Last week one of the stories making the rounds was how Gwyneth Paltrow was highlighting food insufficiency in America by taking the food stamp challenge. She tried to live for a week on $29 worth of food.
http://goop.com/...
While I applaud her effort, the challenge that many conservatives have is that there is a common set of assertions that come out of this that are simply not true which damages the credibility of those trying to advocate for more money for the programs.
1) It can't be done
2) It can only be done eating heavily processed foods.
I'm not saying it is easy, just that it is possible while eating fresh and healthy foods.
My first issue is that if you are only going to buy food for one for a week then you cannot buy in bulk. If you extend the challenge to 5 weeks (or longer) it paradoxically gets easier. The target is $4 of food a day. I know it is possible to eat very healthy, fresh food because I used to do it 15 years ago on $2/day as a graduate student. It wasn't easy, but it also wasn't that hard either.
The target is $145 over 5 weeks.
The key to being able to do this is the following items
1) Bulk flour - 25lb $7.98 will last 90 days
2) Bulk beans - 20lb $20
3) bulk sugar - 25lb $13
4) Bulk rice - $20lb $9 - will last 49 days
5) onions - 10lbs/$5
6) oil/lard - 1 gallon veg oil $7
7) eggs - 5 dozen - $7.50
8) whole chickens (1.30/lb) and bulk pork ($2.79)/lb
9) potatoes - 10lbs 3.47
10) in season vegetables - $2/lb for whatever fruit/veggies you want.
This link has some typical vegetable prices
http://www.mymoneyblog.com/...
Paltrow bought tortillas probably around 30 for $1.29, limes, kale, a single potato and some other ridiculous items. Obviously if you are buying ridiculous stuff you cant do it.
This is my shopping list to do the challenge for 5 weeks
In any given day you want about 2000 calories
455 calories from flour (1 cup/4.4 oz) = ($.08)
684 calories from rice (1 cup dry/6.5 oz) ($.18)
624 calories from beans (1 cup dry/6.5oz) ($.18)
300 calories from chicken (or pork) (1 cup/5oz) (assume 60% of chicken is meat so $.65)
1/2 pound of veggies/fruit = 1.00
So in a day you are spending $2 in basic foods. Which leaves another $2 for seasonings, flavorings and even a few luxuries.
Flour can be made into bread, tortillas and pasta. Three of the biggest ripoffs if you buy them premade. Paltrow paid approximately $1.29 for 30 tortillas. It typically takes about 1 cup of flour for 15 tortillas. So she spent $1.29 for around $.16 of flour and water.
Rice and beans are whole protein, you dont even need to eat the meat every day.
The total for the above starter items is $130 and after 5 weeks you will still have most of the flour, and a lot of the rice and beans.
I didnt even mention eating the sugar, potatoes and eggs which are just extra calories, protein and variety.
you can mix up the types of beans if you are going a longer time. You can add cheese in small amounts. Flour, oil, eggs and sugar are the foundation of pretty much all desserts (obviously baking powder too).
Ramen is a tremendous ripoff even at $.25/package because the lack of calories. It is around 374 calories for .25, much more expensive than beans, rice and flour.
Yes this takes education and it takes time. But with just an hour or so a day or more on weekends, food stamps @$29/day provide plenty of money for more than supplemental assistance.
The question then becomes if it isn't that hard to live on $29/week for fresh food, what standard of living do we use to determine how much to handout? What can we expect people to do to take care of themselves? (have a garden or a few veggies in containers?) Is it too much to expect people to cook their own food from ingredients?
Obviously places like New York City are much more expensive and yet if you shop in chinatown the prices are surprisingly affordable.
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Feel free to check my calculations, Im a bit rushed so could easily have made a mistake.
Also so you don't think I've hit and run, I'm leading a girl scout campout tonight so won't respond until tomorrow.