Congresswoman Barbara Lee Joins the Food Stamp Challenge

My name is Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and I represent California's Ninth Congressional District, and today I began the Food Stamp Challenge.  Over the next seven days, I will live on $21 worth of food, the average weekly benefit for a food stamp recipient.

In my district, there are approximately 65,000 people enrolled in the food stamp program, which is a lot of people, but less than half of all who are eligible.  Nationally, the program helps more than 26 million low-income people purchase food for themselves and their families.  It's designed as a safety net to help ensure people have access to food during difficult times, and the majority of people leave the program within nine months.

There are several things participants in the challenge hope to achieve.  We want to raise the visibility of hunger in the United States.  There are approximately 35 million people in our country for whom food insecurity is a daily reality.  We want to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by low income people in obtaining a healthy diet (I will describe some of my experiences with this at the supermarket today below).  Finally, we want to build support for improving benefits and access to the food stamp program, which is due to be reauthorized this year as part of the Farm Bill.

Today, I went to the store to buy groceries, and this is what I ended up buying:
2 cans of beans
1 can of peas
1 box of crackers
1 bag of brown rice
1 package of chicken thighs
1 package of tortillas
1 loaf of wheat bread
1 box of grits
2 bananas
Total: $13.37

I was struck by how hard it is to eat in a healthy manner on a tight budget. I had to put the apples back because they were too expensive.  Whole wheat tortillas were twice as expensive as flour.  I got grits instead of oatmeal, and I could not afford to get some of the things I eat every day, like nuts, juice or coffee (even instant coffee was $4 per container!).

My gameplan for today was to skip breakfast and go to McDonalds for lunch, where I got a McChicken sandwich for $1.10 and picked up some free condiments.

So far, so good, although I am already ready for a snack.  I will continue to update you on my progress.

Comments

[DeReece Arvjaune]

I read with a chuckle Madam Lee's challenge. Twenty One Dollars a week is weak and needs to be raised. However- when in a pinch, one gets creative. There were times when I've made $ 25 last two weeks between pay periods. My list is below and came to $20.17. This list contains things to conform to 3 meals a day. I usually don't eat three meals a day so my real list would be a little different- containing a couple of treats. This was done at Safeway.com. If I were to actually visit my local store, I could do even better. This list would contain at least one staple at a time like butter, flour, oil, etc... not buying them each week.

Smart Balance Light Spread - 2-8 Oz $ 1.66
Safeway Bag Thin Spaghetti - 16 Oz $ .81
Prego Spaghetti Sauce Onion And Garlic - 26 Oz $ 1.75
3.50 LB Butchers Cut Chicken Wing Extreme Value $ 6.97
Ovenjoy Bread Wheat Roundtop - 16 Oz $ . 99
Apples Red Delicious Prepacked - 3 Lb $ 2.50
Idaho Potatoes Prepacked - 5 Lb $ 2.99
Nissan Chicken Flavored Family Pack Cup Noodles - 6-2.25 Oz $ 2.50

Total $20.17

[Claire Kurschner]

I admire you for taking this on! Here are some tips from an experienced frugal shopper:
Instead of the canned beans, you could have gotten a bag of dry beans for much less. They're easy to cook in a slow cooker. Also, you could have gotten some leafy greens like kale and some carrots. Very cheap and very good for you. I would have chosen rolled oats instead of grits for the extra fiber.

[herbert browne]

This might be an opportunity to kick that coffe habit, & replace it with tea- bulk green tea- so that you can stave off the caffeine withdrawal AND pick up some antioxidants. Make it just like "cowboy coffee"- ie no bags, no filter, just throw it in a teapot or a pan of boiled water, stir it in, (it will sink) & pour off a cup a couple of minutes later (and save what you don't drink to reheat).
chow ^..^

[KIM JOHNSON]

I know I mentioned before that, having had this experience I can see how people forced to eat on such a budget could develop health problems, but I am certain that the stress of worrying about how to afford to eat is part of it. I have no problem imagining that people on food stamps could get high blood pressure just worrying about how to budget their food expenses.

CONGRESSWOMAN LEE: CONGRATS FOR GETTING THRU THIS EVENT AND MOSTLY FOR THE "LIVING EXPERIENCE ITSELF". MANY FOLKS DEAL THIS VERY ORDEAL DAILY! TELL ME, HOW CAN WE SPEND BILLIONS OF $$ ON AN INVASION OF ANOTHER COUNTRY WHILE TAX PAYING CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY GO HUNGRY, SUFFER IN SILENCE, AND SCRATCH AND CRAWL FOR FOOD, A LIVING, FIGHT RACISM IN THE WORKPLACE...ALL WHILE PAYING EQUAL TAXES IN A COUNTRY AS RICH AS OURS. HOW DOES AMERICA JUSTIFY TREATING "UNEQUALS" EQUALLY, HUH?

FED UP IN RICMOND, CA.

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