Several members of Congress recently made news when they tried to see if they could subsist on $21 per week—the average amount that food stamp recipients receive to supplement their income. Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), co-sponsors of legislation to add $4 billion to the $33 billion food stamp program, challenged their colleagues to join them in trying to eat for just $1 per meal.

McGovern struggled: “No organic foods, no fresh vegetables; we were looking for the cheapest of everything,” he told The Washington Post as a food stamp recipient helped him shop. “We got spaghetti and hamburger meat that was high in fat—the fattiest meat on the shelf. I have high cholesterol and always try to get the leanest, but it’s expensive. It’s almost impossible to make healthy choices on a food-stamp diet.”

No question: That’s a tight budget. But with a few cooking skills and a little basic nutrition knowledge, it’s doable. Food stamp benefits, which go to 26 million low-income Americans annually, are given out monthly, not weekly, allowing recipients to buy in bulk. That average $21 per person per week becomes about $90 for the full month. A family of four can receive a maximum of $518 per month—or about $120 per week, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture…In a recent op-ed piece for The Post, [Tom] Wolfe [owner of a natural food store] noted that most of the people he meets on his travels in the developing world eat a simple diet of grains, beans and vegetables. Inspired by their example, he began to spend just $25 a week for food. “I have been able, through careful planning, to feed myself well with enough left over to prepare lunch four days a week for the five people on the staff of my store,” he wrote. “Virtually my entire diet since April has been grains and beans certified-organic and a mix of organic and cheaper non-organic vegetables.”

—Sally Squires, WashingtonPost.com, 6/19/07