SNAP Challenge

If you follow me on Facebook, you already know I ranted about the moronic things people are buying on the SNAP challenge, which entails trying to eat for a week on just $29.  Limes, Gwyneth?  LIMES?!  Now you can count me out of the group that thinks we need to raise food stamp benefits--I've worked with enough impoverished families (and honestly, was raised in one) to tell you that handouts don't work.  The reason we have chronically impoverished people to begin with is that something went wrong along the line, be it at home, at school, or with friends.  People fall on hard times, sure... but those that perpetually live on food stamps I promise had some trauma or issue or situation in their life that prevents them from getting out, and it's almost always tied to education and resources.  Give a man a fish, he eats for a day.  Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.  Ending hunger won't happen by giving people a higher allowance on a debit card so they can buy more Pepsi or Flaming Cheetos. 

How much did you learn in school about how to budget for a household?  How mortgages and car financing work?  How much did you learn about meal planning and cooking?  Yeah we all probably sifted flour and made a cake, but did we learn how to cook a whole chicken?  A roast?  What to pair with it and how to cook basic sides?  I am adamant that social reform comes through education and not through gifts.  I've seen too many gifts unappreciated, uncared for, and even unwanted.  And when the person who receives something like that comes back a few months later and asks for more.... nothing will make you lose faith in humanity faster.

We certainly can't fix or end poverty and hunger, but I think we could get a whole lot closer if we used our resources more wisely.  I know we've all watched people use a SNAP card at the grocery store, and we've judged the hell out of their carts.  But it's important to realize they don't have the same life experiences and resources as many of us, and they don't understand it's wrong to be buying hawaiian punch.  They don't get that goldfish crackers and kraft macaroni and cheese and gushers are helping make their kids obese.  And if they realized that the cost of those four items would buy a whole chicken, a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, a couple onions, and some garlic, they sure as hell wouldn't know how to put it together and make it taste good.  I'm willing to bet they don't know how much they need fish oil and they have no idea how hard it is to actually meet calcium and potassium requirements with food.  Hell, even Gwyneth didn't have any idea what she actually needs to be eating, made horrible choices, and QUIT AFTER FOUR DAYS.

End rant.

So as you probably guessed, Dave and I will be completing the SNAP challenge, starting today.  I developed a plan, edited and re-edited, and entered it all into MyFitnessPal to determine how I could best meet every nutritional need with the cheapest foods possible.  This was actually really fun (well, if you're me).  I was using USDA guidelines for the most part, many of which I don't totally agree with but since the SNAP program is a government deal, it makes sense.  It was really hard to keep saturated fat down, since I could only afford one fat/oil for cooking and I chose real butter, so we will only be using 2 sticks and not the whole package.  It was a real struggle to get potassium high enough, so I had to switch a lot of things out.  As you can see these stats aren't by any means perfect, but even when we're eating really clean I don't think we come this close to hitting so many nutritional needs.  Let alone when we're eating like regular Americans!  This is a lot more carbohydrates and sugar than I normally like to eat, but they're still on the lower end of what the USDA thinks is kosher.  I want to prove that with a little know-how, you can eat a nutritionally complete diet on an extremely small amount of money.  And my purpose is that we should be funding that know-how.

Now for rules.  I read a lot of blogs where people did "paleo SNAP challenge" and I can't tell you how many of them thought it was okay to use existing kitchen items.  Uh, no.  That defeats the entire purpose and people actually on food stamps don't have a cabinet full of coconut oil, chia seeds, raw nuts, coconut flour, cacao nibs, maple syrup and honey.  That's bullshit.  I saw people on the challenge use recipes for like maple pecan encrusted snapper and I was like NOPE.  Others debate whether or not to make use of free items, and I feel like it makes more sense not to... someone on food stamps isn't going to necessarily live in a building with free coffee and work somewhere were people always bring in donuts, etc.  So I made sure to work coffee, cooking fat, and seasonings into our budget.  It's not much coffee (about 5oz, we are cold brewing for a whopping 48 hours and will be drinking the concentrate with milk to stretch it as much as possible!), and our seasonings consist of a chili seasoning packet, salt and pepper.  Soy sauce kind of counts.  Also we are using $58, because there are two of us.  Did this make it easier than just $29?  Well yeah, but SNAP benefits are given out monthly so its no different than one person buying food for two weeks. 

I bought most items from Kroger, a few from Trader Joe's, and a couple from Tom Thumb.  I live and work near all of these so it wasn't a big deal to go on the way to or from work and get what was cheapest where.  Had I used only one store, I definitely would have went over budget, so this is key.

The Food:

 

 

 

The Facts:

 

 

 

 



The Meals/sides:

Cold brewed coffee with milk
Yogurt w/bananas, almonds and walnuts
Baked tofu
Roasted carrots
Roasted chicken
Mashed potatoes and gravy (from chicken drippings and grinding rice into flour)
Chicken noodle soup (boiling chicken bones to make stock)
Liver and onions (from chicken liver) over roasted potatoes
Turkey chili
Tuna fried rice
Spaghetti with ground pork
Sautéed cabbage
Fried sweet potato hash with fried eggs
Home fries with poached eggs
Pinto beans

Normally we spend about $150ish per week, and that's eating healthy and the occasional coffee or beer.  It was kind of exciting to save $100, if all goes well I may have to work this in once a month!