Menus on food stamp budget

**Saule** · 05-16-2010, 12:18 PM

I ran across this, a posting of recipes and menus by various persons for a week's worth of meals on what would be a food stamp budget. It's probably not perfect and would not meet all families' needs, but perhaps it's helpful to some as a starting point, Menu suggestions for eating well on food stamps -p1 - Community Forums - Recipezaar

**Grainlady** · 05-16-2010, 02:14 PM

More recipes that would be helpful:

Easy Recipes Using Common Commodity Foods
http://co.humboldt.ca.us/hhs/phb/pro...%20binder2.pdf

A River of Recipes - Native American Recipes using Commodity Foods
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/recipes/...kbk_river1.pdf

Recipes and Tips for Healthy, Thrifty Meals
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publication...RecipeBook.pdf

**chevy_chick95** · 05-16-2010, 04:14 PM

I love these kind of menus. This is where I started to learn how to cut all excess out of our menus.

**Brat** · 05-17-2010, 01:17 PM

Grainlady these are great..I have used this type of cooking for a lot of years and think that they need to have more cooking classes offered to low income people..So many young adults don't know how to cook..They have been raised on fast food and don't take the time to cook anymore.

**mek42** · 05-17-2010, 02:04 PM

The Regional [Farmers] Market in Syracuse, NY has a kiosk that allows one to swipe their food stamp card in exchage for tokens that are acceptable for use by most vendors for produce and other food items that would be allowable to use food stamp card for at the grocery store.

They also let you swipe your debit / credit card for different tokens without the food stamp restrictions. This came in handy as I stopped there Saturday without remembering where any of my bank ATMs were located. This is relevant as it is possible that someone on food stamps might receive a pre-paid debit card as a gift from family or friends.

Hope it's ok I posted this - thought it might be helpful for folks using food stamps to be aware that it may well be possible for them to shop for cheap, fresh produce at Farmers Markets.

**shoiji** · 05-17-2010, 03:34 PM

They are fun menu's to look at. Really helps trying to think of new ways of making a meal.

**Saule** · 05-17-2010, 11:07 PM

Originally Posted by mek42

The Regional [Farmers] Market in Syracuse, NY has a kiosk that allows one to swipe their food stamp card in exchage for tokens that are acceptable for use by most vendors for produce and other food items that would be allowable to use food stamp card for at the grocery store.

They also let you swipe your debit / credit card for different tokens without the food stamp restrictions. This came in handy as I stopped there Saturday without remembering where any of my bank ATMs were located. This is relevant as it is possible that someone on food stamps might receive a pre-paid debit card as a gift from family or friends.

Hope it's ok I posted this - thought it might be helpful for folks using food stamps to be aware that it may well be possible for them to shop for cheap, fresh produce at Farmers Markets.

This is terrific information - I just read that the city of Chicago is doing something similar. What a wonderful way to help people have access to better quality food than their immediate neighborhoods might provide

**Josephhgoins** · 05-18-2010, 09:04 AM

okay I got to say this, if the budget is $68, then spening nearly $90 on a weeks worth of groceries is out of the question. What was the first Chief thinking?

I do like the recipes though and may try some of them.

Thanks!

**mombottoo** · 05-18-2010, 09:29 AM

When I read the title I was a little stumped. I know many people (families with children) who use food stamps and 90% + have more funds to spend on food in a month than I do. Great links for ideas though...

**Grainlady** · 05-18-2010, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by Brat

Grainlady these are great..I have used this type of cooking for a lot of years and think that they need to have more cooking classes offered to low income people..So many young adults don't know how to cook..They have been raised on fast food and don't take the time to cook anymore.

I teach cooking and nutrition classes at our local Food Bank. A big problem is many homes may only have one hot plate or a microwave to cook with, and many do not have pans and bakeware. So I teach basics and simple recipes. I have used a lot of recipes that use common commodity foods found in the links I posted above.

Another problem, it's normally not "regular folks" who are down on their luck and struggling a bit who need help from these agencies; it's more often than not families who abuse drugs/alcohol. They often depend on young children to do meal preparation so I teach "Kids Classes" as well.

**Liane** · 05-18-2010, 01:26 PM

Grain lady you are amazing. I look forward to reading anything that you post. Thank you for all of your great information

**Saule** · 05-20-2010, 10:32 PM

I think there are probably some areas where several generations of people in a family never actually learned basic nutrition and kitchen skills. And if they live in the inner city, they would not have access to gardens, or even know how to get started. There was a group here a few years ago that taught inner city families how to start vegetable gardens in empty lots - some of which probably where just coopted for the experiment. Many people did not have any knowledge of where raw food comes from. It is discouraging how people have gotten away from the land. My grandparents were all farmers, and while we never farmed, we always grew something - corn, potatoes, tomatoes, fruit trees - dad just loved puttering around in the garden.

**pita1213** · 05-26-2010, 04:25 PM

the usda has some recipes too. they have a recipe finder here

**jodilhernandez** · 05-26-2010, 08:34 PM

cool link ty

**Brat** · 05-27-2010, 09:23 AM

Many of us here have the know how to fix meals from raw vegetables and make things with just ingredients not box mix. But as grainlady stated there are many who do not have pots and pans to cook with or even a stove to cook on or in. You have to teach them and even the kids is a good way to do it because many of them are takeing care of theirself without a parent home for what ever reason. The parent may not know how to do any of this because they have been raised this way too. Getting the kids to do a lot of this in after school programs is a great way to break the cycle. The main problem is that there isn't funding to do these programs.