Thrifty Thursday - Stretching Food Stamp Dollars

This week for my Thrifty Thursday post, I'm talking about how to deal with a reduction in your food stamp benefits. It's happening all around the country right now, due to budget cuts. If it's happened to you, you may be panicking right now. Stop - getting yourself worried will only make it harder to shop properly.

First of all, you'll have to sit down with the amount of money you will have for the month, and add up the amount of meals you need to have for the month. If you have kids who are on the reduced/free meal program at school, obviously that is five meals a week you won't have to worry about. Divide the money you have vs how many meals you'll have to cook.

You're going to have to menu plan for the entire month. Look for cheap, budget friendly meals on the Internet. Many of the recipes I post here on my blog can be made for under $5. If you need some help, check out the Hillbilly Housewife's site. Step away from the processed and frozen foods ending up in your cart. These are money drainers! I can buy 10 pounds of potatoes for under $2 and make my own french fries (see my post here). 10 pounds of prepared french fries from the frozen food section at your local grocery store will set you back about $20 if they are on sale for $2 a bag. Big difference, right?

If you don't already, go by your sale circular for the grocery store you shop at and only buy what's on sale. If you can get your hands on coupons, take advantage of them. Some stores have coupon trading boxes (our local Fred Meyer has one just inside the doorway). If you don't see one, ask if you can start one. Your local library may be a good place to ask to start one. With just a handful of coupons that you can get from "blinkie" machines at your grocery store in order to start the box, you may end up with a wealth of coupons.

The extra space in your freezer should go to meats and breads. Purchase a large package of meat, and portion it out into meal portions. You'll often save at least $1 per pound this way. If a recipe calls for a pound of ground beef for instance, change it to 3/4th a pound instead, and add several tablespoons of dried bread crumbs to stretch it a little (we just shred our own leftover bread here) or use rice! Rice is very easy to add to many dishes, and you can prepare some ahead depending on what you are cooking. I will often save our leftover rice to add to soups and casseroles myself. Dried beans are another great idea to stretch many dishes.

For fruits and vegetables, try to choose varieties that last longer in storage, such as apples and oranges, or frozen vegetables. Usually if you purchase larger bags of these varieties of fruits, you can get them much cheaper than if you bought a single pound or two. Keep them stored in a cool, dry place where air can circulate. (I use a small laundry basket from the dollar store myself to store our apples in)

Head to the grocery at midmorning. While it can vary from grocery store to grocery store, this is when you'll find markdowns in the baked goods and meat departments. For markdowns in the deli and cheese departments, these usually happen in the evenings. If an item is freezable, purchase enough to last you the month if you can afford it. Did you know that if stored properly, yogurts, sour creams, and eggs can be good up to two weeks past the sale date? Take advantage of these deals when you are shopping. Instead of buying individual yogurt cups, purchase the large 32 ounce containers at your local grocery store - the cost per serving is much less. Just portion it out into bowls.

Don't be upset if you need to supplement your food stamps with help from a food pantry! This is what they are there for! All food pantries vary as to when they can help, and what they can give out, but as a rule of thumb, most smaller pantries focus on boxed and canned goods. If you know you'll need the extra help, try to use your food allowance to purchase fresh foods and meats, then supplement it with the goods from the pantry. (Again, it's going to vary, but when I worked with a food pantry, we saw lots of macaroni and cheese, soups, and canned vegetables available for us to give out.)

If you don't already have one, and if someone asks you what you need, request a Slow Cooker/Crock Pot - this will help you stretch your food budget, and it uses very little electricity! You can toss in just about any cut of meat, with some vegetables, and you can end up with a very filling healthy meal for your family for under $5.