My family of 4 was on food stamps during our two year unemployment from the economic mess Obama created. We were given $650.00 for me and my husband and $375.00 for my older son (who got that on his own since he was an adult living in the house). That is a stupid amount of 'help' for food...that bought ALL the food and then some! A few things:

1. We bought whole foods, meats, grains, fresh vegetables and pantry stock needs, as we were happy to eat well and not worry about food money and wanted to be prepared should we not get re-approved. YOUR RIGHT though, we saw endless people spending HUGE sums of money eating total garbage and boxed and bagged crapped and then wondering why the HUGE amount of money they were given for food was gone.
2. People would be in the welfare office begging for emergency food stamp money because they had spent it all by the 2nd week. The state does not provide any budgeting classes or nutritional education. It would be so easy to make the food money weekly with the electronic cards.
3. When were became employed, we COULD NOT give the money back to the system. We had 4 months of 'benefits' left and were told we would have to use them out. You cannot STOP it once they have been approved. How dumb is that!.
4. The EBT saved us for sure. All 26 years of working and my husband's unemployment came to $1578.00 per month. JUST barely enough to live off of once we got rid of the car, moved into a $550.00 a month apartment and stopped paying all the bills except the needed ones, like electric, gas, water, trash, insurances.
5. For those with brains and ethics, the system works well. We attended weekly job group meetings and used the State database and Counselor to help us find work we might otherwise have missed. We went to interview classes to freshen up on our interview skills and took advantage of every resource offered us to get employed. It took time, but we made it back out of that mess. During our time, we met many many like us who NEVER imagined being educated, hard working, dedicated employees finding themselves in such dire needs. For us and people like us, the system is awesome.
6. The problem is 90% for the people are lazy, lying, system milking assholes. I had people telling me how to lie, what to say to get out of working, or to get higher benefits! We would take any temp job we could find, and then you reported it, and then it lowered your assistance or decreased your unemployment. This is smart, because it also means you extend the time you can receive benefits, because it pushes the amount reduced to the end. SO you work what you can to not have to DRAW all your benefits, us them up..and then what? ***Well, apparently you can lie about being pregnant, be pregnant for a while and abort and say you miscarried, or actually have a a baby and that will keep you on benefits. Change your address, change your phone, pick a new name! It is CRAZY. People would go to the work classes only as required-once a QUARTER and then do nothing. Would have phones and lie about having them so they were hard to reach!
7. Illegals get all the benefits they want! Not a citizen but hungry and lazy, no worries, Welfare has you covered. Working for cash...Shhhhhhhhhhhh don;t tell you can still get your welfare money.

Very little of our tax payer money is going to people who worked hard and are in need and deserve it. It is really, really sad. At one point I was even told if I kept getting work and reporting my income I would risk being removed because it was 'too much paperwork to complete." That was my counselor. So she said stop telling her, she did not have the time or the inclination to deal with the paperwork involved it was not worth it.


1 person max food stamps=$200
2 people =$367
3 people =$526
4 people =$668
5 people =$726

sounds like you were claiming more people than you were entitled to....hmmm


THAT was part of my point! WE HAD to claim all four people me, my husband and our two ADULT children. We got the $650 for the 4 people and THEN they said our son had to apply for the Food Stamp program since he applied for the medicaid (having turned 18 while we were unemployed)SOOOOOO to get his hospital visit covered, he applied for medicaid, which automatically applied him for everything and he got food stamps. No matter how many times we said we get the food stamps for 4, which he is apart of, they said once it is approved you can do nothing about it. So you see, you have people who purposefully MILK the system by each head applying for the household, then each PERSON not married int he house applying individually. AND the way the system is set up, you cannot JUST apply for medical assistance without it automatically giving you food stamps! It is INSANE and a waste of our tax dollars that way! SO YES I got more than I was entitled to, but the State knew, and actually forced us to take it!