True!
I did both- I had a WS job and worked over 20 hours.
ETA: I’ve been feeding a family of 4 on about $200 per month for the last several months (not because of SNAP but because that’s our budget). Maybe I’ll actually take note of what is bought next time we go to a grocery store (I do not shop anymore- that’s on my partner)
We buy generously and our weekly grocery bill is about $65. So it’s not hard to go down to $60. But we eat out at work, only bring breakfast everyday.
I think I could do it by getting ingredients to make soup, pasta, and chili: chicken/vegetable broth, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, white beans and red beans, cabbage, potatoes, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. I’d probably make a cabbage soup and a vegetable/bean soup–which should work for 3-4 meals. I’d get ground beef and use it for chili as well as a meat sauce for a pasta dinner (need a can of tomato sauce/paste) --another 2-3 meals. Finally, I’d get greens for a salad, along with cucumbers and green onions to go along with the soup and pasta. Oatmeal for breakfast and some fruit (apples or oranges).
I’m not good about keeping track of the prices of veggies like onions, celery, etc. but most of the soup ingredients aren’t expensive nor are the ingredients for chili or pasta (with the exception of the ground beef). I’m too lazy to check it out, but one can make a large amount of soup that can last for many days. Making your own would be healthier than buying canned soups.
The thing that always bugs me about these challenges is how unrealistic they are.
Don’t get me wrong- I am THRILLED that people are trying to understand and bring awareness to hunger in this country but it still bugs me.
Like oats. I can buy oats for $1 and that sucker will last me a month or more. Or olive oil. I love olive oil and a bottle will last me probably three or four months.
But raspberries are $4 a box. As much as I love raspberries, they’re still not in my budget. 
That all sounds good ^^^ When you price it all out though, you can sometimes be surprised at how much even canned good add up! (the price of ground beef these days - crazy!)
Does not seem too hard if one starts with bulk staples like rice, corn tortillas, or oats plus beans or tofu, then using the rest for vegetables and maybe eggs or canned salmon, sardines, or skipjack tuna.
Of course, this also assumes shopping at reasonably priced stores.
Can somebody expand on that scenario? There are plenty of students who are in college and have a WS job as part as their financial aid package and even have to pay taxes on the room and board “income.”
Let’s take the example of a student about to enter Rice with a 100% financial aid package since he has a zero EFC. To keep it simple, his package includes a COA of 60,000 with a room and board valued at 15,000. The work study represents 3,000 a year and covers his extra travel and insurance cost.
Under which conditions could such a student get food stamps? How long can one get SNAP benefits?
You can use the same scenario with a student working 21 hours a week and earning 254 dollars per week.
My understanding has always been that SNAP might work for students in graduate programs who balance stipends, low income jobs, and cover their own housing costs, but that it does not work for students who attend residential colleges during their UG years.
I have worked with many students with zero EFC who attend highly selective schools, and none of them relied on food stamps or additional assistance. Part of the reason is that it would NOT positively impact their finances and potentially reduce their need based aid at the school.
What am I missing here?
As far as the 29 per week, I think it is feasible but only if one removes the “healthy” from the equation. I have seen people at the supermarket and the “food stamps or whatever you call it” purchases are usually comprising fattening and high calorie items. On the other hand, there is often a separate car with even less healthier products that cannot be bought with the assistance.
Fwiw, one can bake 8 pounds of bread for about 2 dollars, and more when flour is bought in bulk. That should go a lot longer than buying the crap sold in the supermarkets.
My daughters worked in college, but not 20 hours.
I had no idea that you could get SNAP with work study, that sure isn’t advertised.
The one who attended a private LAC had a work study job, but then again COA was $60,000.
The one who attended a public instate university had a much lower COA, so she was not eligible for benefits.
Loop holes are funny.
I also had no idea that as a parent, I could have gotten food stamps, because I could not find child care to work 20 hrs a week & go to school.
That sure would have made things easier, but it was so hard to get food stamps before I was married, because I owned a car, that it never occurred to me to check.
I see they have since relaxed the rules, but that was about 40 years ago!
State by state basis. Here are the Michigan guidelines: http://www.emich.edu/studentgov/documents/laws/food_assistance_program.pdf
This isn’t a loophole here. It was specifically designed that way after reforming SNAP benefits for students. The reasoning is that those who qualify for WS are likely from low-income families.
Btw, programs like the double up food bucks were wonderful and I wish they could be expanded. However, here in Michigan, the places participating are few and far between- and their advertisement sucks.
In the spirit of the test, it seems to me that one ought to take $5 from the challenge to allow for staples. The OP bought lettuce and carrots, but salad dressing isn’t for free. And what is flavoring that rice and oatmeal? What are those eggs being cooked in?
What is this person having for lunch? I’d like to see the menus for the 21 meals. I guess the person doesn’t drink coffee or tea.
Neither did I, EK, and for some reason, I’d think that programs that have a really long history guiding low-income students should know how to work that part of the system.
On the other hand, a whole bunch of people who listened to the fraudulent advice of a CPA were just rounded up in my former hometown. They had milked various combination of government assistance, student assistance, or claimed educational credits for years. The students were the typical students at the local university who take a decade to graduate, if they ever do. The reality is that survive by masquerading being students to collect grants and then low interest loans. That cottage industry is booming at for profit schools but equally poisoning the state and community colleges.
Might be a regional thing!
@“Cardinal Fang” I know I didn’t add any of the things you list, because I don’t use them, even in real life, never mind if I did the challenge. No coffee or tea or soda. No salad dressing.
Based on my menu, I would have oatmeal with whole milk for breakfast every day (what I have every day anyways). I never add anything, so same for the challenge. For lunch, sandwich with Swiss cheese. Usually, I add a little butter and some fresh veggies on the side (like radishes), but I skipped the butter and radishes for the challenge, to save money obviously. For dinner, boiled/steamed lentils and broccoli and cauliflower. Again, even for normal dinners, I usually eat either boiled or sautéed (for that, I would need olive oil), or baked veggies (obviously, the variety is greater for the non-challenge) as well as a protein (lentils or peas or cheese or fish - I picked lentils for the challenge, because they are cheaper than cheese, and I really like them). I don’t use spices almost ever (outside salt and pepper and every once in a while an Indian spice I happen to have), just because I don’t like cooking and keep things as simple as possible. Outside the challenge, I also eat a lot more fruits and a daily avocado and some nuts, but I had to go with just two bananas a day for the challenge, because they are my favorite, and they are cheaper than other fruits. I had to cut my yogurt too.
So, that would be my menu for the week!
I was once very poor living on my own 30 years ago. I didn’t get food stamps but had very little money. I ate lots of baked potatoes, popcorn, pizza, which was sold here for 45 cents a slice, and ramein noodles. I went to all the family gatherings and church gatherings cuz there was free food. I worked at a donut shop and got free donuts. You learn to adapt and adjust to your circumstances and figure out how to fill in blank areas.
Those days, I’d get treated to dinner in a restaurant once or twice a year. It was a big deal and delicious. These days, dinner in a restaurant is not as special because it is more easily afforded.
Really low income families aren’t likely to be sending their kids to college.
They need them to be working and contributing to the household.
Perhaps they should be looking at students who qualify for FRL while in K-12, otherwise you have cases like students who are attending schools that cost $60,000, but they only make $80,000, so they are awarded work study, and so qualify for SNAP.
Meanwhile, other students whose family makes $60,000, and they are attending a community college and do not qualify for work study, also don’t qualify for assistance.
My kids roommate gets money for attending college. I don’t know how poor her family is but I think pretty close. I think her dad is an artist supporting the whole family.
Here is someone who figured out how to do it on $4/day…
Cardinal Fang, your point is well taken regarding salad dressing, butter, etc. This $29 isn’t “start up funds” though and I’m assuming that I had bought butter or salad dressing another week. Also, I did state in my “let’s play this game” scenario in the original post that for our purposes, assume you have spices and other very basics in the house and for our purposes I eliminated beverages. But absolutely true that in the real world, those costs would matter.
The purpose of this thread/topic was food for thought. Literally. 
Cheap food that is healthy typically requires some home preparation. Some of the very poorest people may not have even the most basic kitchen facilities, so they may be limited to eating things that require no additional preparation (e.g. corn tortillas and tofu or canned beans, supplemented by raw vegetables or canned fish, though the cans may need a can opener).
Of course, whether the people you see whom you assume to be using SNAP or food stamps may not necessarily be spending the food subsidy or other money wisely or healthily.
