On my way to SNAP success

The hunger pains are gone, for now.

The peanut butter and jelly sandwich should last another hour and a half before I start thinking about lunch. Today, it's pinto beans with cheese and a few corn tortillas, a simple, yet filling meal that should carry me until I clock out.

I'm on day five of the SNAP challenge and am beginning to realize why the term challenge is so fitting for the program. For the first time in my life I'm having to make a conscious effort to put a little less on my plate knowing my food supply is dwindling with every meal. The food is fine, having eaten with fewer options in my days as an undergrad, but it's the planning and preparation I'm so unfamiliar with. I spent nearly four hours cooking the pinto beans I'll eat today, spending a large part of my day off preparing the rest of my food supply to last me through the end of the challenge.

America is a land of plenty, a fact exhibited in almost every facet of our society. It is fueled by the addiction to immediate gratification with internet, credit cards, no to mention the fast food drive-thru. The past five days in contrast, have not been ones of convenience. A drive-thru on every corner makes it easy to forget about food accessibility, but as I attempt to walk in the shoes of close to four hundred thousand East Texans I realize the frustration they may feel at seeing the surplus of food options, yet being able to afford next to nothing.

Two days remain in my personal SNAP challenge and when I eat my final meal Wednesday night I will feel accomplished in for having "made it." However, I believe the feeling of completion will be a bittersweet one, for while I completed my seven day challenge, I know the challenge for hundreds of thousands of East Texans continues every day with the pain of hunger.

It's a pain no one should have to feel.

Erin: More Than a Gesture

Have you ever seen one of those shows where someone beautiful and thin dresses up in a “fat suit” and walks down the street so that she can tell us about the horrible experience of being fat in our society?

I grew up poor. Let me make this clear, being poor sucks. I wish I could say that there was some quaintness or some incredible amount of character building going on, but those moments are far outweighed by indignities.

The last thing I mean to do is belittle the “Food Stamp Challenge”, I don’t compare it to putting on a fat suit because I think the challenge is not genuine. I am saying that it is a gesture. If you have ever known someone who shaved their head because their friend/sister/wife was going through chemo, you know the difference. A bald head doesn’t make you feel the fear of your children growing up without their mother nor does it make you exhausted and nauseous. But it is a gesture, it is a way of saying to someone that you love “I will fight this fight with you and, when you tire, I will keep fighting.” I am hopeful that this is what the challenge will ignite in people.

I have to be honest; I quit the challenge after 5 days. You don’t have to convince me that $21/week is not enough money to maintain a healthy diet, much less an appetizing one. I get it. My parents worked hard, often they both worked multiple jobs, but it isn’t as easy as just “working hard”. Forty percent of food pantry/soup kitchen clients are working poor. Add to that number the clients who are children and seniors and you don’t get a lot of ne’er-do-wells.

My point is this, the simple act of striving to understand what it feels like to be food insecure is a great lesson for everyone to experience at some point. But don’t allow it to just be a gesture. This isn’t just about the inexplicable mathematical formula that made $21 seem like a reasonable number. It is a reminder of the people who are trying to make their food budgets work for more than just one week. It is a reminder of why you chose to apply your talents to the nonprofit world. It is a reminder of why you write that check to the food bank or give your time. Mostly, it is a reminder that we must fight this fight with them until they grow weary, and then we must continue to fight for them. Don't just hang up the fat suit and go back to your original hotness.

On a lighter note, no one on food stamps ever turned down free coffee. I would even bet that people have chosen jobs based on the availability of free coffee.

Day 1

For my husband and me, the challenge started in the grocery store. He wanted celery, for the tuna salad we planned on eating most lunches. I thought it was a luxury we couldn't afford. I wanted more fruit instead, or maybe a small jar of peanut butter.

"Stop it," he hissed, as we debated the cost in the produce aisles. "You're embarrassing me."

Point taken. I let him buy the celery and we moved on. But it was an early telling moment -- of just how hard it is to survive on $21 worth of food a week per person, and of the compromises and choices families have to make.

We decided to take the Food Stamp Challenge together this week because we know how easy it is to take our good luck for granted. (Our son, who is 6, will eat his regular breakfast and lunch, but will share some of our challenge dinners.) Like many others, we spend money on food somewhat thoughtlessly. We wanted to take time to fully realize what we're eating, and how much it costs.

We realized, as we scanned the store, how much more work it will take to eat this way. Convenience foods like spaghetti sauce or frozen pizzas were out; they cost too much. We bought dry beans rather than canned, and a whole chicken rather than skinless boneless breasts, to save money. After carefully planning what we thought would get us through 7 lunches and dinners apiece, we ended up spending $38. (The picture above shows our week's worth of food.) It's not the healthiest menu. We didn't buy as many vegetables as we would have liked; organics, as Karolyn noted, were out of the question.

And there weren't many extras. We didn't buy anything to drink; tap water is going to be our beverage of choice. No desserts, except for six bananas (chosen because they were the cheapest fresh fruit.) No snacks, except for the much-debated celery. No cheese, no sugar, and, hardest for me, no coffee.

I think it's going to be an eye-opening week.