Loyal Lessons Learned readers,
Next week this blog will be devoted to another week-long family experiment that I’ll be running. I have agreed to participate in the University of Bridgeport’s SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) challenge. The challenge is to see if you can live off of SNAP assistance money only for one week.
Piece of cake, I said. I routinely spend $200 a week for my family of 8 (3 adults, 5 teens) which comes down to roughly $25 per person. The way we do it? I cook, I watch portions, and I don’t let my kids eat junk food or drink soda. Not only is junk food wasteful calorie-wise but I wouldn’t be doing my kids’ health any good by allowing that type of food to enter the house.
But I also buy in larger quantities, which is something you can’t do when you are buying for yourself.
So next week, I’ll be living on $35 worth of food. It’s a bit tricky because you are only allowed to use spices and condiments that you already have in your house (you can also use those free restaurant packets), everything else has to be purchased. It’s tough for one person because, as an example, I couldn’t find a place that would sell me one stick of butter so I had to buy an entire pound. But you do what you have to do and with that butter I will now have oil in which to cook.
Each day, I’ll post photos of the meals I eat and will keep track of whether or not I run out of items before the end of the week. I think the point of the UB challenge is to show how hard it is for someone to live well on $35/week for groceries.
Well, the University of Bridgeport hasn’t met this frugal mama hen yet.
My shopping list is made, my meals planned out, and I’m ready to get this thing started because after all, a lesson learned is a lesson learned.
