John and I both consume caffeine on a daily basis so I made an effort to find something cheap to add to our diet to make sure we both had our daily caffeine! I had a 2 liter bottle of diet soda that lasted me for 5 days and John had a six pack of diet soda that lasted him 5 days. I didn't list those each day, but we did consume some each day. I also made tea from scratch and drank that. The cost was factored into the budget.
Overall the food we consumed cost about $36.87 (not including the 2 extra chicken breasts). The only reason we came in under $40 was the fact that we ate lunch at the soup kitchen on Wednesday. We had 1/2 of the margarine and jelly left over. We also had 2 hotdogs and buns leftover.
If I hadn't done well planning and shopping we would have been hungrier than we were. We also would have eaten more poor quality foods than we did. Many food stamp recipients don't have the luxury of choosing where they will shop, buying larger quantities (due to lack of storage or ability to transport) or access to fresh produce. Unfortunately, many food stamp recipients live in food deserts - areas with limited access to healthy, affordable food so they are hurt because of their limited budget and further hurt because of lack of access to good food choices.
I am glad we tried this and relieved to be done. I think food is not only a basic right, but critical to creating a healthy, educated workforce. The costs of not making sure everyone in this country gets adequate nutrition is far greater than the cost of food stamps to supplement the diet of low income individuals.
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