So not waxing political. I'm just wanting to give some tips and tricks to folks who are currently on food stamps and facing no food stamps for November. This information, while initially for current EBT recipients, is also useful for anyone facing a financial emergency that takes grocery money out of their bank account. I've been there. I've been on food stamps. When my daughter was a baby I was on food stamps for a few months after the company I worked for closed and moved to North Carolina. I took a job at McDonalds to get off of them. I will say this. Be careful who you let control your food, housing, and healthcare. These are things that are essential for living. It's best to be in control of them yourself.
Okay. All that being said; there are times when there's no choice but to get help from Uncle Sam. This post is to help strengthen you and your family during that time as well as those in a bind financially. I've been there too! More than once!
**When it comes to scratch cooking, I have many recipes on this page, as well as "How to's".
Regardless of food stamp "money" or your own money, these tips will help you get through any financial crisis. First lets get you through this one.
1. Food Banks/Pantries- I know it's not ideal, but look at food banks in your area. There are also churches that have food pantries. Many of these offer canned or shelf stable products to people in need. This is because they can be donated and stored until they are given to those in need of them. In the food pantry where I served, we always tried to think of staples with the boxes: canned vegetables, canned meats, peanut butter, oil, salt, flour, sugar, etc. With those items many different meals can be created.
2. Scrounged money- Your family has to eat, so if you have a few dollars, great. If you don't, some things will have to go by the wayside so groceries can be brought in. Streaming services that are about to come out; cancel them. Any unnecessary expenses need to be put on hold: gym membership, hair dresser, nail salon, date nights out, etc. Your family eating takes priority. When funds are available again, these services can be reinstated. You may actually get a better price when you come back!
3. What do you have on Hand? - Take an inventory of what you have in your pantry, freezer, and fridge. Think of what you need to buy to make a meal out of what's already there.
3. Shop wisely - You aren't going to have a wind fall of cash despite what you do, so you'll need to be smart with how you spend. Basics are what you're looking for. Staple items. Coke, snacks, "Fun foods" are out. It doesn't mean you can't have them. It just means you'll have to make them! You can do it! Switch lunch meat for a whole chicken or turkey. Walmart has these on sale right now for .97 lb.. That's cheaper than a whole chicken. These can be cooked and used just like lunch meat. You will get many meals from a whole chicken and especially a whole turkey. Don't forget the bones! Once you've used the meat on the chicken or turkey, those bones can be slow cooked a couple of days in a croc pot and make broth! That broth is highly nutritional. You have kids; they need milk. Under 2 it should be full strength whole milk, but over two you have the option of stretching 1 gallon of whole milk into 2 gallons of milk. Mix whole milk half and half with water. Voila! 2 gallons of milk! It will be the taste and consistency of 2%. Flour, salt, sugar, potatoes, onions, carrots, tea bags, etc.. Yes I said Tea bags. We're in the south Honey! We drink tea here. Ya know what? You can make sweet tea, and still have less sugar than drinking a coke. Well maybe, some of you southerners like really sweet tea. I'm a half cup sugar to a gallon of tea type girl. I know. I swear I was born and raised in Ga! However my family came from Pennsylvania laying railroad, so maybe that's it. So you are looking to fill in gaps with what you have at home. If you have a question about anything you need to learn to do, You Tube is a cornucopia of info. Mary's Nest is a great resource. Nice lady.
4. Stretch what you have and buy- You may think "I have one can of corn. That's not enough for 6 people". Well it is if you take that corn and make soup or corn chowder. Dice onions and peppers in it. Add it to corn bread. This is just an example. The idea is to make what you have go further. In 1976 when I was a kid. Inflation was bad. My parents had 5 kids to feed, and groceries went up over night. To stretch ground beef, my mom added chopped onion and bread crumbs( from left over bread). To this day it's my favorite way to eat ground beef. Our daughter, her husband and our grandson lived with us for about 8 months years ago. We had 6 adults and a toddler here to feed. Not a lot of money to spare. I made a chicken pot pie, actually two 9x11 casserole dishes, with two chicken breasts. I doubled the carrots, onions, potatoes and celery. Everyone ate what they wanted and no hungry bellies. I had no left overs, but everyone was fed. I did the same thing with frying chicken breast. I took two large chicken breasts. Pounded them flat, cut them into strips and double breaded them. Everyone was full. Left over meatloaf becomes the meat for chili or spaghetti. Left over egg/milk mix from french toast becomes muffins for another day. Leftover mashed potatoes, rice, and oatmeal can be added to muffin batter to stretch the number of muffins. Stretch what you have!!
So those last tips are some of the options to get you through now. The following are so you don't have to have it this hard again
1. Build a pantry. . Set aside a place or, if there isn't a set place, use every nook and cranny you can come up with to put food that you are going to begin to set aside. Like I said in the beginning. This may not be helpful out of the gate, but it will in the future. There will always be financial crisis. Doesn't matter how much you make. There will always be problems with EBT. I mean we are talking about the government. How efficient do you think they are?
2. Buy staples! - The best thing you can do financially and health wise is to begin to cook all you can( and it's a lot that can be made) from scratch. Getting away from highly processed food will leave you with massive amounts of food stamp dollars at the end of the month. What do you buy with those? More staples; meats, produce, etc. You can freeze a lot of things, and if you have jars and a big stock pot you can water bath can a lot. Learn to ferment. The idea here is by purchasing staples and putting it in your area designated to be the pantry or food storage. You will never have to worry about something happening like this again. You will have food laid by, and it's like money in the bank. You will shrug when another government shut down or financial crisis hits, because you will know that regardless of it all, your family will still eat.
3. Shop sales- The next few months are the best, in my opinion, for buying staples. Using food stamp or grocery money to focus on staple items on sale is the best combination to stretch dollars. Many people don't realize coupons can be combined with food stamps, just as if using cash.
You may have to be on food stamps for a time, but that doesn't mean food stamps needs to control you. The same goes for any financial crisis. You can breath easier knowing you can eat from the pantry, saving the money you would have spent on food for whatever financial need arises. It's also money in the bank.
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