Well, I’m ready to begin the SNAP (food stamp) challenge tomorrow, and I’ve already seen how difficult it can be to stretch your dollars. I spent most of the morning looking for high protein, healthy recipes for this week that had a per serving price of $1.25 or less. I plan to make chickpea and spinach stew one night, tortilla soup one night and cheesy eggplant Parmesan one night. Lunches for me and the other two nights will be leftovers. Breakfast will be my usual…a banana. An apple and a clementine will be my snack. Andy gets his typical bare bones salad for lunch and two Greek yogurts a day as a snack, thanks to Aldi’s low price on yogurt. The total of everything shown was just under $30 of our $40 so that leaves a little wiggle room for coffee (which I make at home anyway), garlic, and other spices I’ll need to supplement the above meals.
I have the luxury of having the time this week to plan this out on a Sunday morning. I realize that many people would not. I am grateful for Aldi and Trader Joe’s because I couldn’t have made it without them. I’d say I’m always a savvy shopper…I always look at price per ounce, etc but this took SO much time. I’m sure the week will be a challenge in other ways, but I’m hoping that this was the hardest part. Time will tell.
If you’re taking the SNAP challenge this week, let us know how it goes for you. Share your SNAP story by sending me an email at [email protected]. Then check back here on the Beth El Blog to read about how we all did!