Dear All, My Food Stamps budget is now $205.75.  I had $43.75 left over from May, & $162 came in for June this AM.  (Note, please, that I saved 27% of my May Stamps.)  Since I have so much on hand, I am going to be able to buy a higher percentage of my food at Whole Foods than is typical for me. 

 For example, Safeway has 10 - 8oz yoghurts for $5 this week, but they are high in sugar & additives.  I'm going to buy yoghurt at WF instead.  I try to eat fish daily, & I'll be able to get a wider variety & higher quality at WF than at Cala/Ralphs/Kroger or Safeway. 

I have identified about 20-25 coupons that I can use at Whole Foods if I deem the products to be worthy of purchase (a good price & Kosher) -- I receive MamboSprouts coupons in the mail, & I have some newspaper coupons for WF inventory as well. 

Also, many products at WF are organic. 

My substitute aide & I will be going to WF this aft.

Yours in Him, Deb

Deborah-I do admire how well you manage your food stamps!  I wish all recepients were as good at it as you are.

re-tired

Thank you so very much, Re-tired!  It often crosses my mind that taxpayers are underwriting my Food Stamps, so I don't want to waste their money buying junk food....  Yorus in Him, Deb

Dear All, I did my monthly shopping today, & I chose Whole Foods to do it in.  I have 1-1/2 half-gallons of soymilk (Silk) & 2 dozen eggs left from last month.  I anticipate buying the following items later this month:  (i) non-instant dried milk (with non-instant, yoghurt & cottage cheese can be made easily.  Instant dry milk does not set up propeerly.  This si a new product at WF, but it was out-of-stock today.  This is a food storage item.), (ii) several servings of fresh fruit (I went into this shopping with 5 small Gala apples left from a 5lb bag from Safeway.), (iii)ricotta cheese, & (iv) more yoghurt.  Probably something else will come up, but I don't anticipate it.

I spent $84.27 after $3.75 in coupons.  I have remaining in Food Stamps $121.48.  I bought 3 boxes of cold cereal, dill pickles, 5lbs bread flour (King Arthur), 32 oz vanilla low-fat yoghurt, 5.3 oz vanilla fat-free Greek-style yoghurt (on sale & with a coupon), 12 cans of tuna (stocking up), whole wheat English muffins, 100% cherry juice, 2 jars of herring in dill sauce, 32 oz of salsa (tomatoes are still too high in price to make my own), green onions/scallions, 12 oz sole fillets (I'll be making sweet-&-sour fish.), Boca soy bratwurst, lecithin granules (helps in rising bread -- a new product at WF), 2 lemons, 1 navel orange, 3 Pink Lady apples (all 4 big enough for 2 servings), 1 banana (all that I can afford @ 89cents/lb), currants to make Michelle Brianschef's fruitcake with, & fresh green peas.  Additonally, I got 2 special treats, one a noodle bowl (on sale & with a coupon) & the other a 3-serving pizza (I know that I could make my own ....  As I say, it is a special treat.). 

Yours in Him, Deb

Wow Deb... that was a great trip... you deserve treats! You're lucky that you have a WF there.  

I'm down to ~$39 in food stamps until the 13th... found out that Walmart overcharged or had a wrong sign up for the cereal I bought. Not too upset but we are talking 70 cents more (not worth running to change it). Going to donate it to the food pantry at church anyway. 

Dear Luvd_Lioness, You are a generous person.  Yours in Him, Deb

I watched the CBS Evening News and they showed families lining up in TN for food given out by Second Harvest. My jaw dropped and so did my heart. I am going to be shopping more for the food pantry. In retrospect, I feel too lucky to have full freezers and a nice bunch of food in my pantry... going to spend more tomorrow than I was planning on to donate to the pantry at church. My food total that I am planning buying was $30 and ~$16 of that was for me.

Goal for donating now in this trip: 8 cans of 6oz tuna (5/$3) , 2 boxes of tuna helper (not the most nutritious totally but cheap) $1 each, a 4# bag of sugar (99c w/ coupon); 2 bottles of ketchup 77c each (coupon), 20 packets of kool-aid (10/$1), 2 brownie mixes 88c each (coupon). 

I'll buy 2 cans of tuna for me (for a total of 10 cans) and 3 24pks of Sprite for $14.97(coupon). 

This will leave me with less than $9 until the 13th... more than enough.  If this means cooking more than normal so I eat, that's more than what I was seeing on TV (where people don't get a meal in a day due to no food in the house and even had to cut phone service in exchange for other things). Besides, I could lose a few more pounds.

Dear Luvd_Lioness, I told you that you are generous.  Yours in Him, Deb

Well, I can't tithe with $ so I'll do it with food from the heart. Maybe that box of food will bring more blessings into the recipient's life...  

Dear Luvd_Lioness, I praise you again.

I just read (carefully, this time), the quote from Matthew that you use in your signature about letting your light shine before men.  That is one of the few Gospel quotes that I've seen that are completely outside the Jewish tradition.  We count as tzedakah (justice/charity) of a high degree only those acts that are done privately, without applause.  That is considered to be the highest degree of charity, when the recipient doesn't know who the donor is AND the donor doesn't know who the recipient is.  Just a bit of comparative religions.   Yours in Him, Deb