If It’s Tuesday It Must Be The Food Pantry Photo-Op

And one more thing — oranges aren’t even in season:

The food stamp diet left City Councilman Eric Gioia so hungry he wolfed down his week’s rations in only five days — and was forced to go to a Queens food pantry.

The Queens Democrat lined up at the Queensbridge center for emergency supplies yesterday after being left with only a few English muffins.

“The food stamps have run out, the cupboards are bare, but the hunger pangs don’t go away,” he said outside the Center of Hope International.

“People on food stamps in that position have no other option but to go to the food pantry.”

Yesterday’s visit — at which he paid a $100 donation — topped up the sparse diet Gioia has been living on since Thursday. In an effort to bring attention to the plight of thousands of New Yorkers trying to survive on food stamps, he pledged to try it for a week. Shopping with $28 — the average food-stamp allotment for a single recipient — he bought cheap staples.

Celebrating Mother’s Day was particularly hard, Gioia said. “I went and celebrated it,” he said. “But I didn’t have dinner. I went for dessert, and brought an orange with me.”

Previously: FreshDirect Doesn’t Take Food Stamps?, Eric, You’re Not Helping!