My friend Irene, a hardworking single mother who also cuts my hair, is an absolute inspiration to me and I’m sure many others fortunate enough to cross her path.
Moms like Irene silence all the naysayers like Dr. Oz who claim that it isn’t possible to eat healthy on a very tight budget or that those who eat organic are elitist.
You see, Irene is on food stamps.
Irene’s situation is not at all rare anymore. The number of Americans on food stamps, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as it is now called, has increased by 260% since 2000. In a more sobering statistic, the actual number of people relying on food stamps to eat has increased from 17.1 million in 2000 to over 44 million in 2011.
Despite Irene’s challenging budget which includes food stamps, she manages to buy nearly everything local and/or organic to prepare the healthy, homemade meals she prepares.
How?
By refusing to settle for anything less than the best for herself and her son and by using creativity and street smarts to carefully plan and implement her food stamps budget strategy.
When you demand the best and refuse to settle, as Irene does, the world frequently seems to open up to you with opportunities and people necessary to fulfill your goal suddenly coming across your path.
Irene also gets competent alternative medical care by shrewdly trading hairdresser services for routine chiropractic care which has prevented her family from requiring any conventional medical treatment or antibiotics or other drugs for quite some time.
How does Irene do it? How does she manage to source only the most nutrient-dense foods for her family including more expensive, gourmet items like grass-fed raw milk and butter while on food stamps?
The brilliance of Irene’s food stamps budget plan is in its incredible simplicity.
- Irene has learned which farmer’s markets around town accept food stamps and so she buys much of her produce at these venues. She also buys fresh, locally made, artisanal bread at the farmer’s market. Yes, it’s true! You can use food stamps at many farmer’s markets if you just ask around!
- Irene buys her grass-fed meats and bones to make stock at Whole Foods. Did you know Whole Foods takes food stamps? Another option would be for Irene to split a cow sourced at a local grass-based farm with one or two friends. This may present itself as an option for Irene in the future, but for now, Whole Foods is the best stand-in source for her meats given her limited time and storage space.
- Irene has figured out which health food stores carry what organic brands at the best prices. She uses her food stamps to buy foods like freshly ground almond butter, raw honey, cheese, and other staple items this way.
- Irene uses the food funds she is able to contribute herself for raw dairy which is not covered by food stamps (although I do know of one other friend in town who is able to buy raw goat milk with food stamps because she is allergic to cow milk).
- If Irene finds that she must buy something at the supermarket, she makes sure that it is a low spray item like asparagus or a GMO-free item based on an analysis of the ingredients label.
Hat’s off to Irene for showing us all how to eat healthy during hard economic times. Her refusal to accept anything less than the best, nutrient dense fare for herself and her family is the line in the sand that opens the door to solutions.
Well done Irene!
Are you on a food stamps budget too? What are your tricks for eating healthy, local, and/or organic despite this challenge? Please share to inspire those who may be facing a similar situation.
What I am “DR OZ” is not full of pesticides…
My family of 4 is currently on food stamps. I have two children on the autistic spectrum, and we have multiple allergies. My husband has been unemployed for over 3 years, and we have exhausted his unemployment benefits and all of our savings, and had to move in with my parents. We paid into the system for over 20 years each, so I don’t have a problem with taking government assistance now that we desperately need it. Quit judging people when you don’t know their circumstances.
I refuse to feed my children garbage, just because it’s cheap. We do not have money for any supplements, so everything our bodies need has to come from food. I do my best to buy organic and always non-GMO. We eat a lot of less-meat and meatless meals, and meals centered around a large amount of meat are gone for good. Buying healthy can be done on a budget.
I shop at Costco, Natural Grocers, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s once a month, sharing the gas and Costco membership with a friend. Then I shop at Wal-mart, Dillon’s, Price Chopper, and Aldi’s for their limited good deals each week. I never turn down free food (got organic pears from a friend’s tree and free pumpkins from Whole Foods right after halloween, they were just chucking them in the compost bin!). I cook 3 meals a day from scratch, and I have learned how to can. It can be done, but it’s hard, and we’ve had to drastically change how we eat.
Our local farmer’s markets do take food stamps (May through October), but their prices are out of my reach. I just do the best I can with what I have. I prioritize grass-fed dairy first, organic chicken and ground beef second (can’t afford grass fed, will skip meat if we have to, I stretch meals with bone broths made from the organic chicken bones and can get 5-6 meals from one chicken), and non-GMO grains third. If organic fruits and veggies are on sale, I’ll get them, otherwise I go with conventional (except for those that are GMO — corn, zucchini, yellow squash, etc.). I had my first garden (container) this year, but it didn’t do too well, it was too hot. I’m hoping next year will be better.
It would be cheaper for sure if we didn’t value our health. 🙁
Joy Beth, it sounds like you’re doing a fabulous job of feeding your family healthy food. Best wishes and happy holidays to you and your family.
One more thing….for those who do have access, Costco has really done an amazing job of bringing in organics in bulk….they’ve saved us some serious money as well.
We are not on food stamps but are a 1 income family with a very tight budget. We switched to all organic 1 year ago when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. We found that after our bodies got used to the organic, we didn’t need to eat the same quantities that we ate before. Incorporating more vegetarian meals and eliminating sugar in our diet has also helped keep costs lower. We also make a lot of things from scratch and shop all of the health/natural food stores for sales. We used to tell ourselves that organic was too expensive…until I was diagnosed. Amazing how that changes our priorities!
We haven’t associated yet with any local farmer’s markets but we’ll be checking that out after reading this article! Somehow, we have made it work AND because of our complete life style and diet change (that’s right no chemo or radiation…all diet!), I am now at low risk for reoccurrence! BTW, to one of the angry, bitter people before me….there are MANY regular grocery stores that do food stamps that also carry organics.
It’s really the negative labeling of people that’s bothersome about Dr. Oz’s comments. It’s the same as when vegan Nazis (not all vegans are like this) judge other people’s food choices. In our office, our CEO and CFO are vegans but they respect everyone’s food choices. Comments like Dr. Oz’s just promote negativity.
I love this!!! Organic food for everybody!!!
I am a single mom of 2 on food stamps. I live in FL and get raw milk (pet milk) at a farmers market on food stamps (lucky, dont know how). Some weeks I can not get up to the market which is an hour away so I will buy a large organic rice milk at Walmart for $3.46 and organic butter for $4.99 lb to go in my kids hot cereal. When I hit the farmers market I go directly to their bargain section that offers dollar produce. It is produce that may be on its way out. I stock up on items like bell peppers or berries or other things that I can flash freeze. It saves me a bunch. I buy raw nuts at our local health food store in the bulk section and I started making chicken bone broth. I use vitacost.com for our gluten free baking goods like bobs red mill because they have the best prices for that stuff and free shipping. It is hard but when I am really strict I can get 3/4 of the way through the month on food stamps and that only leaves me one week to make our food budget on my waitress’ pay. We just get by every month but eat healthy and have a nice little 2 bdrm house with a yard and tire swings in a good school district.
Melissa,
In my former life I was a vegan, and I would make my rice milk from scratch. Obviously raw cows milk is superior but if you are in a pinch and need to use rice milk you should try making your own, it’s super easy and will be much cheaper for you then having to buy it at Walmart. Also you will know exactly is in your rice milk when you make it home. I am going to try and attach a link to vegan reader which is where I learned to make rice milk, it’s a super easy recipe, plus a lot of great info on why you should make your own. Hope this helps you save some cash! http://www.veganreader.com/2009/05/17/how-to-make-rice-milk-and-stop-supporting-rice-dream/
Irene may find organic veggie dealers who accept food stamps, but to assume
this is easy is only to fool yourself. I live in Wash DC area and none of the
organic farmers take food stamps, they do not want to do necessary paperwork.
Once a year a program gives extra food stamps to us, but not one organic
farmer at the markets want anything but hard, cold cash. Whole Foods benefits
greatly from food stamps despite their way inflated prices. How many of those
responding actually use and count on food stamps? I wonder because only those
who have no clue what using food stamps is like, really know how foolhardy your
article is.
Our farmer’s markets here in Co accept food stamps and we are also allowed to use them to also purchase seeds and some canning materials (I think). I wish I could use them in WY to get raw milk (it’s legal to retail it there), but I don’t think they are transferrable.
We get $62 a week for a family of 4. It’s hard to eat for a family of 4 for that kind of money, whether you eat junk or real food. We fortunately can manage to add a little bit to it each week. We have chickens for our eggs and I sell the extra to friends and add that money to the grocery money also. I work part time also but that money has to go to bills. Let’s face it, this economy is a disaster and the government can’t do it all. I’d prefer they stay out of our economy, let it recover & we’ll bring in way too much money to qualify.
Susan, they are transferable. You can use your EBT card in any state.
I tell my patients all the time how easy it is to live within your budget AND eat REAL food. I myself have been doing an experiment over the past year where I spend only what a family of four (my size family) would get per week on food stamps. In Texas, it’s $167/week. By planning my meals, buying my meat in bulk from a farmer, raw milk, eggs, etc from my community co-op, and using other buying strategies like building meals around what is already in my fridge/pantry, I routinely stay at or usually below that budget. This is for our breakfast, lunch and dinner for 7 days!
Buying meat in bulk requires you to have a large sum of money all at once. Something you can do in a theoretical experiment but not in real life on food stamps. Nor would the farmer be able to take food stamps.
A budget with that much cash upfront is not the same as SNAP….
The best way to get low prices are not possible on SNAP- buying a share of farm animals upfront, or crop share, or buying in bulk. CSAs and farm markets are great, but they aren’t the lowest cost possible.
If you are getting max SNAP, you are probably more worried about keeping a ROOF over your head, as it means you have no income.
Your family would only get that much money on food stamps if you had NO income. No way to pay rent, gasoline, anything!! It is an imaginary number. Right now, my family of three gets $260 a month. That is about $65 a week. We also have to feed nine daycare children two meals and two snacks five days a week. We don’t get extra to do that.. It just floors me how ignorant people are about how the food stamp program works.
I agree. Living within our means is a daily goal and sometimes a challenge, with three young sons and a teenage son. We do the best we can and all any of us can do is to hope the same of others. By living conservatively now we are able to save for leaner times that might be coming. All of that said, I suppose I would use food stamps if I had no other choice, and it is good that people are able to use them to make good choices…but we would exhaust every other option before having the government in our lives in that way. In fact, having been eligible for food stamps since the birth of our second son, we have explored most options at this point!
How is feeding the nine daycare kids relevant? If you are running a business (which I have to assume you are) then the weekly cost of feeding each child should be included in what the parents pay you…or you are just babysitting for fun. Having run a preschool I know the cost of feeding nine children in this manner.
What does it make him, Monsanto, the FDA, USDA, big pharma, & the govt? I am an elitist & snob for my health, their fraken “vegs”, “meats”, “poultry”, “fish”, and “herbs” have made me sick!