The Food Stamp Challenge

As you know, I was very impacted by the eye-opening truths about the food industry revealed in Food, Inc.  This past weekend we also watched The Future of Food, another documentary focusing on Genetically Modified food, and the impact of subsidizing, genetic-engineering, and patenting on the production of our nation’s food.  I had no idea we were being faced with such an enormous moral dilemma which is the patenting of life.  Perhaps I am way behind the times–am I the only one just finding all this out??  Again, remember this is a secular film replete with ridiculous references to evolution.  However, what blew my mind again and again was seeing that we have sought to take the place of God, we have ceased asking Him how best to manage the earth that He created, an we have allowed greed to become our driving force.  Even more than that, I was seeing how many of the things I thought were helping the poor in other countries (buying cheap food so I could give more money away) were actually exacerbating the problem.  It was just fascinating to me.  This weekend I also read through the end of Isaiah and began Jeremiah in my daily Bible reading. I was floored to see the parallels between God’s indictment on the nation of Israel and the dangers we are now facing because of our own straying from God.

So I could rant and rave for hours about this, and I promise I will not turn this into a health-food blog :), but here is the bottom line: I am convinced that genetically modified food is compromised from what God intended it to be.  And, truth be told, we have no idea what the ramifications are long-term. There have never been humans who have eaten genetically modified corn and soy products (which is 90% of processed food) their whole lives … until now.  Our children, my little Dutch and Heidi, are the lab rats.  So we’ll see in the 50 years how they turn out? That doesn’t seem like a great idea to me.

So, I’ve mentioned before that our food budget was $200.  Obviously you cannot buy organic, local, food on a budget like that. So, I did a little research.  Here are a few figures:

First off, in 2007, the USDA Food Plans included these four food budget levels. They use these levels to determine budgets for alimony, foster care, military food plans, etc.

1. Thrifty — “The Thrifty Food Plan serves as a national standard for a nutritious diet at a minimal cost and is used as the basis for maximum food stamp allotments.”
2. Low-Cost — this is what bankruptcy courts use to determine which portion of a bankrupt person’s income is allotted to food.
3. Moderate-Cost — Alimony payments, foster care, etc.
4. Liberal — The Dept of Defense uses this to determine the “Basic Allowance for Subsistence for all service members”.

Here are their amounts listed for a Family of Four:

If you are a family of 4, (2 adults between 19-50 years of age, kids between the ages of 2-5 years), expect to pay, PER MONTH:

• Thrifty food plan = $482.40
• Low-cost food plan = $612.60
• Moderate-cost food plan = $750.80
• Liberal food plan = $ 930.70

Ok, that helped me realize how unrealistic I was being.  Now, that doesn’t mean that all families on food stamps receive $482.40 worth of food stamps each month.  That’s the maximum food stamp amount.  Food stamps are meant to subsidize your overall cost. Not pay for the whole budget.

So, the actual average amount given in food stamps for a family of 4 (same ages above), at the end of 2009 was $275.53 a month.

So there’s my number.  And my question?  Is it possible to eat an organic, locally grown (when possible), nutritious whole-food diet for a family of four on just $275.53 a month? Now obviously if our kids were bigger this would be trickier, so I’m not suggesting this for you or anyone else, I just wanted to see how possible this is for us.

Let me say this, I believe that feeding a family of four on organic, local, seasonal and nutritious whole food even at the Thrifty Food Plan level ($482.40) would be a fabulous accomplishment.  If you can get there, woohoo!! I’m just curious to see if it’s possible to do it at the average amount given to our nation’s poorest. If it were, then we could confidently challenge and cheer on everyone to choose local, choose health, choose whole.

So, just to be frank, I’m really not sure if it’s possible.  But I’m excited for the challenge.  We do our budget from the 15th-15th, so we’ll do this challenge from September 15th-Oct. 15th.  I’ve already found local organic peaches and nectarines for $.98 lb. at Fred Meyer and I found whole organic chickens at Safeway for 30% off, along with a coupon, off which made them cheaper than the cheapest frozen chicken I used to buy.   So, we’ll see. I’ll just be honest with you about what I discover, and we can learn together.  And I”m going to have to learn to cook whole chickens, so I might need some cooking tips as well. 🙂 I would LOVE any additional tips you have. It’s been fun meeting all you experts out there, so please continue to share the wealth of wisdom!