Food Stamp Challenge

Can you feed your family on $4 a day per person?

This past week I saw the article in our local paper. It was about how a family of 4 took the SNAP challenge sticking to the amount allotted to those receiving food assistance. So I thought well my family should give this a try. The allotted amount according to the article is $4 a day per person. So that works out to be $112 a week for our family of 4. Which is more than we spend now.(Our budget is $75 a week for the 4 of us.) But I thought it might be fun to see how much it cost for each of our meals this week. Then I found others doing the challenge this week at The Non-Consumer Advocate so I decided to  participate with that challenge.

Starting tomorrow I will start the food stamp challenge. I saw this challenge over at The Non-Consumer Advocate. We live in the same city and I like her blog (which I recently found) so I thought I would follow along with this challenge as I have never done a food stamp challenge before.

The Rules of the Challenge

  • Allow $4 per person per day
  • Since many people have a stocked pantry at home use what you have, just replace what you use and count it towards what you spending for the challenge. She also mention she stocks up on staples when on sale so that is alright to do too. (I will be using what I have on hand as that is my normal practice and I will be figuring out the price of each meal to keep track of our cost.)
  • Don’t buy large amounts of food right before the challenge.
  • Even if you are on the SNAP program or spend less than $4 per person per day still participate to share ideas with others.
  • Suggested to donate any extra money that you would normally spend but saved this week. (Not required just suggested)
I am among those who already spend less than the $112 a week allotted by the challenge for our family of 4. But because I am a budget nerd, I am thinking the challenge will be fun. I will be calculating the cost of our meals from the prices I paid for each item. If I make something from scratch I will include as close as possible the price per serving or total cost per person for the meal. Yes, I really know how much I paid for each item in my pantry. I told you I was a budget nerd. I will be donating any saved money.
So what about you? Anyone else up for this challenge? If you can’t do a week maybe just a day?
[signoff]

One Comment

  1. This is such a great idea Shelly! I read a similar article about how some famous chefs were trying to feed their families on the same amount that is given to food stamp recipients. All they did was complain all the time about all the fancier foods that they could no longer buy or how sad it was that their kids couldn’t go get pizza on the way to their basketball games. I just shook my head and thought about all the people who are surviving on their own without food stamps, spending much less than $112 a week by using coupons and making a lot of their own food at home.

    I know you are going to do great on this challenge!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *