Starting last Friday, State Senator Bryan Townsend and State Representative Ed Osienski began participating in the Food Bank of Delaware’s SNAP Challenge, where they live for a week off $31.50, which is the average national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit per person. You hear all the time from evil conservatives about how good the lazy poor have it when they get their food stamps and other government assistance. Indeed, to hear them tell it, the approximately 68,300 Delaware households who receive SNAP benefits in 2012 lived high on the hog at taxpayer’s expense.
So, how is it going for them? Rep. Osienski reports on his experience so far:
Day 1 of #SNAPChallengeDE: For breakfast, some toast with peanut butter, a banana and skim milk. It’s a decent breakfast, but there’s no coffee because I couldn’t afford a can of it on my $31.50 allowance.
Before we went grocery shopping, Sen. Bryan Townsend and I sat down and carefully planned out our week and scanned the ShopRite circular — things we normally don’t think about when going to the grocery store. For the week, I bought eggs, milk, bananas, peanut butter, pasta, a jar of sauce, black beans, rice, yogurt, carrots, multi-grain bread and a cooked chicken. All of that ran me $31.42, just under the limit.
One of the things I immediately noticed: I couldn’t buy the peanut butter I normally prefer because it was too expensive, so I had to opt for a less-healthy, but on-sale jar. Same goes for the sauce and beans.
I’m now into Day 4 and the midpoint of the Food Bank of Delaware’s #SNAPChallengeDE. Probably the toughest part of this challenge has been living within my means – and my limited budget.
I started Sunday with a breakfast of eggs and whole wheat toast and a glass of skim milk. I spent 11am to 4pm at the Newark, Delaware Community Day event, where I would normally buy food from the many vendors throughout the day. However, having already spent my $31.50 for the week, buying food at the event was not an option, so I had to brown bag it. I prepared two peanut butter sandwiches, a banana and some baby carrots and some bottles of water to last me the day (the funnel cakes sure looked good). When I got home, I prepared a pasta dinner with some more carrots.
The weekend was a real challenge. I rarely prepare meals at home during the weekend. I tend to go out to eat or get take out and watch a good game on TV. That seems to be one of the biggest challenges for families depending on supplemental assistance: you don’t have the freedom to buy a luxury food or just dine out occasionally, things most of us take for granted.