Comments on: Food Stamp Challenge, week 22

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:31:53 +0000

I receive $885 for a family of 7 in CA (one is exclusively breastfed). My husband’s hours have been cut down to only 8hrs a week, so we are very careful with our money. I stopped buying cereal for breakfast a long time ago…they now have a choice of oatmeal or malt-o meal. I have found it lasts longer that way. (The kids could go through a box of cereal in one day!) I get WIC for myself, my 2yr old, and my 3 month old. It is a blessing to find services that are willing to help.

By: Deeny

Deeny — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:12:53 +0000

Hi Milehi– You said >>We might even cook them on the carcinogenic BBQ grill, <<

I read somewhere years ago that if you are direct grilling that you should marinate your meats beforehand. The acidity (wine, lemon juice vinegar etc) in your marinade counteracts the carcinogenic effects of the charcoal grilling. I don’t remember why that is so, some chemical explanation, but for probably over 20 years I have always marinated my beef, chicken, pork etc.

By: Ginger

Ginger — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:47:41 +0000

When we were first married we had to go on foodstamps, We received 180 for 6 of us, one was nursing. I went to the meat market and got their freezer specials, At the time, for an entire months worth of meat, it was $106. The rest went on veggies/fruits and the pasta side stuff.
For the 6 of us now, I spend roughly 100 a week. We eat meat almost every meal, but that is because DH likes us to. If not, I could trim that budget even more. I shop the public market on Saturdays now, That will get us any veggies/fruits we want. I could even get our meat there, I am still trying to see if it would be worth the price. Will figure that out this Saturday. For months, I fed my family on 68 dollars a week. It was not the tastiest menu but it was healthy.

By: Sandwichmom

Sandwichmom — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:38:11 +0000

Oh, some people are so closed minded. I saw some of the week 21 comments, and they are so silly!

You do NOT have to defend your family’s food choices! With the raging obesity problem we have, including in young chidren, nobody should be faulting someone who cuts back a little on meat and fatty foods, and encourages fruits as snacks!

Lisa, I don’t agree with a lot of your politics, but I admire your ability to care for your family!

By: Butterflygirl

Butterflygirl — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:40:01 +0000

When you receive foodstamps it isn’t meant to cover the entire months worth of food. Some of your own money is expected to be used. I receive 300.00 a month for a family of 4. I don’t work right now. My only income is my child support right now. And that tends to be very sporadic with Briana’s dad! Grr. Anyway, it is hard but there are some really great foodbanks and churches with food pantries around here.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:53:14 +0000

You are so right. You can get a lot of protein and fiber from beans and other sources too. My son has Cerebral palsy and it is difficult for him to eat most meats unless we put it into a blender. Then he will not eat it at all, and who can blame him, yuck! So I try to add beans and cheese to meals to up his protein consumption, and I’m always looking for more suggestions.

By: Donna

Donna — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:54:42 +0000

I live out of my pantry and freezer. I am to the point now that I can make all my meals from them and only have to shop the sales to refill it.

Right now I spend about $300 every 2 weeks to refill the pantry. If you all want to see it here is a blog post about my pantry.

http://blasdellzoo.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-do-you-do-it.html

By: tia

tia — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:06:13 +0000

The cereal is a bite, but I buy the Family Size Special K at Walmart for $3.00; I pretty much live on it because of my current eating issues. I only bought one box, though, and that left $52 for so little, in the grand scheme of things. Not so little I have nothing, but little by comparison and in the big picture. Then again, I’ll eat on the hamburger helper for four meals, at least. The bagels will be five meals – actually 10, I bought two packages. Frozen veggies are 4 meal’s worth…I guess broken down like that it probably isn’t too terribly bad. I certainly don’t eat all of one item or anything in one meal the way a large family does, or any size family for that matter.

I used to buy the Malt 0 Meal bags of cereal but they’re too big for one to get through before they go stale – humidity and food is a huge, huge issue here.

By: Christi

Christi — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:49:53 +0000

LOL that sounds like me. I 1/2 way stopped making my video’s simply because I didn’t feel like brushing my hair or putting on make-up the days I assigned myself to make them. I always know where my camera is tho…I keep it battery-ed up and ready for any time the kids do something ‘cute’. I can see how it would be hard w/ 7 kids. I wish we lived close to each other cuz I sure would love to help out and learn some tricks from you.

I have yahoo messenger, if anyone wants to add me to theirs it is skinnyb4. Strangely I am not scared of “Susan” adding me, I will just block her if she does. Everyone that I have met here seems really kind, I would love to get to know you all!!

By: Milehimama

Milehimama — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:49:09 +0000

Christi – that assumes I can *find* the camera AND the batteries work! LOL! ….and that the table is cleared off to stage the groceries…

But that’s a great idea! I’ll see if I can do it in the future.

I do have a pic of some groceries here:
http://www.milehimama.com/2009/05/01/food-stamp-challenge-february-2009-archive/

I also plan to go back to scanning my receipts once my printer makes nice with my computer.