This week, I will be participating in the SNAP Food Challenge as part of my Health Communication course.

In case you don’t know what SNAP is,  it’s okay, I didn’t either before this, it stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It is a federally funded program where you receive a weekly allotment of money per week in order to purchase groceries and food for yourself. My entire class is participating in the challenge, in order to better understand the struggles that some people have under government assisted health programs.

Since I live in San Diego County, the average is… wait for it.

$47.25

Thats 47 dollars for all 21 meals in one week for one person. And yes, that does include your daily Starbucks drink.

I am very sad and curious to find out how a person, or a family, could survive on that much for food. My goal for this week is to gain some insight and empathy into the lives of others.

There are some SNAPpy sort of rules though (see what I did there).

1. No accepting free food
2. No alcohol (not eligible for SNAP)
3. No prepared hot foods like rotisserie chicken
4. You may use your own spices, oils, and condiments
5. Try to stay SNAPpy as best you can (okay I’m done)

So I set out to Trader Joe’s with a plan, and a grocery list, and came up with these purchases:

Sliced Turkey Breast, a dozen eggs, a bag of spinach, green beans, chicken breast, asparagus, sliced cheese and shredded cheese, 2 bags of pasta because carbs, Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, peanut butter, whole wheat bread, tortillas, a can of tuna, and tomato sauce 

TOTAL SPENT: $46.33

One thing to note aka full disclosure: I didn’t want to buy a whole new bag of ground coffee  and creamer from the grocery store, since I already had some. So I am counting my last almost dollar as my coffee creamer and coffee.

Stay tuned to see what I can eat with this budget!