I just looked at the numbers and I would have to INCREASE my grocery budget to get to the SNAP amount. My current budget is $680 and SNAP would give me $789. So, I basically do this challenge every month and didn't even realize it. : ) And yes, it is easier to save money when you shop for a large family because of bulk purchasing that doesn't make sense/would be wasteful for a single person.
There are certain foods you can and cannot buy, though. So for this challenge, only foods within the SNAP guidelines can be bought.
I'm trying to find the non-acceptable items and can't seem to find a list other than this. Households CANNOT use SNAP benefits to buy:
Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco; Any nonfood items, such as:
-- pet foods; -- soaps, paper products; and -- household supplies. Vitamins and medicines.
Food that will be eaten in the store.
Hot foods.
Is there anything else? If not, I truly think that I do this already. I do not buy anything from the deli counter, I do not buy prepared foods, my family does not smoke or drink alcohol, I purchase my vitamins/cleaning/paper/toiletry products seperately from my food budget and I do it for approx. $680 per month ($113 less than I would get from food stamps). I have three little kids so we don't often have very fancy foods but there is always a vegetable involved and we eat a lot of whole grains. Let me clarify though, we eat dinner out once per week and DH eats lunch out at work 1-2 times per week so $680 isn't for EVERY meal. However, if we cut those out and I purchased food to cook with my food stamp amount I would have an extra $113 with which to work so I shouldn's have a problem making 4 family dinners and 4-8 lunches for DH on $113. Like I said before, I think this would be easier for me with a family of 5. I can save on chicken breast by buying 10lbs. at a time. This likely wouldn't make sense for a 1-2 person household because it is a LOT of chicken and would cost most of your weekly budget just to buy chicken. I buy peanut butter is very large quantities that would probably be wasted for small families, but they are cheaper by the ounce when you buy them by the truckload (or it feels like a truckloaad when I have to unload it from the car). Would I be able to do this if I were a single person and only had $30 per week? Maybe, but it would be difficult.
Wow, a family of 4 gets $668 a month. We don't spend that on groceries and stay within the guidelines for the most part. Steaks sometimes in the summer.
There are certain foods you can and cannot buy, though. So for this challenge, only foods within the SNAP guidelines can be bought.
I'm trying to find the non-acceptable items and can't seem to find a list other than this. Households CANNOT use SNAP benefits to buy:
Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco; Any nonfood items, such as:
-- pet foods; -- soaps, paper products; and -- household supplies. Vitamins and medicines.
Food that will be eaten in the store.
Hot foods.
Is there anything else? If not, I truly think that I do this already. I do not buy anything from the deli counter, I do not buy prepared foods, my family does not smoke or drink alcohol, I purchase my vitamins/cleaning/paper/toiletry products seperately from my food budget and I do it for approx. $680 per month ($113 less than I would get from food stamps). I have three little kids so we don't often have very fancy foods but there is always a vegetable involved and we eat a lot of whole grains. Let me clarify though, we eat dinner out once per week and DH eats lunch out at work 1-2 times per week so $680 isn't for EVERY meal. However, if we cut those out and I purchased food to cook with my food stamp amount I would have an extra $113 with which to work so I shouldn's have a problem making 4 family dinners and 4-8 lunches for DH on $113. Like I said before, I think this would be easier for me with a family of 5. I can save on chicken breast by buying 10lbs. at a time. This likely wouldn't make sense for a 1-2 person household because it is a LOT of chicken and would cost most of your weekly budget just to buy chicken. I buy peanut butter is very large quantities that would probably be wasted for small families, but they are cheaper by the ounce when you buy them by the truckload (or it feels like a truckloaad when I have to unload it from the car). Would I be able to do this if I were a single person and only had $30 per week? Maybe, but it would be difficult.
also, as I said above, many people dont even have the option to buy in bulk- they cant get to a regular grocery store or Costco unless they use public transportion- adding an additional cost that they cant use SNAP for- making it difficult to carry bulk foods, etc.
Wow, a family of 4 gets $668 a month. We don't spend that on groceries and stay within the guidelines for the most part. Steaks sometimes in the summer.
The shock to us would be no eating out.
The thing is, can you stay within that if you didn't go out to eat?
Wow, a family of 4 gets $668 a month. We don't spend that on groceries and stay within the guidelines for the most part. Steaks sometimes in the summer.
For instance, at Wegmans, much of the store is devoted to prepared foods--- already cooked. I can't buy any of those.
If the food is sold at a warm temperature. You can buy cakes from the bakery, you can buy cooked chicken that is then in the fridge area, you can buy deli packaged items....just nothing that is physically hot when it is sold to you.
I'd get $50/week according to that link. That's what I already spend each week on groceries. Including my weekly 6-12 pack of beer.
So piece of cake.
I wonder why Cory Booker is doing less.
Maybe because most people don't get the max since its offset by salary? hmm
When I applied I was approved for $120/month which is less than the $200/month for my income. Not sure why, even though I was unemployed due to my move falling through. (I quit my job a year ago, I applied for food stamps in June. If people are going to remind me about my life, at least get the timelines and reasoning right.)
And I did the math wrong. It's actually $46.50. But still, that's what I spend a week on groceries including beer. With this challenge I can't use that on beer so that's an extra $6-10/week on more food.
For instance, at Wegmans, much of the store is devoted to prepared foods--- already cooked. I can't buy any of those.
If the food is sold at a warm temperature. You can buy cakes from the bakery, you can buy cooked chicken that is then in the fridge area, you can buy deli packaged items....just nothing that is physically hot when it is sold to you.
For some reason I thought that bakery cakes were specifically excluded?
My grocery store has a section where they will make you sandwiches or pizza slices to order, and they have a buffet with lasagna, chicken wings, mashed potatoes, etc. that you can get to go or to eat in the store. And some Whole Foods basically have a restaurant in the store. I'm guessing that's the kind of "hot food" they are referring to.
Wow, a family of 4 gets $668 a month. We don't spend that on groceries and stay within the guidelines for the most part. Steaks sometimes in the summer.
The shock to us would be no eating out.
The thing is, can you stay within that if you didn't go out to eat?
I will found out. We usually spend about $400 at the store. Our eating out ranges from $200 to $1000 any given month depending on how many social events we have.
If the food is sold at a warm temperature. You can buy cakes from the bakery, you can buy cooked chicken that is then in the fridge area, you can buy deli packaged items....just nothing that is physically hot when it is sold to you.
For some reason I thought that bakery cakes were specifically excluded?
Not unless it's a new thing. I use to buy my son's bday cakes with EBT when I had it.
For some reason I thought that bakery cakes were specifically excluded?
Not unless it's a new thing. I use to buy my son's bday cakes with EBT when I had it.
"Items such as birthday and other special occasion cakes are eligible for purchase with SNAP benefits as long as the value of non-edible decorations does not exceed 50 percent of the purchase price of the cake. "
shoot, I also need to suspend DD's school lunch for a week. arg. or should i keep it since many schools provide free lunches? (even though I'm obviously paying for hers)
I think this comes at the perfect time. I just told H I want to stay under $600 for food this month. I'll just change that to $526 and try a bit harder!
For some reason I thought that bakery cakes were specifically excluded?
Not unless it's a new thing. I use to buy my son's bday cakes with EBT when I had it.
You are right. I read an article wrong -- it said that "The Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, also states that soft drinks, candy, cookies, snack crackers, and ice cream count as food items and are therefore eligible items. The list also includes seafood, steak, and bakery cakes."
shoot, I also need to suspend DD's school lunch for a week. arg. or should i keep it since many schools provide free lunches? (even though I'm obviously paying for hers)
Can you deduct the cost of her lunches from your total weekly amount?
I could, but wouldnt it be considered eating out? Its only $17.50, though.
I know this is getting off on a tangent, but the fact that you can buy a cold rotisserie chicken but not a hot one seems dumb?
yes, really dumb.
Agree, but it's the easiest place to draw the line. Excluding previously cooked foods could affect frozen foods, canned baked beans, etc and opens the guidelines up for interpretation.
also, as I said above, many people dont even have the option to buy in bulk- they cant get to a regular grocery store or Costco unless they use public transportion- adding an additional cost that they cant use SNAP for- making it difficult to carry bulk foods, etc.
This is very true and I completely agree. The original post was about whether or not we could do this. Some can, some can't. I can. I grew up on food stamps. My mother (single parent with no child support) quit working due to health issues when I was 8 years old. She did not have any income for 5 years and no regular income again until I was 16. We were completely at the mercy of food stamps and we actually ate better on food stamps than when my mother worked and paid for food. My mom is the worst cook in the history of the world so she got fast food more often than not before she got sick. When my mother was at her sickest I would have a family member, neighbor, or friend give me a ride to the store (since I wasn't old enough to drive) and I would get what we needed. I knew we couldn't have hot food so I would buy things that were easy for me to cook as a 9/10/11 year old. Yes, we ate a lot of mac and cheese and spaghetti with jarred sauce. I knew cases of soda were expensive so I never bought them. The generic was usually cheaper so that is what I got. I also tried to go to stores where you bagged your own groceries because they were cheaper. At the end of my shopping trip I would hand over my little booklets of food stamps (this was before the EBT cards and they reminded me of Monopoly money) and wait for my ride home. As I became a teenager it was terribly embarassing to me to have to pull out my food stamp booklets but I did it every week and we always ate. I can only remember running short on food stamps a few times and that was usually around the holidays when we were buying for holiday meals. It was not glamorous and we wouldn't have wanted to be on food stamps if we didn't have to but those are the curveballs life throws, right? Being on food stamps you don't always get to eat what you want but you do get to eat and I think that is the point.