities have about 4 times as many grocery stores as predominantly black ones do. Studies also show that grocery stores in African-American neighborhoods are usually smaller and have less option when it comes to the selection of foods.
The federal Food Stamp Program is an assisted nutrition program that helps millions of eligible, low-income individuals and families (United States Department of Agriculture). This program gives its recipients extra money each month to try to help them have better food security. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is also the largest program in the federal safety net (United States Department of Agriculture). In Ohio’s Appalachian counties, there are 515,300 recipients which is 25.4% of the population (Job and Family Services). The Supplemental Nutrition Program is a good program except for one problem that can be fixed relatively fast and one problem that it will take a little time to solve. The problem that can be fixed right away is that the Supplemental Nutrition Program can be abused by the recipients buying junk food instead of healthy food. The problem that will take some time to fix is that some recipients make unhealthy food choices because they do not have access to a local supermarket. In order to fix these two problems the Food Stamp Program needs to better regulate what can be bought with the Food Stamp card and items in convenient stores need to be better stocked in order to keep accepting Food Stamp cards.
What does S.N.A.P stand for? SNAP is an acronym for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps. This program started over eighty years ago. Through several congressional acts we have a fully functioning program that assist low income families across the United States, with each state having its own version of the program. There are a wide variety of people that can apply for this program including struggling college students. Through the years this program has been abused.
The United States Department of Agriculture defines food unsecurity as the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire such food, is limited or uncertain for a household. Food insecurity also does not always mean that the household has nothing to eat. More simply stated it is the struggle to provide nutritional food for ones family and/or self. The people that suffer from food insecurity are not all living below the poverty line. In 2012 49.0 million people were considered food insecure in the United States of those 46.5 million were in poverty (Hunger & Poverty Statistics, 2012). For some individual’s food insecurity is only a temporary situation for others it maybe for extended period. Food insecurity due temporary situation such as unemployment, divorce, major medical or illness can be become more long term. The vast majority of these are families with children.
According to the American Psychological Association, “In 2010, the poverty threshold, or poverty line, was 22,314 dollars for a family of four” (2). People living in poverty may be forced to depend on public assistance programs such as food stamps, or more formally known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. On the exterior, this program seems to benefit hungry families, but in all actually it is actually facilitating their obesity. The formerly mentioned family of four would be qualified to receive a maximum of 688 dollars a month in food stamps (North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services). That equates to just over 170 dollars a week or 40 dollars per family member. A paltry amount such as this forces families to make difficult decisions regarding the amount and type of food they provide their family.
I would plan my meals out for the day and place them in the system and see what my outcome would be before I cook or prepare them from me and my son. I also tied to bake a lot of my foods and not fry them. I eliminated a lot of salts and sodium from my diet as will. The food tracker counts everything! I made to sure not to substitute to many to snacks to replace my craving of bread. Me and my son came up with fun things to eat like the old school peanut butter and celery with raisins for snacks. On the third day we actually ate nothing but veggies for dinner like asparagus, corn, and sliced Irish potatoes. The meal was very different but for my son to like it I was shocked. I even
Watkins, R., (2000). Recipes and Tips for Healthy, Thrifty Meals. 1st ed. : United States
You know I never thought of grocery shopping as being a challenge or a skill until I had a house of my own and a family to care for. Today's grocery shopping trips in the Lambert household include my three children ages seven, four, and two tagging along. Wanting anything and everything. I use to enjoy grocery shopping and now it takes so much planning, memorization, and legit skill to get in and out within my set budget, and with getting everything on my list. After doing this for about seven to eight years with children I would consider myself a pro at grocery shopping!
I kept a “food diary,” as people call it, but also took pictures of everything I ate so that I would also be aware of my portion sizes.
The first strategy that I can use in order to limit the amount of trans fats, processed sugar, and cheese that I eat is to cut back the less nutritious foods that are found around my apartment. Now, throwing out every item of unhealthy food isn’t the way to go because, lets face it, we all need to splurge sometimes. On the contrary, I can cut my options back. By doing this, it will help to limit the temptations that I have in my everyday life. Another strategy that I can use is to control my portion sizes. My version of portioning has always been the method of putting more of the things that taste better and less of the things that don’t taste as good on my plate. I need to start balancing out my plate by their nutritious values instead of their “yummy” value. Don’t get me wrong, nutritious foods are yummy too, but they aren’t the same type of yummy. Planning what I am going to eat ahead of time is another way to stick to my goal. This will make it easier to stick to a more nutritious diet. There are so many new substitutions in cooking now. Trying new things has never been one of my strong suits, in fact, it kind of scares me, but by broadening my options and trying these substitutions it will create a healthier way to enjoy some of my favorite foods. The options to eating healthier are endless, but these are just a few of the possible strategies that I may use in order to complete to my goal and