Newark Mayor Cory Booker vows to live like a food stamp recipient for a week to raise awareness about poverty

Quote :

"Newark Mayor Cory Booker is starving for attention. But it’s for a good cause — Booker plans to live like a food stamp recipient for a week and try to survive on less than $5 a day to raise awareness about poverty. Already famous for rescuing a neighbor from a raging kitchen fire in April and inviting Hurricane Sandy victims to his home, Booker said Tuesday he had agreed to the challenge. He also said he might go longer than the seven-day stretch other public officials have completed in the past. On Wednesday, Booker confirmed the dates Dec. 4 through Dec. 11 to his army of 1.2 million Twitter followers. The idea grew from a recent Twitter exchange with a North Carolina married mother of two over welfare benefits. “This will not be a gimmick or a stunt,” Booker vowed to reporters. A New Jersey Department of Human Services spokeswoman said Booker will likely qualify for about $34 a week. The department’s commissioner, Jennifer Velez, took the challenge last December."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/newark-booker-live-food-stamps-boost-poverty-awareness-article-1.1206146

The average that the government pays for food stamps is $4.44/day. Should food stamp $ be increased? $10/day? $20/day?

One week a while back in college I lived off a lot of beans, lentils, and eggs... I think I ended up under $4/day when I calculated it. Prices have likely gone up slightly. It is possible, but its hard to get fresh produce and meats on $4.44/day.

11/23/2012 3:58:00 PM

It's definitely doable. You're not going to be eating a lot of red meat, or much meat at all for that matter, but it's doable.

Eggs are about $.20 each, things like dried beans are in the realm of $2/pound. Rice is even cheaper at around $1 per pound. For those on a budget fresh produce will be largely out, but fortunately frozen vegetables offer most of the nutritional benefits at a substantially lower price and with the stability of the frozen medium you can buy in bulk or stock up on sale items. When it comes to proteins you're going to be eating a lot of beans, canned fish, and frozen chicken.

Don't get me wrong, it would suck, but you can eat a nutritionally sound, healthy diet on less than $5 per day. I've done something close to it myself without really meaning to and without too much difficulty a few years ago when I was living on a very tight budget following a rather pricey surgery. I had a $200/month budget for grocery shopping which included non-foods like detergent, toothpaste, etc. and managed to make it work.

11/23/2012 4:22:12 PM

^ Yeah... I use to buy bags of organic lentils, quinoa, and beans in bulk. If you buy in bulk, and make smart choices you def. can live under $4/day for food and beverages. I would be interested in what I spend now per day. I tend to buy frozen chicken breasts bc they are cheaper, frozen veggies, etc. for the cost. Water and tea (which I buy 100 packs of) are all that I drink for the most part.

I may actually try to record this coming week the cost. I know when I go to the grocery store maybe once every 2 weeks I spend maybe 60 dollars (if not buying beer, which adds up), but I also have tons of beans, lentils, pasta that I am stocked up on.

[Edited on November 23, 2012 at 4:29 PM. Reason : beer]

11/23/2012 4:28:00 PM

I probably spend $20 per day on food now, that includes lunch which is typically at a restaurant/bar and eating at home. Food is actually one of my bigger monthly expenses, but it's by choice. If it became a necessity again I could feed myself for substantially less even without going mostly vegetarian.

11/23/2012 4:42:40 PM

Who said this program was supposed to be enjoyable?

11/23/2012 9:15:30 PM

No one did. However when you have abunch of sick fat poor people they can't polish your shoes or cut your lawn Yowilly.

11/23/2012 9:18:06 PM

Michelle Obama should help mandate that these benefits only pay for the healthy choices described ITT.

That plus their new-found healthcare should be all they need for a bright future of shoe-shining.

11/23/2012 9:42:29 PM

Good one bro

11/23/2012 10:11:14 PM

There was a guy that lived off $1/day for a month for food and he didn't eat junk food... he was just was frugal, got good deals, and ate smart. I think the misconception is that all cheap food is junk food.

11/23/2012 10:11:43 PM

How much research funding went behind his dollar a day diet?

Did he work while he did this? If so where did he work?

Where did he live and where did he buy his food?

11/23/2012 10:21:28 PM

Of course, if someone were smart enough to feed themselves for $1/day, they probably wouldn't be living on food stamps.

11/23/2012 10:27:33 PM

The real world isn't some magical fantasy-land where you'll live well if only you do what's right; this is why we even have a social safety net.

11/23/2012 11:17:57 PM

Libertarian fantasy.

11/23/2012 11:22:20 PM

http://www.grocerycouponguide.com/articles/eating-well-on-1-a-day/

Quote :

"1. I will begin on May 1 and will have no accumulated food of any kind. I have $31 to spend ($1 for each day of the month). I can start buying food on May 1 and can not exceed the $31. I must document the cost of the food with receipts. 2. I can only use 2 computers to print coupons. Although I have access to more which would make this challenge much easier, we agreed that not everyone will have access to a lot of computers. However, we also agreed that anyone reading this has access to at least one computer and should be able get access to another one using a bit of creativity. 3. I can only use 2 inserts from the Sunday paper each week. Although I have access to many more than this (I usually pick up anywhere from 3 to 5 copies for free from the local coffee shop alone each week), we decided that not everyone would have access to dozens of inserts. We agreed that anyone could get the coupon inserts from at least 2 Sunday papers with a bit of creativity. I am allowed to use up to 2 of previous week’s coupon inserts that I already happen to have. 4. I can use as many coupons as I want that I can get in the grocery store where they are available to everyone. 5. I can only buy food from retail outlets (grocery stores, drug stores, food markets, etc). I can’t supplement what I buy at the store with free food from trees, dumpster diving, friends, food banks, donations, growing my own, etc. 6. I can only use deals that anyone else would have access to getting."

After 31 days, one of his findings:

Quote :

"You Can Eat More Than Junk Food On $1 A Day: Most people that I told I was going to be trying this challenge assumed that I was going to be eating a lot of macaroni & cheese and instant ramen. I actually was able to get fruit and vegetables into my diet on a daily basis. I only ate 100% whole wheat bread the entire month. While I could have made my diet healthier if I had more money, I believe that what I ate was better than what many people in the US eat without the strict financial limitations."

He essentially had a $31 budget for the month. He details day by day how he did it and the challenges he had.

[Edited on November 24, 2012 at 7:45 AM. Reason : .]

11/24/2012 7:44:01 AM

Within the food stamp debate, I think people forget that you are allowed to supplement food stamps with your own money; in fact, if you work a job, then you're expected to supplement with your own money. Also, as far as I can tell, food stamp benefits are pretty generous for families because they can economize more easily as a group. An individual receiving food stamps is obviously going to have a harder time, but I'm unclear why there would be that many single individuals on food stamps. Of course, there are people with disabilities who would qualify, and I know college kids were using them. Anyway, individuals should consider shopping together in order to maximize their dollar.

What would get me are the extra things that make food taste better. For example, I can eat rice/beans all day every day with salt/pepper, cumin, olive oil, red pepper, maybe some cilantro...but I think it would take a while to have the money to purchase all those "extras." In the beginning, it's just straight rice and beans, and that would get old quickly.

As a junkfood aficionado, I can attest to the fact that junk food is no longer the cheapest thing in the store. Candy/chips/soda/cookies are ridiculously expensive. And the junky versions of food are almost always more expensive than the healthier basics--like, six packets of cinnamon raisin instant oatmeal vs. a canister of steel-coat oats, for example. But, again, a big canister of non-perishable food can be pricey up front so a less affluent person would be better off shopping with someone...so one guy buys the rice, the other guy buys the oatmeal, and then you split the food up...or one guy buys a gallon of milk, the other guy buys two dozen eggs, and then you split the food up...instead of each guy having to buy a half gallon of milk/dozen eggs. This would be a giant pain for a single mother of three, but an individual on food stamps should have the time to get creative...because, in order to qualify, they'd have to be practically unemployed...with plenty of free time to scheme up ways to get stuff for very little.

Things I've purposefully overlooked: education, access to transportation, access to a grocery store with good food at decent prices, access to a kitchen (some folks do not have refrigerators or stovetops), access to cooking/storage materials, and finally, depression/other mental health concerns. These are the things that should probably be addressed before we assume that food stamp benefits are too low. I don't think anybody wants to pay more out just so depressed people can buy more overpriced potato chips at the corner store; more money doesn't mean people are all of the sudden going to be able to buy giant bags of frozen vegetables at their local grocery store and have neighborhood cooking competitions to see who can make the healthiest/tastiest vegetable dish in bulk and then go around sharing food with each other.

[Edited on November 24, 2012 at 11:32 AM. Reason : ]

11/24/2012 11:07:53 AM

well soda isn't expensive, except when compared with tap water

11/24/2012 1:01:11 PM

If food stamps go under, then Digiorno Pizza will become much more expensive.

11/24/2012 2:26:43 PM

What about toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, etc. Anyone know how these types of items fit into food stamps? Can you purchase them? I know those items increase my grocery bill from time to time, although I'm sure you can still get by on current benefits

11/24/2012 2:29:48 PM

[quoteWithin the food stamp debate, I think people forget that you are allowed to supplement food stamps with your own money[/quote]

This is what I was going to post, but you beat me to it.

11/24/2012 2:35:41 PM

^^ You can only purchase food that has not been prepared or pre-cooked in any manner. No store-made chicken salad/Diapers/alcohol/paper towels/ toiletry/ etc...

But, you can get all the prepackaged unhealthy stuff such as Chips, pizza, candy, sodas, etc.

It really isn't the type of benefit that the conservatives make it out to be. It is a good help, for sure, but for most people it amounts to one or two trips to the grocery store per month.



[Edited on November 24, 2012 at 3:18 PM. Reason : double post]

11/24/2012 3:07:03 PM

^^^^^I am not a fan of plain water so I use off-brand drink mixes (instead of Crystal Light, which is too expensive). Anyway, they're substantially cheaper than soda, juice, and even Kool-Aid (because they don't require sugar). They also pack a lot of flavor so you can use less than the package recommends in order to save even more money. Of course, you have to have a pitcher in order to use the drink mixes, but an empty milk jug does the job.

Soda is an enormous ripoff and something that I definitely consider a luxury.

[Edited on November 24, 2012 at 3:09 PM. Reason : ]

11/24/2012 3:09:05 PM

heh, I only drink tap water and cook my own food and still spend entirely too much on groceries

11/24/2012 3:31:55 PM

I drink just water, green tea, and coffee for the most part. I got several 100 packs of organic green tea for $4.99 on sale. I use around 4 packs of tea per day on average. This ends up being about 20 cents a day. The coffee I drink is free at work.

Essentially, on an average or typical day, I spend about 20 cents on what I consume on beverages. Of course this does not factor in when I do get beer for a party, or when I make a lot of coffee to take with me if I am driving on a long trip.

I know people buying a lot of non-diet soda and juices essentially reallocate their calories towards beverages, but it seems that a lot of people waste money on non-essential beverages (lol, diet soda) that is very overpriced. $1.19 for a 2 liter of coca cola.

This main issue is that a lot of people are not educated in their shopping habits, can't handle money well, and/or do not have access to standard grocery stores (just overpriced convenience stores). There are other issues as well, that BridgetSPK mentioned.

11/24/2012 5:27:14 PM

^^^Major brands in convenient single-serving sizes, sure, but depending on the store, it is possible to get 2-liters of store brands or other "generics" for 65-85¢ each in the basically suburban Midwestern area where I live.

[Edited on November 24, 2012 at 8:00 PM. Reason : oh, convenience-store stuff is always a rip-off

11/24/2012 7:59:10 PM

I think food stamps are supposed to supplement other income you may have or make sure you do not starve to death. They are not by any means supposed to pay for all of your groceries.

11/26/2012 11:12:58 PM

True, but the point a lot of us are making is that it actually is possible to live off of just food stamps as long as you buy intelligently instead of buying junk food.

High nutrition, low cost vs. Low nutrition, low cost.

11/27/2012 10:16:37 AM