Could you live on a food stamps budget?

 U.S. Representatives did. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), Tim Ryan (D-OH), James McGovern (D-MA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), along with some of their spouses, all lived on an average food stamps budget for a week during May 15 to May 21, 2007. Since then, politicians, religious leaders, reporters and activists from all over the country have all tried taking the challenge as well.

They have done this to provide visibility and understanding into the world of poverty. Though opponents to federal aid claim that people who live on food stamps are getting a “free handout”—as if such a thing were allowing them to live the life of luxury—the fact remains that a food stamp allowance is $3 a day, per person.

That’s $1 a meal.

Knowing this, you can quickly realize how so many impoverished families are overweight. With such meager spending limitations, the only foods they are able to afford that will actually fill their families up are carbohydrates—macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, beans, ramen noodles.

You might be able to pick up a Totinos’s pizza with veggies on it—but you’d have to dig around for some change to cover the tax.

It’s one thing to have to survive this way in college—and even then, most students get a university meal plan or at least a home cooked meal once in a while—but it’s completely another when young children, whose brains need essential vitamins and nutrients to properly develop, live off of such diets when they are in dire need of fresh fruits, vegetables, good fats and whole grains.

People who took the challenge were shocked at what they experienced.

“You realize pretty quickly that you can’t make healthy choices on this budget,” admits New York City Councilman Eric Gioia.

Mark Leno, an Assemblyman from San Francisco (D), creatively filled his family up on nineteen-cent banana and peanut butter sandwiches, while McGovern’s ate off of lentils.

McGovern said, “36 million people are what is called ‘food insecure.’ That’s something we should all be ashamed of in the richest country in the world.”

Ryan added, “It showed me that when you’re living on food stamps, you’re really one event away from a disaster. If you drop a jar of sauce or jam, you lose an opportunity to eat.”

26 million Americans rely on food stamps every day. And the startling thing is that many families are already on this budget without the help of food stamps. But you really can’t understand the enormity of it until you take the challenge yourself.

If you’d like to take this challenge, you can use the toolkit found here.