Eating for $1.50

I took the oath to try the food stamp challenge of $31.50 for a week and kept the following account of my activities (“What can you eat for $1.50?” Sept. 14). My first shopping consisted of buying vegetables to make a soup, soup mixes for Rosh Hashanah, noodles, challah, eggs, almond milk, yogurt, and some apples. I was careful to use coupons for part of my purchase. I spent $15 out of my total available food allotment. During the week, when my friends asked me to join them for dessert and coffee at a diner, I forgot the challenge and agreed to go out. I then spent $6.00 and had to deduct that from my remaining allotment. With $10 left, I tried to be careful and bought mainly vegetables. At a picnic, I spent $2 on a frozen ice, thereby spending the entire food stamp allocation. I had two days left and so I was lucky to have soups to fill me up.

It was just not enough money, even though I managed having yogurt in the morning and with vegetable soups being my key hearty meals. I couldn’t even count in the paper goods I had to buy since I know they are not included in food stamps. With that purchase, I would have put myself over the edge of the allowed dollar amount. If I were seriously a user of food stamps, I am sure that I would think twice before I went out socially for coffee and dessert.

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