If you were homeless and receiving $225/mo in food stamps to last you all month, what would you buy to eat?

Question

Remember, there is no stove, no refrigerator, no pots and pans, no microwave, no eating utensils and no where to cook the food from the store. They don't allow any hot food either. Some stores have hot food in the store (fried chicken, etc.) however, you cannot buy hot food to go or buy food from food courts inside the store with food stamps 😔. And you have no friends or family to help you. What would you do.
Thank you so much for your opinions because this will help someone I know in this situation (20+ yr. old male).

MCheetah · Accepted Answer

This actually was me before. I was actually on an EBT card for a while. Like six or seven years; from 2009-2010 to 2016. I didn't get $225 in funds, though. Mine's was like $175. Anyway, I mostly bought groceries and cheap Dollar Tree Banquet red box TV dinners, since they were a whole meal for a dollar and easy to make. (Yeah, I know it's processed food; no, I don't care.)

If you were homeless and receiving $225/mo in food stamps to last you all month, what would you buy to eat?

Sometimes, the Hungry Man blue box dinners for $2.50 each.

If you're homeless, you can actually microwave them in any 7-Eleven for free. No one working there will care, as long as you don't look extremely disheveled and stinky.

Anyway, as per your friend's situation, the best thing he could buy is canned non-perishables, like soup (buy the pop-top cans or just invest in a can opener from the dollar store). They are cheap, don't expire easily, and don't really need to be heated up (although that makes them taste better, of course). And delis and places like 7-Eleven, Wawa, and Sheetz, do accept EBT cards for sandwiches and hoagies, as long as they aren't heated up. That counts as cold food and I used to eat those daily.

Besides canned soup, he can also eat ramen (use 7-Eleven microwaves to heat them up), crackers, store brand breakfast cereal, nuts, and other dry foods, as well. He should only drink water, but at dollar stores, you can get a crap-ton of soda for $1 or $2. But yeah, Dollar Tree will become his best friend.

Avicenna · Accepted Answer

Lots of nuts and dried fruit. Canned fish also.

letuswaltzforthedead · Answer

Um, I know this doesn't count exactly since I have family but what I did was spend most of the money on sausages and chips. Two bags chips usually lasted a week and the sausages were pretty cheap as well. One thing you can do is illegally sell the money so you can have some of it in cash as well. Not something I would necessarily recommend but since your friend doesn't have anyone, it's the easiest bet so they can buy some other things they need. If you do go to a cafe or anything of that sort, make sure to save the forks or whatever they give you.

Also, it might be worth a try to check any places that might give advice or assistance in these situations.

NamerOfStars · Answer

If you're looking to eat cheap, rice is by far your best bet, in terms of calories per penny- depending on the shopping options you have- and your local prices, what with inflation these days- $225 could keep you in rice for most of a YEAR. Unfortunately, that requires both water and some form of heat, plus either a pot or a rice cooker.

It's also not very nutritionally viable. If NOTHING beyond what he gets the cash for is available, then his best bet is probably potatoes- they don't need to be refrigerated or frozen, they contain (if you eat the skins as well) literally every nutrient you need to survive (assuming you have water, obviously) and they can be eaten raw, though they don't taste or feel particularly good, and the starches aren't fun on your GI tract.

I would STRONGLY suggest some research on local food pantries and similar programs; there may be more options than you know about, and speaking from experience, going hungry is NOT fun.

Sixgunsound · Answer

Believe it or not, ground cornmeal, specifically the harina de maiz from Goya, is a survival super food. It’s not a solution that’s viable for years, but for several months you can live off that without suffering any serious deficiency. In the old west, long distance riders would tie a bag of that behind their saddle as their only food and yeah it’s not ideal but you can add just about anything to it, such as canned meats with pull ring cans, fruits which are more likely to be in a pull ring now than they ever have been, or vegetables which again see items one and two. It would be easy enough to make in a tin can a hobo stove or a rocket stove which can all be built of salvage materials in an urban environment. In my state, homeless get petty cash funds as well, but I guess that is not the case in your state. If he buys resealable containers, he can refill them at library drinking fountains.

Aerissa_Jade · Answer

I'd say beef or turkey jerky, eat small amounts each day, maybe with some bread or cereal.

Although I don't know how that would work, doesn't the government require an address to give any type of help? Homeless may not apply, unless he signed up before he became homeless and the government doesn't know.

Lliam · Answer

Wow. $7.50 a day to survive on. How magnanimous. And you aren't even allowed to spend it on warm food.

Instead of assistance to survive, it sounds like a diabolical form of torture. Destroy a person's body, mind, and all sense of hope and self worth very, very slowly. They pay more than that to incarcerate people.

The only thing I can think of eating is peanut butter and crackers.

NerdInDenial · Answer

Tuna and cracker packets; canned soup / vegetables / fruit; Protein bars (Could be expensive); Meals Ready to Eat (MRE)

joeldalton · Answer

canned soups/stews, etc are about the only option. You can get a can opener and a fork at the dollar store. Make a makeshift stove out of a sterno can. Heat and eat out of the container.

worldscolide · Answer

Believe it or not I've been there. When I was homeless I usually bought cold sandwiches. I almost always had some kind of plastic spoon on me, so occasionally I bought canned soup or pasta and ate it straight from the can.

exitseven · Answer

Find food high in protein and calories. Avoid sugar and carbhydrates. Buy store brands and visit local food pantries.

888theGreat · Answer

Beef Jerky , stores with no refrig and has protein. Nuts, Peanut butter, water , beenie weenies , fruit out of can.

RealMarek · Answer

He might have to bend the rules and sell some food stamps for cash. Our elites love doing this to American citizens. They suck, which is why I say again: Clear them out!

Summeroflove · Answer

Yeah. I would buy food I didn’t need all that stuff for. Seems like a rough spot

FunkyMonkee · Answer

Obviously, something you don't need a stove to cook it on.

Havthrills · Answer

Ramen. Can eat it dry with the flavor on it.

KayMay · Answer

Cans of pinto beans.

EaterPeter · Answer

$3 meals I don't know if anything that cheap available now

Debbie14217 · Answer

wow not sure...

Alperengin1 · Answer

I wouldn't buy it

Kingofkings1992 · Answer

Tell him to get a job and get on his feet

eagle1951 · Answer

noodles

If you were homeless and receiving $225/mo in food stamps to last you all month, what would you buy to eat?

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