Food stamp challenge: way better than Hillbilly Housewife

by Sarah Gilbert, Posted Dec 28th 2005 @ 11:03AM

shop at the farmers market and still eat cheap I thought I could do better than the Hillbilly Housewife, whose weekly menu of weiner stirfry and tuna-and-peas-over-rice didn't appeal much to my sense of budgetary gourmet. I'm not the only one, evidently. The good people at the Better Times Almanac have created what they call the "Slow Food for Poor People Challenge."

Taking the "Food Stamp Challenge," they ate on a food stamp budget for a week (about $61 for two people) and tried to make their example an even better one by employing "(1) frugal supermarket shopping, (2) preparing meals from basic ingredients, (3) buying local foods, (4) gardening, (5) food storage, and (6) home preservation of food."

Menus like "Buffalo meatloaf, oven fries, corn on the cob, green beans," biscuits and gravy, buffalo pot roast and a breakfast of "2 scrambled eggs, 1/3 lb sausage, hash brown, potatoes, rolls, apple cobbler" are a little more my speed. The drawback is that their menu is a bit repetitive (and, being from Oklahoma, relies heavily on buffalo meat). But you can hardly argue with a $60 weekly menu that employs organic eggs from free-ranging hens and meats from local cooperatives. It's a nice attempt and only fuels my desire to come up with more and better cheap-but-gourmet meals.

[photo Sarah Gilbert]

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Filed Under: Budget Cuisine, Farming, Stores & Shopping, Ingredients, How To
Tags: beef, breakfast, buffalo, cheap cooking, cheap food, cheap menus, CheapCooking, CheapFood, CheapMenus, dinner, family food, FamilyFood, food challenge, food stamp challenge, food stamps, FoodChallenge, FoodStampChallenge, FoodStamps, frugal cookign, frugal cooking, frugal food, FrugalCookign, FrugalCooking, FrugalFood, menus, midwest rural, slow food, SlowFood, stores-and-shopping

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-28-2005 @1:31PM Lai-Yee said... I live off of $60 a week in a 2 person household. It can be a challenge, but it's not that bad. I find $60 feeds my house really well, shopping at Co-ops and local markets of course.
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1-27-2006 @10:59AM Miss Maggie said... Hey it's Maggie from the HBHW, Just thought I'd let you know that I'm enjoying your site. I think anyone can do better than my $45 menu if they are feeding fewer people or have more money. For 4 people staying under $50 a week and eating (low-cost) gourmet food is a tough one. If you can manage it I'd love to share your results with others. Right now I'm developing a $50 menu for a week for 2 and the resources are so rich compared to the $45 menu that I'm finding it a lot easier and a lot more fun. Love your link to Better Times BTW, they are an excellent resource.
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