First trip to the grocery store

It is never a good idea to go grocery shopping when you are hungry. It is an equally bad idea to go shopping while you are hungry and on a new budget. At this is what my room mates and I discovered last Monday when we went to the grocery store for our first trip during the SNAP Challenge.

I chose to participate in this challenge because there are many people in Rhode Island, and throughout the country, who are in need of help. I believe that through this SNAP Challenge, we can be a voice for these families, and we can provide a small glimpse into what these families go through just to survive.

The first thing I noticed during the SNAP Challenge was how difficult it was to shop when you are on a strict budget. When I go food shopping normally, I grab foods that I need, mostly name brands because they are the most trusted, and I rarely refrain from buying something because of price. When my room mates and I traveled to the store with our SNAP points, we realized that we couldn't do this if we wanted to buy enough food to last us for the duration of the Challenge.

As room mates, we usually eat dinner together, and we usually split the cost of groceries. We decided that we wouldn't change this for the SNAP Challenge; however, instead of shopping at our usual Stop&Shop, we shopped at Seabras because of their lower prices. We also decided to plan out our meals more precisely. We bought enough food so that we could have cereal/yogurt for breakfast, a sandwhich/canned meal for lunch, and a dinner including a meat, carbohydrate, and a vegetable. We had to consider while we were shopping what ingredients we were going to need for the meals, which was interesting, and something we don't typically do.

Being typical college students, we always like to have a pizza in the freezer. You never know when you're going to need that fix of cheesy, saucy, bread-y deliciousness. Since we were on a budget, we could not buy this week's pizza. A single pizza was about $5, and we could simply not afford it if we were going to buy food for the rest of the week. It was the first difference that I noticed, even though it was very minor.

While shopping on the SNAP Challenge, we noticed that meat is pretty expensive when the shopper is on a tight budget. After doing a little math to figure out the price per pound, we found that we couldn't afford to buy steak. We could afford a little over a pound of ground beef and a tray of chicken strips. I can't help but wonder if the amount of meat we bought would be enough to feed a family with several growing children. For one person, it is enough for ten days, but I question if it is enough for an entire family.

While selecting sliced cheese, I noticed something interesting. I usually buy Kraft Singles, individually wrapped cheese slices. Kraft is known for their cheese, and I figure that they are the best thing to buy. Since we were shopping on a budget, I looked a little further. The Kraft Singles cost more than the generic store version of sliced cheese, but interestingly enough, they offer less slices. After purchasing the generic brand, I have discovered that generic cheese tastes almost exactly like Kraft cheese but gives me more for my buck.

With the SNAP Program, individuals can not purchase pre-made food such as sandwiches and/or hot meals. This made it very difficult for us as students, seeing as we are on campus for most of the day. Whereas we usually eat Quizno's subs for lunch, we now had to plan to go home and make a lunch, or wait until dinner to eat. It offers an interesting insight into an individual on SNAP. Many of the foods that can be purchased with a SNAP card require a kitchen for the food to be prepared in. If someone is at work and doesn't have a lunch break, it may be difficult for them to eat three meals a day.

Toward the end of our Seabras Shopping trip, we spotted some Dunkaroos. Remember the days in elementary school when lunchtime meant comparing and trading your Dunkaroos for Oreos? As much as I wanted to buy Dunkaroos and Oreos, we could not afford them while staying within our budget of the SNAP Challenge. I know it is something extremely minor, and it is something people normally don't think about, but it made my heart ache for little kids out there who sit down at lunch dessert-less, surrounded by their friends who all have Dunkaroos and cookies.