I think that it is great that you are trying to find out what it is like to live on food stamps. Course, I think that there were better choices of food to be bought. You would learn that if it was forever.

Hope that you get some food soon. I'm from Michigan, but will try to keep track of this event!! Good luck!!

have mixed feelings about this challenge. At first, I wanted to commend everyone that was participating.

I have been on food stamps at two seperate times in my life. The first time, I found myself as a newly divorced mother of two, my Air Force spouse decided he liked being single in another country. After moving home, I applied for all forms of assistance, and ended up receiving food stamps, title 20, and housing assistance. I put myself through school and became a surgical assistant. I was on the assistance for just a bit more than a year, and was able to find employment and get myself off the programs.

Currently, I am married to a member of the national guard. It's sad that a member of the military needs government assistance in order to survive. We live in a town where there is no hospital for me to work at, and my husband is working full time hours, at part time pay, with no health benefits for a lumber yard. I make daily job applications and follow up calls for any position I am over-qualified for, qualified for, and even under-qualified for. My husband is earning only $152 over the expense of our rent. We are unable to make full car payments, our electric bill or gas payments, car insurance, and forget gas for the car.

If it were not for the food stamps that we are receiving, we would starve. A family of five needs more than $970 in pay a month in order to just survive. I have no idea what it is to live the good life. Or even the okay live. I do a good job deciding what my family should eat. We do not go hungry. I, for one, can get by on the $3 a day for food because I can budget my food expenses, and thanks to my mom, I know how to strech and budget my meals. I still would look forward to an increase of funds, and the eventual end of being in receipt of the benefits.

Then, I thought about all of the members of congress that are not participating. A week is nothing. They could survive it, and it might just give everyone a chance to glimpse inside some every day struggles for real people.

By the way, I would be willing to come to DC and see if I could survive on the meals at the receptions, cocktail parties, and fundraisers that the participates are having to avoid. Where do I sign up for that?

Oh my goodness! Just Cornmeal? I guess you can whip up some cornbread, though I have never made cornbread without eggs or milk. I think what you are doing definitely proves a point. I am currently doing a research paper on diabetes among African Americans of low socioeconomic status. In my research so far, I believe that as far as foodstamps are concerned, the budget should definitely be increased, but I also think that like the WIC program, there should be limits on what can be bought with foodstamps. Junkfood should definitely not be allowed. I think if such a change was to occur in the foodstamp system, then I think that nutrition education should be incorporated as well.

I am very happy that you took this issue on. I am a divorced mother of 4. I am disabled with 3 conditions that rely on nutritious foods for me to survive. The main one Diabetes is very hard to deal with on food stamps. Further I have an 11 year old Autistic child that has feeding issues. Although my son and I both receive SSI/disability in ohio the standard is very close to the $1 per meal that you guys are working with. Believe me we are not eating steaks and shrimp. Most of the time I have to rob from the utility companies each money to buy groceries because the food stamps usually last about a week and a half. There is no cost of living increase for food stamps and whatever amount is given annually as a cost of living increase from SSI is taken away from food stamps dollar for dollar. The other thing that is forgotten is that a lot of disabled people even with Medicaid are not covered for personal supplies that are only needed due to their ilness. I have many things that I have to try and ft into my budget monthly and certain things I have to go without. There is even a device that all but totally eradicate one of my illnesses but it is not covered bu medicaid and I canot afford $180 per month to rent it. Because of not having this machine I already spent 7 months away from my kids in a nursing home which I am sure cost way more than $180 a month. Child Support barely helps because my ex only makes a little above minimum wage and I am unable to work outside the home, though I hav tried to find work from home online it just usually turns into some sort of scam.The worst part about this is Summer is coming and my kids wont have the free lunch and breakfast prograsto fall back on so we will be trying to live off approximately $6 a day. With the increase in fuel prices I am just wondering how much groceries are going to go up.

Wow! That really sucks! I can remember all of the things had to trick my kids into thinking wre casseroles and pot lucks like tomato soup with peas and such but only corn meal, well there just isnt much anyone ca conjure up with that. I feel for you and know you are a survivor, take care and just be sure you drink loads of water it helps to fill you up, (a trick the kids and I have learned). Thank you again for shining the light on this it gives us all hope.

Two suggestions: One, if your food bank is open tomorrow, they can help you out. Or, if you still have some staples, Indian Fry Bread is good and filling. Spend your 33 cents on sugar or honey and a little milk. You can also borrow a little from your neighbor if you have to. We have all come up short on food occasionally.

You have my respect for sticking this out.

A cup of cornmeal, a little water, some spices like basil, oregano, etc. (if you have some), mix together to form a thick batter. Put a little oil (if you have some) in a skillet, put spoonfuls of batter in after the oil heats, flatten as it cooks on one side. Flip over and cook other side, only takes a few minutes a side. These little corn cakes are good. Hope this helps!

Thank you for what you are doing.

Now imagine you are a caregiver to a disabled loved one. Perhaps you care for a Veteren of the current war, and you have to choose or split your time between caregiving and putting food on the table.

Someone tonight is going to work at a diner somewhere, not knowing they have to return to be a full time nurse and therapist and whatever else to make it to the next day.

...and the corn meal ran out two days ago.

...and Haliburton and HMO's and Big Pharma profit by churning out an endless stream of misery.

For God's sake, think as you spend your $21, of the mother with 2 kids and the brain damaged soldier husband/brother.

Think of the wife caring for the former breadwinner with MS or alzheimers.

You may lose a few pounds this week, I so much appreciate that you have brought attention to those who have next to nothing, or even less.

Don't be shy about kicking Goper butt. We're with you.

Teocawki.

Sorry to hear that, Tim. Take it as an object lesson, though -- "just barely enough" is the same as "one accident away from disaster". You could have knocked your jelly off the counter, or had ants get into your peanut butter, or whatever, and you'd be in the same place.

I do think our country needs to stop the ridiculous security theater that isn't protecting anyone. Security guru Bruce Schneier's article on "CYA Security" is a good read on this topic:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/02/cya_security_1.html

The TSA is the way it is because of the leadership vacuum in the executive branch. I'd like to think that if we had a real President, we'd be spending our tax dollars on real security -- not confiscating peanut butter.

As an ex-Food Stamp Casworker for 10+ years, I thank you for your ongoing campaign. THe services are not thought out well. Most people stretch their food dollars by churches, charities, and handouts. Many a time I gave a mother a $20 grocery store gift certificate to help her through the month. Yes, Americans should do what you are doing to experience the degredation we force on the poor...

Having this happen is better than if it didn't happen. The point of the exercise wasn't to do it, but to find out what life is like for a family on food stamps. This event shows that careful planning may not be enough, because unexpected events can disrupt the most careful plan, causing great hardship. You wouldn't have had this point driven home to you, and wouldn't be able to drive it home to the public as effectively as you now may, if this event hadn't happened.

Sir:

Many thanks for highlighting this issue. I do hope you are speaking with others out there who really DO have to live on food stamps. It's as hard as can be.

Lord, don't I know...

I don't know if you have any cooking oil, shortening, or butter, but if you do, here is a traditional recipe for johnny cakes.

1 cup corn meal
1 cup hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix the ingredients and let it sit for about 15 minutes. You may need to add a bit more water, depending on the cornmeal, as you want a runny batter. Oil a skillet and pour spoonfuls, fry on both sides.

This is actually amazingly good, although most people won't believe that until they try it.

If you don't have any cooking oil, butter, or shortening, hmmm. . . I would try a little bit thicker batter on a hot well seasoned cast iron skillet.

More frugal recipes can be found at http://www.bettertimesinfo.org/2004index.htm .

Would they let you eat the PB&J on the spot? It seems to me that would have to be the tactic needed. While I do applaud you for taking this challenge, one big difference between your situation and that of those who need the food stamps is that there is a light at the end of your tunnel...

Wow. That's tragicly hilarious.

What can you make with just cornmeal? You can boil it in water and make polenta but frankly, plain boiled cornmeal tastes about as bland as it sounds.

Can you buy another bulb of garlic with 33 cents? you could mince that and add it to the polenta with some salt and spread it out on a cookie sheet and bake it until it's crisp like a cracker or even plop it into a loaf pan, let it cool and slice it like a soft bread and then fry it in a pan.

I've never made it myself so if you go that route you'll probably want to check for a real recipe to get the ratios right. I don't want to be responsible for you tragicly losing your last bit of food to some misguided cooking experiment.

Just an idea. I mean...corn meal.

I am sorry to hear of your misfortune.

Don't be too hard on TSA, of all the "binaries" in the world, Peanut Butter & Jelly, probably top the list, so I am glad they were able to remember it.

If you have oil, you can make fried cornmeal mush. If you have some sugar, it can be a real comfort food. (It doesn't take a lot of either, too - if you're in a place that serves coffee, pick up a couple packets of sugar. I did this frequently, because I didn't even qualify for food stamps.)

I am deeply sorry that this happened to you, but I'm also impressed that you aren't thinking of breaking off the challenge.

Good luck to you.

R

A bag of cornmeal to last only two days? Not much of a problem. As a college student in 1974 I went nine days (the week before finals) on oatmeal mixed with cold water. I was living out of my car (which was out of gas) at the time.

I was waiting on my first GI bill check; I had applied four months earlier. The check came in on Friday afternoon, but the local Bank of America wouldn't cash it. I used it as collateral to borrow $10 from a fellow student.

Water was free then. I don't know what I'd do now. I still remember the headache--and I still have a grudge against the Bank of America. I suppose I should have had a grudge against the VA, but I'd been in the army for two years, and a fairly good appreciation of how government operations worked.

Yes, thanks TSA for protecting us against the perils of Peanut Butter and Jelly. After all, the peanut butter could have been plastique, and the jelly? Um, grape scented plastique.

Even assuming the regulations were intended to cover such as jelly, which seems to me a real stretch, by what reach of bureaucratic imagination (assuming that's not an oxymoron) does peanut butter become a liquid?

Pray tell, what manner of villainy could a nefarious ne`er-do-well commit with peanut butter and/or jelly? What act of abject horror and hedonism could be done with a sandwhich?

On second thought...this is Washington. Perhaps it is best not to ask. Chances are, whatever act could be done with peanut butter and jelly has been done already.

Also. Word to the wise.

If you're on a shoe-string budget for food, the College Student Diet is flawless.

Packages of ramen are $.10 to $.25 each. They have bountiful numbers of flavors; you'd rarely eat the same flavor twice. You can use ketchup or mustard packets for flavor, free from BK or Sonic.

Yeah, maybe you could do something about such insane regulations?

Sir,

I just wanted to make a suggestion. The line-height spacing on your site makes it difficult to read in Internet Explorer.

May I make a suggestion?
Right now your setup for

<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">

Though not really CSS compliant, it's okay. BUT, you do need to adjust that MARGIN to 12pt .

Best Regards,

An American Expat in China

I am late to the game, but I would like to congratulate you on attempting this poverty challenge. What I hope you discover is not that it is difficult yet possible to live by such means, but rather that it is reprehensible that we would allow people to live like that with programs that do more to exacerbate the problem than help them out of their situation.

That said, don't you find it a little ridiculous that your peanut butter and jelly sandwich was confiscated? Are your mouthwash and toothpaste a threat to national security? The problem isn't that they took away your measly meals but that the TSA has determined that every passenger is a security risk yet has not allotted enough personnel to handle the task of determining whether a vessel of liquid, paste, or gel contains explosive material. If shoes can be scanned for trace amounts of chemicals, surely bottles and cups from the airport Starbucks can just as easily be passed through a similar scanner.

Instead, you are required to turn over your lunch to the security guard for no other reason than it violates an impotent policy. Check that. The policy is only impotent in regards to actually stopping terrorists. With regard to my 5 dollar cup of coffee and your 25 cent peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the policy is indeed potent.

It is unfortunate that instead of taking this opportunity to point out the obtusity of the TSA's policy, you take the easier path of praising them for "protecting" airports from terrorist threats like yourself. Having the position of power that you do, the ability to affect change with your words and actions is far beyond the average citizen's. One would hope that you would have the courage to declare the outrageous as such when it punches you in the face. Or steals your lunch, as it is.

Kudos to you, Congressman, for taking this on. Now to get the full effect, you should try this for a month. Be sure to eat at a soup kitchen, be sure to go to a food pantry around week 2 so you can make it. What you'll find will shock you. Both the welfare department and the food pantries will help you learn how to bread and thin everything, so you'll be eating a lot of processed carbs. You'll probably gain a lot of weight and you won't have proper nutrition, but the agencies will tell you at least you aren't hungry.

While most of us on food stamps wouldn't have our food taken away at airports (who could afford to fly?) we do loose perishables to power outages (I'd just stocked my freezer when Jeanne hit FL, lost the family's entire food stamp budget because I bought cheap meat in bulk) This meant we had to eat pantry food all month, but there was a place in Clearwater that would give out a bag of food every Tuesday, only problem is that it was always just cake, cookies and bread.

So now that we're taking a "hard look at the way the Food Stamp Program is administered" what are we going to do about it? And when do we take on Medicare and Medicaid?

Tim,

That's a real bummer, and I for one think your dangerous PBJ sandwiches are much better off being eaten by those ravenous TSA personnel!

If you can hock your cornmeal or a watch, you can buy a bag of pasta, a can of "cream of mushroom" soup, and a couple cans of tuna, and make a dozen or so helpings of tuna casserole...

Best of luck, man, this is a very cool thing you're doing.

You're going to have to get to a food bank. Be sure you run a donation drive to whichever one you go to so any food you take is replaced many times over.

Thanks for doing this.

I hope you take some time to think about the cascading effects of poverty. i.e. Can't get good food/enough food - feel irritable, can't concentrate, suffer other health effects - find it difficult to deal appropriately with boss, co-workers, family - can't advance at work, lose job - deeper poverty ...

A PB&J is illegal to take on a plane? Freakin' *PB&J*??

Boy, Congressman, if you REALLY want to do a service to the American public, right after you get done with making the (very well-chosen) point about food stamps, get to work on the odious, ridiculous, preposterous "Safety" regulations imposed on us by the TSA.

Jason Quick

You have completely misdiagnosed what happened. Were you a threat? Was your - or *any* - PB&J sandwich a threat to anyone?

This was a security failure. False positives cost both TSA and travelers in time and money. When the rules are defined so that they are overwhelmingly common, actual security also suffers.

Security theater can have value, and maybe you are just playing your role for that.

Interesting read, much more fun to read than I ever imagined any congressman's blog being. However, curiosity is absolutely killing me at this point...

What exactly were you going to do with peanut butter, jelly, and a bag of cornmeal? A loaf of bread, ok, that would make a few nice sandwiches. But pbj-cornmeal?

Dear Rep. Ryan,

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your PB&J. As for what you can do with the cornmeal, you can make polenta: It's delicious and you can either top it with some cheese and tomato sauce (provided you have some left) or you can refrigerate it and the slice it and cook it up in a bit of butter or oil until browned.

3 1/2 cups cold water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cornmeal

Pour 3 cups of the water into a heavy saucepan, add the salt and bring to a full rolling boil over high heat. While the water is coming to a boil, stir the remaining 1/2 cup water into the cornmeal. Stir until the cornmeal is evenly dampened. This will keep the cornmeal from becoming lumpy as it cooks. As soon as the water boils, stir in the dampened cornmeal. Briskly whisk until the mixture is smooth. Reduce the heat to medium-low and briskly stir the cornmeal for 2 or 3 minutes. The mixture will get stiff quickly. When the polenta begins to come away from the sides of the pan and the whisk stands up by itself in the center of the polenta, it is ready to serve.

After this is over, I'd get working on TSA to drop those ridiculous 3-1-1 laws. They're nothing but a hassle and a lot of the stuff they confiscate (lotions, shampoos, etc.) go to homeless shelters. If it's not dangerous enough to donate, it's not dangerous to bring on board a plane. I'd also recommend a basic chemistry lesson to learn how misguided this rule is.

Thank you for taking the challenge this week; I'm sorry the TSA took the last of your food! May you stay in good spirits for the last day of cornmeal!

As a grad student, I live on a food budget of about $35 a week (including non-food items such as soap and paper towels). It is still difficult to make ends meet sometimes despite a mostly vegetarian diet of beans, rice, cabbage and other similarly cheap foods.

My life is really easy compared to those of many Americans that are eligible for food stamps, and I still worry all the time about money-- what if I get sick (no health insurance) or need car repairs (since I'm lucky enough to have a car)?

Thank you for focusing on the ridiculousness of what one can feasibly buy with the government's current allotment of food stamps! And thank you for being a politician who does his best to make a difference! Our country could use many, many more like you!

First and foremost, I want to commend you for the Food-Stamp challenge. I wish more Congressmen & women would take the trouble to walk the difficult paths of their constituents. As a former Congressional staffer, I know how rare that attitude is.

But I must take issue with you on one point: Why is confiscating your PB & J "doing an exceptional job protecting our nation’s airports"?

Because I strongly suspect you are just being diplomatic, and that you are aware of what a farce the 3-1-1 regulations are, I want to take you to task for NOT challenging this nonsense. You are a United States Congressman. If you don't do it, who will?

Just in case your staffers aren't keeping you up to speed, here's a good quick read on the topic: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/flying_toilet_terror_labs/

I came across this website while messing around at lunchtime. I'm English so this has no bearing on me. I'm only writing to say I'm absolutely astounded. America is supposed to be one of the most advanced societies on the planet and yet from the stories told so far it appears you let your poor virtually starve. If you don't do something about this senator then you are a disgrace.

PEOPLE. They CONFISCATED A JAR. Nowhere in the congressman's blog does he mention the word sandwich.

The TSA took a JAR of pb&j, NOT a sandwich. It seems ALL of you need to learn to read and comprehend. (including the congressman) ANY jar with a gel-like substance over 3 oz. is NOT allowed to be carried on the plane. If he had simply placed it in his checked in luggage, this would have never happened.

It's great that you're trying to get a "taste" of the situation of thousands of lesser blessed Americans. I'm a disabled veteran with diabetes, heart disease and PTSD which renders me unemployable. But thanks to the largesse of the VA, our family of four gets $1,500 per month and food stamps are an important part of our budget. With the Dow-Jones over 13,000, oil companies reporting billion dollar quarterly profits, Halliburton approaching that mark, etc., it's gratifying to see the richest country in the history of the world has so much compassion for those who served her with honor. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for doing this.
Our family was doing OK until my husband had a massive stroke 8 years ago. Our kids were 7 and 15. My take-home pay was $250 every 2 weeks from a hospital in a county near you, and we only qualified for $23 in food stamps. There was something about how much the hospital claimed they "gave" me as credit for health insurance. (The rules about this have since been changed, thank goodness.)
Try feeding a family on that plus making utility payments, house payment, gas for car, etc. It is not do-able. We would have gone hungry without the help of an elderly aunt and credit cards.
It took 7 months to get SSI, and he was in the nursing home long before then. I remember looking at the full shopping baskets of food stamp recipients with longing. It's not a perfect system but it was better than what I had.

I think that its great that you're doing that. And also this incident at the airport also adds to the fact that 'things go wrong.' If you're living month to month, and you're barely getting by, when something happens, whether its someone that takes your food, or your car breaks, you get sick, or you have to miss work for a few days, it really hurts. Sometimes missing a few days of work means not having rent, eating Ramen for a week, or having the electricity shut off for a few days. Usually people end up having to go to one of those "check into cash" places and paying an ungodly amount of interest just to have the rent this month. This does not just apply to food stamps, but minimum wage (or low wages) as well. I currently am not in this situation anymore, but I was. I graduated from college 2 years ago and remember very well the struggle of living on a low income. I think that its great that you politicians are doing this, and not forgetting what its like to question where your next meal will come from. THANK YOU!

I think it is great that you do this. Too many people don't realize how quickly nutrition goes out the door when cost is a factor. That and variety. Not only should the food stamp amount be increased but so should the guidelines on WIC (Women's Infant and CHildren program - I don't know if it's a federal program or Pennsylvania's but it's a great program that most people complain less about than food stamps b/c you are allotted money to get only specific items but again, fruits and veggies are limited but at least milk and eggs are available). Something else to consider should be free breakfast and lunch programs at schools. Plus, if you are a women with an infant, it takes a lot of energy etc. to breastfeed and your nutrition can effect breastmilk supply (at least WIC pays for formula) but a healthy diet is essential. A hungry mommy = hungry baby.

At home, we've been making a real effort to eat healthier and the cost of fresh fruits and veggies is ridiculous - and there aren't coupons for those items so you have to rely on sales. Luckily, my family can afford it but many can't.

Thank you for taking the time to walk the walk. Sorry about your PB & J. I guess you should have repackaged it into 3oz containers and put them in a plastic bag.

I'm proud to see someone trying to get a real look into what Americans who rely on food stamps are dealing with.
When I was still in the US I needed food stamps to eat several times in my life as a child/teenager. I've moved to Australia and people don't even believe the quality of life most Americans that are in hard times are left to.
I hope that you take your experiences to heart and really imagine what it would be like to live on food stamps long term. Please also take into consideration people that have to control their health problems with diet as mentioned above.
Thanks again for trying to experience life on food stamps first hand. If all politicians would stop and think about their people as you have I think the US would be a much nicer country to live in.

I've also known plenty of people on food stamps, and the confiscation problem they've experienced has been family members or friends finding out they have food and eating it before. That's why we often see people making frequent trips to the grocery store and parceling out their food stamps (not that there is much to work with in the first place) - they are afraid that someone bigger, stronger, or more needy than they will beat them to it. A great experiment - hope word of it makes it farther than your blog.

Congressman Ryan,

I would like to congratulate you on following in the footsteps of my Governor, Ted Kulongoski, and taking this food stamp challenge.

Not knowing your personal history I don't know if you ever had to use food stamps before but I would guess no. I think it's a great way for people who probably never had to deal with that to get a real concrete idea of what it's like and the kind of struggle that millions of people go through every day of teir lives.

Please use this experience, especially your misadventure with the TSA, to illustrate our hunger problem. Again, congratulations and thank you.

Is it the peanut butter or the jelly that they consider to be a liquid?

It's commendable that you have chosen to experience first hand the ignorant way that the poorer of us are treated, and also that you've seen how ignorant the hysterical TSA treats everyone regardless of their status.

All I can do is hope you pass that knowledge along in the form of sanity in your dealings in Congress.

Here's hoping...

Dear Congressman Ryan,

Thanks for doing this. I'm someone who's been hungry in his time, and know only too well the misconceptions folks have about the food stamp program. It's a hard row to hoe.

Keep focused on the big problem. Right now, millions of people are concerned where their next meal will be coming from. I realize that the TSA depriving you of your food was extremely unfair. Someone does, indeed, need to do something about the way TSA regulations have gotten this out of hand. However, there is widespread public outrage over TSA regulations which, at worst, cause inconvenience; as someone correctly pointed out above, poor folks rarely have the luxury of flying in the first place. Widespread hunger and malnutrition might not seem as sexy an issue for our society's op-ed columnists, but it cuts much closer to the heart of the real problems of inequity in our nation.

Fortunately for most people subsisting (or not, rather) on food stamps, they rarely have to make quick trips to the airport. Hence, they don't have to worry about TSA confiscating two days worth of food.

I think this experiment is relatively worthless without looking at the rest of America's war on the poor: lack of quality medical care, inadequate public transportation, the myth of minimum wage, the disempowerment (disembowelment?) of labor unions, the gutting of subsidized housing.

Tim Ryan, your life is still a cakewalk compared to the poor in this country. Think about going to bed hungry AND cold AND sick.

Then think about knowing your kids are hungry and cold and sick as well.

Would you get any rest?

I hope when this experiment is over, you and your comrades in D.C. actually try to do something, but I'm not holding my breath.

so if he had divided the peanut and jelly into many 3 ounce baggies it would've been fine?

How is taking a PB&J sandwich "doing an exceptional job protecting our nation’s airports?"

This does absolutely nothing to protect airports, and just inconveniences passengers.

This is "security theater," nothing more.

Thankfully, I've never had to ask for food stamp assistance even though I've had my share of challenges when the job has been pulled out from under me in these trying times.

I agree 100% with Molly's comment. Food stamps are intended to sustain impoverished people and should therefore be limited to the purchase of nutritious foods as WIC limits purchases. Only in America can the poor be both overweight and malnourished. Clearly, not everyone is making great choices about what food to buy for whatever reason - lack of nutritional information, cultural issues, poor impulse control. There should be a baseline of nutritional value in order to purchase an item wit food stamps. Consider that tax-payers would feel better about supporting the food stamp program if they didn't see people pulling out an Ohio Direction Card to pay for junk food, sugar cereal, cookies and/or lobster. While I can appreciate everyone's need for a special meal or junk food from time to time, it's irksome and irresponsible of both the food stamp user and the state to allow it. In addition, the junk food leads to high blood presure, high cholesterol and diabetes in many. All of which tax-payers then have to pay to treat either through Medicaid or uninsured hospital stays where the fees get passed on to insured patrons.

This is the absolute reality of living on food stamps - you are one step away from hunger, all the time. Someone fails to close the fridge, the power goes out (either a general power outage or because you couldn't afford to pay the bill), a friend or family member has to be taken care of and strains a food budget already at the breaking point, the food shelf didn't have as much extra to give you this week, bugs get into the pantry, you underestimate or get off-budget with such extravagances as fresh vegetables or a child's birthday cake, any one of a hundred million tiny little things which would make a middle class person shrug and head to the grocery store, or which they'd never even experience or think about, mean a week, two weeks or a month of hunger for the food-stamp dependent before the next tiny injection of money comes to buy more food. My mother was exceptionally careful with our food stamps and bargain-shopped so fiercely the store clerks detested her (coupons - lots, and lots, of coupons) - but we still went hungry sometimes. Once the four of us lived an entire week on a sleeve of saltines, a jar of jelly and a watermelon because the landlord had the power shut off in a constructive eviction attempt.

Congratulations, Congressman. You get to live like a _real_ Food Stamp recipient for a few days - I hope you continue to stay the course, though I wouldn't blame you if you don't. Polenta's not so bad, if you add a lot of salt.

Add water to the cornmeal and boil it until it is thick as oatmeal. Add salt, eat.

A lot of no-frills airlines aren't serving food any longer, but will allow you to bring food on. Has no one informed the TSA of this?

Got any butter or oil? Fry the cornbread up in a skillet, sort of like pancakes. That's about the best you can hope for. Should keep you eating for several days.

That's how we did it when I was a kid.

what are you going to do?

You're going to be hungry...like many who try to make it in this consumption society.

I suggest you visit a soup kitchen and rely on the charity of others. If you can swallow your pride (a bitter taste) try going without staffers, with no explanation of why you're there, just go humbly...and hungry. That ought to be enlightening.

I appreciate what you are doing to show how difficult it is to get adequate nutrition on the food stamp allotment. I had to rely on it for a short time, and it took a great deal of planning to provide consistently nutritious meals. More politicians and their families should do this simple thing to see what it's like.

Now for my exceptions to commentors here. It would be painfully easy to hide pieces for an IED in a jar of peanut butter because it is dense and the x-ray equipment given to the TSA is not capable of seeing through all of that. Jelly could easily be laced with liquid or gel that could be used to ignite a fire or a bomb. The folks at the TSA are not allowed to make decisions on what is okay and what is not. Most airports are also understaffed because funding was cut, and many airports, especially smaller ones, are limiting their staff to part time hours, so you may not have the same folks on in the morning as the evening. To keep some sort of consistency in screening procedures, they have to have a list and they have to stick to it. So if you're carrying a PB&J sandwich, you will be fine because it's bloody unlikely it would contain a bomb they couldn't see. But jars of anything should be in your suitcase. It is also your responsibility to get to the airport with enough time to check your bags. Everyone runs late sometimes, and it may seem unreasonable that you are unable to check in late or have to give up your liquids because the baggage has already been loaded, but you can't blame the TSA for your failure to arrive on time. Doesn't stop people from yelling at them, but those folks are just doing their jobs according to the rules they're given.

Just like with foodstamps, talking to these people gives you a far better understanding of what life is like for them.

My husband is a TSA worker, and he gets a PB&J sandwich everyday. He always said they were dynamite, but I thought he was kidding!

In all seriousness, this is a very useful experiment. It's hard to know the exact flaws in a system until you see them first hand.

I hope this leads to some sort of increased public knowledge if not a revision of the program. Good on you for doing this, sir! It makes me have a faint glimmer of hope about politics yet.

For future reference:
If it's just you eating $21 get only the staples like the following:
loaf of bread $2 (unless cheap $1)
bologna $1 if you get the chicken kind
cheese (sometimes cheaper to get block cheese)$2
tomatoes $2 worth
ground beef $3 worth however much that is
1 gallon milk $3 (vitamin d, you'll need all you can get)
your total is now at $13. Get some green veggies and you are good to go.
Well, not exactly good to go. you won't starve, but you might get the scurvy. might even gain weight.

for what it's worth, probably most people living on food stamps aren't flying much. I feel like there should be some kind of "gimmie" that applies, where you can buy a new set of PB and J jars, of half size, say, and continue on. I appreciate the intended purity of the exercise, but this doesn't feel like a worthy wrench to cater to.

just another penny for the pond.

Again, this is unrealistic. It is rare and unlikely that a food-stamp-participate would be flying anywhere.

Also, you can do a lot more with milk, eggs, bread and cereal than cornmeal.

Dear Congressman Ryan,

1. Thank you for participating in the challenge.

2. With respect to the TSA: Several people have commented that poor people don't have the luxury of flying on planes and so the confiscation of your food isn't really relevant to the challenge. The TSA currently allows certain exceptions for children's food (I think if you are traveling with a child of toddler age or younger you may bring liquidy food items along) but makes no exception for the food of adults or anyone older than a toddler. Nutritious items such as milk, and orange juice, (and peanut butter) are inexpensive at the grocery store when compared to the 300%+ markup at the airport. People who say: "You can just buy your drinks and food once you're through security" overlook the many poor Americans who can't afford to waste $3 on a bottle of water or $3 on a bottle of milk or orange juice but could inexpensively bring them from home. Suggestions that people "check" their food are unhelpful when the point is that air travel can often take all day and airlines generally no longer provide free meal service. I hope you'll help work on highlighting how the TSA's regulations actually harm the traveling public (without adding anything to safety). There are plenty of people who are being forced to choose between not eating and paying a very high premium for food at airports - something which could trivially be solved by revising the TSA's regulations.

Good for you Tim.

As regards the TSA, as a congressman, can you do anything to get some sanity into their security process?

Security expert Bruce Schneier gives a good overview as to why these things are largely "security theatre"

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/05/schneier_talk_a.html

I love how self-righteous many commenters are. Tim has the decency to take this challenge and you ridicule his sincerity and dismiss his experience as not real enough. Grow up. That kind of attitude won't win you any pity.

I am sure that you will be able to find a soup kitchen that can help you out at your destination. Living on food stamps sometimes necessitates meeting other people who do the same.

"Comment by: Linda F
I feel for you and know you are a survivor..@

Linda the guy is a wealthy lawyer and congressman, you don't need to feel for him at all. The guy is an expert survivor.

I am curious to know what you are going to do with cornmeal. Please post your creative recipes.

You can make polenta

* 1 pound or slightly more of coarsely ground corn meal (you want corn meal the consistency of fine to medium-grained sand, not flour, and if possible stone-ground)
* 2 quarts boiling water (have more handy)
* A heaping teaspoon of salt

Set the water on the fire in a wide bottomed pot and add the salt. When it comes to a boil, add the corn meal in a very slow stream (you don't want the pot to stop boiling), stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to keep lumps from forming. Continue stirring, in the same direction, as the mush thickens, for about a half-hour (the longer you stir the better the polenta will be; the finished polenta should have the consistency of firm mashed potatoes), adding boiling water as necessary.

Treat it like hot cereal, or chill and fry.

Congressman I don't know if you've ever been truly destitute but I hope this experience helps you understand what it can be like. I've spent months, thankfully not recently, parceling out what little food I had so it would last. Changing the channel on TV when food commercials would get my stomach rumbling.

I'd eschew any exercise so I didn't burn any unnecessary calories. I don't know how many calories the shame and depression that goes with being poor eats up but it sure does eat at your self esteeem. I'm lucky those days only lasted a short while for me. For people not as fortunate I don't see how they make it.

While food stamp recipients probably in fact aren't flying much, let's remember _why_ impoverishment comes in many stripes.

When we live in a nation where state security powers are as far off the idiocy graph as they are with TSA, we are in far more serious trouble w/r/t the erosion of civil liberties than just the ability to afford daily sustenance.

I urge Congressman Ryan to take a critical look at the totality of the backstory contained in these comments.

Speaking as both frequent flier and cash-poor graduate student ... just my two miles worth.

I think this is a good first step. Once the results of this experiment are shared with your coworkers, it needs to be splattered all over the press. Then, we need some new rules... All people elected to the House and Senate should have to do the same thing for a week every year of their term. Not at the same time... No, we want them to understand what it's like to go without in the midst of people who have more than they need. There should be oversight on the project too, no sneaking sandwiches to Ted Kennedy! That should at least start the conversation about getting a living wage for Americans, getting energy costs under control, improving our health, and maybe even learning a thing or two about peasants being people too.

One or two days without food isn't a big deal. You'll be okay.

Perhaps next time instead of trying to live off $21 for a week, you can try not eating for... say... 10 days. From my own experience, I'd venture that at about that point you start experiencing a tiny fraction of what far too many people go through every, single, day.

Kudo's for this effort. More people should try this sort of thing.

You should have gotten some Ramen noodles.You can't go wrong with Ramen!
I thank you for taking part in this challenge. I haven't ever had to use food stamps and I hope I never do.
Before I started reading your blog, I really didn't know that people get so few dollars in assistance.

I hope you realize that those TSA rules about liquids do absolutely nothing to make any of us safer. Nor do most of the other regulations TSA is tasked with enforcing.

I second Drew's suggestion that you read Bruce Schneier, except I hope you'll become a regular reader of his blog:
http://schneier.com/blog/

He understands security and writes about it in a clear way, everything from computer networks to home burglary to antiterrorism to the economics of security. I often find myself wishing that every member of Congress read his blog daily.

Your participation in the Food Stamp Challenge is admirable. Thank you for highlighting the daily struggles that those of us living on food stamps face. I know I worry about the TSA arbitrarily taking my food and drinks. This is exactly why those of us living on food stamps can't freely travel across our great nation by airplane. It's unfair and unamerican. God bless.

P.S. At least they fed you a big, hot meal on the airplane for free, right?"

You wouldn't think it was so funny if that really was all you had to live on. Think of the mom who drops her grocery bag on the way home from the store and the eggs break and the PB & J jars split open all over the sidewalk and she has nothing left but corn meal.

So if you cannot bring your own lunch with you, and you live on food stamps, how would one eat when traveling through airports?

I doubt there are any places in an airport which will accept food stamps, let along any food there which would qualify for purchase.

I'm glad you've decided to take on this experiment. There is much irony to be seen.

What you're doing is a great idea.

I've been on food stamps myself, so I understand the importance of such a program. The problem, however, is the group of people who use welfare as their income for their entire lives. These people sell their food stamps for cash, so that they can buy whatever they want instead of food. I've known women who were comfortable with having multiple children because they would receive more money from welfare. I thought it was unfair that the reason I did not qualify for a "medical card" for insurance was because I was not pregnant and had no children.

Welfare is a great program for honest people who need it, but the program is abused every day. We need a way of keeping these abusers away from this program designed to help out families, not support them for the rest of their lives.

By the way, it's really not that hard to live on that much money. Try Ramen noodles and add an egg for protein. Rice is also VERY cheap and filling. I did it for a very long time and turned out fine.

Yes, I have to say that the TSA taking your peanut butter away has done nothing to save us from the terrorists. But yes, go to a food pantry. check out and talk to some people who need to get their food there.

I think it would be better to have a 2 month excursion to what many poor Americans face on a yearly basis.

When I was a child we were quite poor, the only meals we usually had were Ramen noodles (at .08$ a pack it was a good meal) and Rice with chicken broth on special days.

I do think it is great that you are all trying this out, though I implore you all to remember that while you can laugh about the peanut butter and jelly, many people would cry as that being the last of their food for the month would in turn starve their families.

It is commendable, but again, keep in mind that to those who honestly do need the assistance this is everything, and for more then it should be long term.

-Tim

Im from New Zealand.

Just saw a link of linkfilter.net - anyway just wanted to say what you are doing is a great idea!

Id love to see some of our New Zealand politicians live on the dole (our social service benefit) for one week!

I live a few states over, but I want to thank you for doing this. I wish more of our representatives would take the time and make the commitment to do this sort of reality check.

kudos to you for even trying.
thankfully i have so far been able to avoid food stamps.... not having a family i always wanted to leave those resources for those who have others to care for.
you could do what i always did before i worked my way up to a wage that pays the bills: get a part time job at a fast food place so you can eat what is abandoned when an order gets messed up. usually means that even in the roughest of times you get to eat 5 times a week for free. although you should be careful what kind of food place you work at - i lived on stale donuts for four months once and had to borrow the cost of my medical expenses when i collapsed from malnutrition

Congressman, it is no more than 15-20 minutes from Concord to the Manchester Airport (which is a nice airport). In one hour, you can drive down I-93, cross the state line at Salem, NH, and be a good deal of the way to Boston, MA.
Too bad about your bum deal with TSA though...

This is a nice first step. Take it one step further - feed one or more kids or teens. Be sure that you work your full 8 or more hour day (shift work is always good,) use only the bus because you can't afford a car, and figure out how you are going to get dinner on the table. Now, also, get rid of all your cook books, because you can't afford them, or lost them the last time you had to move. Yeah, ramen noodles will work, but with a kid, you need to do a little more. And with a kid who may be whining about why it is taking so long, why you have to walk instead of taking the bus after the stop at the store, you will understand why many people will give in a get something quick or hot that doesn't take much energy to fix.

If you want to add further to the reality, pretend that you yourself grew up in many different fosterhomes because of your mom's drug and alcohol abuse. You never learned how to shop frugally or to cook, because no one took the time to teach you. Have a baby at 16, and now at 25 you are on disability from work due to an injury to your back. This is my neighbor. She is only now learning these things because I take her shopping and explain how to cook frugally. (Which ironically is only possible because she got hurt at work. If she was still working full time I would't get to see her.) But many times I just feed her daughter when she comes to play with my child because the prices are so high, and the local store, within walking distance, doesn't accept food stamps.

Oh yeah, and we live in the "salad bowl" area of the country, so what you get from the food pantry once a month is salad. Lots and lots of salad that you have to throw out, because there is no way you can eat 6 or more bags of salad before it goes bad.

Please keep Congress and the media focused on this issue, it is harder than you think to make it on that $21.

it's so hard to believe that the government expects people to live off of food stamps, especially with inflation and the fact that many places don't accept them.

it isnt fair that anyoen should have to worry about food...everyone should have it readily accessible.

thanks for doing this. hope congress does something about this.

I agree with most everyone here who said that those TSA regs do little more than allow us to pretend we're doing something to keep our airports safe. I know it's political suicide to talk about "loosening" those regs, but they're completely pointless.

Your PB&J: if I'm not mistaken it was likely tossed in to a bin with all the bottles of shampoo and Gatorade which, once the bin is full, everything is disposed of in the trash. So if there are actually scary chemicals in your PB&J (I don't know, what kind of jelly were you using? Grape? Strawberry? Anthrax?) they just get tossed in to the trash, never to be heard from again. Wheeee! Everyone's safer.

I fly through Cleveland-Hopkins twice a week and the madness that requires my flipflops to be xrayed makes me a little concerned as to the other security policies our country has in place.

Food stamps are not enough to live off of. They provide very little nutrition, since they're mostly made of paper.

I applaud you for attempting this, but sincerely wish you would attempt it for a month to get a full sense of what food insecurity is like.

You find this a humorous turn of events... cornmeal is all you have to eat... when the fourth week hits and for three of those weeks you are eating poorly, skipping meals, etc. and you feel what that does to your mind and body, the humor of "spoiled vegetables", "spilled juice", or "moldy bread" becomes more of a dark comedy.

Thank you for highlighting this issue and please encourage other lawmakers to attempt this experiment.

I commend you for raising the awareness on this issue. It is horrible that working families cannot afford healthy food. The splitting of the classes and vanishing middle class scares me every day. I do have one comment though. I understand that the internet is basically a part of every American life these days, but if I couldn't afford food...I definitely wouldn't be able to afford internet access or a computer at home. Living in NY I try to minimize my expenses at home and actually don't pay for internet, because I simply can't afford it. However, I do think that internet costs are outrageous too…can some people get internet access for free too?
-Watching every penny.

Congressman,

Thanks for taking the challenge and helping dramatize the needs of the poor in this country. This story as it appeared in all the newspapers made me stop and think about what I spend on food and what others need.

There is a connection between your airport experience and your food stamp campaign. As many people have mentioned in this comment thread, the TSA's gesture was just secutiy theater. The security person did not actually think your food or toiletries were dangerous. They held to the idea that throwing away your food and toothpaste is symbolic and somehow will teach terrorists not to try to blow up planes.

Real actions that might make our country somewhat safer against idelogues with bombs include reducing our dependence on foreign oil and putting in place compassionate but enforced controls on illegal immigration--which would mean better controls over who enters the country, but also that low wage immigrants here legally would recieve better wages and legal protections. But such programs require a lot of political work and will.

Thank goodness we have the TSA to protect us from peanut butter and jelly. Far better to take away these potential weapons than to actually search for someone intent on doing harm to others. Oh, wait, no...

ianrandalstrock.livejournal.com

Kudos to you!

I am forwarding your web page to the congresspersons of my county and see if they care to try to live on minimum wage for a month (in Chile, that´s like 200 US).
How would public schools fare if the politicians were forced to take their children to the system?

Best of luck

Looks like hot cornmeal cereal for you:
http://recipefinder.nal.usda.gov/?mode=display&rec_id=401

Blimey!

A second Brit here who also stumbled across this whilst surfing. I'm very tempted to send this to my own MP, what a great example to your constituency and your fellows.

I can see the theory of food stamps, the government can help people without them wasting the money given to them - they really can only spend them on food, I like that. But it seems the calculations are off - working out the new formula will be quite an exercise but it seems it needs to be done.

Mr Ryan (or is that Congressman Ryan?), good for you, it's a brilliant idea to see how (some of) your constituents live, well done. This is an issue that certainly needs highlighting - we still think of you chaps as 'the richest nation on earth' and the land of opotunity... good luck.

Regards,

Amy

p.s. from the sounds of it, this cornmeal+water dish sounds like porridge... only the excessively hardy scots eat it with salt, the English use sugar - again, I'm impressed with you all!

hey,
what a funny blog. by the sound of it, you're doing a good job at living off of $21 for a week. the sad part is, i live off food stamps. i've had my toothpaste and food taken out of my bag while going through the airport security...with no time to check my bags, it really sucks. i can't afford to lose toothpast and food...i'm poor for christ's sake!
-jimbo

What kind of deal do you have that only gives you $21/ week ($80-something/month) in food stamps? I'm getting $138/month in PA (which isn't all that great either, but I'm thankful to be eating while I can't work!) and I do OK with a little creativity.

(Hint: in addition to the peanut butter, go for eggs and canned tuna - they're cheap protein too. And I second the ramen noodle thing. Crack a couple of eggs into the pot right after you put the noodles in, and you've got a meal for what, 30 cents? 35?)

As for the PB&J......... maybe they thought the PB looked too much like plastic explosive and the J looked like purple napalm or something. Can't be too careful with these things, y'know? (she said cynically....... don't mind me; with my weird life, if I didn't laugh I'd cry).

But seriously, I commend you and your colleagues who are taking this on. Thanks much!

A reader suggested you use
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
in your web page.

I haven't looked closely at what he was trying to do, but using

<p style="margin: 0 0 0"><span style="font-size:9pt; font-family:Arial, sans-serif">
.. stuff ...
</span>
</p>

you'll achieve exactly the same thing and be W3C CSS2 compliant, and thus more accessible to more people. class="MsoNormal" only has any effect if you're exporting from Word (or have for some reason co-incidentally chosen to define the class MsoNormal; very unlikely).

So, i have a question. If poor and lower income Americans are starving because of the lower purchasing power of food stamps, why is OBESITY the # 1 health problem with low income and poor Americans????

Dear Sir,
The important lessons, we must learn over and over. Michigan State Representative Doug Spade and his wife lived on the amount of money provided by assistance during his tenure in Lansing some years ago. It is easier to be poor in a city like Lansing than in out-state areas. Buses, food banks, church soup kitchens etc. are more accessable given the higher population density.
I guess this is the definition of political compromise - nobody gets what they want and reality takes a back seat to political wrangling.

In response to Sean V, "why is obesity the #1 health problem with low income and poor Americans?"

Let's say you had $2.00 for lunch and you are truly hungry. Do you go for an apple and maybe a yogurt or do you buy a big fast food sandwich that will fill your stomach until who knows when you will eat again?

Well, unlike our much ridiculed European neighbors, we make sure our crappy foods are cheap and our healthy foods are expensive. It is far more profitable for the health care industry to be fed a constant dose of sick, prescription dependent citizens. Bad nutrition exacerbates our most pressing health issues. Good nutrition can alleviate most health related issues. ( I am talking mostly veggies, fruits, beans and grains.)

Ever been to France or Italy? A fast food meal is about 4 times more expensive than a salad, bread and cheese course. We seem to value taste & convenience over health. By the way the French also have one of the top health care systems in the world. The people of Sweden do a great job of making sure their citizens are well cared for and are in awe of how we manage to have so many homeless, starving children.

I have some better questions Sean V, why during a time of war, with millions living below the poverty line and our children are quietly starving, did our First Lady pride herself on the White House Christmas display of over 100 Christmas trees? She could have fed the military children that went to bed hungry that holiday season.

Why do our school lunches resemble anything BUT real food?
Why do we expect our poor to be treated like dogs?
Why do such a poor job of feeding our needy? I am a VERY proud American and I believe that we can create a better system of outreach.

Bravo to Congressman Ryan for trying to understand the struggles of the poor in this nation.

I am on disability and i have a 3 yr old daughter that is developmentally delayed and needed alot of physical therapy, speech therapy, feeding therapy... I could go on and on about that. However, this is about government assistance. Guess What? I don't even qualify for foodstamps. The government says i make too much money! My income is 18,000 per year! UNREAL...so i do what most people have to do to survive--Food Pantries provided by the Catholic Church.

Sir, thank you for your efforts. I hope this experience shows you just what the TSA costs ordinary Americans. If you bought a round-trip ticket, the TSA took $5.00 in "security" fees. They took your money and then they took your peanut butter. Imaging a family of four that barley makes ends-meet travels one every few years for an important event, such as a death in the family. Assuming that they have to connect in each direction, the TSA would have taken $40 dollars from them. For what? Some would say that they support "anything for security." While that argument is itself precarious, I wonder how many Americans would support "anything" for the "illusion" of security. If your jelly was a threat, why was it not tested rather than simply tossed out? Why were you allowed to pass before it could be confirmed that your confiscated item was not indeed an explosive. Had you been a terrorist, you would have been free to try again another day. America is long overdue for change.

After working with kids for years now, i can attest to the fact that POOR children are more likely to be OBESE than middle income and rich children. That's a fact. Now i see the argument is well, uh, the poor are making poor food choices with their food stamps, you see?" Well, ok then, maybe they are. But are they really starving? Obese children, on average, are also poor children whose parents are most likely using food stamps. I have yet to hear anyone confront this fact. Poor children are NOT STARVING. They CAN'T BE... .How can they? Statistics from every reputable health organization will clearly show, OBESE individuals come from poor backgrounds (most likely using food stamps)....I'm not making any case for raising, or lowering the buying power of food stamps, just trying to draw light to the fact that in general, people on FOOD stamps CAN NOT be starving? They are the ones who are most likely overweight....

I've read this with interest. Firstly, I have to commend Congressman Ryan et al who are at least making an attempt to find out "How The Other Half Lives", because even if its only for a week or a month its still more than most of America's rich and powerful try to do. Although I suppose you could say a few female models and celebrities have at least done the "starvation" diet. What I'd like to see is some results that don't include castigation of those who are living that way.

One of the reasons that the poor are so obese is simply this: pasta, ramen and the like are cheap, don't spoil and are pure carbohydrates, which break down in the body to *sugar*. Not very healthy, and also sets the body up to crave even more sugar. There's only so much you can do with pasta. Now, some have suggested adding eggs (which I'm allergic to) or milk (lactose intolerant) to increase the nutrition. Eggs, while a source of protein, are high in fat and not terribly filling. So far not one of the suggestions made here is even remotely nutritionally balanced, especially when eaten long term. One upon a time, the food banks used to get cans of vegetables given to them, by the public and US Agricultural Dept. For reasons I'm not currently aware of this practice has stopped and even when I look at the donation area for most local food banks, I see a great deal of pasta and not much else. The food pantries can't give what they don't have, after all. I know that if I am ever in a financial space to donate again I will make sure all my donations are vegetables. And vitamins. So at least maybe some lucky recipient will actually have a chance. Currently, I'm living on ramen and its not even remotely healthy. And I have a 4 year degree, have been using my free (thanks to a friend) internet connection to apply for anything and everything that I can (even things that don't require a GED), and I've been turned down for them all. But since I've been there, I at least understand how it is and I don't criticize those who have no other choice.

Next time you drop off some food for the poor, try vegetables or fruits. Maybe if more people did that things would be less unhealthy for the poor as well.

Congressman Ryan,
Where do you shop? With 21.00 a week here's what you could have bought at ALDIES:

Peanut butter $1.50
Whole Wheat Bread $1.50
Pack of 12 hamburgers $4.99
Cereal $1.59
Cheese(like Velveta) $3.00
Pizza $2.69
12 Pack Pop $1.75
Burger Buns 2pkg. $1.40
Milk $2.50
________

Your Total $20.92

Plus the $0.08 tax on pop you can eat on 21.00 a week. No fresh fruit or veggies. but you would have some meat and a few things as a treat.

I know this isn't easy but it is the way some of up HAVE to budget. Please keep up the good work.This might work for one but when you have a family It doesn't go far. Try to get the food stamp program keep up with the skyrocketing cost of food!!!

Congressman Ryan,

I hope that this experience illustrates clearly to you how government regulations actually accentuate the problem the poor face. The TSA separates you from your food, fails to reimburse you, increases you travel time/reduces the time you have available to earn additional income, and as an added bonus, adds exactly zero to the overall safety of your flight.

Ramen noodles, while cheap, caloric, convenient, and flavorful are nutritionally deficient. They score a D- for nutrition on this link:
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/6582.html

Not sure if adding veggies and eggs would counteract the fat and sodium in ramen, but if you were on such a limited budget for food, this would probably be something to avoid or eat in moderation, since you'd want to be extra careful about getting the best nutrition possible since every crumb would be so crucial when you have no financial padding for wasted food.

Ironically, potato chips actually get a higher nutritional score than Ramen noodles.

To be fair, the Manchester airport has the TIGHTEST security of any airport I've EVER been to. I live in NH, and pack my bags especially for the very strict inspectors there. I've had deodorant, an unmixed powder protein shake, and a very obvious NOT A BOMB lipgloss confiscated there. I'm really sorry about your peanut butter, I know you carried it for practical reasons, but for those of us who happen to carry it for other reasons (because its the best snack ever!) I particularly sympathize.
What you are doing is inspirational. More people should be paying attention.

Anything you can do to prevent a recession and/or boost the economy, Mr. Ryan, (i.e. Bush stimulus package presented today) should include people on a fixed income living on a pension and interest. I read where the tax reduction may just be on "earned" income. That's not going to help a lot of needy Seniors that fall into that $25-40K category. They should not be left out to get little or nothing. We get taxed just like everyone else!