Wow, one week of the SNAP Challenge is over and I can’t believe how many thoughts I’ve had so far. I could write a ten page paper on my feelings, experiences, and observations already… but I’ll try to keep it short (yeah, right). I also want to thank everyone for their insightful comments and support while I take on this challenge. You’ve helped me dive deeper and discover more.
Before I begin the summary, I want to discuss one aspect of the challenge. The SNAP challenge rules state that you shouldn’t use any food purchased prior to starting the challenge. I’m not following that rule because I don’t feel like it’s very realistic or a responsible way to eat on a budget. Sure, some SNAP recipients will start out with no kitchen supplies, but maybe some do. Each person’s SNAP experience will be unique and involve several variables. I can’t replicate anyone else’s experience, so I have to try to mimic what my own would be. I’m approaching this challenge as if I had to suddenly go on SNAP and will definitely utilize some of my pantry staples. Those staples will not be counted as free and as I replenish those pantry staples throughout the month, I will have to do so within my weekly budget of $30. A good portion of what I bought during week one will actually be spread out and used during the following weeks, so it only makes sense that I also would have had some things left over from previous weeks. And hey, this challenge isn’t perfect, but it’s still incredibly insightful. My goal isn’t to get every detail perfect, but to draw attention to and start the conversation about food insecurity, as well as recalibrate my own spending and food consumption habits to be less wasteful.
What Did I Buy?
Here is everything I bought during my shopping trip for week one. Not a whole lot, right? I bought some pantry staples from the bulk bins at Whole Foods (rice, oat bran, chickpeas, almonds), and picked up the rest of my fresh and canned goods at my neighborhood grocery store. I stocked up on some frozen greens because that’s a super easy and inexpensive way to add veggies to your meals. I splurged on feta because it ads a lot of flavor, but only used 1/4 of that block this week. The rest will be used in the following weeks.
Here are my receipts (with a couple notes on volumes that I made for the bulk items. I had to measure them when I got home for correct calculations).
What did I use that was already in my pantry? Admittedly, more than I planned to. I did not plan very well this first week, so I found myself scavenging through my fridge and pantry just looking for something to kill my hunger. I used soy milk, eggs (I’ll have to replenish both next week), a couple tortillas, butter, peanut butter, tea, brown sugar, cinnamon, hot sauce… well, a lot of things. Week one did not go well.
What Did I Make?
My main meal throughout the week was the Soy Dijon Chicken with Sweet Potatoes, plus 1/2 cup of Seasoned Rice, plus 1/2 cup of frozen broccoli florets. I pre-portioned them out so that I could grab them and go without thinking twice, or giving myself an opportunity to think about eating something else. Each one of these bowls cost $1.49.
I cooked one pound of chickpeas from dry in my slow cooker (1 lb. dry, unsoaked chick peas plus 6 cups water, on high for about 5 hours). I only used half of the batch this week and froze the second half for use next week.
My secondary meal throughout the week was Curried Chickpeas with Spinach. I used frozen spinach this time, less olive oil, and the chickpeas that I cooked from dry, so the total batch came to $4.25 and I got about 5 servings, for a cost per serving price of $0.85. Unfortunately, I got so busy and had so many unexpected things pop up this week that I wasn’t able to even cook this recipe until day 4.
Cabbage is super cheap and I wanted some more vegetables in my plan, so I made a half batch of this Vinaigrette Slaw with Feta. I used only red cabbage this time (half head) and halved the other ingredients as well. Luckily, I had the bottom of a bottle of Caesar dressing left over in my fridge that was waiting to be used up. This batch cost me $2.28 and I got 4 servings, for a cost per serving of $0.46.
After I got home from the grocery store I realized that I had NO FRUIT in my plan for the week. I had used up all but a few dollars of my weekly budget, so I turned to this melon that had been sitting in my fridge, uncut, for almost a week. I had let the melon go and it was already starting to have that over ripe sweet smell, like it was on the brink of rotten. I was determined to not let it go to waste, so I cut it up, divided it into 8 portions, and froze almost all of it. I eat the frozen portions while still frozen, like a frozen treat, because once they thaw they are not very good. Ick. But, you have to do what you have to do. The melon cost me $2.99 the week before, or $0.37 per portion.
So, that’s what I made the first week. I realized about mid way through day two that I did not plan well and this week was going to be really awful because of it. Add to that all the drama of the home buying process and trying to show my apartment to prospective new tenants, and I had a complete disaster of a week. I didn’t get a chance to make the curried chickpeas until day 4, so I ended up filling in my meal gaps with pita, peanut butter, and eggs. It was not good. I would consider week one a FAIL.
What Did I Eat?
As I just mentioned, week one was a disaster, but it showed me how much planning and how meticulous you have to be to actually make a budget like this work. Is that level of dedication realistic? Not very much so, especially if you have a family to take care of or are working two jobs (although some people DO make it work, and I applaud you!). Even with my well stocked kitchen and all of my background with cooking and portioning, I still needed to put in more effort to make this work. There were many nights of the week that I just fought off my hunger with a pita and peanut butter instead of a real meal. After only a few days I was so hungry that I was looking for calories everywhere and anywhere. It was bad. So, here is my daily breakdown with relfections:
Day 1
- 1 small flour tortilla $0.16
- 1 large egg $0.21
- dash of hot sauce $0.05
- pinch of salt and pepper $0.05
- 1 tea bag $0.13
- 1/4 cup soy milk $0.09
- 1 Soy Dijon Chicken meal bowl $1.49
- 1/2 pita $0.17
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter $0.23
Daily Total: $2.53
Reflection: Having to keep a tally of the total cost of my groceries as I picked items from the shelves brought me back to the early days of the blog, when I had to eat on a budget like this. I felt more responsible doing so, but wondered if people saw what I was doing and felt bad for me because I had to be so careful about every penny. I still have a positive outlook and am feeling good about the challenge.
Day 2
- 1/4 cup oat bran $0.19 (1/4 cup oat bran + 3/4 water cooks up to be a 1 cup bowl)
- 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar $0.02
- 1/2 Tbsp butter $0.08
- 1 Tbsp sliced almonds $0.18
- 1 cup Cabbage Slaw with Feta $0.46
- 1 portion melon $0.37
- 1 Soy Dijon Chicken meal bowl $1.49
- 1 small flour tortilla $0.16
- 1 large egg $0.21
- dash of hot sauce $0.05
Daily Total: $3.22
Reflection: This is the day that crazy stuff started happening with the home buying process. I was stressed, busy, and didn’t have time to calculate my daily food costs to know where I was coming in, or to make the curried chickpeas. I ate an egg in a tortilla for dinner and was hungry most of the day (except the hour or two after lunch). If I had time to calculate my daily cost, I would have known to eat more, but what? I didn’t have much in my fridge and no time to cook.
Day 3
- 1 Spinach Rice Breakfast Bowl $0.64
- 1 tea bag $0.13
- 1/4 cup soy milk $0.09
- 1 portion melon $0.37
- 1 cup Cabbage Slaw with Feta $0.46
- 1 Soy Dijon Chicken meal bowl $1.49
- 1/2 pita $0.17
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter $0.23
Daily Total: $4.11
Reflection: By today, my brain was screaming “FOOD!” at me all day long and seriously affecting my concentration. No, more accurately, it was screaming, “CHIPS, WENDY’S, PIZZA, CAKE!” My body wanted calories and in any form it could get them… and it’s only been 3 days. Imagine going a whole month, finally getting your SNAP benefits replenished, and finally going to the grocery store. Do you think you’d make healthy decisions? I can honestly say that I wouldn’t. My body was now in control and health was not even on the radar. I just wanted calories. I still didn’t have time to make the chickpeas today.
Day 4
- 2 large eggs $0.42
- 1/2 pita $0.17
- dash of hot sauce $0.05
- 1 portion melon $0.37
- 1 cup Cabbage Slaw with Feta $0.46
- 1 Soy Dijon Chicken meal bowl $1.49
- 1 Tbsp peanut butter $0.13
- 1 portion Curried Chickpeas with Spinach $0.85
Daily Total: $3.94
Reflection: I still hadn’t had time to calculate my daily food costs, so I had no idea where I was coming in. I did, however, finally have time to make the curried chickpeas and I was so happy for a change of flavor, plus they were super filling. Finally a little relief. I had woken up so hungry that I ate two eggs for breakfast. That might have been the first day that I didn’t feel like I was going to die waiting for my lunch break.
Day 5
- 1/4 cup oat bran $0.19
- 1 Tbsp almonds $0.18
- 1/2 Tbsp butter $0.08
- 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar $0.02
- 1/4 cup soy milk $0.09
- 1 portion melon $0.37
- 1 Soy Dijon Chicken meal bowl $1.49
- 1/2 pita $0.17
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter $0.23
- 1/2 pita $0.17
- 1 large egg $0.21
- dash of hot sauce $0.05
Daily Total: $3.25
Reflection: I really can’t believe how delicious every single commercial for food looks. Things I never would have been tempted by before, like Wendy’s or those nasty looking cappuccino flavored potato chips, I could seriously devour and love every second of it. It’s fascinating how hunger can change your tastes and perceptions. My body was still screaming at me for calories and blocking out most every other thought. I’m still relying on eggs/peanut butter in pita because it’s fast and kills my hunger.
Day 6
- 2 large eggs $0.42
- 1/2 pita $0.17
- pinch of salt & pepper $0.05
- 1 cup Cabbage Slaw with Feta $0.46
- 1/2 pita $0.17
- 1/2 Tbsp butter $0.08
- 1 serving Black Bean Soup $0.79
- 1/4 cup uncooked popcorn kernels $0.09
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil $0.04
- 1 Tbsp butter $0.15
- Cajun seasoning $0.05
Daily Total: $2.47
Reflection: Today I really started to lose it. I thought about sneaking a bag of chips from the store. No one would know, right? Ack. I can’t do that. I needed calories so bad that I ate butter in pita bread. I started scouring my cupboard and freezer for something different to eat because I was sick of the same ‘ol food. I found one last frozen serving of my Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup and ate that. It was SO. GOOD. That made me feel like I broke the rules, but OMG, I felt full and happy for a minute. I had my favorite snack for dinner: stove top popcorn with Cajun seasoning (and butter because apparently I want that on everything now).
Day 7
- 1 Spinach Rice Breakfast Bowl $0.71
- 1 tea bag $0.13
- 1/4 cup soy milk $0.09
- 1 portion melon $0.37
- 1 serving Curried Chickpeas with Spinach $0.85
- 1/2 pita $0.17
- 1/2 pita $0.17
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter $0.23
- 1 oz feta $0.43
- 1 cup soy milk $0.36
Daily Total: $3.51
Reflection: I broke into my stash of feta today because I NEEDED CHEESE. I realized that dairy goes a really long way towards filling me up and making me feel satisfied because I’ve been craving cheese and yogurt for a couple days now. I’m definitely working that into next week’s menu. I CAN’T WAIT to go grocery shopping and try a new approach next week, because this sucked. Oh, and I finally got a chance to sit down and start calculating my daily costs and saw how low I was coming in. ARG. I could have been eating more all week. *sigh* Failure.
Final Reflection
Total Consumed: $23.30
Grocery Total (incl. tax): $28.13
This did not work at all. I’ll try again next week with a different approach. Even with all the advantages working in my favor (pantry staples, cooking equipment like a slow cooker, cooking skills, food knowledge, easy access to grocery store(S), etc.) this just did not work and was not sustainable. I wanted to eat fast food every day. I wanted to go splurge and spend 2-3 days worth of food budget on a pizza or burger. What would I do if I had children? I am full of a mix of emotions—gratitude, guilt, and sadness.
Read through my experience from beginning to end:
If you have time, I would be really interested in the number of calories you are consuming. I wonder if it is enough to maintain your current weight, which seems healthy to me.
I hope this question isn’t too intrusive. This seems like a valid factor in the SNAP challenge.
Week one was definitely not enough calories. I can’t tell ya that without even calculating it. ;) A few people emailed me the calorie breakdown, although I don’t know which calculators they were using, but they all came in very low… like 1/2-2/3 of what I need.
Being that I am a calorie counter and very nutrient curious, I calculated the calories for Beth’s list of consumed foods for Week 1 of her SNAP challenge.
I used the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 27, whenever possible. If the food item was not available in that database, or I knew the brand used (based on Beth’s pictures) I used the manufacturer’s website as a secondary source of information. If I could not find the information on either of those, I turned to a third party nutritional website as a last resource.
My calculations were:
Day 1: 867.54 calories
Day 2: 907.54 calories
Day 3: 1103.21 calories
Day 4: 1291.84 calories
Day 5: 1028.54 calories
Day 6: 1159 calories
Day 7: 1265.97 calories
Not enough calories – no wonder she was hungry! :)
Yep, I’m doing much better in week 2! :)
I could eat your full day allotment of food in one sitting. Not enough calories Beth…
That’s why I considered it a failure. :) Doing MUCH better this week.
Right now I’m a single college student and budget roughly $100 a month on groceries. Some days it’s easier than others, some weeks I eat PBJ sammiches for every single lunch. I don’t always eat super healthy, but I make a point to have pretty well rounded meals. I’ve always budgeted roughly $100 a week per person, at times with my ex husband spending as little as $120-150 for 2 people for an entire month. Perhaps things have just been cheaper in my area, but that’s part of why I have always found these challenges interesting.
Additional comment regarding my previous reply.
My boyfriend and I usually make a bulk dinner that costs about $10.00 to last us for the week. This can be chili, soup, homemade spaghetti sauce, freezer burritos, lentil dish, etc. We don’t eat a lot of meat and that helps reduce our food bill.
During the day we eat fruit/veggies/nuts for snacks and salads for lunch. Breakfast (for my bf) is oatmeal with honey, bananas, and walnuts. We mainly shop at Trader Joe’s but also shop at Market Basket. Very healthy and affordable. We don’t really snack too much.. I make a lot of baked goods which we can freeze and lasts a while. Our total food bill also accounts for any misc things we need including soap, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. 2 people can eat great for a week on $40-$60 total.
Thank you for sharing. As of May, my boyfriend and I started tightening up our budget for groceries. We are foodies and our grocery budget had been high. I find the SNAP challenge interesting because even though I am not on SNAP and my boyfriend and I have full time, stable jobs, I eat on a tight budget, yet I still eat healthy. For groceries for the two of us for a week, we try to spend $40.00 per week (or $20 per person). It has been difficult to budget less than that total though. The highest we get to is $60per week but we never exceed that (before we were budget aware, we would spend upwards to $90.00). I use a lot of the recipes on budget bite and we eat very healthy. So this SNAP challenge I think is doable for everyone. I suspect it may be more difficult if there are children in the picture. I guess I get irritated when people think that there are no healthy food options for the poor, when I live that week to week, on a ‘poor’ persons food budget. Thank you for sharing recipes that are healthy and trying to help people be more budget aware.
I’m really glad you’re able to make it work, Barbara. But I would maybe ask you to reevaluate your “irritation” at people who struggle to make it work. Just because you’re able to do it doesn’t mean it’s that easy for everyone (and I don’t mean that it’s necessarily “easy” for you, but maybe that it’s not quite as hard). What if a person doesn’t have any transportation and is working 3 part time jobs to make ends meet for them and their kids? Think how difficult it would be to find the means and the time to get to the grocery store and carry everything home and then cook it (if you’ve got access to a fully implemented kitchen to do so). Now imagine you live in a food desert where there are no real grocery stores, where you have to buy food from a corner store or convenience store or gas station, unless you can make your way to a different neighborhood that actually has a grocery store (and again…imagine you don’t have a car, and, if you’re lucky enough to have access to public transport, it takes you 45 minutes each way on the bus to get to the store). Now imagine you have a medical condition or disability. Now imagine you have no computer or access to the internet (to more easily find sales and coupons, look up recipes like the ones on this blog, apply for better jobs, etc.) except at the public library, which is 3 miles away from you and only open when you’re working. Eating on a budget by choice is not the same as having no other option and having huge amounts of obstacles in front of you. That doesn’t mean the SNAP Challenge isn’t a useful exercise. I really, really think it IS useful, not only practically, but also in terms of creating empathy. I’m really glad you’re thinking about this and that you’re committed to being healthy on a budget, but maybe think a bit wider before you get “irritated” at people who struggle. Yes, some people make bad decisions, and yes, some people just need some help to learn different skills necessary to do this. But overall there are a lot of people doing their absolute best, who are exhausted and frustrated and just trying to survive with what they have at their disposal.
Good points all. It seems that in these sort of discussions someone always needs to be reminded that their circumstances can’t be extrapolated to everyone else in existence for all the reasons above. Also the cost of groceries varies hugely across the country and I think often people forget that their $100 food budget in their home town would actually cost three times that somewhere else.
AMEN MS, thank you! Things are often much more complicated than we want to think about.
Thank you for your points MS. I wasn’t trying to ‘bash’ people who find it difficult. You are right that every body has a different situation.
Very well said. :)
Well said!
I am glad for this comment. Not everyone is capable of the same things just because we ourselves are or have the same things available to them. I am lucky to have a grocery store in walking distance but due to personal issues, hardly ever go there, plus it’s no good for my budget to shop there.
Great job keeping your food budget so in check!
Believe it or not, grocery prices vary a lot depending on where you live. Unfortunately, in lower income areas, groceries tend to be much more expensive. I just moved from the burbs to an inner-city area, and was shocked at how much more groceries cost here. In other words, your $40 a month may look a lot different where you live than it does in other parts of the country!
I never realized you were in New Orleans before! That means your stores/prices are my stores/prices. I’ve cooked a lot from your website, but I’m going to start to pay even closer attention to it. Thanks for doing this.
I see you’re also experiencing another difficulty of being on SNAP: having other people judge/chastise you for your food choices, despite the fact that they don’t know what your locally accessible stores are like, don’t know the other mitigating factors in your life, etc. Plus they want to lecture you on nutrition (either telling you you’re doing it wrong or telling you your healthy choices are too expensive and that you’re somehow not entitled to them). Thankfully it seems like most people have been supportive and congratulatory here, but there have of course been some Judgey McJudgertons. Having strangers on your back about your food choices, telling you what you should be “allowed” to eat like you’re not even an adult, insisting that their knowledge and experience is superior to your own with regard to your own life…that’s one of the struggles of being on SNAP. And it’s often tied up in classism, racism, sexism, etc.
Hahaha, yes, there are always some judgey mcjudgetons, but that’s the name of the game when you’re a blogger. ;) People can judge all they want, but I know that what I do makes sense for me, so it doesn’t bother me much. And yes, the outpouring of support and genuine interest FAR out weighs the negative Nancys.
Wow! I don’t know how you did it. Congratulations on getting this far.
Thank you so much for writing this. We’re on food stamps, and my husband is both shopper and cook (I am so terrible at both) and apologizes so many times a week that we’re eating the same things. He’s a good enough cook that I can and do eat his chili for days, enjoying every bite. But you hit the nail on the head by pointing out that prepackaged foods start to look heavenly, really quickly! Thanks for writing with a clear head and a kind heart.
I’m reading this blog from the UK, but we’re on a very tight budget here. Our food bill is £30 a week for two, which I work out to be about $48.73. The cravings you talked about for burgers and pizza are all too real. Knowing dinner is unlikely to fill me up makes me crave fast food which at least will stuff me full. We try to eat healthily and budget, but it’s hard!
Wow, I’m impressed that you didn’t eat when you were hungry and couldn’t concentrate. When I’m sitting in the office hungry I have no willpower to not snack.
It’s a lot easier when you know you have an audience that’s one million strong watching. :P
In response to Anya’s question, I’ve had to cook for a group of 7, 3, and just myself, at various times in my life, all of them on a strict budget. I found it harder to stick to a similar amount of money for a larger group of people (I found $30/1 easier than $210/7), but I think there are a lot of different factors that went into each scenario.
Also, I think there is probably a substantial change in how difficult food budgets are depending on where you live in the country, and how convenient cheaper-end grocery stores are (like grocery outlet… definitely saved my life a couple times). Growing up I was able to feed a family of 3 for $40 a month for a couple months, but I was lucky to have a large amount of wild edibles around (blackberries, apples, etc.) and really cheap access to large quantities of staples ($0.15/lb of flour), but I definitely couldn’t do that here in Chicago, or even elsewhere in the same state.
Thank you for doing this experiment and sharing your experience. It’s really enlightening.
I can’t imagine how people do this for any length of time, especially with children.
I agree that rule of the challenge is unrealistic. When we had to start SNAP because of my illness, we still had spices and such we could use and, like many others, we occasionally visit a food pantry so it’s not like all of our food is from SNAP benefits. But I can see why they would include the rule, because it does really force you to think about the realities of feeding yourself on an extremely limited budget. And you have much of the mindset already, it’s why I frequently visit your site! Thanks for all your wonderful and cheap recipes :)
When we were on SNAP, I would spend about half of it right away buying bulk meat and pantry staples, then spent the rest on fruits and vegetables weekly. That might be an easier approach for you, and it made it super easy for me to make meals that didn’t suck.
I feel your pain! I, myself, am on food stamps, but I get quite a bit more due to the fact that I’m pregnant, currently unemployed(doing the best I can with freelancing illustration/animation jobs), and have a 10 month old baby. Once I get my own place and get bills, my food stamps will go up some, too, to help with that. Right now, my budget is about $60-70/week for me and my son together. Seeing your posts about it really makes me happy. Maybe someone even more influential will see it and start a movement to lower the salaries of people in politics and raise the food stamps a bit so people can actually live off of it without having starve days, because most people don’t start off with pantry staples. I, myself, had absolutely nothing except for a small can of beans and some flour. Literally. :/