How did September get here so quickly?? For the past month I’ve been trying to decide if I was going to attempt last year’s SNAP Challenge again this year. It was a tough decision because the challenge itself was extremely difficult, but also extremely insightful. In the end, I decided to compromise. It’s not the SNAP challenge, but it’s similar. I’m calling it my “September Challenge”.
Why I’m Not Doing the SNAP Challenge
Last year’s SNAP challenge was hosted by Feeding America, but I noticed that this year they had removed all references to the challenge from their website. I’m not sure why they’re not promoting it this year, but not having them backing the challenge makes it difficult for me to explain the concept of the challenge to those who are unfamiliar (and it also stinks because now all the links in last year’s challenge go nowhere).
I also feel like my life is SO different than it was last year and that I don’t think it’s fair to say that I’m attempting to replicate the experience of someone on food stamps. Not only do I have all the “advantages” that I had last year (walking distance to grocery stores, ample kitchen equipment and pantry staples, a lot of cooking experience, no family to care for, etc.), but I also work from home now. So, yeah. I have all day to plan and cook my budget meals. I think it’s borderline insulting to say that I’m going to try to live like I’m on food stamps, because honestly it’s just not even close.
Last year’s SNAP challenge was incredibly insightful into how hunger affected my mental state (stress, concentration, emotional stability) and the social effects of food restriction. I’m not sure doing the challenge again would produce different effects, so I think for the most part, that aspect would just be a rehash. If you haven’t read through last year’s posts, I highly suggest it because I experienced many unexpected mental and social effects that were quite eye opening.
Why I Still Want To Do a Challenge
Doing the SNAP Challenge last year reconnected me to my roots. This blog was born out of my own personal challenge to eat on $6 or less per day, so going back to a regimented grocery budget helped me refocus the efforts of this blog. Some of my favorite recipes came out of that month of restriction because I was forced to really tap into my creativity.
It also forced me to do more menu planning, which is one of my least favorite tasks. I think that was also beneficial to many of you. Seeing how someone else pairs recipes to form complete meals or even a day’s worth of meals can be very helpful.
I like having the opportunity to show you the full picture – the entire grocery receipt, a photo of all the goods purchased, what was eaten each day, and how much it costs ingredient by ingredient versus the actual grocery receipt. The big picture is very important.
What is the September Challenge?
So here is what I decided to do. I’m going to stick to the $4.50/day, $31/week budget because it truly is a challenge. I’m going to do it for the entire month of September. I’m going to flex my creative muscles and use a mix of old and new Budget Bytes recipes to create weekly menus for myself. I’ll share the new recipes, update the old recipes with new prices and photos, and give you a weekly breakdown of what I ate and what it cost me, as well as any insights or struggles I experienced.
I’m going to take full advantage of things I already have on hand because I believe in reducing waste and I want this to be an exercise in clearing out my pantry. This means that the first week or two may have unusually low grocery bills as I use up my own stockpile, but the grocery bills will go up towards the end of the month as I begin to replenish my staples.
I’m going to use this time to recalibrate my grocery and cooking habits and hopefully come up with some new, very budget minded recipes for all of you.
My September Challenge Goals
- Use plenty of dry beans and whole grains
- Don’t forget about protein (I don’t usually concentrate on protein, but I’m doing a lot of strength training lately and I can feel my body craving it).
- Make sure I get both fruit and vegetables every day
- Make room for coffee in the budget this year! Last year I skipped it because I was afraid it would cost too much.
- NOT BE HUNGRY! (that was the biggest challenge last year and I failed miserably)
I hope this exercise is mutually beneficial to both you and me! Remember to follow me on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram) so that you don’t miss links to old recipes that I’ll be updating throughout the month (the first of which will probably be finished tomorrow!).
And as always, feel free to share your thoughts, opinions, and constructive criticism in the comments below. I love hearing what you think!
If hunger is an issue, I found that when I was cutting calories to lose weight I felt way more full when I upped my fat intake. Just melting half a tablespoon of butter onto my lentils and rice was a fairly cheap and easy way to make my meal much more rib-sticking.
That definitely worked for me last year, too! I suddenly wanted to put butter on everything. It was so funny, but it worked. Just a pat of butter on some bread killed the hunger.
I’m sure you’ll do awesome Beth, you are so creative and ur dishes look and taste great! Our family favorites are your Sweet potato Chipotle burgers, Hamburger Mac and Cheese and Orange Chicken.
We r a family of 7 (3 teenagers) and all boys but mom. We eat a real and whole foods diet (most of our bulk staples are organic from Azure standard) and our food budget is between $3.06-$4.08 per person a day. That includes all the meals, snacks, toiletries and cleaning supplies. (We r not on any type of government assistance nor do we have garden, and we live in an expensive California city)
I think is challenge is a super helpful encouragement resource to others. Good luck
Since we are recovering from a very lean period, I have no choice about whether to scrimp, clip coupons, watch for sales, and pinch our grocery budget pennies very hard. I just did the calculations for our family again, and we are currently spending about $3.58/person/day to buy groceries, toiletries and things like toilet paper. I’m fortunate that my food budget is also supplemented by things like dried beans and wheat (for making bread,) which I have in food storage. We do occasionally eat out, which probably inflates our budget over the SNAP level even though we look for sales, coupons, value menus, and other deals. I’ll watch you blog with interest this month for more healthy and inexpensive recipes, and I’m going to use your blog post as a reminder to put another variety of dried beans in the slow cooker right now. When I pre-prep things like that we are much more likely to eat home, which is one of my biggest goals…for this month and every other month. Thank you!
Try out making seitan! It’s pure wheat gluten, so it’s not for those with celiac, but in 1/4c it has 23g protein and 6g carbs, and very cheap (from the bulk bins). Check out a fried “chicken” seitan recipe. So good!
Wow, that’s a lot of protein! I’ll have to look into it. Thanks for the tip!
I know that you posted a recipe for preparing dry beans, but do you have a stove-top method for it? I don’t have a crock pot.
I’ve not been successful with the stove top for making beans that remain whole (like they are in a can), but for thick soups or other concoctions where they break down, it’s super easy. Check out my latest Creole White Beans with Chicken for the method (it’s basically just soak, then boil till tender!).
Hi ladies, here’s an interesting article about cooking beans. The author ends up liking baking the pot of water and beans in the oven the best, but many methods are tested:
http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-dont-soak-dried-beans-20140911-story.html
Also, if you have a rice cooker, you can cook your beans in there. They are often less expensive than slow cookers, and are very flexible. You can google a lot of food recipes made in the rice cooker. Enjoy!
very interesting article, indeed! thanks. (love the part about testing at
home, alone!!)
If you don’t have a crock pot, you can cook them in the oven. You don’t even need to soak the beans. Put 1 cup beans and 4 cups water in a pot. Add onion, carrots, celery, garlic or whatever seasonings you’d like including salt and/or tomatoes. Because the beans are cooking for a long period of time neither the salt or tomatoes will keep them from getting soft.
Cover the pot and put in a 200 degree oven for 6-8 hours. This is equivalent to low in a crock pot.
If you’re using a pound of beans, increase the water to 6-8 cups and cook for the same amount of time.
Excellent advice! Thank you for sharing that.
I’m so excited to follow along as you do your September challenge. My own personal budget has gotten out of control and I’m trimming back what I spend on food for September as well. I’m in a CSA that delivers weekly, so my constraints are a bit different, but I’m definitely trying to get away with spending as little as possible at the grocery store this month!
Thank you for doing this! I’m not prepared this year but will watch and learn for next year!
You Go Girl!! Challenge On!!!
Thank you for so honestly laying your privileges out on the table. It’s important for self-reflection AND for your readers to understand. There’s been a few times in my life when I’ve lived off SNAP benefits, worked nearly full time and lived about an hour’s bus ride from the nearest grocery store. These things make a huge difference.
I can’t wait to see how September goes for you! :) Thanks for sharing.
I’ve been following you for a few years now, and love some of your vegetarian foods. I checked out your Pinterest pages and was wondering if you would consider making gluten free/vegetarian meals one of your boards. If you have any options without soy, even better.
Thanks
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Excited to see this! Loved the posts from last year. Have loved your blog for a long long time.
I’m following! One question though – is the $4.50 a day per person? Thanks.
Yes, it’s per person. I live by myself, so luckily that makes it a little easier for me to keep track.
My husband & I manage a food closet in California. I really appreciate your blog for recipe ideas to use and pass on to our shoppers. We have a number of food closets in our area, primarily hosted and funded by churches. We have a great relationship with the other closets and share our surplus with each other so the food doesn’t go stale. Very few of our shoppers choose to take dry beans compared to canned. Many of our shoppers are elderly & cook to a limited degree.
I remember your reports from last years challenge and the “new reality” it showed you. One of the thing I remember you mentioning was the difficulty with social situations and how food centric our social world can be. Got any thoughts on that this time around?
Also
While I don’t drink coffee I drink a lot of tea all year and would not want to try give it up
Honestly, I’m still stumped on the social situations. I have a Labor Day BBQ coming up this weekend and I think I’m literally going to have to go empty handed. Even a bag of chips will take almost the entire day’s budget. Although, if I only eat breakfast and then again at the BBQ that might work, buy I’d still feel like a mooch. :(
Soooo…Bend your mind to a $3. pot luck thingy….Use 1.50 for breakfast and figure the potluck for lunch/dinner. I could use a potluck dish that did not break the budget…. Fresh baked Bread? Corn Pone? Pot of beans cooked long and slow ?
There is always more then enough food and there is usually a generosity of spirit and others will also be making it 2 meals that day.
Such great ideas! Not only am I looking forward to all the new ideas especially with my mother-in-law moving in (an extra mouth to feed on an already tight budget :/) but the ideas from this great community of commenters!
I think that’s what my plan is going to be and hopefully I can let the guilty feeling roll off my back. :)
I agree about the “generosity of spirit”.
When I was at the store today a dozen extra-large eggs cost $1.99, medium eggs were $1.79. Beth could easily make her wonderful sriracha deviled eggs to take to the BBQ and not bust her budget.
Oooh, I like that idea!! Thanks!
I make no-knead artisan bread for about 80 cents a loaf. Flour, salt, yeast and water—no preservatives and tastes great. There are recipes for it all over the internet, but if you can’t find one, email me and I will send it to you. You make the dough the night before and cook it the next morning. You won’t feel like a mooch and when I bring the bread places, it always disappears in a flash (we have a lot of work potlucks and now people ask me to bring it). If you have any jelly, spoon it into a nice ramekin or small canning jar and take that as well. (At one point we were really financially stressed and a lot of nights it was egg drop soup and a lot of bread to fill us up. It was summer, so sometimes we picked chickweed and young dandelion leaves and added those to the soup…)
I’ve made several versions of that for the blog and probably will incorporate one into one of my weekly menus this month. I don’t each much bread these days, but I know it will help fill me up while I’m on this low budget diet! :)
How about a simple pasta salad?
Take your popcorn! I think it would be a hit.
I know it’s not the fanciest option, but do you have an Aldi nearby? I was there a couple of days ago and the white corn tortilla chips were $.79 and the salsa was $1.29. Not too shabby for the price.
No I don’t, but I wish I did! I’ve never been to an Aldi, but people reference it all the time and it sound fantastic. :P
Sometime back in the late 1970s I read a book called How I Feed My Family of 4 on $25 a Week. Food for holidays, entertaining and other social situations did not come out of this $25. The author put aside a few dollars a week for this. So if she were going to a BBQ on Labor Day, she had money for something to take without dipping into her weekly budget. It’s sort of the food version of a Christmas Club.
That’s such a good plan!
I was so excited to read all your goals for this month’s challenge. It’s everything that I’m currently looking for while I try to find ways shave off a couple bucks to help pay my student loans down a little faster.
I’m sure we all greatly look forward to what you have in store for us!
I would love to see your weekly meal planning. Even if it’s just a picture of your handwritten notes. I always struggle with this.
Most of it’s in my head, really. :) Because I live by myself I only really have to pick out two (maybe three) recipes, then just eat a simple breakfast of oats or egg in a tortilla. Pinterest helps keep ideas handy, though!