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.
No she didn’t need extra money to buy organic, she needed help to buy any food at all. She has so little money that she’s eligible for food stamps. She’s not upper class, not middle class, not lower middle class but living in poverty which is why she’s qualified to receive food stamps. She doesn’t state what her exact food budget is but national averages suggest that it’s probably around $30 a week for her family of 2. I understand there are probably many other thrifty people who can keep their cash food budget in that neighborhood, but I wouldn’t say they represent the average family. Dr Oz’s point was basically that only the well-to-do can afford to eat organic, this article is proof that is just not true.
God bless him sometimes he is such a TARD
I wish we qualified for food stamps. I gasped the other day when I found out how much a family of four gets to spend on food with food stamps, three times more than we spend on our tight budget. We can’t spend more than $50 – $70 a week for the 4 of us. That’s usually less than $10 a day, what can you get for that for 3 meals? There’s just not a whole lot of room for what we want. We buy mostly organic, but we can’t buy local because the prices at farmers markets are twice what we buy in this area. Farmers markets are truly a luxury around here (MA).
We get $270 a month for a family of 4. Its not that much, but is enough for us.
You can get more if you have zero income, but most people on SNAP are actually working poor.
he’s an idiot.
If she was on food stamps, she needed extra money to buy GMO and factory farmed foods too. Btdt
Denise, what?!? I for one think it is great how the author is spending her food stamp money – can’t think of a better way to spend it. That said – YES is does reinforce Dr. Oz point. He says you need extra money to but organic – and that is exactally what the author of this article needed to buy organic – extra money.
Angela – The author of this article is Sarah Pope; she’s writing about her hair stylist (not herself). The subject of the article evidently needs (qualifies for) assistance in order to buy food of any description. The point is that it’s possible to buy organic food on a limited budget; the food stamps just bring her income up to a (low) level – from a below low level. And one doesn’t “rebuttal” anything; one rebuts it.
We are a family of 4 on food stamps. I had the desire to implement all that I was learning about health and food quality. However, the very fact that I was on food stamps made me feel very poor. I had to break out of the poverty thinking before I could consider the possibility that eating was possible for us. But once I did, I found all kinds of possibilities! I began buying better foods. A big realization came when I itemized a month’s worth of receipts, and found that 50% of what I spent was on treats/processed/convenience/not real foods! I got ruthless and refused to spend one dollar on anything not real. Then I proved it to my self: we did not go hungry; we ate well and were satisfied. It was possible after all. Dollars are dollars, and just because they are food stamps doesn’t mean I have eat junk!
I completely agree. It took me some adjustment as well. In the beginning I actually felt horrible that I needed help and I couldn’t provide solely with my commission. I felt shame and embarrassment. I absolutely felt like I didn’t deserve the organic and wholesome foods. Like who am I buying organic but I found that even the workers were encouraging me on how good it was that I bought healthy things.
@Erin Brakke Widner: How do you do it on a weekly budget of $100? Can you give any tips? I live in Montreal, Canada
So to those who are bothered by the article, it would be better if this mom had some ‘pride’ & didn’t get the help that she’s eligible for and let her kid eat crap or more realistically miss meals & be malnourished? She mentions trading haircuts for chiro care, so I’m going to assume she’s a professional hairdresser. In case you’ve missed it the service industries have been especially hit hard in this economy. And it doesn’t at all reinforce Mr. Oz’s points. The average person collecting food stamps has a budget of about $2 a day to work with (and again let’s stress that’s the average so some families are working with even less) if this woman can stretch a budget like that far enough to afford organic & wholesome foods she’s a kitchen wizard and anyone who would rather bash her than listen to her tips is foolish.
Agreed! The judgement is annoying.
Thank you for your words, I would assume anyone who has negative words are “entitled” enough to not even be able empathize with someone struggling in the moment. I think a lot of people don’t even know that some farmers markets take snap. It was quite the task working with what I had but doable. It is unfortunate grocery stores even allow food that is marketed for children and have absolutely no nutritional value. Sarah has helped me so much with education on nutrition.
Thanks Sarah for this article.
Although I am not on Food Stamps, I do follow a grocery budget and keep processed food to an absolute minimum.
About a year ago I started growing my own sprouts (bean sprouts and leafy green sprouts) because I found that this is the freshest and most economical way to get a wide variety of nutrients and (micro nutrients and phyto nutrients).
You can buy organic seeds at Wholefoods and some grocery stores.
Growing sprouts is quite easy once you start . For instructions check out sproutpeople.org . If you can afford it, buy an automatic sprouter like EasyGreen Sprouter (http://discountjuicers.com/easygreen.html) , it cuts down the work by at least 80% (a few minutes a day) and provides a daily harvest of totally fresh sprouts! I love it!
You can put them in salads, or make smoothies from fruits and greens/sprouts (http://www.rawfamily.com/)
You’re right, being creative is the key.