5 WAYS ANYONE CAN EAT HEALTHY, DELICIOUS FOOD ON AN INSANELY CHEAP BUDGET

When you’re on a tight budget but you have children to feed, eating fresh food — which often expires quickly and comes with a hefty price tag — often takes a backseat to longer-lasting and cheaper processed food.

But the drop in price tends to come with an equally steep drop in nutritional value.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps, can mean the difference between feeding your family a healthy dinner and going to bed hungry.

But SNAP benefits were never designed to fund a family’s full food budget.

A family of four could qualify for up to $649 per month under SNAP, but that amount only goes to families that have no monthly income. Most of the 48 million people who qualify for SNAP bring in some form of income, so they get less than the maximum amount.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that examines government spending, the average allotment for families that use SNAP is closer to $255.

And if you’re a family of three that brings in just over $26,000 a year? You don’t qualify for SNAP benefits.

Regardless of whether you get SNAP benefits, stretching your monthly grocery budget to make sure there is enough to feed your whole family takes skill.

HOW TO STRETCH YOUR TINY FOOD BUDGET

Of course, with limited budgets, low-income families have to get creative if they want to eat healthy, fresh food.

We compiled a few tips from entrepreneur and mom Rachel Bolden-Kramer, author of the upcoming “My Food Stamps Cookbook,” and nutrition advocate Cooking Matters to show you — whether you qualify for SNAP benefits or are just on a budget — how to get a little more with less.

While you can use some of these tips in grocery stores, the more involved you are in your community, the more you can benefit.