Denitsa Yotova’s Weblog

The Food Stamp Program established by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) may actually be of a greater assistance to many in need than most people realize.

As noted on the USDA website,  the program helps provide food for 29 million people each month;

“The Food Stamp Program helps low-income people and families buy
the food they need for good health.  You apply for benefits by completing a State application form.  Benefits are provided on an electronic card that is used like an ATM card and accepted at most grocery stores.” (USDA)

According to the latest information on the USDA website, a preliminary total of 26,465,816 persons in the United States are receving food stamp benefits each month. Currently more than 122,000 people in Nevada are taking advantage of food stamps which places the state in 38th position on the national chart.

The average monthly benefit per person in Nevada is noted as $91.18 and if broken down the amount leaves each consumer with $2.94 per day and $0.98 per meal.

While this may imply that such low amount could nor provide healthy meals for food stamp consumers, there actually are many nutritional ideas and recipes which may be accessed at anytime directly through the USDA website.

Based on a search criteria there are also over 300 healthy meals which may be made with an ease for less than a $1 per serving. This may be the right way to go for many who need help planning wisely their daily meals. The website also provides recipes available in alphabetical order, based on cuisine type and ethnicity, cooking time, consumer age, ingredients and more.

On the other hand, the USDA may be helpful for quite a few people living in the UNLV neighborhood as well. Although slightly outdated, the below data provides some interesting information about zip code area 89119. 

“Residents with income below the poverty level in 1999:

This zip code:	17.4%
Whole state:	10.5%

Residents with income below 50% of the poverty level in 1999:

This zip code:	8.6%
Whole state:	4.9%”

 (Data provided by City-Data.com)

For more information about the Food Stamp Program, eligibility, applications and questions visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/.

Recipes, nutritional information and costs may also be found at http://recipefinder.nal.usda.gov/