Second of two parts

Staff Writer Jens Manuel Krogstad lived the month of June on a $21 per week food budget, the average allowance for one person on food stamps. Here is his look back at his experience:

WATERLOO -- I held out for as long as I could.

In a sad and desperate effort to avoid cooking, I ate sandwiches for the first 10 days of my food stamp budget diet.

Peanut butter sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, egg sandwiches. I stuck pretty much every conceivable edible filler -- it'd be a stretch to call it all food -- between two slices of bread, just to avoid cooking and washing dishes. I'm proud to say I never resorted to the ramen sandwich.

No, I'm not lazy, I'm a bachelor.

Eventually, the reality of surviving on the equivalent of $1 per meal -- the average amount one person receives on food stamps -- for 23 days caught up to me. Around the middle of the month, fresh out of sandwich filler, I started cooking the only food left in the kitchen.

That's when the feasts began. All the last week of June, I ate baked chicken with stir-fried mushrooms and green peppers for dinner. Man, was it a lot of work.

In a shocking display of forethought, I thawed out frozen chicken in the refrigerator the night before dinner.

I used the kitchen scissors I bought 20 months ago on food for the first time, cutting skin from chicken legs before popping them in the oven.

After tossing the remains in the trash, a few days later the smell of rotting raw chicken skin caused my pet gerbils, Jack and Enis, to gag (we're still not talking.) I rarely took out the trash more than once a week before my lifestyle change.

I even washed dishes every day for a week for the first time since moving to Waterloo in late 2005.

What of the food? Many worried I'd go hungry and lose weight. Relying solely on food stamps, I might have, because food stamps alone weren't enough: During the last week of the experiment, I simulated a trip to the food bank and bought $11 of bread, cereal, instant oatmeal and canned goods after running out of breakfast foods and bread.

But even then, food was plentiful -- it simply wasn't all edible without significant preparation. A few days before the food shelf visit, I spent $25 on about a month's worth of frozen meats and other goods through the Angel Food Ministries program at First United Methodist Church in Cedar Falls. I never thought I'd be eating ribs this month.

The fact is, I never went hungry. The food stamp program, when combined with other services in the area, ensures there is enough food for everyone.

Is that good enough?

Nutrition

Food in the discount aisles of grocery stores, at the food bank and on McDonald's dollar menu won't help anyone stay lean and healthy. I saw a lot of attractively priced bread, canned foods high in sodium and other processed foods we're told to stay away from. Over in the fresh produce aisle, the food was healthy, but more expensive.

That's not to say I ate junk food all month. It was possible for me to eat reasonably healthy foods on a food stamp budget, but it took time and planning. On some evenings, even without kids or a physically demanding job, I simply didn't have the time or energy to cook a healthy meal, so out came the peanut butter and bread or macaroni and cheese (I still blame mac and cheese for my "freshman 15"). Salads, with high-priced ingredients, were out of the question. Instead, I opted for chunks of raw carrots, cucumbers and apples.

Eating healthy while on food stamps was a personal choice, made possible by my awareness of nutrition and easy access to transportation. It meant choosing vegetables over frozen pizza, which reduced the quantity of food, but increased the quality. Grocery shopping once a week -- instead of one big trip at the beginning of the month, when people receive food stamps -- became a necessity. This allowed me to keep fresh vegetables and fruit from spoiling.

It also required more travel. Many people who need food assistance don't have easy access to transportation. With nearly one-quarter of people hitching a ride to reach the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, where 39 percent of people use food stamps, not everyone can hop in the car when they need fresh groceries. And as I noted in the blog, in my experience the public transit system in the Cedar Valley leaves much to be desired.

Barb Prather, executive director of the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, hopes Congress will increase commodity distribution program funding in the Farm Bill from $140 million to $250 million, which will allow the food bank to receive more nutritious foods.

"The food that we get in is good, but there's never enough of the right kinds," she said. "(Increased funding) will help us get more of the right kinds of foods into the food bank and other programs."

Extra funding would come at a crucial time for the food bank. In addition to the annual summer food depletion, a result of increased demand and decreased supply from fewer food drives, healthy farm prices are also cutting into a traditional food bank supply source. When prices are low, the government steps in to buy food from farmers, then turns it over to the national food bank system.

"A few years ago, there was a lot of pork in the system because hog prices were low. Now that prices are good, we don't see that much food," Prather said.

Myths

"Low income? Obese? Comes from sitting on butt too much. 8 hr. shift of work needed. God said, (Bible) 'No work. no eat.'"

The woman who wrote that began her unsigned, hand-written note by dismissing my experiment as "horse manure." She may be more vocal than most, but she's not alone in her sentiments.

It's important to point out that able-bodied food stamp recipients are, by law, required to work. It's not just food stamp recipients who are employed. Of the people visiting the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, at least one person works in 40 percent of households, and nearly half (49 percent) received no government support. On at least one point, my loyal anonymous reader is right: "No work. No eat."

Conventional wisdom holds that those on food stamps carry significantly more weight than those with higher incomes. A 2006 analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggests otherwise. It found this perception may have been reality 20 years ago, but today, particularly among black, white and Mexican-American women, it is those with higher incomes gaining Body Mass Index, or BMI. In fact, statistics reveal women on food stamps are the only ones not growing fatter, and are less likely than low- and moderate-income women to be overweight.

The report noted: "Among women, food stamp participants are not getting relatively heavier over time. Rather, BMI has grown more among eligible nonparticipants -- and even among women with higher incomes -- than for food stamp recipients."

Meanwhile, trends among men found the opposite: Those on food stamps were skinnier 20 years ago than those not using the assistance. Today men on food stamps are gaining weight and closing the gap, but are still no fatter than their higher income counterparts.

The report concluded there is no statistical basis in the assumption that food stamp recipients are fatter than those not receiving assistance.

On the edge

People all across the country work in jobs considered solidly "middle class," yet live one misfortune from poverty. Consider my situation: The manager at your neighborhood Family Video store makes a higher hourly wage.

Granted, this scenario is simplistic. I possess a college degree and several marketable skills. In a worst case scenario, I could also turn to a support system of family and friends with the means to keep me afloat until I get back on my feet.

But what if I lose my ability to work due to an accident or serious illness? What if I eventually have children, and one of them requires medical care? When my parents reach old age, will I have to support them? What about families making too much money to receive government assistance who struggle to make ends meet?

That's where grocery programs open to people of all income levels can fill the gap. There are a couple faith-based efforts -- Angel Food Ministries and SHARE Iowa -- open to people of all beliefs in the Cedar Valley and across Iowa. Barbara Klein, who helped start the Angel Food Ministries program at First United Methodist Church in Cedar Falls, said the program is a boon to working families feeling stretched financially.

"It's great, especially for those young families just getting started," she said.

I took part in the Angel Food Ministries program during my third week of the experiment, and the results were favorable. I'll be eating ribs in July.

To learn more about Courier reporter Jens Manuel Krogstad's 23 days in June on a food stamp budget, visit wcfcourier.com/blogs/foodstamps.

Contact Jens Manuel Krogstad at (319) 291-1580 or jens.krogstad@wcfcourier.com.