SNAP Challenge- My Experience
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| Photo by Abby Kihano: https://www.pexels.com/photo/winter-squash-beside-corn-230127/ |
The last three days I participated in The SNAP Challenge. As a refresher for readers outside the United States, SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The challenge was to eat from a budget of $5.16 per day for three days, the average SNAP per person benefit, total of $15.48. I only shopped at my local store, walking to and from, aligning with the experience of limited shopping options so many families face when on low incomes. There were very good suggestions in the comments from my post from last week that could work in regular life.Use those ideas if you are trying to stretch your budget for belt tightening or necessity. I intentionally restricted where I could shop and passed on any free sources of food for the challenge.
Goal: 9 meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner over three days. Snacks if I could fit in budget. I don't usually eat breakfast other than coffee with milk, but tried to use an average persons meal schedule. I had to settle for cheap instant coffee packets because I couldn't make regular coffee fit my budget, but it was sad that even just these 7 packets ate up $1.99 of my budget, but I had to have it.
Purchases
- Coffee $1.99
- Betty Crocker corn bread mix $.89
- 6 pack chicken thighs, just under 3# $2.88
- Rotini pasta $1.18
- 1 can generic green beans $.89
- Baby carrots, 1 # $.99
- 1 can store brand diced tomatoes $1.33
- 1 can tuna $.99
- 3 bananas $1.09
- Gallon milk ( on sale cheaper than smaller) $2.50
- Roma tomato $.47
Meal plan
- Baked chicken-2 dinners ( cut meat off so could use bones for broth), with pasta in diced tomatoes simmered for a sauce, green beans ( rinsed)
- Creamed tuna and pasta -1 dinner, 1 lunch (can tuna, pasta, reduced milk, steamed carrots) with a corn bread pancake each meal with sliced tomato on top (really yummy)
- Chicken noodle soup-2 lunch (carrots, chicken, pasta, broth) with a pancake each meal with sliced tomato on top
- Banana, 2 per day muffin mix pancakes (made 10 very small- 4 went with lunch and tuna supper), with milk- 3 breakfast
A poor substitute for my
normal brewed coffees.
While I met the challenge, and ate moderately well, it was tough! Nothing not thought through was put in my basket. It would be a stretch to say I had five servings of fruit and vegetables a day and relied more heavily on pasta than I'd have liked to be filled up. I benefitted from bone in chicken thighs being on sale for 99¢ a pound, and stretched 6 thighs into five meals by using two for soup, eaten twice for lunch. The creamed tuna was one lunch, one supper. I really stretched the muffin mix, but since normally I don't eat breakfast, it was plenty and using a pancake as a bread for lunches made the soup more substantial. I limited seasonings to just salt and pepper to keep myself honest.
That was my SNAP Challenge experience. It would be exhausting to plan to this level regularly. It might have been easier if I had a whole month and could do more with $154.80, the equivalent at the $5.16 per day, as could buy larger sizes, but adding in needing to be able to walk to store and carry back, as reality for many people, limits that strategy. Even if I didn't want them, I missed the idea of having a snack, though there was more soup than I could eat. I had milk leftover, even with drinking a glass with each meal and using in meal prep. That only was because of the loss leader sale. I could have skipped coffee, but no one would have wanted to be around me.
Call me a left wing radical, but I believe in the SNAP program, WIC ( Women, Infants, and Children ) and the availability for my neighbors to have access to a food pantry when in a tough spot. Having access to decent food is a human right. So many of us in the US will have a huge dinner today, followed by leftovers falling out of refrigerators. Others will struggle for a single meal and sadly that's still a daily reality.
Have a lovely day with family.
ReplyDeleteTo you as well.
Deletegreat job Sam and relatively healthy to boot. It is a total bummer that foods that fill lack in nutrition (pasta). I share your conviction that SNAP/WIC are necessary and deserved.
ReplyDeleteMost people don't know that WIC is part of the farm subsidy program (I'm a farm kid) and can be utilized until children reach age 5. If one can get infant formula, milk, cheese, eggs, orange juice, peanut butter, canned/frozen veg/fruit, whole wheat bread and canned fish without touching a meager budget, one can eat/feed children a healthier diet than I often see in grocery carts!
Happy Thanksgiving to you. I hope you find some joyful moments today :-)
When I worked at a grocery store in highschool so few took the dry beans. I'm sure now looking back, the mom probably didn't know what to do with them. The food items allowed have expanded since the 80's. When I did summer child care in a nonprofit organization we were able to get commodities, cheese and milk, for the kids and on Fridays, send home with the families any remaining as a new supply came on Monday. ( Was allowed). I know it greatly supplemented food budgets.
DeleteSam, kudos to "meeting" the SNAP challenge but even greater appreciation of you calling out the rising food insecurity/hunger needs in this country. I volunteer at a monthly legal clinic, and I talked with my fellow advisors about beginning to offer food starting in 2025: nothing elaborate, just a crockpot "something" (shredded chicken, pulled pork) with buns so clients (and attorneys) can grab a hot sandwich while there (it's a midday clinic, so lunch). I have seen too many clients coming in straining to feed family members and themselves. "Having access to decent food is a human right." Yes, yes, yes.
ReplyDeleteThat's phenomenal, April. Someone caring enough to offer a lunch has to go far with just feeling self worth for the clients.
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving, Sam, enjoy your family time. Well done on the SNAP challenge, I think you did remarkably well, a pretty healthy and sustaining 3 days of meals on an extremely limited budget.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, it was tiring to plan. I would feel the stress if really my budget.
DeleteWow, great job. It sounds delicious and pretty healthy. A shame that goverments across the last few decades think that those who are less fortunate deserve this amount just because they're poor.
ReplyDeleteIn my real budget, because I can shop anywhere, it would have been easier. I could have made many different choices. That's a game changer on how far a budget will stretch.
DeleteI am a bleeding-heart, left-wing liberal, too, and not because I had to use SNAP once. I do know people abuse the program. A month would have given you the ability to eat better food and more fruit and vegetables, as you said.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving.
I put my own limits too to mirror many people's real experience.
DeleteOn this day of thanks I am am thankful for having you as a blogger buddy and friend.
ReplyDeleteLikewise😃 Spo.
DeleteYou did really well Sam. I think food deserts is half the problem. I mean if you don't have options to shop around you can't get the best/better deals either can you. I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving Day with your family!
ReplyDeleteIt's expensive to be poor is not just a saying. There a reason certain stores pop up, at least in the US in some communities or neighborhoods. They'll carry lots of food and household required items often a prices per item more or less quality, but have a captive shopping base.
DeleteIt's a sad comment on our society when wanting people to be able to eat is considered "left wing radical" :(
ReplyDeleteBut those good people would say it should be community's responsibility, not the governments.
Delete