FOOD STAMP CHALLENGE

One week, four people and a tight budget

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The vast majority of Harvesters clients shop at supermarkets, grocery stores or discount stores (90 percent), not convenience stores (2.8 percent) as some obesity experts had led me to believe. Price clubs like Costco were out because of the fee required to join.

I chose to do most of my shopping at Aldi on 67th Street in Shawnee. I had never shopped at Aldi before, but when I called Mark Bersted, vice president of the Olathe division, he was ready to fill me in on what I had been missing. The German-based discount chain stocks 1,300 items, as opposed to the 40,000 stocked in a typical supermarket.

The store keeps overhead low by charging a quarter for a shopping cart (refundable when you reharness the cart in a corral), charging for bags (and you bag your own) and not accepting checks (the store does accept debit cards and, for a 25-cent charge, Missouri shoppers can use Discover). Recipients can use their food stamp debit cards at the store. Food stamp recipients also do not pay tax.

Bersted admits Aldi has a reputation as "the food stamp store," but that image may be changing. A home economist I work with told me at Christmas her foodie friends were buzzing about the store’s $35 French Champagne, which Aldi sold for $8. Bersted says plenty of Aldi customers just like to save money.

I found nearly everything on my list at Aldi, but I was holding out for a whole chicken and some bakery bread. After André’s tae kwon do class, we headed to Wal-Mart, where the majority of Americans are reported to shop.

I was surprised to find that all the chicken was precut into pieces, mostly boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Not wanting to head for yet another store at dinner time, I settled for six breasts.

By the end of the day I had spent three hours grocery shopping for a grand total of $99.23.

I was relieved: I did not have to put food back on the shelves like the governor of Oregon, who was followed by a camera crew.

The nutrition challenge

The first meal was Thai Peanut Noodles, a tasty vegetarian dish. Even though he is a big fan of peanut butter and eats it straight from the jar with a spoon, André immediately wanted to know where the meat was. It was a refrain I heard throughout the week.

I made six chicken breasts last for three meals. We had a vegetarian and a near-vegetarian pasta (Do slices of pepperoni count?) dish, but we also had salmon fillets and turkey burgers. Clearly, we were not starving.

And in some ways the kids were eating a more kid-friendly diet than I usually serve. For instance, I always buy artisan-baked breads. But frequently they mold before we eat them.

Not surprisingly, André argued for spongy, no-nutrition white bread -- the kind he really liked -- by insisting that it was more typical of what a food stamp recipient might be able to afford.

But for a food writer, nutrition was not a totally negotiable point, even if money was tight. We compromised on a honey-wheat loaf, which both kids wolfed down in record time. I picked up some whole-grain tortillas and whole-wheat pita pockets and ate them instead.

"See, don’t buy the kids the good bread," Thrifty Soccer Mom told me when I saw her at our daughters’ soccer game.From the get-go Thrifty Soccer Mom had been offering advice on how to get through the challenge. This friend, who e-mails me when San Marzano tomatoes are on sale at Costco, routinely feeds her family of four for less than $129.50 a week.

She likes the challenge, she enjoys cooking and she likes saving money for home décor. She became an invaluable resource throughout the week as I began to feel stressed and lose focus. My friend admits that not working outside the home makes it easier to shop and cook this way for her family.

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