This report, compiled in May of 2001 details the shopping order and the results [...]]]> The USDA offers what they call a Thrifty Food Plan which is a guide to feeding a family of four on food stamps. They studied this in 2000 in Washington, DC by attempting to purchase their recommended foods at urban supermarkets.

This report, compiled in May of 2001 details the shopping order and the results of their urban foraging. A few factoids from this:

• Eight items were hard to find in urban markets. In order, starting with the hardest: ground pork, fudgesicles, yolk-free egg noodles, breadcrumbs, cottage cheese (!?), bagels, garbanzo beans, chocolate chips.
• During the time studied, the TFP cost was an average of $101.70 for a family of four
• The TFP market basket costs almost the same in high poverty areas ($98.26) and low poverty areas ($98.92)
• Meats and meat alternatives take the largest share of the TFP dollars at $25.98. Following a distant second is frozen fruits and vegetables at $14.70. Based on our experience so far, I’d guess that dairy has outpaced frozen vegetables by now. In 2000, dairy was at $10.40.

Here’s what was used up in the second week of the two-week TFP meals. You will note that it is impossible to purchase food in these amounts, so they are clearly going by unit costs, not the grocery bill total.

All of the information that went into this study cost the taxpayers millions of dollars. The menus were formulated at great expense, and brochures are given out to folks on food stamps, yet the congressmen trying to live on $21 a week took advantage of *none* of this. The only one that seems to have even taken a crack at eating a balanced diet is Congressman Jim McGovern and wife Lisa. The right way to do this would have been to go to the USDA and get the shopping lists, recipes and meal plans that they offer for free to anyone who asks.

Here are the recipes that match up to the TFP shopping lists. Reading the recipes, the food sounds a lot better than it looks on their meal plan. “Pizza meatloaf” sounds gross, but the recipe sounds perfectly reasonable. It’s a meatloaf that uses spaghetti sauce in place of catsup and adds some mozzerella cheese to the meat.

I find their effort hard to take seriously, and we will be setting out to prove them wrong starting today. I really don’t have any doubts we can get enough food on $1 per meal per person. I do have to cook everything, but if my only income were from the government or even if I were working part time, I would certainly be able to do this. I do work *now* and I can do it. If I were commuting, I’d do more cooking today and I would probably plan that more lunches be from leftovers.

Here’s her site for Week [...]]]> Rebecca Blood is living within the actual food stamp budget ($74 for two). She’s eating one heck of a lot better than we will be as she belongs to a produce cooperative. We just don’t have that available here. Eating cheap or no, I’d be all over that.

Here’s her site for Week 1 of her challenge

I normally do all my shopping at Martin’s. I [...]]]> This is the breakdown of where we spent the money. It actually comes out to $54.04, not $54.11, so I picked up 7 cents somewhere.

I normally do all my shopping at Martin’s. I went to Food Lion because Martin’s does not carry any ramen that’s vegetarian, and Top is better than Maruchan anyway. While I was there, I bought the other items on sale.

Before you think I went running all over town, don’t. Food Lion and Big Lots are on the SE corner of Remount Rd and South Street and Martin’s is on the SW corner of the same intersection.

I usually don’t by house brands, and I usually spend pretty indescriminately on produce. Also, I usually buy Morningstar Farms products for both of us and one kind of meat for me. Both are too expensive for this plan, but I like bean dishes and this diet is quite healthy anyway. I also wouldn’t normally buy margarine instead of butter or “vegetable” oil. I usually use peanut for cooking and olive for other things. Dry milk, of course, is not something I’d buy, and I do normally drink coffee instead of tea.

I’ve gotten a lot of money saving ideas from Miss Maggie, the Hillbilly Housewife. She really knows how to stretch a food dollar and has great, simple, satisfying and nutritious recipes. As you can see just by my groceries, I’ve gone the southern route with the food. It’s cheap AND tasty!

I am using a bread maker, but you can pick those things up at Goodwill and garage sales for not much money, so it would be a good investment for someone anyway. The general government guideline is 30% going for food spending, so that leaves 70% for a one time investment that will be usable for a long, long time.

Other than that, I’m not using any special equipment. It’s just not necessary. I’ll measure the nutritiousness of this diet on fitday.com. I will give my public address out later once I start posting over there.

They are trying to eat on $21 per week. That number is basically pulled out of a hat as it is an average of what a food stamp recipient *spends*, not what they actually get. [...]]]> Some of the congresscritters are trying to get the food stamp allocation increased and are pulling a publicity stunt.

They are trying to eat on $21 per week. That number is basically pulled out of a hat as it is an average of what a food stamp recipient *spends*, not what they actually get. You can get partial food stamp assistance, or, if you are truly poor, you can get the maximum allotment which is $155 for one person for one month. All the food stamp money is put on a debit (EBT) card at the beginning of the month, and it’s use it or lose it, but they do get it all at once.

Part of the stunt here is that they are trying to fail because that will prove their point. They have *no* idea how to cook (apparently) or shop on very little money. They are assuming they have $21 for seven days, not that they would be buying more heavily at the beginning of the month and then filling in the used up items. It’s much cheaper to buy quantities on sale, and this is what any sane person would do. No one on food stamps wants to be hungry, so they are going to try to make the most of that money. The congresscritters are NOT doing this.

Since this disgusts me, we will doing this next week (May 20 – May 26). I have purchased $51.42 worth of groceries, but this includes *everything* including 8 qts. dry milk, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, baking powder, soy sauce, 100 tea bags and 32 oz of vegetable oil. I will not use that stuff up in a week. I’ve figured unit costs and getting the actual foods used down to $42 will be a snap, I think.

We’ll be logging recipes and meal costs over at Tinotopia, so keep an eye on his site. Just to give you an idea of what was purchased, here’s the list and it’s costs:

Like I said, I don’t expect to use 15 oz of spices in week, never mind the veg oil and salt.

Recipes and other info later — probably at Tino’s site.