$4.45 a Day

I recently found myself researching the SNAP program as an offshoot of a class project. SNAP is the current incarnation of what most people call food stamps.

During my research I was shocked to learn that the average benefit comes in at $4.45 a day per person in an eligible household.

$4.45 A DAY

Whether you believe in public assistance or not, I think everyone can agree that eating for $4.45 a day is tough.

Seriously, when was the last time you ate for $4.45 a day?

I'm sure we can all account for some lean times in our lives. I know I can. For a few years after my parent's divorce mom and I lived off of ham sandwiches, Lender's frozen bagels, eggs, and Doritos.
I worked part-time all the way through high school to pay for my clothes/car/going out with friends. Money was tight but I certainly never went hungry.

Based on learning about SNAP and with inspiration from Leanne Brown, I decided to see if eating well on $4.45 a day was possible.


I am aware that the program is only meant to help with an eligible household's food purchases and was NOT designed to be their only source of groceries. But, from my years as a teacher, I know there are some families out there that do rely on SNAP to feed themselves and their family.

I must admit that I was further motivated to do this during the month of November as it is possibly the most food indulgent month in the United States.

Even though Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, it is a bit absurd that we have a national holiday that is not only dedicated to, but also celebrates, gluttony. Therefore,

I will attempt to feed myself and Charlie for $4.45 per person a day for the month of November.

This turns out to be $267 per month or $66.75 per week. Of course, I find it very interesting that the USDA estimates a "thrifty" weekly grocery budget for a family of 2 is $90 per week.

If you'd like to follow this experiment, I plan to post updates here twice a week that include my shopping list, the money I spend, and the meals that I fix.
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For those that are interested, here is some more background on why I am motivated to do this project:

During the five years I spent as an English teacher in high need/low income areas, nearly all of the kids I taught  received public assistance. And, throughout those years I realized that the food stamps they received were, in fact, the only money a lot of their families had for food.

The hunger that I often saw in my classroom was heartbreaking.

After realizing a large number of my students came to school without breakfast and often didn't have dinner the night before, I began keeping granola bars, fruit snacks, peanut butter crackers and quite a bit of other food in my classroom.

I got "in trouble" on a number of occasions for letting students eat in my classroom. However, that was a battle I was more than willing to fight. I don't understand how a child is expected to learn if their stomach is hurting from hunger or if they are on the verge of passing out.

The hunger was so real for some of my students that several would voluntarily stay for tutoring after school several days a week because they knew I always provided a snack. 

I realized giving kids snacks isn't a permanent fix for the problem but it was the best I could do at the time. My experience with childhood hunger in my classroom certainly changed the way I view food.

Now that I'm almost done with culinary school I feel like I'm able to do more. Therefore, I'm currently looking for volunteer opportunities that would allow me to share this knowledge with those that need help stretching their food budget and cooking healthy meals at home.