Mario Batali Food Stamp Challenge: Chef Spending $31 On Food For One Week
By LEANNE ITALIE
05/14/12 04:47 PM ET 
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 17: Chef Mario Batali speaks at the
Food Bank For New York City 2012 Can-Do Awards Dinner on April 17, 2012
in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Food Bank
for New York City)
NEW YORK -- To much of the world, it was Monday. To Mario Batali, it was Day Four.
The chef, his wife and their two teenage sons are eating for a week on the equivalent of a food stamp budget in protest of potential cuts pending in Congress to the benefit program used by more than 46 million Americans.
That's $31 per person for the week, or about $1.48 per meal each.
Goodbye restaurants, free nibbles on his talk show "The Chew" and all the luxe offerings at Eataly, the high-end New York City market he co-owns. Hello Trader Joe's, Jack's Dollar Store, Gristedes and Western Beef, a low-cost supermarket chain.
"I'm (expletive deleted) starving," said Batali, who's on the board of the food relief agency Food Bank for New York City, which issued the challenge to celeb pals like Batali and anybody else who wants to know what it's like.
Batali said his first reaction when asked to join was a big "gulp," then he realized while shopping for Friday's start of the challenge that with a little forethought it wouldn't be all that brutal.
- One lesson: forget organic and anything pesticide- or hormone-free. "The organic word slides out and saves you about 50 percent."
So what's on the Batali menu through Thursday? Lentil chili with onion, water and cumin was one dinner that came with a complaint from his wife when he bought two bags of lentils instead of one, until he convinced her the extra cost would mean cheap eats for the next day.
"Rice and beans is in my lunch every day," Batali said. "We got a bag of mini gala apples for $3. We bought a pork shoulder roast for $8 and got two and a half meals out of it. I got a whole chicken for $5, but it was spoiled so I had to return it and got a $7 chicken instead. They were out of $5 chickens."
His kids are doing well and didn't have to be dragged into what Batali described as less of a publicity stunt and more of a conversation starter about what it means to be hungry in America today.
"They're having more peanut butter and jelly than they've had in the last 10 years because bread is inexpensive and peanut butter and jelly, if you buy it at the right place at the right time, is cheap," Batali said.
Also, the boys are eating school lunch, as those in low-income families do for free.
- The Batalis have been joined on the weeklong challenge by wholesale meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda, who has a new Food Network series, "Meat Men," Margarette Purvis, who heads the food bank, as well as more than 200 others who registered to complete the challenge. And anti-hunger groups in Las Vegas, Philadelphia and parts of Maryland and Ohio have led similar challenges over the last several months.
Any surprises for the chef?
"I thought spare ribs were cheap," Batali said. "Spare ribs this week are $5.95, so I'm making pasta sauce with two pork chops that were $1.39 a pound. It won't have as many bones to chew on but it'll have more edible meat, which at the end of the day is probably a better deal."
Batali has taken his challenge to "The Chew," where he and his crew will be chatting all week about eating on less.
"We, hopefully, aren't pretending or being like a bunch of yuppies saying, `Oh yeah, this is how you can do it. Look, we can grind our own oats!' We want people to think about calling and talking to their representation about cuts to the Farm Bill and the food stamp program," he said.
Subsisting on food stamps, especially when food is made from scratch, is doable, he said, "as a way to live, but certainly not as a way to thrive. You can always have pasta with tomato, but that's not thriving."
09:41 AM on 05/19/2012
The federal food stamp program is not intended to provide all of the food that is needed. According to the food stamp manual, “The purpose of the Food Stamp Program is to promote the general welfare and to safeguard the health and well-being of the nation's population by raising the levels of nutrition among low-income households. And to this end, the Food Stamp Program means to increase the food purchasing power of low-income households.”
http://www.sfhsa.org/asset/FoodAssistance/FSManual.pdf
Why all these comments on the problems of getting enough to eat solely from food stamps? I can understand arguing that the food stamp program doesn’t provide a high enough (or provides too much) supplement. The appropriate funding level is just a matter of opinion. However, there is no reason to expect food stamps to provide for all of a person’s food needs since it was never designed to do so.
03:42 PM on 05/18/2012
Wow the food in New York is cheep! I live in Oregon and I can tell
you that you will never find pork of any kind at less then $2 but maybe
once a year. And bread, that's not cheep either, not to mention jelly,
holly cow! Hey Mario, you should try that on the west coast. lol If not
for food banks and helpful friends, my brother and I would go hungry. :)
03:50 AM on 05/18/2012
I can remember as a recently divorced mother of small children being
incredibly grateful our community had a market where you could buy
things like rice, oatmeal, beans and flour in bulk. If you brought your
own container, it was far, far cheaper than buying the packaged food.
Being an experienced gardener who already had canning supplies didn't
hurt either. I don't know how anyone without those resources could make
it on a food stamp budget.Our family ate quite well, if simply. The hardest thing was telling the kids there would be no goodies, and water was an acceptable beverage when you got thirsty. Until then, I always had fruit juice in the fridge.
03:23 AM on 05/18/2012
The formula for living on a food stamp budget should also include
limited mobility and scope. Many people who subsist on food stamps live
in urban food deserts: places where there is no supermarket, only corner
stores with very limited offerings and hardly any of it fresh.I applaud Batali's efforts, but he knows this nightmare will soon end. The show "30 DAYS" made stronger statements for its quests: eating a week on $31 is bearable, but a month on $130 is frightening. I'm assuming Batali gets to prepare these paltry goods using high quality tools and appliances.
04:22 PM on 05/18/2012
Agreed. I don't believe anyone actually believed Batali and his
family suffered during this week, but I don't think that was his goal. I
think his goal was simply to bring the issue to the forefront of
people's minds and encourage them them to open the conversation with
their elected officials, and offer support to those who are struggling
via food banks,etc. Kudos to him, and his family for being good sports.
12:51 AM on 05/18/2012
This story reminds me of being a young married, mother of 4 and
being granted "credit" at our corner liquor/convenience store. I would
charge groceries, diapers, etc. to make it until pay day. At that time,
my husband would "cash his check" at the store and pay our bill...which
would be at least half of his earnings...and the whole cycle would start
again....My husband has worked extremely hard over the last 36 years and our fortunes have improved greatly...and every once in awhile one of my older children will remind me of one of the creative and HEALTHY dishes I would create using the convenience store ingredients. I became so good at it, I could have written a "Poor Mom's Liquor Store Cookbook" ....the kids laugh about this family lore....but i still get a little pit in my stomach while remembering it. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for parents who are having a hard time feeding their children. Loving Mario Batali.
12:32 AM on 05/18/2012
Food stamps are now presented to recipients as a "card" that looks
like any other credit card. This is great, as it keeps people from
having to feel embarrassed in stores....but many fast food restaurants
are now accepting the cards as payment. It is so much cheaper to feed a
car load of children a bunch of 39 cent tacos than to try to assemble
the ingredients to cook for them that this is troubling. The tacos have
no food value what so ever...the kids would get just as much nutrition
from eating the paper they are wrapped in. Good food is so much more
expensive than healthy food, every where you turn. I think that public
schools should serve 3 meals a day to their students. Hungry,
malnourished kids can not learn.
03:26 AM on 05/18/2012
I agree about public schools. Many Colorado schools had breakfast
programs for poor students, but the GOP objected to the 39-cents per
meal. A proposal was made for concerned citizens to underwrite those
meals, but that was rejected. "Compassionate conservatives" claimed it
was favoring certain students over others.
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01:04 AM on 05/19/2012
Here in Illinois, one cannot buy prepared food with SNAP benefits.
02:29 PM on 05/19/2012
I think that might be best. They need to be educated on how to
prepare meals with healthy ingredients and to stretch their funds.
Pretty much like Mario is attempting to do. I really think children
should be fed at schools...their parents can eat fast food if they wish.
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12:14 AM on 05/18/2012
I am just absolutely knocked out by Mario's project. He is an
amazing humanitarian. I have been enjoying the Food Network and other
cooking shows for years, but have often noted how little attention they
pay to the cost of the ingredients they are using. How are people who
must depend on food stamps supposed to even come close to eating
healthy. I am blessed to have enough money to pay for whatever food I
want to buy...but have been blown away more than once, while trying a
recipe that I have seen on TV and walking away from the grocery store
having spent $85 on one meal. How great that someone as talented as
Mario Batali is interested in working with people to come up with more
reasonable, healthy choices.I was therefore completely horrified to hear FOX "news" show "The Five" comment on Mario's project and not just criticize his efforts but actually stated that he should be "slapped around" for trying to help food stamp recipients....so disgusting....this gave new depth to my favorite quote about Republican's...."A Republican is someone who does not enjoy eating, unless someone else is hungry"
03:30 AM on 05/18/2012
Popular perception is that poor people are stupid and lazy. Kids
face it all the time and the false stigma extends to their parents:
being poor must mean that your whole family is a failure.Society has turned into a bunch of rich people telling middle class and working class people to blame the poor.
09:51 PM on 05/17/2012
that's cool he's participating in this challenge, with his family,
to protest program cuts and in effect benefiting 46 million americans,
and i know he was asked to join and everything, and show what it takes
to exist on a food stamp budget, it's just like, how tasteless. he's not
concerned about using the oven or the stove instead of the microwave
because gas is more expensive than electricity, you know he already has
fine imported olive oil to cook with.
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01:30 AM on 05/18/2012
x2
10:40 AM on 05/18/2012
if am getting anything out of this article it's that i would love to
be a chef, or create a cookbook out of inexpensive ingredients; how to
make bread out of the tiniest scratch of yeast. the last paragraph here
about cooking spaghetti from scratch sort of hints at that and okay,
that is a redeeming factor. and gardening too, I would JUST LIKE TO
maybe start a garden. like it's difficult to provide and then you come
across someone rich and famous saying "I'll show YE" what it's really
all about.
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09:42 PM on 05/17/2012
Whats crazy is, my boyfriend and I get 200 a month for food stamps.
We are both full time college students and work part time which barely
covers are bills. We don't party, no money! We don't go out and even
with his 31 per week per person plan we eat on less then that, if we did
his meal plan it would cost us 247 but we get 200 so the food stamps
don't even cover 31 per person over a months period. Which is sad, by
the end of the month we are scratching left overs and Ramon. & we
don't even eat lunch or snack because it's not affordable just breakfast
and dinner. It's super hard on 31 a person but imagine 25 a person.
03:36 PM on 05/18/2012
Plus I budget out everything, use coupons and plan all meals. Do you
know they charge me a coupon tax?! yea if it says get a dollar off, I
have to pay 19cents. Please tell me why they would put a coupon tax on
things when the food stamp card is being used? If I'm trying to be smart
with what little I have why must I have to pay to use the coupon. When
the cashier gives me the final total, I swipe the card and have a 19
cent out of pocket charge that won't go on the food stamp card, all
because I tried to save money!
03:37 PM on 05/18/2012
The whole system is messed up. I don't understand why people get mad
at the food stamp card holder, it's not their fault (the average food
junkie) they don't know how to buy meals and cook meals, save and eat
healthy etc. they buy what's cheap and easy because thats all they know.
I think the food stamp program is amazing just because it feeds so
many people, now I would like to see a few changes of course, 1. They
should make you take a healthy nutrition class 2. a cooking class 3.
exclude a few things like soda or at least put a limit on it 4. they
should give tax breaks or discount on fresh veggies/ fruit 5. they
should keep track of food purchases. with all this being said yes I
realize it would cost more to dp half of this but in the end it will
actually save money.
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07:25 PM on 05/17/2012
what the story fails to mention is that the average family of 4
that's on food stamps receives 741.00 per month in food stamps. The same
family that also gets welfare will get 114.00 per person per month.
That's 1197.00 also take in to account the same family pays no taxes but
receives a average tax refund of 4620.00. That's 18984.00 per year I
only spent 7800 per year on food for my family of five when buying
groceries. These programs need to go back to the way they were once ran
to provide actual food remember govt cheese and butter. Use community
centers to distribute food instead of dishes out actual dollars would be
a lot cheaper and the children would get the benefit. Numbers are from
the usda web site pertaining to the food stamps and welfare payouts. 
07:42 PM on 05/17/2012
Could you provide specific page numbers please? I can't find the
numbers you're quoting. I assume you're using the report titled
Informing Food and Nutrition Assistance Policy.
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09:23 PM on 05/17/2012
What do you know about food stamps? First you cant get a tax refund
if you pay no taxes. Second, when I was a kid we had food stamps...
back in the 70's when the food stamps were 'good'. Believe me we were
hungry. We had quite a few days during the last week of the month when
we didnt eat. Im unsure of why people freak out over poor people
receiving food stamps yet are perfectly ok with bank bailouts and
wealthy people who evade taxes. Kind of twisted if you aask me. 
12:13 AM on 05/18/2012
Have you heard of Earned Income Credit? People who dont pay taxes
getting "refunds" - look it up. My sis was on food stamps & had a
food budget more than enough for her family & to stock up her
emergency food storage. Much more than my food budget!
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07:04 PM on 05/17/2012
But the really sad outrage is that this program is so abused by so
many ,and the ones who need it don't get it . its the same as public
housing , the people who are really in need are sleeping on the street .I have seen overdressed women with manicured nails , plop down a lot prime beef ,and then pay in food stamps ,then watch them load their haul into premium imported new SUVs .
Ask your local checkout person how many times they see it .
07:36 PM on 05/17/2012
You see this often? Really? Sounds like exaggeration to me. All the
food stamp folks I've seen are usually single moms with kids who
definitely aren't dressed beyond what's functional. I think the abusers
of this system is less than 1%. That doesn't mean we should not help the
other 99. Batali Family - I am proud of you. I would do it, but I know
what it's like. Sadly, I've been there.
09:59 PM on 05/17/2012
I see it enough , I live in the suburbs of DC. there are those who Hog the system while those in need go with out .
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04:09 PM on 05/17/2012
I know that Faux Noise is the lowest of the low in this country, but have a look at this:http://thelastword.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/17/11739009-rewriting-foxs-attack-on-mario-batali?threadId=3420659&commentId=66062491#c66062491
Greg Gutfeld and his table buddies ridiculed Mario Batali and his family for living for a week on the equivalent of food stamps. Lawrence O'Donnel, God bless him, took on Gutfeld last night.
Fox just can't sink any lower!
04:08 PM on 05/17/2012
And to all those who think living on welfare or temporary assistance
is some kind of luxury, this article clearly disproves that. 
04:04 PM on 05/17/2012
dude i live comfortably with $5 a day on food...the problem is most people "live to eat" rather then "eating to live". 
03:54 PM on 05/17/2012
While I applaud Mario for brining attention to this issue, I grew up
living this "challenge"...and it made me work my @#$ off to get to a
point in life where I can spend whatever I want on food.
08:13 AM on 05/18/2012
To my family, yeah. And that's all that matters. Live on generic
Popeye cereal condensed soup for weeks at a time and see if you don't
feel a sense of accomplishment for working your way out of it. 