SNAP Challenge: Day One

Monday September 21, 2015

How I prepared for the Challenge:

                Preparing for the SNAP Challenge required a lot of planning. I had to decide if I would rather go out each day to purchase my meals, or buy enough food for the whole week using the given budget. I decided to go with the latter of the two options. Mainly because it seemed a bit counter-productive and too time consuming to disrupt my day to continuously shop for meals. Instead, I had to plan out exactly what food I wanted to buy for the entire week. I don’t have a very exotic pallet so I am definitely easy to please when it comes to food (I don’t need too much variety to please me). When selecting my meals, I knew that I wanted to include foods that had nutritional value but also gave me room to snack on sweets. Truth be told, I didn’t really stray from my normal diet when choosing what foods to eat. I bought my staples: milk, a vegetable, a fruit, and a protein; and I also bought my more desirable foods: sugary snacks and pastas. 

          For water, I decided to rely on purified tap water; I thought it to be more financially advantageous than purchasing a case of bottled water. In hindsight, I am regretting that decision because the tap water, regardless of being purified, tastes utterly DISGUSTING. Since water is an essential need, I may use the excess money that I didn’t spend to purchase bottled water. But that decision will be made as the week progresses.  

Also, I realized that I purchased unsweetened applesauce which came as a major disappointment to me. I have yet to try it because, to be frank, I’m a bit scared (LoL). Hopefully it’ll be tasty…fingers crossed!

                I would also like to point out that this challenge forced me to do the unthinkable: SHOP AT WALMART. For those of you who know me, you should be well acquainted with my disdain of that corporation. Nonetheless, I realized that when you are in a straining situation financially, you have to make certain difficult choices. Walmart prices are so unbelievably cheap that it did provide me with more food options without breaking my budget. HOWEVER, let it be known that this will be the only time I shop at Walmart.

^^^my thoughts when I realized I had to shop at Walmart

What I bought for the Week:

Below I have provided a list of all the foods (and their prices) that I purchased for the SNAP Challenge. Since I do have about $3 surplus, I may add to this list as the week progresses.

•    Great Value Instant Oatmeal……$1.62
•    Kraft Raspberry Vinaigrette…..$1.79
•    Pop Tarts S'Mores Flavored…..$1.98
•    Great Value Natural Unsweetened Applesauce…..$1.74
•     Velveeta Shells & Cheese Family Size….$4.48
•    Great Value Cinnamon Crunch Cereal….$2.50
•     Banquet Frozen Chicken Nuggets and Fries….$1.00
•     Market-side Classic Iceberg Salad Packaged Lettuce….$1.82
•     Lactaid Fat-Free Milk….$3.78
•    5 Gum…...............$1.28
•     Minute Ready to Serve Brown and Wild Rice…$1.84
•    Great Value 90 Calorie Fiber Brownies….$1.98
•     Hillshire Farm Rotisserie Seasoned Chicken Breast Ultra Thin….$2.98
•     California Giant Strawberries….no charge

Total Spending:

Without tax: $28.78

With tax: $28.87

What I ate:

           Breakfast: 

o   Store brand cinnamon toast crunch cereal

o   Lactaid milk

 Lunch: 

o   Deli chicken slices

o   Instant rice.

Dinner:

o   Mac N Cheese

                 Snacks:

o   Pop-tarts with dinner

o   Brownie for a late night snack (No judging, I got hungry!)

o   Gum (does this count as a snack? LoL)

                Drinks:

o   Purified tap water (yum…)

                   

How I felt:

                To be honest, I didn’t find day one to be all that challenging. I had a test that day and my focus was on studying, rather than on food. There really wasn’t any significant change to my normal diet. As a college student who lacks culinary skills, mac n cheese and deli slices are pretty much a staple for me. I purposely bought Mac n Cheese that didn’t require milk so that I could reserve that for cereal and for dunking my chocolate pop-tarts and brownies. Thus far, everything is going semi-normal. It does feel strange to have to limit myself only to the options in my box but for now, I think I’m OK. But who knows what’ll happen in the future.

               

If you are participating in the Challenge, be sure to answer these daily questions. The credit to the creation of the questions goes to my professor, but I figured that I would share them with you J

Daily Question: Did you go grocery shopping? How does your cart look compared to how it normally looks? What choices did you make about the types of food you could afford, where you shopped, or the nutritional quality and variety of the food? 

Thanks for reading and I will see you all tomorrow! 

Disclaimer: The gifs are not mine; credit to their owners