Just guess how much money our family of four would have available to spend on food if we were getting food stamp benefits (which by the way has been renamed to SNAP)? $167/week. Yep, that is $42 more a week than what we are currently spending during this little 100 Days of Real Food on a Budget project. In all fairness we are also allowing ourselves to spend $20/week on eating out. But, even if we included that additional money (which we’ve barely used so far) it would still mean we fall $22 short of a family on food stamps. Must be nice…an extra 20 bucks or more a week would feel like a lot of money right now!
So back to what I’ve been buying on this super tight budget… As I mentioned the other day I got some items from Trader Joe’s, but I was not able to buy everything on my list. So I went to Earth Fare yesterday and tried to spend the least amount of money possible, which turned out to be $12.33. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. And here is what I got…
- 0.79 lbs dried garbanzo beans $1.73
- Heavy cream $2.99
- Bananas $0.70
- Fruit cup honeydew melon $1.58
- Head of garlic $0.50
- Mango $1.25
- Potatoes $3.09
- Shallot $0.25
- 3 lb Bag of apples – FREE!! Thanks to an Earth Fare coupon!
Here are the things I wanted to buy, but didn’t…
- Soy sauce – We are just low…not out completely so I will wait another week.
- Unsweetened coconut – We love having this in our granola recipe, but we can still eat it without the coconut so it had to be skipped.
- Frozen berries – I’ve unfortunately gone from fresh berries in my granola to mediocre frozen berries to now eating whatever fruit we have on hand (apples, bananas) in the morning.
- Tahini – Um, how could I have never noticed that this cost more than $7 a jar! Luckily, I could wait on this one too.
We just keep making sacrifices on this budget and some of them are of course a bigger deal than others. For example I can totally live without the coconut in my granola…but I still really miss my berries in the morning! One new thing I just noticed (since I now am documenting my shopping so nicely!) is that my husband asked me to buy coffee beans at Trader Joe’s earlier this week, and I had just bought him a ($9) bag when we first started this budget, which was only a few weeks ago. So I told him if we are going to limit everyone else’s milk consumption to save money he is definitely going to have to cut back on coffee. I don’t drink coffee myself (only a mocha with 1 small shot of espresso), and he didn’t used to drink coffee either up until a year or two ago. If he doesn’t start drinking less he might have to give it up all together…just like the old days!
There’s been a lot of discussion around here about the impending candy holiday that is coming up this weekend. I of course want my kids to participate in all of the Halloween fun, but I am trying not to let the junk overwhelm me along the way. Kids obviously get excited about trick-or-treating (which I wholeheartedly accept), but what about all of the other treats, school parties, and spider crafts made out of Oreos that lead up to the big event? I honestly don’t know what to do with all of the stuff they are bringing home, and that is if they even bring it home from school before they eat it. One of the few things I do feel like I have under my control is the night of trick-or-treating. We are absolutely going to let our girls trick-or-treat their little hearts out, it is just what we are going to do with all of the candy that will be different this year. After hearing this advice from several parents we’ve decided to let them keep 5 pieces of candy (of their choice!) and then we will “buy” the rest of the candy from them. Our kids are still little so we don’t expect them to get a ton. So we are thinking we will give them either one nickel or one dime per piece (oh, I need to go to the bank!), which they can then use to buy a toy with from the store. I have to say that my girls, who have both been given very limited candy over the last few months, are pretty darn excited about getting FIVE whole pieces of candy AND a new toy of their choice! I am not sure how many years this will work out for us so nicely, but at least for this Halloween we have a plan.
PS – For all those located in the Charlotte area…Earth Fare is offering a $5 off coupon (with $25 purchase) for all 100 Days readers! Here is the deal: 1. The offer is good at the Ballantyne and SouthPark locations, 2. Must pick up coupon before Nov. 10, 3. To get coupon you need to mention that you read this post: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/10/15/budget-day-12-a-real-happy-meal/ Yay! I can’t wait to get $5 off myself 
I am really enjoying your blog. Gives me good ideas for trying new things. My husband and I are in our 70′s but it’s nice to think about eating ‘real food’ as we did when we were children!
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I am wondering why you don’t grind your own wheat and make your own ww bread? It’s easy, and you’d certainly know what was in it. I’ve been doing this for years. (I do buy store bread also)
Keep it up.
I’m a local mom in Matthews and I’ll second what Sue wrote about making your own bread. I buy bulk wheat berries and use my kitchenaid mixer (with grinding attachment) for griding the wheat, my breadmaker for mixing the dough (bought at a thrift store) and then I rise the bread and bake in my oven. The ingredients are homeground wheat, water, honey, salt, oil, and yeast and there’s nothing in the world that tastes as a good as homemade warm bread with butter on it. The startup costs of buying the bulk wheat can add up, but once you have the supplies and equipment it’s so easy and so healthy. Thanks for your blog. I just stumbled on it recently. We work on a tight budget for my family of 5 and I love seeing what new meal ideas you come up with.
I am considering giving this a shot, but I do have one question…can you easily buy organic wheat berries? And where do you buy them? I know they sell them at Earthfare, but I have not looked at the options/pricing in detail yet. Thanks so much for your comment!
I am very tempted to try grinding my own wheat and making bread (and other things) with it. I just might add those tools to my Christmas list this year if I think I can find the time to use them!
Due to food allergies, we have given our son $.10/ candy at Halloween since age 3.
He’s 8 and it still works got him.
We give him $.25/ treat that comes home from school. He loves Valentine’s Day.
I absolutely love to know that this can work long term!!
I love that idea for Halloween! Great way to have something more memorable than a belly ache at the end of the holiday
Also that’s really awesome of Earth Fare to offer a coupon to your readers!
Wow – I didn’t know that’s how much people got on food stamps – that seems like a lot! This will be my first week that we came under our budget for food ($100).
Good for you! I cannot imagine coming under budget!
Food stamps are based on your household income. The more you have in Social Security or Disability, etc, the less SNAP you get. Neighbor gets about a grand on her SS but only gets 55.00 a month for food stamps. In order to qualify for that high amount of SNAP you would have to have little or no ‘income’.
That is exactly what I was basing it on…the amount you would get if you basically had no income to contribute to the calculations. Even if you did have some income they still assume you would use 30% of your income + what they give you to end up with the same amount of money for food.
Sally is correct. In order to qualify for that high amount in food stamps, your family income would have to be practically nothing. We were in that situation when my husband was out of work – and while I will be forever grateful that I was able to feed my family – the stress of not knowing how anything else (electric, gas for the car, etc) would be paid was unbelievable! We are still on a tight budget & trying to eat as much real food as possible makes it even more challenging – as you are learning.
As I mentioned in my response to Sally I was basing this estimation on the amount you would get if you basically had no income. Although, even if you did have some income the assistance program still assumes you would use 30% of your income + what they give you to end up spending the same amount of money on food (even if that is not what you chose to do with your portion of the income). And I couldn’t agree more that it would be an extremely stressful situation especially when it comes to other bills. My husband and I have each been laid off throughout our careers as well and it is always a scary thing!
I just saw the Earth Fare apples coupon and thought of sending it to you (thanks to couponqueeny.com e-mail)…but I see you already got it:) However, I noticed that you bought Organic Valley heavy cream and wanted to recommend their website coupons to you….they have a $1.00 off coupon on the heavy cream, and several other coupons you may be interested in for future purchases: http://www.organicvalley.coop/coupons/
Basically, I am signed up for coupons/e-newsletters to all the brands I normally purchase anyway…Organic Valley, Stonyfield, Organic Girl, Earthbound Farm Organic, etc….I’ve gotten some great deals including free product coupons:) I used to never use coupons, and now I don’t shop without them. Why pay more when you don’t have to right?
I could definitely be better about using other coupons…thank you for the reminder!!
I first off want to say that I have been following your blog and really enjoy it. Second, I wanted to mention another idea to do with your girls with the halloween candy. I am doing this for the first time with my 3 year old daughter this year. I do not like her to have any food dyes at all so we are sending all her candy with dyes to the soldiers over seas. Here is just one link of where you can send it http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=188&cntnt01returnid=15 I have been talking to her for about a month now about this and telling her what the soldiers do for us and that this would make there day a little brighter. Just an idea and you can keep those coins in your bank and give an example of being charitable to your girls.
LOVE this idea!
Thank you for the comment! We still bought the candy from our girls, but we are going to send everything they gave us to the troops as well. Thank you so much for the idea!
Thanks to you and your readers for the coupons! I don’t regularly shop Earthfare, but since I have all these great coupons (apples, $5 off and Organic Valley) I’m going this week. I hope they give you some kick backs for referring your readers!
Re: the food stamp budget. That money covers not just food but must also cover other items you need that can be purchased at the grocery store – formula for babies not nursing and depending on the state, paper towels, shampoo, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc. so your weekly amount is comparable for food only purchases.
I work in a grocery store, a “healthy” one, and I have experience with customers using food stamps. As you stated baby formula is covered, but nothing else that you said is. It is for food, not paper goods or cleaning supplies. This program is abused enough, I see it everyday, so I’m glad other items aren’t covered in N.C.
You are right about what is covered…here is the link with the detail http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/faqs.htm#10
Cheryl – I do believe SNAP covers formula since that is considered to be “food” for the babies, but it does not cover any of the other items you mentioned like paper towels, shampoo, cleaning supplies, etc. Check out this link for more detail: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/faqs.htm#10
You might also find inspiration from this blogger: http://www.foodrenegade.com/eating-real-food-on-a-budget/
I just subscribed…thanks for sharing!
My kids pick one piece of candy each for two nights. Then, we use the rest of the wrapped candy to glue on paper plates for decoration. This “artwork” hangs around the house for a couple of days and then gets tossed. No one’s ever complained! They love it.
This is just a perfect example of how kids can absolutely survive without eating the junk. I often feel our society thinks every child will have a major meltdown if you don’t give them candy!
I am just now hearing of your story and love what you are trying to do. I have been reevaluating my families eating as well. I’ve made lots of changes, but it feels like there is so much to learn! I wanted to second the commenter above who suggested coupons. I have found coupons for organic valley products, horizon organics, and seventh generation. In fact, that same heavy cream you bought at EF above I got last week with a coupon for something like $1 or less. It’s well worth the time to look for coupons! I try to feed my family of 3 as much real food and as organically as possible on $75/ wk. It can be a challenge! Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much for your comment and you are right…I need to try harder with coupons! I hate to hear that I paid so much more for the cream!
I’m glad to see that other readers have commented on the reality of living on SNAP. Flip comments about how “nice” it must be to get this kind of government assistance are all too common and ignore the real suffering of people living in poverty. I’m also glad to see that you were able to “hear” your readers on this topic and change your tune a bit to recognize how stressful it would be to find yourself in such a situation.
Thank you for your comment. And I am sorry if anything I said was misconstrued…what I meant by being “nice” was simply having more money to spend (since I feel like things are super tight on this budget of ours). I by no means think it would be “nice” to be in such poverty that we would have to rely on the government to buy our food.
I would like to recommend a book that is available in the local libraries: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The gist of it is, bread dough is made, kept covered in the refrigerator, and a small amount is used to make a fresh loaf every day. I’ve tried it, its super easy once it becomes your routine, you dont need a bread machine or any special equipment. Same idea as frozen or refrigerated bread dough, but costs pennies.
I have been toying with the idea of making my own bread…thanks for the suggestion!
I found your blog Tuesday and have been reading it non-stop! LOL Thank you for opening my eyes in such a straight-forward, non-’preachy’ way. Regarding the coupons for Organic Valley, etc. I save my coupons to stock up when I’m going to Harris Teeter during their Triple or Super Double coupons weeks. Often the cream, cream cheese, etc are free or very, very cheap!
Thanks for your comment and welcome! And I am so envious that you are getting Organic Valley stuff for free…I really need to try harder with coupons!
BION I’m ipmrseeds! Cool post!
[...] budget…we would eat real food and real food only on less money than we would have if we were on full food-stamp (SNAP) benefits. Our family of four had to learn to survive on no more than $125 a week. Sure we struggled at [...]
What about those of us who live off $125 worth of groceries for 2 weeks? We are a family of 5 who can’t afford to buy groceries every week. I spend about $130 every paycheck, which sometimes that means we have to stretch it over 3 weeks. $13 at an organic shop is ludicrous for us. We have never bought soda pop, chips, processed cereal bars, and we limit our milk and eggs. We do buy our beef in bulk from a local farmer, so we have plenty of meat.
Hi there, I know it’s July but I just happened to stumble across your family’s journey today. I was wondering if any of the dentist’s offices in your area offer Halloween candy buy back programs. I’ve seen some in Vegas that let you bring your candy in the next business day and they will weight it and give you a few dollars or a prize. I thought that was a great idea plus it would be someone else’s money going to the girls instead of yours
Yes, I did see that last year, but I had already shipped ours to the troops overseas (which actually cost a fortune)!
If “buying” candy from your children gets expensive take your child out before Halloween and let them choose a gift within a reasonable budget then trade the left over candy for the gift after trick or treating on Halloween night. I also let my kids keep any non candy item they get while trick or treating like bracelets and pencils. I noticed this past year that my son when given the chance to choose would pick these items rather than the candy b/c he has learned they are keepers plus the 10 pieces he chooses plus the toy he picked out!
I know my comment is almost a year later, but I just found your blog (loving it!) and had to share my friend’s answer to the halloween loot her boys would get. She told her boys that if they left their candy on the table The Great Pumpkin (just like in the Charlie Brown cartoon) would bring them a toy (and take their candy in exchange). It worked for years!
Very good site! Thank you for your job.
I do believe all of the concepts you have introduced on your post. They are really convincing and can certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too brief for beginners. May you please lengthen them a bit from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.
I have been reading around your blog for the past few days, and I will say I am intrigued!
However, I find your statement, “must be nice,” regarding the food stamps completely insensitive. It is not nice to make so little money that you qualify for full SNAP benefits. In fact, I am pretty sure it sucks.
I am fairly sure you didn’t mean for it to come across that way, but the phrase “must be nice” carries a certain tone with it, and I just found that unsettling. There is NOTHING nice about being on food stamps and it is ridiculous to imply otherwise.
Read this reply, I think it will help clarify. I find nothing insensitive about it.
100 Days of Real Food
November 13, 2010 at 4:38 pm · Reply
Thank you for your comment. And I am sorry if anything I said was misconstrued…what I meant by being “nice” was simply having more money to spend (since I feel like things are super tight on this budget of ours). I by no means think it would be “nice” to be in such poverty that we would have to rely on the government to buy our food.
For my family, which includes myself, my daughter and my mother (disabled but not yet on disability) Our weekly food budget is $60. I make $57 too much to get food stamps. When i was out of work we got $565 a month in stamps. That is a whole $325 more that i can spend now. It was pretty shocking to have my food budget change that much. I am grateful that i have a job in this economy but we used to eat much differently before.
In the past year i have learned to shop better and cook differently. We buy our fruits and veggies from the farmers market every Sunday. I make our bread using a gifted bread machine. And i can make a 5lb roaster chicken last 3 dinners and 2 lunches. All while sticking, as much as possible, to our ban on processed crap.
Monday we had a whole roasted chicken with homemade stuffing from homemade bread with fresh mushrooms and Zucchini.
Tuesday i picked of most all of the remaining meat. Cooked up some fresh green bean. Added tomatoes and the chicken and half a jar of Ragu. and served it all over rice.
Wednesday I set up a chicken stock in the crock pot and when i got home took 45 minutes to make an awesome creamy chicken noodle soup. I used fresh veggies, frozen peas and corn, milk, flower and egg noodles.
Yes there is some violation but honestly i think i do pretty darn good on $60 a week for 3 people.
Now that i have lived both on and off foodstamps i find it appalling how much our government gives for food. They eat better than i do and do nothing for it. Though better is subjective in the sense that i see many of those on food stamps full their carts with chips and soda and shop at 711.
I love this site by the way!
**more than i can spend now
(I’m not saying any of this in a negative tone at all, just informing)You should probably just refrain for comparing your budget to a food stamp budget all together. I personally feel like your blog message was saying, “even a person on food stamp could afford a health food store”. In Missouri and Kansas you would not be able to use food stamps at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, not all grocery stores accept them. I have not found any information to disprove my statement.
Our health food store (Earth Fare) does accept food stamps. And some farmers’ markets are even starting to accept them as well.
I tried to start going to the farmer’s market to shop but found the prices for veggies to be so expensive!
are yall going there to eat more unprocessed or to save money
do you have any tips on that?
I am graduating from college and I eat very healthy but always have room to eat cleaner
but I would like to stick on a $50 per week budget
I do have a costco membership and try to buy most of my veggies & fruit from there to last me the week
great blog! literally obsessed with your kitchen essentials and resource pages!!
you have such a beautiful family!!