Oregon Governor Tries To Live On Food Stamps For A Week

[jeffrey]

Gov. Ted Kulongoski is lving off food stamps for a week to awareness about the difficulty of feeding a family on a food stamp budget.

In fact, the Democratic governor couldn't afford much of anything during a trip to a Salem-area grocery store on Tuesday, where he had exactly $21 to buy a week's worth of food — the same amount that the state's average food stamp recipient spends weekly on groceries.


Ore. gov. starts week on food stamps - Yahoo! News

[rob62521]

I'm sorry I missed this article. There's a book about the working poor called "Nickeled and Dimed" which talks about how rough things are. Plus, Ruby Payne is well known in educational circles about how people in high poverty have to deal with things to exist.

[Ima saver]

I wonder how he did??

[Saving in So Cal]

I saw a congresswoman talking about this on TV. I could not glean from the conversation whether the amount was $21 per family or $21 per person. If it is $21 per family, obviously it would be extremely tough to pull off well-balanced meals for this amount (assuming no other supplemental food sources such as WIC or free school lunches). However, if it is $21 per person, I know several middle class families that spend less than this per person per week.

For my own family of three, I rarely spend more than $75 or $85 a week and that include sundries, organics, several convenience items, and very few coupons. My predominant savings technique can be implemented by anyone -- I buy what's on a sale.

I was tempted to send the congresswoman a copy of a weekly grocery store ad (free in the mail or at the store) and a sample grocery list to show her that it could be done with a bit of planning. In fact, I was flipping through the Stater Bros. ad at the time and thought it could be done even without coupons or going to multiple stores.

It's not that I begrudge poor people food, especially since most of the beneficiaries of food stamps are small children. I just don't want to throw taxpayer dollars at a problem that could be solved by smarter shopping.

[jIM_Ohio]

I saw a congresswoman talking about this on TV. I could not glean from the conversation whether the amount was $21 per family or $21 per person. If it is $21 per family, obviously it would be extremely tough to pull off well-balanced meals for this amount (assuming no other supplemental food sources such as WIC or free school lunches). However, if it is $21 per person, I know several middle class families that spend less than this per person per week.

For my own family of three, I rarely spend more than $75 or $85 a week and that include sundries, organics, several convenience items, and very few coupons. My predominant savings technique can be implemented by anyone -- I buy what's on a sale.

I was tempted to send the congresswoman a copy of a weekly grocery store ad (free in the mail or at the store) and a sample grocery list to show her that it could be done with a bit of planning. In fact, I was flipping through the Stater Bros. ad at the time and thought it could be done even without coupons or going to multiple stores.

It's not that I begrudge poor people food, especially since most of the beneficiaries of food stamps are small children. I just don't want to throw taxpayer dollars at a problem that could be solved by smarter shopping.

you can make somethind !d!ot proof and the world will then invent a bigger !d!ot.

This has been happening for centuries.

I told my mother in law I got an ID 10 T error on my computer and she responded by telling me she's gotten that same error message more than once.

Any of you ever seen an ID 10 T error? How did you fix it?

[zakity]

I think he did it as a publicity stunt. You heard that he was going to do it, but you never heard anything else.