I agree since I can easily shave off 200 $ /month growing a garden in the summer.

I found myself homeless for most of the year around the time the original post went up (2010), and (somehow, miraculously) managed to get food stamps for about a month of that time. At that time, our state offered a max of around 3$ per day for a single (regardless of housing situation).

I started from zero, and had zero resources… including the resource ability to wash any produce (outside of using some shops bathroom sink) or safely save/store much of anything (especially anything perishable) for any extended period of time. My options to use the card were basically limited to Kroger and Publix, of which ours didn’t have any of those bulk silo/bin type food options. (Most all of our farmer’s market produce cost way more than the store. So, it was out.) Seasonings weren’t really an option (unless you wanted to use food $ on them or nick some from a gas station or something), and buying most any perishable in a family or bulk size (which was almost always the cheapest option) wasn’t really an option due to the save/store situation.
I spent weeks trying to eat as healthy and whole as I could while I had the card, and it was reasonably possible for me where I live (partly due to having years of culinary experience and a decent amount of nutrition education), but the reality of it is that it was also just plain exhausting *having* to live that way. I mean… I didn’t have not one single warm ‘meal’ for that entire winter, and living like this actually ended up costing more (overall) in my case.

Please don’t get me wrong… I get where you’re coming from and I do appreciate your enthusiasm (and I’m pretty sure you were probably looking for a better or more detailed in a different way type success story – sorry about that), but as someone who has lived this version of this scenario, and has known quite a few others that have gone through the same… the reality of having to live like this is not something we would’ve ever have described as ‘exciting’.
This is definitely the kind of thing someone is going to want to have at least a place (like a home) to safely store/save their food for tomorrow and wash it. After having done both myself, I can pretty much guarantee that this is the better option.

You do wonderful!!!! Education is the BIG key here and you are doing that for sure!
Breakfast for dinner or Carla Hall’s Lentil stew! Information is so helpful and the key! Thank you for sharing your experiences with others!!!

It depends on how much your kids eat! My kids eat as much adults so we definitely spend over $100 per week.

Lisa budgeted $20 a week for the family of four, and since they rarely ate out back then it would accumulate each week so they had more at the end of each month for a dinner or two. – Nicole

Do you eat out as a family for $20? Or $20 each? Thanks for the inspiration!

In Montana, raw milk is against the law to sell

Hi Casie – This article is 8 years old, so I went back and read it again after seeing your comment. I can see how it could easily be misinterpreted from our true views, so have updated the intro paragraph with this statement:

“I am by no means trying to diminish the difficult reality of truly living on a SNAP budget (we are practicing a self-imposed budget for only 100 days, after all), rather I am just patting myself on the back a bit for sticking to a tight budget.”

I hope that clarifies things. – Jason

I totally agree with you Mandy. The tone of this article was horrible. I myself have been in your shoes before and thank God things are better now. However, I have a child who has not one, but two disabilities with one being Crohns Disease. Therefore, I am always looking for ways to budget on foods because she cannot eat processed ones. With that being said, I have tried to get SNAP benefits for her but I make too much money (they say, I didn’t realize I was rolling in money) but the state has tighten its reigns due to so many people who misuse the benefits. The Blessing is that I have been able to become a small business owner while working a fulltime job (in Finance) and in school for Psychology. I have had some hard times in my life but I have never taken advantage of anything so to read an article like this is just in very poor taste and clearly Lisa Leake is not here to help everyone. I have seen many websites before that claim to help meal planning but I have never seen such a judgmental one.