Marissa, a single mother with one child, can't seem to make ends meet. Rent and utilities eat up most of her paycheck, so when something unexpected happens, she is often short. Last week, her car broke down but she was already way behind in credit card payments. Yesterday, a collections guy called and said that if she didn't pay at least $100 right away, she'd be taken to court. When she got off the phone, she started to cry. Her friend Kathy asked her what was wrong. Marissa described to her how bad her financial situation is, and Kathy thought that Marissa might qualify for food stamps. Marissa has a full-time job so she isn't sure that she'll qualify, and even if she does, she isn't sure it will help too much.
- Consider that the average SNAP allotment in 2015 was $127.90 per person per month, or about $30 per week for one person.* If you had just $30 to keep yourself fed for a week, what would you buy? Would you be able to maintain a nutritional diet based on this? Why or why not? Fully explain your answer.