Eating Organic for Less Than You Thought Possible

A recent challenge had a couple of Congressmen attempting to feed themselves for about $21 a week, the minimum provided by food stamp programs. As noted in the linked article, that figure is a little absurd:

The $21/week figure is pretty arbitrary. Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski ate on that amount for a week because it's the average amount Oregon food stamp recipients receive. Since then, all the other politicians have adopted that figure, but it's pretty meaningless - in reality, benefits range from $38.75/week per person (the maximum benefit), on down.

As I understand it, the amount anyone receives is based on their income. Everyone is expected to pay 1/3 of their income toward food costs. Of course, that's not always possible, so people do end up trying to live off their food stamp allotment - and to supplement it with Food Pantries and the like.

Realistically, most people on food stamps are getting a larger allotment and supplementing from their own income, as it should be. Unfortunately many of them are completely ignorant of home food preparation, otherwise known as 'cooking'. I grew up in a home where most meals were home-cooked. I know what chicken stock is, how it is made, and what to do with it. I think that what most people today think of as 'cooking' is really 'heating' (I suppose technically mac-n-cheese must be 'cooked' but I reject the idea that this activity is in the spirit of 'cooking'). IMO, if you don't at least know how to take a bag of flour and turn it into bread, you don't know how to cook (I'm not talking about those boxes of pre-mixed breadmaker ingredients either).



So, Rebecca Blood decided to give healthy, organic eating a try under a realistic price restriction:

The number I'm using - $74/week for the two of us - is the amount alloted for 2 people under the USDA's "Thrifty Food Plan" for February (the most recent one available when I started).

It's the government's assumption of the cost for a "Thrifty" healthy diet. It's the number that food stamp allotments are based on - as I understand the system, the Food Stamps are supposed to bring you up to the "Thrifty" amount.

The figure of $74 a week for two adults sounds pretty generous to me, unless you get your organic food from the local yuppie food boutique. Around here $20 at the local Farmers Market will get you quite a pile of vegetables. Maybe not all certified organic, but many of these people are the very same people selling their goods to the local organic food stores.



So, how does she do?

I've been so successful that I've come under the Thrifty Food Budget ($74/week) and the maximum Food Stamp benefit ($71/week) both weeks. Importantly, I haven't changed the way we eat to do this.

I think the most important ideas here are that most people think they are too busy to cook at home, that learning to cook is hard, or simply don't realize they multiple ways eating fast and manufactured foods do damage to the world and their bodies.



Follow the link for the whole article.



WorldChanging: Eating Organic on a Food Stamp Budget