Why am I taking the SNAP Challenge?
My name is Laura Roberts. I am the SNAP Outreach Coordinator at Foodshare, in Bloomfield, CT. I help people, on a daily basis, with questions and applications dealing with SNAP Benefits.
It seemed important that I should take the SNAP Challenge, not just for a week, but for 2 weeks. My family (husband Dale, and daughter Samm) has agreed to join me in understanding what it feels like to live on a SNAP budget of $4.15 per day. Our other daughter (Alex) is away at college, so she does not qualify as a member of our household in determining our household benefits.
The three of us all work full time. I work the least amount of hours, at 40 per week. Samm holds two jobs and does 40+ most weeks, and Dale works about 50-55 (he works from home, so he will do much of the cooking, as usual!)
Samm and I went shopping last night. As we negotiated among ourselves as to what was healthy, and what we could afford on our 2 week budget ($4.15x3x14= $174.30) we had a good amount of debates, especially when it came to what snacks we allowed ourselves. Since SNAP Benefits are issued once per month, we assumed our full amount was available to plan out our meals.
I shopped at Aldi earlier in the evening, and then we went to Shoprite together to purchase more items. At Aldi I spent $43.37, and at Shoprite we spent $68.02 (more than we had intended, but items were on sale that we thought would carry us through some recipes) There were a few items that we didn’t purchase, but that I will “add” to our costs, since we had recently bought some and they last for months. $1.77 for Skippy peanut butter(on sale this week at Shoprite), $1.99 for sugar(regular price at Aldi), $5.00 for 1/2 lb. of whole bean coffee (we grind it fresh, since it has more health benefits per Dr. Oz) It is one of our splurge items in life. On the other side, we didn’t buy (i.e. couldn’t afford) decaf tea, so my nightly cup of tea has been sacrificed.
On Day 1 I will list the groceries purchased so far. Other than that, I haven’t decided yet what I will write each day, but I hope you will stay tuned, whether to cheer me on, or laugh at my struggles. :)
SNAP Challenge 2014 