I can (and have) eaten off that for a week easily. Back in my single, pre child days (as recently as 5 years ago) my monthly food budget was $100-$150 a month for just me. I bought a lot of frozen veggies, eggs, and family packs of meat. Not so great foods like Rice-A-Roni and Knorr Pasta Sides are less than $1 a package and make at least two servings To round out meals. I made soups with leftovers. Unless you suck at serving size and portion control there is no reason you can't eat decently on that amount of money. Heck, for $1.25 you can make a ramen and dump a 16 oz bag of frozen veggies in it to have two meals out of even. Unless you are eating extravagantly and buying free range organic everything you will by no means starve if you budget.

I recently observed someone paying with food stamps buying an $18 organic chicken, and $9 a pound organic grass fed beef. Then standing there bitching to the cashier how they just aren't given enough money to eat per month. I don't buy luxury food items nor do pretty much everyone I know that has to pay their own way. The only people I know that get all the gourmet stuff are on food stamps. Apparently it's enough of a problem and causes enough outrage that the Whole Foods nearest me no longer excepts food stamps.

I ate a cheesy Johnsonville Brat from a pack for many of my meals while in Boston. They're fatty and delicious, and I think a pack is $6. I will often have one and half a package of green beans in butter for lunch.

We don't buy "organic" stuff anymore, save for half-n-half. Gregg does the shopping and gets me whatever kind of red meat is a good deal at Ralph's. The notion that this is all you can get for the money is silly. You buy clever -- get stuff when it's on sale and then freeze it or otherwise save it up.

I also, can do this easily.

It is much easier when you can cook, but if you can't cook, but know how to shop, it is not too difficult that way either.

So I just tried to pick up six Johnsonville brats and some beer thinking to toss them in the downstairs cooler, enjoy them throughout the week.

Alas, my car was too small.

Hah, Jerry. Loved that.

I could have brought you some brats from airport, but I needed the request before I flew.

I recently observed someone paying with food stamps buying an $18 organic chicken, and $9 a pound organic grass fed beef. Then standing there bitching to the cashier how they just aren't given enough money to eat per month.

Same sentiment, but the one I saw was buying six redbulls, a couple of cans of Pringles, and some Disney brand strawberry milk at a CircleK

Mario Batali proposed it, and she joined in. Not a word about him, though.

The steam cleaning of private parts was also not something she came up with on her own, but the publicity blurb for a Korean spa she went to, but that information was ignored and there were scads of posts about Paltrow being insane, stupid, etc.

She's just bashed no matter what, and often dishonestly. Why do people have it in for her so badly? It reminds me of the ganging up in high school, where anything is an excuse to dog pile the hated girl in the class, because I see (on the net in general) no take down of the Korean spa that pushes those treatments. nor of Batali, and it's his campaign to get celebrities to live on food stamps for a week and then blog about it. The hate for the woman seems disproportionate for what she's actually doing.

I don't follow celebrities, and don't care about her one way or the other, just the Twitter posts about her are so often so vicious that it's surprising.

She is damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I don't follow what celebs do much; but, I'll give her credit for trying. And, I'll give her more credit for not making it about partisan politics which so many others would have done.

She is damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I don't follow what celebs do much; but, I'll give her credit for trying. And, I'll give her more credit for not making it about partisan politics which so many others would have done.

Posted by: charles at April 12, 2015 6:02 PM

If you don't think the whole plan behind this *living on a week's AFDC allotment*, isn't political, you are smoking crack.

It is all designed to rally public support behind giving those people on AFDC even more tax payer dollars to blow on Pringles.

Good god, don't sell the shoes! Crazy-jealous types can hate all they want, but she IS a babe with great legs.

ultimately protein is the expensive... I can get an amazing amount of rice for 10bucks, but a lot of other things have gone up precipitously, even hot dogs...
there is all the difference between trying to stay within some budget, and having ONLY that much money. you can get super creative if you have kids to feed and only so much money.

She's just bashed no matter what, and often dishonestly. Why do people have it in for her so badly?

Because she is rich and beautiful and arguably has everything a person can want; and all she does is bitch about it, and lecture us on how badly we behave and how greedy we are, while using stupid nonsensical terms.

"all she does is bitch about it, and lecture us on how badly we behave and how greedy we are"

I haven't seen any of this, hence my curiosity :-)

So you missed the whole living on $29 dollars a week to highlight how greedy hard working taxpayers are for not giving away more of THEIR money (not hers) for welfare?

Odd, it was in the opening paragraph of this post.

Social justice warrior = camp-following, status-seeking, self-important sanctimonious twit. They deserve to be bashed just for existing.

That's a lot of limp-dicked rage you got going there, "Cousin Dave," wonder if evolutionary psychology has an explanation...

First, the flat $29 figure is misleading. The math works out to $29 per person.

Second, Gwyneth's food assortment isn't what a poor person can buy for $29. It's what a hipster can buy for $29. Arugula, leeks, garlic, limes, and cilantro.

At least she included a bag of rice and a bag of dried beans. More of those types of things would have made sense.

Where's the block of cheese, the hot dogs, the bologna, the loaf of bread, the dried pasta, the bag of assorted chicken parts, the margarine - all those unhealthy things that poor people eat because they're cheap and can fit within a budget stretched to the breaking point?

This is less about hunger than it is about Gwyneth patting herself on the back for her lifestyle choices and empathy.

Why do people have it in for her so badly? ~ Posted by: crella at April 12, 2015 5:50 PM

Conscious uncoupling.

Second, Gwyneth's food assortment isn't what a poor person can buy for $29. It's what a hipster can buy for $29. Arugula, leeks, garlic, limes, and cilantro.

One of the joys of being back in TX is that cilantro is back to $0.25/bunch as God intended. Not to mention limes at 4/dollar.

Gwyneth is disliked because she is incurably smug. It's also silly to see someone who recommends a $12000 spring wardrobe on her lifestyle blog tout her $29/week food challenge. I don't dislike her but I do find her amusing, such as her announcement of "conscious uncoupling" when her marriage broke up.

"Second, Gwyneth's food assortment isn't what a poor person can buy for $29. It's what a hipster can buy for $29. Arugula, leeks, garlic, limes, and cilantro." ConanTG

Yeah, I looked at all of that stuff as extra garnish... not staples. A Little lime or garlic salt will last, and then you can spend on better meat/protein.

Old article praising using food stamps for specialty foods. http://www.salon.com/2010/03/16/hipsters_food_stamps_pinched/

“I’m sort of a foodie, and I’m not going to do the ‘living off ramen’ thing,” he said, fondly remembering a recent meal he’d prepared of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. “I used to think that you could only get processed food and government cheese on food stamps, but it’s great that you can get anything.”

Remember it supplements your budget, not your entire budget.

The best thing about an EBT card is that you can get cash for drugs at any ATM. How much of that can you get for $29?

Food stamps has been replaced by SUPPLEMENTAL Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). The word "supplemental" should be a clue even for a Hollywood actress.

You can't get cash from SNAP from your EBT card (Basically a welfare debit card). You can get cash from your EBT card for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).

You can find people that will buy your EBT card for pennies on the dollar.

Also you can buy cases of bottled water and return the empties for the deposit on the bottle.
One idiot got caught when she put the full water bottles in the bottle counting machine and broke the machine.

I have a coworker getting SNAP. She drives a late model Nissan Altima and has a smartphone.

The sad fact is we are giving welfare to middle class, perhaps lower middle class people.

She already quit anyways. They caught her going out for lunch.

She's never been a great beauty to me. She is flavorless like a boiled chicken.

The sad fact is we are giving welfare to middle class, perhaps lower middle class people.

And the upper class as well, actually more so.

End corporate welfare, and handouts to the folks who really don't need it, then talk to me about how lazy or 'entitled' people on SNAP are.

How's the view from up there?

The sad fact is we are giving welfare to middle class, perhaps lower middle class people.

And the upper class as well, actually more so.

End corporate welfare, and handouts to the folks who really don't need it, then talk to me about how lazy or 'entitled' people on SNAP are.

How's the view from up there?

Posted by: drcos at April 14, 2015 8:43 AM

I am all for ending things like ethanol subsidies, but when the SJW's talk about corporate welfare, they are often referring to tax breaks corporations take advantage of bu running their business overseas.

The government has driven many of these businesses to off shore, by punitive tax rates, and environmental laws,

There is a huge difference between handling out money, and not collecting it.
More people need to understand that it is quite possible to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, all in the name of *fairness*

The war on poverty has worked about as well as the war on drugs. And it is big business who benefits the most from the SNAP cards being used for highly processed junk food. They are the ultimate recipients of those wasted funds.

"That's a lot of limp-dicked rage you got going there, 'Cousin Dave,'"

Ad hominium attacks, the height of intellectual discussion among SJWs. And how do you know I'm a dude? I could be a woman using a male pseudonym.

Yeah, I looked at all of that stuff as extra garnish... not staples. A Little lime or garlic salt will last, and then you can spend on better meat/protein. ~ Posted by: SwissArmyD at April 13, 2015 9:10 AM

Food stamps has been replaced by SUPPLEMENTAL Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). The word "supplemental" should be a clue even for a Hollywood actress. ~ Posted by: Bill O Rights at April 13, 2015 12:32 PM

The $29 per week figure is misleading in several ways.

As BOR points out, it's a supplement to the household food budget. That's why it's limited to staples and garnishes (i.e., one cannot purchase alcohol with SNAP). It's not meant to be the entire food budget.

It's per person. In a household of 4, that means there is $116 in supplemental money available for food.

Poor families in America are not being forced to live on less than $30 per week in groceries. They're being given (at taxpayer expense) an additional $29 to help them buy more groceries.

Why do people have it in for her so badly? ~ Posted by: crella at April 12, 2015 5:50 PM

More Gwynethisms:

"I’d rather smoke crack than eat cheese from a tin."

"I’d rather die than let my kid eat Cup-a-Soup."

"I love the English way, which is not as capitalistic as it is in America. People don’t talk about work and money; they talk about interesting things at dinner parties"

"I don’t tap into the bad side of American psychology, which is 'I’m not achieving enough, I’m not making enough, I’m not at the top of the pile.'"

By the way, Gwyneth, Cup-A-Soup and cheese in a can are some of the ways actual poor people stretch their food dollars.

The whole complaint made me feel a bit odd. When I was in college I budgeted for $4/day. $1 for breakfast, and $1.50 for lunch and dinner. That comes out to $28/week. So $29/week free from the government seem ample to me. I like Cup-a-Soup but that was hardly a staple. I didn't eat Velveeta or caned cheese just because I don't care for them. I did eat a lot of rice, beans, and frozen vegetables.

But even on $28/week I was able to throw a party every 3-6 months, with food provided to guests. Mainly I didn't have the time for them. After all, now I can afford a lot more and I throw parties every 1-2 years. I am just not party people.

So Paltrow's complaint just feels out of touch with reality for me. Kind of like the lady who ooo'd and aaa'd over my child and said she hoped to be able to afford children some day. After which she put her fur coat in the back of her BMW and drove off. I just don't live in the same world as these people.

Still looks good in the movies, though.