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. Â 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. Â 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? Â 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. Â She also buys fresh, locally made, artisanal bread at the farmer’s market. Â Yes, it’s true! Â 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. Â Did you know Whole Foods takes food stamps? Â Another option would be for Irene to split a cow sourced at a local grass-based farm with one or two friends. Â 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. Â 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. Â 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? Â What are your tricks for eating healthy, local, and/or organic despite this challenge? Â Please share to inspire those who may be facing a similar situation.
Lets not forget How many military families are on food stamps . Before you all bash it. The military families suffer enough with out people looking down . These vets come home from deployments injured or have PTSD and TBI and either can’t work or lose jobs and the military gets paid horrible . Yes there are people that free load off food stamps but there are many that paid the price serving this country .
We are a military family. I was in when I was single and now I am married to a military man. We make great money. I made great money when I was single and making the lowest pay grade. I traveled and ate out, and partied (I was young!) I also drove a cute little convertible. I never knew I was poor. I didnt live in debt.
So here is my question, do all branches of the military make the same amount of money? Example: does the lowest ranking Army guy or gal make the same as the lowest ranking Navy guy or gal, or Marine or Air Force of Coast Guard?
Just curious, thanks!
Here’s the paygrade chart for 2013. For those of you that don’t know E-1 is the lowest pay grade and I believe it applies to all branches of the military.
http://usmilitarypaychart.com/2013-military-pay-chart/
So for an E-1 with under 20 years in (virtually all) the monthy pre-tax amount is $1,516.43
I have 6 children. My husband is military and suffers severe PTSD and a TBI so I’m a solo mom .i have been feeding my family organic . No dairy , only organic chicken or gr turkey .we make everything from scratch .and are sadly on food stamps. Costco so takes food stamps and has some organic also . I also shop atwholefoodsand our local health store . Even wal mart that I hate has gluten free items . There is No excuse not to eat healthy .
I was one of six children who never had new shoes or new clothes. We did eat oatmeal for breakfast for many years and scraped by. No, we never used food stamps. Yes, we were poor. This was also a poor example. Hey! Why don’t we all use the federal government to pay for our organic food? Maybe we could just quit our jobs and make itI our life’s work to worship our organic food and let someone else pay for it?
Yes, you can eat well for less but the effort to do so costs in TIME – nothing is free. Including food stamps.
i don’t think the point was to say that being on food stamps was a great way to eat well for “free”, but that if one is struggling and is on food stamps, at least they are trying to do the best thing for their health and their family, and not just succumb to the stereotype of entitlements and wonder bread….
*own
Dr. Oz is a sell out who perpetuates corporate agenda for his on financial gain. I seriously hope people can see him for the fraud that he is!
I live in Southern California. I found a farmer at a local Farmer’s Market who sells Certified Pesticide Free produce and fruit and free range organic soy free eggs- and he is in the process of obtaining USDA Organic certification. He recently began weekly home delivery service and has a website where you can order what you want, you don’t need to take a box of “chosen by someone else” items that you can’t figure out what to do with, or find someone to trade with. You can pay online with paypal or pay cash when he arrives. He also continues to do a few markets along with his home delivery service. It is so great to have this food delivered to my door, without having to spend so much time and money traveling to distant stores to search out quality foods (all nearby markets are conventional and carry only factory eggs and little to no organic foods- sigh). This has allowed me to spend more on quality food for my family and less on gasoline and contributing to traffic. He currently delivers to Los Angeles and Orange counties. The website is Angelosfarms dot com. I love love love it. I used to spend so much time traveling and so much $ on gasoline and now I spend it on the actual food!
Dr Oz is a word I won’t use this close to the holidays.
Amen! I amazed at how many of my friends, age group 55+, quote this guy like he knows everything and everything he says is true. I was recouping and healing in my recliner a few years back and got stuck watching him….so don’t see why my friends tune in like he’s the best doctor in the universe! Sssh….I don’t get it!
To some people, anyone on TV is a god and they believe whatever they say.
I don’t like being brainwashed so i don’t watch TV
fwiw if any other followers here happen to be from Richmond VA we have a farm store that will take EBT for CSAs. It’s called Farm to Family 🙂
Megan, the point is that anyone can afford to eat healthy food. No one is glorifying using food stamps. It’s obvious you’ve never had to, though, so I’m happy for you.
Charis Kehler Very good point. I have always thought that Dr. Oz is an extremely conflicted man. It shows on his face.