Eating Healthy on a Food Stamp Budget...

...is it possible?

I'm certainly not the first one to ask this.  Doing a little Google "research," I've come across quite a few bloggers (here) (and here, for example) who have asked the exact same question.

While theoretically it is possible to survive on the meager allotment allowed through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP aka Food Stamps), many who have attempted to prove this through a month-long (or longer) "food stamp" diet do not take into account the realities of needing to survive on such a budget.

Yes, if everything goes exactly as planned through an entire month, it is probably possible to eat a relatively healthy diet on a food stamp budget.  But what if your car breaks down and you need to get it repaired so you can get to work?  What if you or one of your children has to make an unexpected trip to the doctor's office?  It is this kind of unanticipated expense that cannot be simulated in any sort of experiment.

These expenses (that, lets be honest, happen on a fairly regular basis) make it difficult to eat healthy on such a regimented budget.  If you're getting down to the ends of your food budget and go to the grocery store and see a $3 bunch of broccoli, and know that you can get three cheeseburgers for the same price at a fast-food restaurant down the street, which would you choose if you were hungry?

So while it might be possible to have a healthy diet on a food stamp budget if everything else in your life is going perfect, that is usually not the case for those who have to rely on a tight budget just to feed themselves and their families.  Two things that the government must do is expand the income cap for food stamp eligibility and re-evaluate the federal poverty line as it is well-below what most experts believe constitutes a "living wage."

If you or someone you know are living on food stamps or a similarly tight food budget, you/they might want to check out the Los Angeles County Cooperative Extension website.  It has a very nice fourteen part series (so far) on how to eat healthy while on food stamps.

You also may or may not have heard that there is a new documentary coming out in the near future called Food Stamped. The film follows a couple (a nutrition specialist and a filmmaker) as they attempt to eat a well-balanced, healthy diet on a tight food stamp budget.  See the move trailer below.

(Photo credit: clementine gallot on Flickr)