Can a family live off a food stamp budget, and still eat a healthy diet? Yes, they can! I fed my family on $2, per person, per day. ($140 for my family of 10; we’ve added a darling daughter since then.) We weren’t on food stamps during these 40 weeks, but our budget was tight and we paid cash for all food purchases (I think I was on WIC after the baby was born, I don’t recall.)
According to government data, I should be spending over $1200 on the thrifty plan! So far, 4 months in, I’m spending less than half that amount.
One of my children is on a special diet, similar to the Feingold diet, eliminating artificial colors, sweeteners, MSG, and lard substitutes (BHA/BHT/TBHQ). I was pregnant at the time I wrote this, and was eating a diabetic diet to control blood sugars. (Note:while the challenge was going on, my blood sugar issues cleared up, my A1C is great, and I passed the glucose tolerance test!
You won’t find a lot of Kool-Aid and ramen noodles, but I will try to post recipes kids will actually eat that are well rounded and cheap!
I moved the early posts from my old site, consolidating them by month. I hope that’s easy for everyone to read!
Weekly Average (2009): $111.43
Total spent this year: $4457.44
October
Week 40: $60.88
September
Week 39: $40
Week 38: $28
Week 36 -37: $228
August
Week 32: $194.74(Challenge – eat for 2 weeks without going to the store)
Week 33-35: $62
July
Week 30: $42.22
Week 29: $100.51
Week 28: $121.87
Week 27: $195.85
June
(Editor’s note: we welcomed our fourth daughter into the world this month!)
Week 26: $120.21
Week 25: $155.44
Week 24: $175
Week 23: $92.17
Week 22: $85.14
May, 2009 total: $563.24
Week 21: $ 129.91
Week 20: $ 124.43
Week 19: $135.85
Week 18: $173.05
April, 2009
Week 17: $174.34
Week 16: $121.29
Week 15: $182.65
Week 14: $98.01
Week 13: $82.73
Total April: $659.02
March, 2009 week 9-12
Week 12: $217.46
Week 11: $221.30
Week 10: $82.73
Week 9: $30.78
Total March: $552.57
February, 2009 Week 6-8
Week 8: $109.59
Week 7: $0
Week 6: $225
Total February: 334.59
January, 2009 Week 1-5
Week 4 & 5: $50
Week 3: $151.25
Week 2: $161.99
Week 1: $105.73
Total January: $ 468.97
