Representatives live on $21 in foodstamps and more fun with poverty

I don't understand why every article I've read yowls that $21 is just not enough for one person to eat on. They can, as long as they don't buy a bunch of crap. The people Jim McGovern was talking to *had* to have exaggerated their stories. I've pretty much always lived on less than $21 per week for food. I think it's a very decent amount, considering a person isn't working for the food stamps. All you have to do is shop smartly. You don't buy a bunch of over-processed food. Stick with fresh vegetables. I love listening to cashiers' stories about food stamp recipients who buy filet mignon. I'm sure it's a gross generalization, but it just goes to show that sometimes people don't really need everything they get from the government, but since they CAN get it, they're going to take it. The concept of reps trying to put themselves in some of their constituents' shoes is nice though. Hopefully they learned that being poor is pretty crappy when most of the time.

Speaking of food, I made a tasty poverty-like dish last night. I didn't want to whip up more poverty, so I took some rice and the veggies left in the fridge and then some veggie-protein "chicken," over which I had poured a Greek style marinade. After letting the "chicken" sit in its marinade for a couple hours I dusted a very small amount of flour on it and baked on a cookie sheet for awhile. It turned out fabulous.

I'd say the whole meal cost me no more than $6, and I have at least a few meals' worth of leftovers! Gotta love that rice. It really stretches a meal. Anybody who is having a tough time living on food stamps, just come ask me how you do it.

Now I have a craving for cookies since I used the word.