For $25 I was able to buy:
- 40 mini corn dogs
- 40 mini bagel pizzas
- 30 mozzarella cheese sticks
- 27 oz buffalo chicken wings
- 10 fluffy white bread peanut butter sandwiches
That is a lot of crappy quality kid food… in our house we call such foods ”food-like-substances” becuase they look like food but are of such low quality they barely provide any real nutrition. I bought these things as an experiment because they are things that mothers with limited budgets would likely buy for feed hungry little tummies. To be honest I could not bring myself to look at the ingredient list… the thought was just too scary! I doubt Olivia will be enticed by this food (maybe the cheese sticks), but for Liam such things are undoubtedly viewed as a rare treat…
My family was on food stamps for a time when I was young. We ate cold cereal and milk or oatmeal for breakfast, spaghetti, Top Ramen, peanuts, apples, bananas, iceberg lettuce (which was cheap), meat (on sale or reduced in price), pancakes, eggs (cheap), peanut butter and Jelly, tuna, or lunchmeat sandwiches, enjoyed homemade oatmeal or peanut butter cookies–occasionally, extras my mom bought were red licorice ropes, Kool-Aid for me (was like 10 cents/ea.), and some citrus-type soda, like Squirt (my mom’s drink). My mom tried growing tomatoes in the summer. I remember some huge packages of processed cheese in big long brown boxes (government cheese?) We got yogurts which were for dessert and I remember picking out the flavors I liked.
Luckily we lived in the San Joaquin valley CA. So we were able to get summer fruits like strawberries, cherries and peaches directly at the farms which actually cost so little and the farms were generous in weighing things out–often throwing in a little extra for free. My Great Grandma had a walnut tree in her backyard so we had great big bags of hand picked and shelled walnuts in the freezer all year long.
I guess the point is that when you have little money, you become more resourceful over time. Easier to do in the country where food is being produced but harder to do in the city. Does anyone know the rules of going to the food bank when you are on food stamps? It is likely that some staples or supplements could stretch that budget a little more.