Accect the SNAP Challenge

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I accepted the SNAP Challenge for 7 days. Actually, SNAP is an acronym for, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the new name for what most of us call food stamps. The SNAP Challenge is based upon a $4.00/day/person food budget, the amount a person receives who receives food stamps. The purpose of the Challenge is to learn firsthand the choices one must make to stretch the food dollar and gain empathy for families using government food programs. I plan on learning more about food assistance, who qualifies and who is making use of the program. This is what we learned from our week of the SNAP Challenge.

Living on a limited food income definitely impacted our social life. I was invited to join a small group for a Chinese buffet but needed to decline because I could not afford the cost of the buffet. We hoped to invite guests over for a meal during the week and rethought those plans since our budget did not accommodate feeding guests.

Sometimes, having a limited budget actually forced us to spend more for items than we normally would. For example, we cut soda from our grocery list. Diet Coke is a luxury I found difficult to life without so instead of buying the economy size, I purchased Diet Coke at machines for 75 cents, more than double the cost of Coke in a 24 pack. At church, we have soda readily available. It was tempting to indulge while there. Another example of difficulty taking advantage of bargains is that coupons advertised the requirement of buying ten items in order to receive a discount. We didn’t need ten items in one week and buying them meant going without something else. Since we live in a small town we already pay more for groceries than folks in a larger city because the stores cannot offer large volume discounts.

The biggest sacrifice of eating within a $4.00/day budget was nutrition. Fresh fruits and vegetables were prohibitively expensive even during this time of the year when they are plentiful. We finally bought a package of grapes which lasted the week. Alan was given sweet corn by a farmer he was visiting. My husband eats meat while I am a vegetarian. He did get a pound of meat, but that is all. That probably was a health benefit for him.

Some good habits did come from this week. One big advantage of living this way for a week was that we recognized how much food we normally waste. Since our intake depended upon the food purchased that week, we literally ate all of it. It was not necessary to clean out the grungies from the refrigerator as I normally do. We also made food from raw materials instead of purchasing ready made products. I made bread. Alan made his lunch.

Overall, we came to appreciate food much more. We have been blessed with plenty and give thanks for that. Wasting food is certainly not an appropriate way to express gratitude to our Lord for this bounty. We already decided to practice the SNAP Challenge again during Advent and Lent being aware that for many people, $4.00/day is not a choice, it is a necessity.