Card
I used my food stamp card this morning. It's called the Lone Star Card here in Texas. You can only buy food with it. Items to clean up the mess from the results from eating the food or cleaning up after cooking the food can't go on the card. Glad I subscribe to the local newspaper. It might come in handy. Don't know if it covers coffee or tea, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't cover soft drinks so I guess I'll be drinking a lot of iced tea. I had $34, a prorated amount, on the card this time. It took me back to the days when I paid cash for my groceries. I'd have a certain amount of cash in my pocket and that's all I'd spend. I kept a running total on a note pad as I picked each item and when I got close, I'd stop picking. I noticed it saved me at least $20 a week. So, this morning, I took my very short list and went down the aisles. Luckily I had had about $85 left on my unemployment card last week and had loaded up a little. I kept a running total, saying no to some items on the list, celery and bell peppers, and asking if I really needed milk and if it would be cheaper to buy the store brand pizza or my favorite, Tombstone. Tombstone won out because 2 of the store brand would be needed because they are smaller and the difference in price would be only a few cents. I get 2 meals out of a pizza and is my treat for the week. Bought another box of store brand oatmeal although I hadn't opened the one from last week. Another bag of pintos went in the basket. At 86 cents, it makes a lot of meals, especially when you can get wieners for a dollar a package and wieners and beans make a good meal. Cornbread makes them go farther, too. Four Ramen noodles went in. I have about a dozen or more packages, now and at 15 cents a package and 2 packages a meal, it good cheap eating. A $1.18 package of vanilla cookies(I'd rather have chocolate, but I couldn't share them with Foxy.) makes for a cheap desert. Well, at the end of the picking, I found I could afford the stalk of celery and the bell pepper. My bill came to a little over $25! I did buy for some cleaning supplies for my lower end, and cooking, and a treat for Foxy with some cash I had. The $51 dollars a month will help, so I'm glad I've got it for now. It will go away when I retire, I guess.
Replies
well, I\'m so glad you got that assistance for food. I remember when my first hub flew the coop leaving me and three little children in the dust. The first time I got food stamps, you\'d think it was like Christmas...just getting food in the bare cupboards. Right on Foxy\'sdad! xxxxxx
ocery store but onlyyou can get coffee, soda creamer etc. even subs from grocery store but only the cold ones... ::))
I remember years ago when I was on food stamps. I was so thankful for the help. Now with disability and only my retirement to live on I have become creative. No longer am I eligible for the food stamps - too much income - thankfully - but surviving years ago with them taught me a lot and I\'m very grateful for the experience.
I use AJAX dish soap as it is good for dishes and taking a bath and even washing my hair - the do everything soap and cheap to buy also. I buy dry beans and dry split peas and use navy, pinto for the beans - mostly navy with the pinto just to add a bit of different texture and then I add the split peas to thicken it all up. I keep a large supply of table salt on hand and stock up when it is on sale and that way I never run out and the savings add up. I cook up a huge stock pot of the bean/pea and then let it cool overnight and then fill up the old large cottage cheese containers and put about 16 or so of these in the freezer and that way all I have to do is thaw one out as needed. I make up my own flour tortillas just with flour and a bit of salt and let this mixture stand until it gets rather elastic and then use my pasta machine to roll out the individual balls of dough I flatten and then simply cook them on the round griddle on the stove top. I make up a batch and put them slightly warmed into two of those extra large grocery store produce plastic bags doubled to keep air out. I can then use these as food wraps for raisins and then I make the bean/split pea mixture in another food wrap and place these in the microwave to heat for a minute and it gives me a really good, cheap, tasty meal that is very easy to prepare. I purchase the bulk old fashioned oats at our local Winco supermarket and they are cheaper then the boxed. I don\'t use milk any longer and have learned to use the bulk flax seed that I grind in the coffee grinder and mix one tablespoon of this with water and it makes the perfect egg substitute for recipes. I have learned how to make my own sourdough bread starter so now I can make up bread with nothing more than the flour, salt and the starter that I simply have to keep adding/feeding flour to every few days and that provides a steady supply of needed yeast to bake with. My garden is for tomatoes and swiss chard along with a few other veggies that are easy to grow. I start them in reusable seed starter trays and that way I don\'t waste water because they are kept in such small containers and I can place them in perfect lighting instead of stuck out in the ground where they need much more attention and water. I have started six apple trees from some seeds I kept from an apple I ate a couple of years ago. They are doing really well and now are in 1 gal containers. Next year they may be ready to transplant. I have four apricot trees and will be setting up a solar food dryer I will make from recycled cardboard and I found some really cheap chrome baking racks that are 16\"X25\" sized - 2 doz and those can be used for the drying shelves along with any projects that I can also use them with. It now only costs me perhaps about $1.00 per day to eat - that is not including energy used in cooking and storing the food or anything outside of the actual food I purchase. the more I learn to dry my produce I may one day not need any refrigeration to keep a good supply of food on hand but will always have it for leftovers and I simply can\'t imagine life with a refrigerator but drying the food will take me far in that direction anyway and give me a supply of produce to use in soups and dried fruits during the winter months. Also, with the rising food prices I think getting into the natural habit of growing and drying my own produce is the way to go - probably healthier also seeing how I don\'t use any chemicals in growing the food.
I love your update and think we are survivors!!!
;-) Patricia