Woman Says $500 Worth Of Food Stamps Per Month Is Not Enough To Feed Her & Her Infant — ‘I Need At Least $1000’
TikTokers were confused about why she was struggling with $500 for two people.
adriaticfoto / Shutterstock Right now, times are hard, and it’s understandable that some people need some help. That’s what social service programs are there for. Unfortunately, these programs don’t always cover all of what someone needs, or at least what someone thinks they need.
One mom insisted that $500 in food stamps is not enough to feed her and her baby each month.
A TikTok user known as @d_rogers862 recently made a series of videos detailing the help she gets from food stamps or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
In her first video, Rogers complained that she was not receiving enough benefits each month.
“$500 is not enough,” she said. “They have to go up because the cost of food has went up. The cost of groceries has went up.”
Rogers’ fellow TikTokers who commented on the video were confused about why she was struggling so much.
“$500 is more than sufficient for two people,” one person said. “I feed five people on $600.”
“I have a family of five. I pay out of pocket for all my food,” another added. “$500 is my budget for the month, and we make it work. Meal plan, use leftovers. You can make it work. Look for recipes online. You got this.”
To try to prove her point, Rogers made a follow-up video that featured a grocery haul to show how she spent her money. She said it came out to about $630.
The haul included many name-brand items, as well as things that weren't necessities, like soda, cookies, and donuts.
“Once I saw Chobani, I understood,” one commenter said.
Another pointed out, “Soda, name-brand, and convenience foods add up too quickly when you’re on a budget.”
Rogers responded to the backlash in another video by saying people were “talking out of their booty holes.”
In a subsequent video, Rogers offered a closer look at the donuts she said she is “addicted” to in her haul. “I go to a whole other store for these,” she said of the donuts. “It’s like an organic store.” The donuts are $7.99 a pack. Rogers bought almost $32 worth.
“You got caviar taste with a beer budget,” someone said of Rogers’ problem.
Evidence does not back up Rogers’ claims.
According to the USDA website, SNAP is not meant to be a complete replacement for purchasing food. “SNAP households are expected to spend about 30 percent of their own resources on food,” they said.
The USDA website also stated that the maximum amount of money a two-person household can receive in SNAP benefits is $535. Therefore, Rogers is already close to her limit, if she hasn’t hit it already.
USA Today reported, “The average American household spends an average of $475.25 a month on groceries, according to the most recently available dataset from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2022. That’s a total of $5,703 spent on groceries in a year.”
So, according to these statistics, the average family in the U.S., which is larger than a mom and baby, spends less than Rogers does on groceries each month.
This does not negate the fact that Rogers is in a difficult situation. She appears to be raising her baby on her own while trying to make ends meet. While some may think $500 is a lot to spend on groceries, for others, it is not.
Everyone comes from different circumstances and has different backgrounds. We would be remiss to judge someone solely based on statistics or what we think they should be doing. Perhaps giving Rogers a little more grace would be most beneficial.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.