About 20 years ago I wrote an article for the Youth Outlook
column in the San Francisco Examiner
about being on food stamps. I’m sifting through lots of stuff from storage and
found my notebook where I detailed what I bought during each shopping trip for
five months when I was an 18-year-old student at Laney College in Oakland, California.
Given the latest Gweneth Paltrow chatter about something called the SNAP challenge, I thought it might be interesting to
see what I actually bought when I was on food stamps.
During this particular month I received $72 with the expectation that my
entire food budget for the month would be $115. The prices are pretty high
considering it was 20 years ago, but this was San Francisco so it’s more
expensive than where I live now in Detroit.
Please forgive my bad spelling!
It looks like in one month I spent $112.82 on
food. I was surprised by a number of things: 1) how healthily I ate; 2) how little
meat I was able to consume (only tuna and beef soup bones); 3) how little food
I was able to buy for $113. I remember thinking when I got food stamps each
month how lucky I was; it was so exciting to go to the store and go shopping. When
I look at this now I’m shocked by how little I ate each month.
First week of the month (I spent $33.96):
2% milk gallon
|
1.99
|
bag of oranges
|
2.41
|
Grape Nuts
|
3.8
|
onions mesh bag
|
2.49
|
cucumber - 1
|
0.49
|
radishes - 1 bunch
|
0.99
|
canned corn -1
|
0.69
|
black beans dry
|
1.89
|
corn tortillas - 36
|
2.09
|
frozen peas
|
1.79
|
bananas bunch
|
2.99
|
oatmeal big cylinder
|
3.49
|
canned kidney beans -
1
|
0.79
|
cottage cheese -
medium
|
1.8
|
spaghetti - 3 large
packs
|
2.77
|
day old bread - 2 small loaves
|
1.5
|
brown sugar - 1 bag
|
1.99
|
Second week of the month (I spent 28.08):
bag of carrots - large
|
1.49
|
canned tuna - 2
|
1.78
|
yogurt - 5
|
1.5
|
apples - 2 small
|
1.18
|
hot pepper sauce
|
1.49
|
dozen eggs
|
1.99
|
potatos mesh bag
|
3.99
|
barley - large bag
|
2.09
|
pintos - small bag
|
1.09
|
green onions - bunch
|
0.41
|
garlic - 3 heads
|
0.85
|
canned (something I
can't read) beans
|
0.99
|
whole wheat bread
|
2.5
|
peanut butter
|
3.89
|
bunch of beets
|
1.48
|
jimica - 1
|
1.36
|
Third week of the month (I spent $28.13):
2% milk gallon
|
2.89
|
dozen eggs
|
2.09
|
corn meal
|
3.98
|
ketchup
|
1.99
|
brown rice
|
1.88
|
green peppers - 2
|
1.13
|
frozen black eyed peas
|
1.69
|
lime - 1
|
0.28
|
bag of oranges
|
2.65
|
canned white beans - 2
|
1.88
|
scotch bonnet peppers
|
0.41
|
salt
|
0.69
|
vegetable oil
|
3.99
|
apple cider vinegar
|
0.99
|
parsnips - cello bag
|
0.99
|
day old bread rolls
|
0.6
|
Fourth week of the month (I spent 22.65):
bag of carrots - small
|
0.79
|
Rice Crispies
|
2.99
|
day old bread
|
1.5
|
turnips
|
0.83
|
celery
|
0.99
|
beef soup bones
|
1.17
|
tuna can - 1
|
0.69
|
black pepper
|
0.99
|
potatoes mesh bag
|
3.99
|
baking soda
|
0.69
|
white flour bag
|
2.62
|
white sugar
|
1.49
|
canned peas - 1
|
0.49
|
canned pintos - 1
|
0.59
|
canned veggie baked
beans
|
0.88
|
zucinni - 1
|
0.45
|
yogurt - 4
|
1.5
|
No comments:
Post a Comment