For a single mom worried about keeping her kids fed, weathering inflation means wasting nothing

CNN

11-03-2025

The thoughts come quickly for Bianca Panelosa – make toilet paper and napkins from old rags, dilute juice and milk for cereal, ask the kids to eat less. The single mother of three, with a fourth on the way, waits in the cold predawn hours outside a food fair in north Houston, brainstorming ways to make ends meet so she can feed her children.
'I'm just trying to work it out,' says Panelosa. 'I'm still thinking.'
Panelosa remembers how she beat the odds before: surviving domestic violence and escaping homelessness after a divorce – which forced her to move back in with her parents. This time, it's tariff wars and rising prices at a time when she can't work.
Two of her children have disabilities. 11-year-old Adan is autistic and has Down syndrome. 6-year-old Andy can't walk upright. Her youngest, 3-year-old Naomy, helps 34-year-old Panelosa tend to her brothers.
The cold wind whistles and another thought flashes – boil tap water to drink instead of using bottled water. She's done it before; she'll do it again to help stretch the $400 she receives in SNAP food stamps every month – which is already not enough.
Cracks are beginning to show in the US economy and President Donald Trump's on-again, off-again threats of tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada are causing confusion for farmers and businesses. Government statistics show consumer spending is down and food prices are going up, all of which can make it harder to afford groceries.
'Buy less, eat less,' says Maria Martha De Leon, a 72-year-old grandmother on a fixed income, of her plans to cope. She arrived at 4:30 a.m. to stake her claim for free food.
Bundled up and sitting in a folding chair, De Leon's face is barely visible behind the scarf tightly wrapped around her head. In the back of her mind: the joy of cooking for her five grandchildren who love eating her soups and rice.
As day breaks, the line now wraps around the building. Many stand with coolers and grocery carts – hoping the bounty they'll receive is worth the wait.
More than 47 million people in the US, including 7.2 million children, lived in homes without enough food for a healthy life in 2023, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says. More of these 'food insecure' households are in Texas than any other state.
The need for free food appears to be increasing. The Houston Food Bank says there was a 22% increase in distribution in January 2025 compared with the same month last year.
Brian Greene, Houston Food Bank CEO, fears it will get worse. An economic downturn would bring the 'possibility, if not the probability, of a significant increase in need and not having the resources to deal with that,' Greene tells CNN inside the group's 300,000-square foot warehouse filled with rows of food stacked several levels high.
'Food insecurity isn't really about food. Food insecurity is about people not having enough income to meet all their expenses,' explains Greene. 'It's just that food tends to be the most flexible expense.'
As beeping forklifts move pallets of fresh produce from cold storage to waiting 18-wheel trailers, Greene describes a possible nightmare scenario if there are cuts to SNAP, job losses, and disruptions to the USDA's emergency food assistance programs.
'We are getting a lot of concern, a lot of fear coming from neighbors asking us what's going to happen and how will we be able to respond,' says Greene. 'Unfortunately, we do not at this time have good answers.'
An increase in demand coupled with a food supply reduction could be devastating.
'There is no way we could make up the difference,' says Greene.
Greene remembers a time during Trump's first term when there was a US-Canada dairy dispute which resulted in food banks receiving a huge surplus of American-produced milk. It's one of the side effects of tariffs – if they are unable to be sold outside the US, harvests are more likely to be donated. But that's not the kind of boost Greene wants.
'We ended up distributing about 25 tractor trailer loads of milk per week for about a six-month period,' Greene says of a 2017 trade battle with Canada over dairy products. But it's not a windfall he hopes for. 'It's both temporary and again, the scale of it can sound huge until you consider how small it is compared to the overall economy.'
The Houston Food Bank says 49% of its distributed food comes from American farmers, either directly from farmers or through USDA programs. The remainder comes from retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. We saw multiple one-ton sacks of Canadian-grown pinto beans and dozens of various Mexican-grown fruits and vegetables – a sign cross-border policies could impact supply.
'We actually do pull a lot of produce from Mexico,' says Greene. If there are interruptions in produce coming from south of the border, the organization's ability to serve could be impacted. But so far, the Houston Food Bank says, there's been no supply chain interruptions.
While inventory remains steady at the Houston Food Bank, demand has increased. Houston non-profit BakerRipley said there was a 13% increase in attendees from February to March in at least one of its food fairs.
'We hear they're not getting food stamps, they lost their job, they're ill, (and) they don't have transportation,' says Rosalva Hernandez, BakerRipley's manager of community development, standing in a room filled with people waiting for food.
During February's food fair, 912 adults and children received supplies, in March that number jumped to 1,030.
Hernandez wipes away tears as she watches volunteers hand out fresh produce and bread to familiar faces. She grew up in this community. Her parents live 5 minutes away.
'These are my people. They're my neighbors,' she says. 'This is my family.'
The organization has budgeted for 250 people to be served, but if more turn up Hernandez says she will ask them to wait to see what is left.
This day, the Houston Food Bank's 18-wheeler arrives with 1,910 heads of broccoli, 793 loaves of bread, 960 bananas, 924 heads of cabbage, 1,676 tomatoes, 1,200 onions, and 20 big sacks filled with 5-pound bags of potatoes. No proteins arrive this time, which sometimes includes peanut butter.
The sun is up when Panelosa's number is called. She circles the semitruck as volunteers hand her bag after bag of vegetables. She smiles as she realizes she can make mashed potatoes as requested by her son Andy.
She formulates the dinner menu in her mind as she drives away: fried fish, white rice, mashed potatoes, broccoli, carrots, bread, sliced tomatoes and banana-flavored water. She just needs to buy catfish at the grocery store.
At home, she opens her refrigerator and cupboards to show us all the items she receives from food banks she visits around the area. Cream cheese, mushrooms, butter, jelly, juice, tuna, canned chicken and salmon, beans, fruit cups, and eggs.
Worried about tariffs, she's stocking up food from food banks and consuming items based on their expiration dates – what's about to expire is eaten first. Her mantra: waste nothing. And she's grateful for her parents, her children, and her resiliency – which means getting creative when faced with adversity.
It's that creative spirit that has her thinking about turning old clothes into toilet paper and napkins if things get tougher. Bianca says there's no shame in being poor and caring for family.
'I'm not embarrassed,' she says.