TP Last Day on FNS Budget

1 Mozzarella string cheese

1 Apple

Chicken (2 servings)

1 fig bar

Lettuce

2 oatmeal packets

Celery

1 can of black beans

Carrot

Whole wheat spaghetti (2 servings)

1 Pear

Onions

Peanut Butter

1 Whole wheat tortilla

Greek yogurt

Crushed garlic

Frozen Green Beans

Frozen peppers

Some spinach

½ bag shredded cabbage

 

We had a couple free meals each this week, but there was enough food to make 21 meals as you can see from what’s leftover. We definitely felt restricted. It was good food, tasty, and we prepared it in different ways, but I am ready for more variety. I missed eating nuts. We are going to the Farmers Market to get strawberries. I hope we will be more conscious about what we are spending in the future. We will probably buy some bulk things like dried beans and oatmeal knowing that they will be cheaper per serving (we just couldn’t with a limited amount of funds).  

 

I plan menus regularly, but this took a lot of thought.  I was surprised that we were actually able to afford what we had planned to buy, but I don't want to negate extenuating circumstances that people are living under. This was at maximum FNS benefits and I think with less than that, it would be tricker.  If you have some money but it's still limited, you would have to chose whether to use it for food or other needs.  That could greatly change the choices you make at the store.  You have to pay your light bill and for transportation to work...you can scrimp on the food budget.  If you aren't getting the maximum benefits because you have some resources, your food budget might be lower than what we had to spend in order to take care of other things.  We couldn't have eaten this well with less...