Can you live on $4.50 of food per day?

Clearly the answer is yes.

The question is being asked in response to on-going talks in the congress over plans by Republican lawmakers to cut the $20 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). These cuts would lower the amount of money provided to someone receiving assistance(Food Stamps)to just $4.50 per day. Well several Democrats in the House, in an attempt to show the difficulty of surviving on $31.00 per week, tried to make it on the $4.50 per day budget, and they claimed that it was very challenging. However, Donny Ferguson a communications director, for Republican Representative  Stockman, set out to prove that even with the 12% cut in spending, he, as he states “was able to buy enough food to eat well for a week on just $27.58, almost four dollars less than the $31.50 provided"

In a press release, Donny Ferguson said “I wanted to personally experience the effects of the proposed cuts to food stamps. I didn’t plan ahead or buy strategically, I just saw the publicity stunt and made a snap decision to drive down the street and try it myself. I put my money where my mouth is, and the proposed food stamp cuts are still quite filling,” Ferguson said in the statement. “We can cut the proposed benefits by an additional 12.4 percent and still be able to eat for a week.”

“Not only am I feeding myself for less than the SNAP Challenge, I will probably have food left over,”

As a part of the press release, Ferguson included a list of the groceries that he purchased for his $27.58:

Two boxes of Honeycomb cereal

Three cans of red beans and rice
Jar of peanut butter

Bottle of grape jelly

Loaf of whole wheat bread

Two cans of refried beans

Box of spaghetti

Large can of pasta sauce

Two liters of root beer
Large box of popsicles

24 servings of Wyler’s fruit drink mix

Eight cups of applesauce
Bag of pinto beans
Bag of rice
Bag of cookies

Gallon milk

Box of instant oatmeal

So again, there is no doubt that one can survive a week on foods that total less than $30 dollars per week, my question would be, is there any parent out there that would consider this a healthy, balanced diet? The whole idea of doing something for a week is critically flawed from the start. I'm a fan of the Discovery Channel's show "Survivorman," where Les Stroud spends a week in a remote, of the map, location where he "Survives" on maybe a handful of berries a few leaves off some tree and maybe, if lucky, a rabbit he trapped. And JOHNNY DEPP reportedly lived on a diet of green tea and low sugar fruit to prepare for the role of the vampire in Dark Shadows. The point is, what one can do for a week, or even a month, is very different than what one can do for years. When I look over his list, I understand that while anyone could could make it on that diet, it clearly is not healthy long term. I assume I'm not the only one that noticed a lack of fresh fruits or vegetables. I wonder if he is aware that many children has an allergic reaction to peanuts. This list is pretty much a path to diabetes, with almost every item featuring processed refined sugar such a high-fructose-corn-syrup. I can also assume that he eat instant oatmeal for breakfast, peanut butter and jelly every lunch and pasta 7 nights in a row for dinner. I think what Donny Ferguson proved is that it is NOT possible to have a vaguely healthy sustained diet on $4.50/ day.

 SNAP benefits cannot be used to buy:

Hot foods ready to eat,

Food intended to be heated in the store,

Lunch counter items or foods to be eaten in the store,
Vitamins or medicines,

Pet foods,

Any nonfood items (except seeds and plants),

Alcoholic beverages,

Tobacco