Can you lose weight on a food stamp budget?

The other day the news said you can't eat healthy on a food stamp budget.  Even set out to prove it.  Well I had to disagree.  Thus my task began.

I live in Tennessee and found that a single person would receive $50 a week for food.  This sounds almost impossible, seeing as I would spend $80-$100a week on fresh groceries from Publix and Kroger each week.

I have been shopping the outside isles of the grocery store for the better part of 6 months.  I have been watching what I eat and exercising and have been able to lose 60 pounds so far.  I do not want to stop the weight loss process so I have to be smart with what I buy.

Most people think that you cannot eat fresh fruits and veggies with food stamps, they are just too expensive.  Well the price of those items have definitely gone up at traditional grocery stores. I tried shopping at the farmers market, bout found the prices to not be much better. 

I need to stick to that $50 a week to prove my point.  So I began to research the grocery adds, and found that discount chains like Aldi have great prices on many of the items in the store. 

I made my list and took off for the local Aldi.  I have a working knowledge of the items I purchase every week so I was able to compare prices of those items.  I found that the fresh produce was cheaper for most items.  Squash and zucchini were $1 per pack cheaper,  a 3 pound bag of apples was $2 cheaper, the mushrooms were only .10 cents cheaper.  The frozen veggies were .50 cents less and the pork tenderloin was a shocking $3 less than at Kroger ( I will get that next trip). 

I was able to purchase everything I needed for $53.83.  Ok so I went $3.83 over.  Not bad for my first trip.  next week look out, I should be able to do even better.

What I purchased:

3 pack of squash
3 pack of zucchini
3 pack bell peppers
1 bag onions
1 12 oz mushroom container
3 pd bag of apples
1 avocados
1 16oz box whole wheat pasta
1 16 oz bag frozen veggies
1 bag baby carrots
1 16 ox bag of frozen shrimp
1 3lb bag of frozen chicken breast
1 16ox bag salmon filet's
1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 15oz can white beans
1 15oz can chili beans
1 15oz can black beans
1 30 oz can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 cheese block
1 container of salt
5 yogurts
1 oatmeal
1 box protein bars