Yes. Some people do that. But not the majority. I know what you are talking about.
http://www.10news.com/news/ucsd-professor-gets-meals-saves-money-by-dumpster-diving
I don’t think most cities and apartment landlords allow people to raise animals in the backyard.
We have apple trees that produce far more than we ever eat. Unfortunately, I’m not crazy about apples, so we end up giving away/throwing away many of them. But I could definitely see using them in a barter system. There are many people here who have gardens in public garden space, so they don’t have to plant things in their yard. A lot of the excess fruit/vegetables go to the food banks.
Nonsense. Sure you do. You just don’t choose to. That money is being put away for the retirement you plan to take in a few short years. Its a choice. Not an inability. Get real.
Personally, I have quality food as a priority.
That affects my health and enjoyment of life much more than having or even knowing about the latest tech toys.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it can make up for damage that has already been done to my body when I did not have adequate nutrition because of cost.
I wish we had better food banks. People shouldn’t have to wait to get food.
Thinking of when I found out I was pregnant, and H was on strike and even to get help for pregnant women and children, there was a waiting period.
This is a great thing to do, but…
I have 11 young hens. They produce 6-8 eggs per day, but their food costs about $7.50 per week. They are free range, which probably cuts down on the cost of food during the growing seasons, but not when there is snow on the ground or during the winter when there are no bugs or plants to eat. They also have to be fed for about 5 months before they start to lay. If you want them to lay consistently all winter, you have to extend their daily hours of light, which requires rigging up an electric light on a timer.
Luckily, when I started with chickens, I had an old outbuilding I could convert to their use very cheaply, using discarded building materials. I had to buy some insulation, and a remnant of vinyl flooring. If you are starting from scratch in a cold climate, it can be expensive. There is a reason why people jokingly call the first egg the $1,000 egg.
Ultimately it certainly pays off, but it would not be feasible for someone who is actually trying to eat on $29 per week, at least not unless someone gives them hens that are already laying and they can manage the shelter aspect without spending $$. And of course you have to live somewhere that allows poultry, which lets out most cities and suburbs. (The good news is that you do NOT need a rooster! 
)
Here’s an article about a woman who tried the $29/week challenge. Mirrors what some of us have said. Eggs, oatmeal, beans. Would be easier to do if cooking for multiple people. She ate the same thing a lot which gets boring.
https://www.dailyworth.com/posts/3550-i-tried-to-eat-well-on-4-a-day/1
It should be said that for people who really do rely on SNAP, eating on $29 a week isn’t an interesting challenge, in the sense of this thread. It’s a real-life challenge, week in and week out. They don’t have the luxury of knowing that on Day 8, they can go back to abundant fresh produce and high-quality meat, not to mention the daily Starbucks run. I’m blessed that I’ve never had to rely on food assistance, but I can easily imagine that it wears you down to live so close to the edge every day.
And that grind doesn’t exist in isolation. If someone is using SNAP, they are also struggling to cover the other basic costs of living – rent, utilities, gas or bus fare, clothing, medical care. Struggling, and usually failing in one or more of those categories. And since there is no cushion, no discretionary income, no savings account, then any little thing which all of us could handle is disastrous for them. And the eternal watching of every single penny, and having to juggle food versus medicine versus utilities, is soul-crushing. To get an inkling of what it’s like to be poor in this country – far beyond the $29 challenge – I recommend Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.
I think this challenge for us is valuable because it’s eye-opening. It’s made us think – How WOULD we eat for a week on $29? But let’s never forget that for millions of people, it’s life and there’s no end in sight.
[Why Poor People Stay Poor](Linda Tirado on the realities of living in bootstrap America: daily annoyances for most people are catastrophic for poor people.)
[‘I’m working as hard as I can’: For the poor, the costs of life can be higher]('I'm working as hard as I can': For the poor, the costs of life can be higher)
Hey, that’s what I am eating! What’s wrong with that?
“Here’s an article about a woman who tried the $29/week challenge. Mirrors what some of us have said. Eggs, oatmeal, beans. Would be easier to do if cooking for multiple people. She ate the same thing a lot which gets boring.”
I eat the same thing all the time, but I’m so not a foodie. We’ll have some kind of casserole and just take a plate and reheat it til it runs out. Or we will make chicken breasts on the grill and just eat them throughout the week. That is all the energy I want to devote to cooking when I get home from work. I couldn’t live on $29 a week, but the sameness doesn’t bother me. If I want “different” -well, putting salsa on the chicken breast one night tastes different from putting teriyaki sauce on it the next night! Can you tell I despise cooking?? Lol
Nothing wrong with eggs, oatmeal, beans. Economical, yes, but also healthy and delicious. They are staples in my home as well. I am a foodie, however, and do enjoy a variety of food. Don’t enjoy grocery shopping but I do enjoy cooking. Feel very fortunate that my decision to eat eggs, oatmeal, beans is one based on preference, not one forced on me by necessity and that I can add other items to my menu, or afford to eat or order out if I don’t feel like cooking.
@LasMa’s comments above are spot on. The $29 food budget is only one of many hardships faced by someone relying on SNAP.
When I eat healthy I basically eat the same foods every day. A grain dish, eggs, fruit, salad, a bean dish and nuts or seed. . Add a black coffee and green tea. Plus 2 bottles of water. There is no way I could eat on $29 per week
Did you know that WIC forbids people from buying rice and dried beans in amounts over 1 lb at a time? Apparently because they think if people buy in bulk they will sell it on the hot rice and beans black market to get money to spend on other things. It is mind boggling. And imagine the amount of $$ that is spent trying to enforce this.
Post #206, I have been poor in this country when I was younger. No air condition in the 110 heat, no phone, nothing. But at least I was much younger. My mom cried when she left her purse on the shopping cart and some one stole it. But I think we came from a much poorer country than people born in this country so we did have a built in way to learn how to live with less. I don’t 100% agree with the book, because if you are really poor you get to be creative. It’s certainly not living on edge. We were generally happy and I didn’t discover the library yet.
Wow, I never knew that consolation. Though… admittedly, I hate beans and rice.
I was at a farmer’s market this morning in Northern Michigan and watched a woman trying to buy fruits and veggies with her SNAP card. Several vendors wouldn’t take it (I’m actually not even sure if this is legal but that’s not the point here). A little old lady who was selling fruits, veggies, and some baked goods (I bought a muffin from her and it was like heaven on earth) quickly made up a basket for her and gave it to her for free. My faith in humanity was restored for the day.
It blows my mind that people insist on putting up more and more hurdles for the poorest people to get healthy food… and then gripe about how people on SNAP don’t eat healthful options…
I have been on track with $58 for 2 person, I must admit I get a lot of healthy vegetables from my garden. I add a lot of vegetable protein like garbanzo bean, black eye peas, etc… to my diet because I can’t consume a lot of meat either. I eat to maintain a constant blood sugar level, not diabetics, but just try to ward off potential problem. Besides, I feel a lot better when I eat this way. I buy a lot of the beans from Sprouts, bulk container and not in prepackage, I believe they are much cheaper.
The local farmers’ markets here take SNAP.
Legislators in WI have been trying to impose the WIC rules on all food assistance. WIC is suppose to be supplementary. The WIC rules are very restrictive, and people would pretty much not be able to save any money by buying in bulk, would not be allowed to buy herbs, spices, and condiments, no white potatoes, and so on.
Romani, that’s because for some reason in this country we feel the poor should be punished, even beyond the punishment of poverty itself. They also have hurdles the rest of us don’t have when it comes to transportation, utilities, medical care, banking, and so on. Everyday life is just so much harder for them, and often more expensive.
Post #216, we had no car, I had to take the bus to school and work. Regarding medical, I had a cavity, but the insurance was only paid to pull having it out and not repairing, it caused many problems down the road. On top of that the Argentinian dentist was lecturing me for using government insurance, I was only 16. I wish I can see her now to give her my finger.
When I need help on another issue, a white South African doctor and his wife decided to do it for almost free, the most caring people I’ve met.
The time when we were the poorest in our lives was when we were grad students in this country. We are glad our child was not born yet at that time.
Before our child was four, we had mostly been living in an apartment in a not so nice neighborhood. DS told me (after he had grown up) he actually remembered the days when we lived in our last apartment but not anything before that. (he was about 3 and 4 years old, I think.)
When my wife was pregnent and had a check-up, the people in the hospital asked us on several occasions whether we needed any government assistance for the new mother and the baby. We never need this assistance but they seem to think we need this. (We were not dressed poorly or anything like that. But we did not speak English well and drove a clunker. We were actually slightly “above the middle class” back in our home country before we immigrated to this country. But we suffered financially in our first few years here. Because of our humble beginning, we always thought we would send our child to a state college. We would never be able to imagine back then that we would be “full pay” parents at a $$$$ private college later.)
Exactly, @DrGoogle . Here in Sacramento, we occasionally have a free dental expo, where people who have no other options can get one-time emergency dental care. It is a wonderful thing, don’t get me wrong. The people who get these services are beyond grateful, and the dental professionals who donate their time and materials are nothing less than saints, IMO.
But it shows how life is simply more difficult for the poor than it is for us. When I need dental care, I call and make an appointment. I show up and get my care, and I’m on my way. When the poor need dental care, they wait sometimes many months for one of these events, and then stand in line for many hours, hoping to be seen. Here’s another cost of being poor: They’re guaranteed to miss an entire day’s work to go to the expo, which in turn means losing an entire day’s pay. When I go to the dentist, I only miss an hour or two of work – and I don’t lose any pay at all since I have sick leave.
http://www.kcra.com/news/free-dental-clinic-helps-those-in-need/32059550