SNAP Challenge

Community Network Builder Beatrice Maslowski took part in a 7-Day SNAP Challenge, living on a SNAP budget of $4.15 per day for a week. Here's what she said as she was starting the challenge:

"Foodshare staffers Alicia Flynn and Jennifer Johnson provided great advice in advance of Hunger Action Month on how to manage the dollars and where to shop. The project manager in me sat down and developed a shopping list and recipes in advance and began checking food prices, as well as deciding that I was going to have to give up coffee! I was delighted to find water packed solid white tuna on sale for 96 cents per can so I bought 7 cans to ensure I had a protein source. I found 4 very nice apples in the produce mark-down section of the store for 97 cents. Breakfast is yogurt with a banana. Lunch is a can of tuna. Dinner is a combination of black beans that I cooked with turkey bacon and chicken broth, along with whole grain brown rice. It was cold out this morning which made me miss my XL morning coffee even more. Over the years I have been on every diet imaginable, so I know what it is like to feel hungry (by choice), but what I have never experienced is having limited financial resources to buy my food. Right now I have $2.52 remaining from my $29.00 weekly budget."

And here's what she said a week later as she was finishing the challenge:

"I completed the SNAP Challenge on Thursday 9/18. I attended a dinner meeting on Wednesday night and stuck to my plan of not taking any food outside of what I had purchased and planned for myself. I was really hungry by the time I got home on Wednesday night. I did have a very brown banana left, as well as beans and rice. On my last day, I did buy a cup of coffee on my way to work, which left me with 30 cents left from my original $29 budget. I think this was an importance experience for me and I would encourage everyone to take the SNAP Challenge!"

There's still time! Please consider taking the SNAP Challenge as part of HungerAction Month!