I have to start with an apology.
I’m sorry it takes staged events like last week’s SNAP Challenge to get us talking about what life is like on the bottom end of the economic slope. I’m also sorry writers like me wail like babies when we are coaxed out of our comfort zones and asked to cope with what Tucson’s less-fortunate residents deal with every day.
In my defense, it’s challenging eating only $4 worth of food a day—which the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona challenged citizens to do last week—when you’re accustomed to spending that or more on one meal. But thousands of local families receiving SNAP benefits, the modern-day version of food stamps, are doing it right now.
The first day is easy. There are plenty of groceries, and you feel creative using the few ingredients you have. But it grows old when you end up skipping meals due to poor planning or just outright contempt for noodles and butter after eating them too many days in a row.
Which reminds me of the third day of the challenge, when I stood in my kitchen staring at a banana pancake with hatred and dismay. My $20 budget for the five-day work week allowed me to buy a box of pancake mix and some bananas, but I couldn’t afford anything to put on top of it. I was sick of the blandness, so I angrily rolled up the pancake and wolfed down as much as I could, chucking the rest to the dog.
This felt shameful and wasteful. After only a few days, I was already tired of it all, and I was feeding my dwindling cache of food to the dog like a spoiled little child.
It was depressing admitting that. I promised to do better. I filled a Tupperware container with beans and rice from the night before and headed out to meet the day.
It was a busy day at work, and people were tired, so they pitched in for a coffee run. I really could have used a cup of coffee that morning, but it wasn’t in my budget. So as my co-workers walked around taking little sips, I glowered in non-caffeinated sluggishness. At lunch, people broke out lunch boxes spilling over with fruit and snacks and sodas, or headed to the cafeteria; I hurled myself into a corner and ate my bland little lunch cold, telling myself I should feel lucky for having anything at all.
This cycle repeated itself through the rest of week. I never ran out of food—almost, but not quite—but even being close to the edge gave me a sense of the panic some families feel.
I did it for five days. People thrust into poverty do it with no end in sight. On $4 a day, you can’t even afford to have anybody over for dinner. There’s an isolating component to it, and the only people who understand the feeling are those who have lived it.
I have lived it, and not just last week. I grew up poor, and during one especially low period, I ended up wandering and homeless. Later, when things got straightened out, I spent years helping feed the homeless at Casa Maria soup kitchen.
So it’s not like I’ve never looked poverty square in the face. I know how to get by on very little, and I know how little many people get by on. But $4, per person, per day, is so close to the line that it’s almost criminal. For an adult, it is adequate if you double down on heavy carbohydrates and have the time to make everything from scratch. God help you if you have kids or any other responsibilities.
There is also no way you could feed a family in any sort of nutritious way on this budget. Wonder why obesity is on the rise in poor neighborhoods? Because carbs are cheap, and fresh vegetables are not. Carbs store well; vegetables do not. Frozen, fatty meat is also pretty cheap. You get the picture.
It’s good to remember that poverty is on the rise, so some of us could be taking the real SNAP Challenge sooner than we think. If that should happen, I suggest budgeting for things like syrup and spices. You’d be amazed how much things like that mean when you can barely afford them.
This article appears in Oct 4-10, 2012.
It didn’t really hit home until a friend went into a death-spiral. Her business tanked four years ago, with the housing market, and she’s been living hand-to-mouth ever since. I didn’t realize what that meant until I tried to help. When you have little money, EVERYTHING costs more – sometimes MUCH more. She couldn’t pay her utilities, and when I went to have them turned back on, the entities demanded a HUGE deposit, and all sorts of penalties to restore them. When she buys food, she can only afford the smallest package – which is the highest price per unit. She hadn’t paid her property taxes, and the interest was 16% ! The government subsidies for her? NON-EXISTENT! I have no idea how candidate Romney can not care about her and those who don’t earn enough to pay taxes. Would she trade places with him? Would he trade places with her? For even a day??!?
I’ve been disabled and on foodstamps for 8yrs. I consider myself lucky because I have no children and live alone, so $200mo. goes a long way for me. BUT I stretch it by being a “pantry cook”. I also eat very little meat, mostly because I can’t afford it.
I started a garden 2 years ago. Mine is pretty large (20ft x 40ft), but even the smallest space can provide a beautiful bounty of fruits and vegetable. If you know people in your neighborhood and notice the abundance of citrus trees are not being picked. Ask if you can help pick the fruit, keep what you need for yourself and have them donate the rest to the Food Bank. I find many elderly people share this need.
Many people have been raised in a “fast food Nation” and don’t even know how to cook. Unfathomable to me. It’s healthier, promotes family unity and is actually cheaper. I can’t remember the last time I ate out…even then someone else paid.
The problem w/the SNAP system is one can only buy foodstuffs. There is nothing for toiletries, supplemental vitamins, cleaning supplies, pet food etc…I’m not talking about liquor, just the ability to wipe my butt! Something needs to be changed. I don’t need more than $200 in foodstamps, but I can not get any cash assistance because I am middle aged and w/out children…that’s what I was told by DES. Something’s got to give.
As a single mom who has lived with supplemental SNAP benefits for many years now I have to say we eat very healthy. The $4/day number must strictly be for individuals because if my math is correct, my daughter and I receive about $12/ day ($6 each). I do make a ton of things from scratch (bread, jam, and cookies if we want iem I make ’em). But we also almost exclusively buy organic produce. We eat very little meat and hardly any processed garbage. I know we are probably an exception rather than the rule, but it is not impossible to eat healthy for a few dollars a day. It makes me angry when people say that because then instead of trying, people just parrot, “oh it’s impossible!”
The trick is you can’t shop like an American consumer. You can’t buy prepakaged convenient crap. You have to plan a little. You have to buy seasonal fruit. You can’t just buy strawberries because you want them, you have to buy them on sale. Buy spices in bulk (they are way cheaper! the amount of Bay that is in a dollar store jar is about 34 cents bulk).
I work and my SNAP benefits ebb and flow (if I’m getting “full time” hours I get less than the full benefit) and I do have the “luxury” of spending some cash should I fall short or want to shop at a Farmers Market that doesn’t accept SNAP but I was unemployed last year for about 6 mons. And we lived exclusively off my benefits and we were fine.
I know the $4 a day would be harder and it’s probably elderly widows and widowers that receive that amount, and that’s really not fair (nor is even the amount I receive easy for say someone located in a food desert and unable to shop around for bargains).
I know the point of the exercise is to show the “entitlement” slinging crowd that this is no walk in the park, but every time you say it is “impossible” to eat healthy on SNAP you are stopping a whole bunch of people from even trying.
A least Adam tried, he did a great job of bring forth the situation of what people are going through.This took some guts to do. More people should take the challenge, it hard to eat on $4.00 bucks a day. As a child some 65 yrs. ago I remember my folks setting around the kitchen table counting what money they had, seeing the worried looks on their faces and going to e hungry.
I’m afraid if Mr. Romney win this election thing will get much worse.
Old Man…absolutely! He brought out the dire situation that many people face every day. Hard working, loving, caring, tax paying people. I am well aware of the “food dead” areas, esp. in urban areas therefore many buy from bodegas. But there are many movements popping up ie: farmer’s markets that accept EBT/SNAP, the Mobile Grocers movement in many large cities also promotes entrepreneurship, therefore jobs. Urban community gardens in which the hydroponic and vertical gardening concepts are working. Roof top gardens in large cities. Obviously, not every program works in every city, but it’s a start and the cost in the long run goes in our favor, esp. in health matters because of better knowledge, involvement and health issues, not to mention human contact. The ever quoted “It takes a village” concept is essential in these programs.
A week later, the challenge has changed me in other ways. There is such a disconnect between economic classes in this world. I honestly do not want to go back to the way most of us eat, which now seems wasteful and gluttonous. Eating cheaper and less is smarter and better for the world at large. This experience will inform my decisions for a long time to come.
This article touched me in many ways. Yes, it is possible to eat healthy with benefits, but it is not easy. I use a lot of coupons, and only buy vegies and fruit that are on sale. Add matching at Walmart helps a lot. I also check the clearance items at every grocery store I go to. I am very good at stretching a dollar, but it seems like the end is nowhere in sight.
It does take a lot of work in the beginning. My only issue w/coupons is they’re usually for processed foods. Fry’s has a great personal coupon program based on what you buy (via card). I receive coupons for free cheese, discounts on fresh produce, dairy, etc.