More people should try this. I know she got shit for it but it brings it into perspective.

At the very least it got a few people discussing it.

Maybe that was her goal from the start. Knowing she made a few mistakes and bad choices made for even more discussion.

Yes, but food stamps are called assistance. They aren't meant to be the only source of income in which you eat from, this is what everyone seems to lose grasp of with this. ie they are not providing you with your food requirements but rather assisting you.

Lets also forget pretty much everywhere has food banks and then there are of course always soup kitchens if you are really that much in need.

Now even if you are making $7.25/hr and working only 35/hrs a week that is still over $1k a month. No it's not shit, but if you combine that with the $29/week or $119/month add in a food bank and yes it is possible to live on very little. Even if you spend $600/mth to rent a room which is high in most places, you would still have around $100/wk to live on) Can you not live on $129/week? It would be rough but yes it can be done. (lots of elderly people live on SS which is very often in the $900 to 1200 range)

(I used 35/hr week because many low paying jobs keep their workers under 40/hrs a week.)

No you aren't going to live in San Fan or New York on that kind of money but then again you also aren't going to be making min wage at those places either..

Oatmeal is dirt cheap. Buy a package of fresh berries for four dollars to spruce it up for the week, or go all out and buy a nice bag of frozen berries for three dollars and that will last longer than a week no problem. I like water in my oatmeal but if you want to grab milk, grab a fair priced container for another couple dollars and you are looking at a weeks worth of breakfast for under $10 no problem.

Eggs are cheap as well. I just bought 18 for $3. Two eggs a day for breakfast and you have breakfast all week for three dollars.

Chicken is usually fair priced. I just bought a 6 pound package for $12. Spread 6 pounds across 14 meals easy.

Rice, cheap. Potatoes, cheap. Pasta, cheap. Beans, cheap.

Frozen/canned vegetables, fair priced. Frozen would be a better deal.

This is not extravagant. This is not a meal plan I would want to live on week in and week out, but you can easily survive on it (especially if used supplementally, as intended) and healthwise it's not bad at all. Yeah, you'll be missing some nutrients and whatnot, but let's be realistic, the majority of us do that anyway with our $50-200 weekly budget.

I probably spend around $50 a week on actual food (beverages are a different story.) I eat steak, I eat salmon, I eat tuna. I don't see what the big deal is. Use your head and make it work.

This is what I get: Quaker Oats Old Fashioned Oats, 18 oz - Walmart.com

It's not even three dollars, 13 servings at 40 g per serving (that's about half a cup, which is too much for me.) That's two weeks worth of breakfast, maybe one week if you need a larger breakfast. Add berries for flavor and fruit intake, seven dollars for breakfast for a week.

Here's generic: Great Value: Oven-Toasted Old Fashioned Oats, 42 Oz - Walmart.com

That is a fantastic buy, easily 30 servings of half a cup for three dollars. You'll save money the rest of the month by not needing to buy breakfast. That's $.10 per breakfast, before fruit.

These blueberries will last you for the week easy for another three dollars: Great Value No Sugar Added Blueberries, 12 oz - Walmart.com

Here is some brown rice on Amazon for $3.50: Amazon.com: Lundberg Brown Short Grain Brown Rice, 32 Oz: Prime Pantry I'm sure you can find it at your local supermarket for a similar price.

32 ounces which is around 5 cups. Average person, 5 cups should easily cover 10 meals for you, especially if you mix in some frozen vegetables.

I like broccoli with my rice: Great Value Broccoli Florets, 14 oz - Walmart.com

This is $1.50, 14 ounces which should get you 5 servings easily, maybe even more since you are mixing it with rice. Grab another bag and we are at three dollars.

Broccoli can get boring. Let's try corn. Here we have 32 ounces (that's a lot of corn, 10 servings easy) for $2: Great Value Whole Kernel Golden Corn, 32 oz - Walmart.com

Now we have 14 meals. Chicken ($12,) rice ($3.50,) broccoli ($1.50,) and corn ($2) for a grand total of $19.

Breakfast for $10, lunch and dinner for $19.

Drink water. It's better for you anyway.

Gwyneth should have consulted Sly before her failed stunt. :2 cents:

It annoys me because there are thousands and thousands of families, full families, out there surviving on much less than $29 a week per person. It's a fucking joke and an insult to every "average woman" that she so desperately tries to be.

protip: raisins work great with oatmeal too, only $3 and if used just for breakfast will last you a month... :thumbsup

Great Value California Raisins, 20 oz - Walmart.com

Yes, great tip, sometimes I do Craisins but usually I do a spoonful of homemade jam. Lots of options to spruce up oatmeal.

True, there are other sources for food if you are that much in need. And with my experiment I spent about $30 on stuff that wasn't really food like olive oil, butter and a few cooking spices. I could have done without them. Also, taking better advantage of sales and coupons would have helped me.

Had I really been in a situation where I had zero money for food I could have gone a little cheaper, hit food banks and used those coupons and I likely would have been able to make it.

The interesting part was my buddy who only made in 2 weeks. We all did this just to see how hard it is (my friends and I are always doing various 30 day challenges). He was certain he was going to do it with ease because he doesn't buy much at the grocery store. The reason is because he eats out a lot and orders in a lot. When those options were taken away from him things got difficult in a hurry.

I recommend everyone try it. It is a challenge.

Food is cheap in the US? The healthier you eat the more expensive it is. Eating healthy is hard work. Makes sense that a lot of people on assistance would buy the frozen food, processed nonsense to make food last so they don't have to spend as much or shop as often. A bag of chicken fingers can make a few meals where as 1.5lbs of chicken is just going to feed for tonight. Not even sure of poundage I could be off with that, I always look at how many pieces since I cook for 5

We make it so easy to be unhealthy. It's a shame.

Thank you for the info! I will pursue a little harder now. My heart would be so happy to see city kids growing their own food and being proud of it. "Oasis of hope" nice name!

As I was saying...

Gwyneth Paltrow bought on food stamps what only rich people buy - The Washington Post

Come on. Who can live without kale, cilantro, romaine lettuce, fresh tomato and avocado? Don't forget a lime a day keeps the debt collectors away.

i can see how mooching can be unconsciously learned but i seriously do not graspt the idea that intentionally getting into and staying in an economic situation that is struggling to eat so as to abuse welfare systems has been noted as an attribute parents teach children and children embrace.

Bleeding heart assholes ...

Many people are products of their upbringing and environment. If you are raised by parents that work hard and teach you to work hard and tell you that you can achieve success in your life you grow up believing it and the odds are you will be one of those people. Your parents lead as much by example as they do by words.

When you see your parents living in a different way you begin to associate that way of life with being normal and okay. They don't necessarily "teach" their kids that they too should be on welfare, but it is what they grew up around and some of these people have a sense of entitlement about it. There are plenty of welfare parents to try to teach their kids to work hard and get an education and build a good future for themselves, but there are also those that don't and their parents lead by example and the example is piss poor.

Obviously it is not something that every kid raised on welfare ends up doing, but there is a cycle that pulls certain people in and makes them want to be in/on the system instead of working.

i'm with you on the entitlement part. but there's a lot more reinforcing for that from more that just parents, television, politicians, media, etc.

are you seriously suggesting anyone eat that shit on purpose? you'd get more nutrition at mcdonalds..

Check for the 10 lb box of Quaker old fashioned oats. It's a great deal usually, around 10 to 15 bucks. Rice, dry beans, flour.. buy in bulk. Lots of old school penny pinching ideas out there. Buy whole chickens and cut them up yourself. Make stock from the carcass. Other things it makes sense to buy frozen. Frozen loose leaf spinach is 99 cents a pound, organic baby spinach in the produce section is gonna be about 4 bucks. It grows like a weed if you have a patch of dirt BTW. Seeds are also covered by the EBT program. She didn't do much trying it seems.

I think the purpose would be they only have $4 a day for food and they're too lazy to cook and freeze their own meals. Sly's meal plan was more nutritious and still within budget. I always look for the simplest way. I would've suggested mcdonalds but I don't think they sell cheeseburgers for $1 anymore.