Annemarie King is eating only once a day, and her husband, Randall, is picking up extra shifts at the drywall factory where he works. They are among the nearly 42 million Americans preparing for their food stamp benefits to run dry in November because of the ongoing government shutdown.

The Kings, who live in Cincinnati and have eight young children, depend on the roughly $1,000 in food stamps that they receive at the start of every month to stock their refrigerator with fresh fruits, vegetables and meat.

But since the US Department of Agriculture announced in mid-October that it doesn’t have the funding to provide next month’s benefits during the government shutdown, Annemarie, a stay-at-home mother, has been buying more canned and boxed items and preparing less for dinner.

She’s also going without food herself. Her 11-year-old son has noticed, she said, but she tells him not to worry and that she ate while he was at school.

“I feel guilty eating a meal,” Annemarie said. “I don’t want to take food away from them.”

As the shutdown nears the one-month mark, it’s not just furloughed federal workers feeling the financial strain. Low-income households across the country will lose access to key social safety net programs in the coming days as billions of dollars in federal funding dries up.

Beginning November 1, more than 65,000 children and families could lose access to Head Start programs, which provide early education and child development resources, according to the National Head Start Association.