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$21 a Week: Could It Feed You? Using Food Stamps Calls for Budgeting, Cooking

Posted on: Wednesday, 23 May 2007, 15:00 CDT

For the past week, four congressmen wanting to illustrate the shortcomings in the federal food stamp program have been trying to feed themselves on $3 apiece per day.

Shawnique L. McBride has been doing the same, but for her, it's not a political experiment.

It's real life.

McBride, 36, an unemployed single mother of three living in South Richmond, relies on food stamps to feed her family. Her monthly assistance comes out to less than $3 a day per family member.

That's not much, but McBride makes it work by being a discriminating shopper and a cook. Quick-to-prepare, processed foods are too expensive and often not nutritious, she said.

"You have to cook," she said. "Convenience isn't part of it."

The lawmakers in Washington participating in the weeklong project are trying to raise awareness about hunger and what they say are inadequate benefits for food stamp recipients. Their food allowance for the week -- $21 apiece -- is the amount the average food stamp recipient receives in federal assistance, which is related to household income.

Advocates for the poor, such as Fay Lohr, chief executive officer of the Central Virginia Foodbank, want to seen an increase in the minimum food stamp benefits -- now $10 per person per month. Lohr recalled conducting a hunger survey on the Northern Neck a few years ago and talking to a retired waterman who received $10 a month. Lohr read a question from the survey: "How long does your food stamps last?"

The man replied, "Lady, how damn long do you think $10 lasts?"

Lohr would like minimum benefits raised to at least $25 per person per month, and even that would make only a dent in the problem, she said.

"It's a very complicated situation, and no one thing is the answer," said Lohr, whose organization feeds about 101,000 people each month across 31 counties and five cities. "It's safe, affordable housing and safe, affordable day care. It's transportation and training."

That said, what would she buy if she had $21 per week for food?

"I'd be looking for pasta and spaghetti sauce," she said. "I'd be looking for big jars of peanut butter, since that's a great source of protein . . . and for big boxes of cereal. And I'd be finding the nearest agency I could go to, to get those extras. Our goal at the food bank is to be the supplement. If they're lucky, [food stamps] last two weeks. We can be there to provide for the end of the month."

Lohr said many of the poor and working poor have health and weight problems, in part because it's difficult to eat nutritiously on a limited income.

Sharon Upton, a registered dietitian, says trying to eat a balanced diet on $21 a week is impossible.

"It's ludicrous," she said. "You can't get adequate calories on $3 a day."

If she were forced to live on $21 a week, she said, she'd make protein a priority. That means beans and rice, which are inexpensive sources of not only protein but also fiber.

"By themselves, they aren't going to give you adequate amino acids, but together they do," she said.

She'd also seek out canned vegetables, peanut

butter and eggs while avoiding expensive foods, such as nuts and fruit.

"And don't allow what little money you have to go to buying junk food," Upton said.

McBride and her children -- Shawnique D., 11, Shareem, 10, and Karl-Markus, 6 -- turn preparing meals into a family event.

Shopping is an event, too.

"I go to a meat store, where the meats are cheaper," she said. "I usually go to a dollar store, which also accepts coupons. That's where I get canned goods and my children's snacks. Then I go to Wal-Mart and get the name-brand things."

Despite the relative expense of fresh produce, McBride tries to buy it regularly so "my children can eat nutritiously." She regularly visits a food pantry at a nearby church, where she tries to select food that's low in fat. She also learns different ways to prepare food.

"A lot of people don't like to cook, or they don't know how to cook," she said. "They say to me, 'How do you do it?' You just learn. You teach yourself because that's what you have to do."

Her shopping list is as important as her recipes.

"Because I go to the same stores all the time, when I make my lists, I put down how much each item costs," she said. "You have to plan, and you have to have a budget, and you have to stick to it."

Contact staff writer Bill Lohmann at wlohmann@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6639.

Staff writer Janet Caggiano contributed to this report.

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch

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