With three days to go before the SNAP Challenge, I find myself
bringing all my privileged resources of education and technology to bear on
this problem. I am an engineer, and it seems I just can't help myself; I created a spreadsheet.
I used online shopping data to gather price information and optimize among
various healthy recipe options. I also have the experience of having been a graduate student, when I lived on a limited budget but always with the safety net of family. I definitely had low grocery store bills then compared to now, where low meant around $50/week for two
people, but that was 20 years ago. $25 per person then went easily twice and probably three times as far as my $32.14 will this week,
in today’s dollars, for a household of one in Washington DC. I bring a privileged knowledge of cooking and nutrition, and access to a full kitchen, stocked with condiments I am allowed to use as part of the challenge.
I know the limitations of my analysis: I have based my spreadsheet off a grocery store in
Arlington, VA, the same chain that is within walking distance of my home in DC, but the
prices are probably higher here, and my local store does not have
online ordering, so I can’t get information on local pricing. I can’t go to suburban
stores with lower prices because I do not have a car and already plan to invest
weekend time in shopping and cooking for the week. This Herculean effort is possible because I know it is a one time thing, something I could not sustain on a regular basis.
Even with all these tools and resources, and all the strategies of people who have taken the SNAP challenge before and blogged about it, all my spreadsheet solutions fail in some way. I know there are many strategies: Ramen. Peanut
Butter and Jelly. Eggs. Canned tuna. Mac and Cheese. I chose the beans and rice strategy, prioritizing high
fiber so I feel full, and complete protein so I can hopefully sustain brain power at work. One of my problems is
there are no economies of scale for a household of one. I have to buy at least
a can of beans, a bunch of collards, a pound of rice. It is not cheaper for me to buy individualized packs of processed food except for ramen, on sale this week for 12 cents a packet, but which I consider a last resort nutritionally.So here is what I worked out:
My SNAP Challenge Shopping List
Breakfast : Homemade muesli
2 qt generic fat free lactose free milk 3.79
Box generic corn flakes 2.49
2 c generic oats 1.99
Raisins 1.99
Dish 1: Sleek
Blackeyed Peas 0.77
Collards 1.99
Bulgur Wheat (1.5 c) 2.99
Onion (3 lb bag) 2.47
Garlic 0.50
Dish 2: Gallo Pinto
Black Beans (1 lb) 1.29
Rice (11b) 1.29
Green Bell Pepper 1.49 (yes this is the outrageous price of a single pepper in DC)
Tomatoes 1.00
Onion and Garlic (see above)
Snacks:
7 bananas 2.42
7 apples 5.01
Now there are two important things missing: a serrano chile for the gallo pinto and tea. The chile I might be able to afford, but not the tea unless something changes. I will really miss drinking tea. I worry about my own hydration, as I am bad at drinking cold water in cold weather. I know, cry me a river. Still, it is important to me, but it costs at minimum $3 in my grocery store and can't possibly be worth 10% of my budget. I'm not trading my apple a day for tea. So I think about other shopping venues near me. There is an organic market that accepts SNAP as well as a weekly farmers' market. I am eager to see what I can do there, and develop my strategies.
Savings Strategy #1: Bulk Foods
I will go to my local organic market to see if I can save money on some items. I am not sure they will be cheaper than the supermarket, but I know what to look for in the bins:
Bulk Foods
|
Price to beat
| |
rice (1 lb)
|
1.29/lb
| |
black beans (1 lb)
|
1.29/lb
| |
bulgur (1.5 c)
|
3.00/lb
| |
oats (2 c)
|
2.00/lb
| |
Especially with the oats and bulgur, where I don’t need to buy a whole pound, I might find some savings over supermarket packaging that starts at one pound. If I save money here, I might be able to afford a small amount of bulk tea costing much less than the $3 the supermarket will charge.
Savings strategy #2: Farmers’ Market!
Thanks to local food activists, SNAP dollars go twice as far at my Farmers' Market to encourage fresh local organic produce consumption and its nutritional benefits. However they only double the first $10. Still, if I can buy $20 worth of produce at the farmers' market, I can stretch my total allotment to as much as $42.14.
Price to beat
|
Need
|
Up to
|
||
collards
|
$4/bunch
|
1 bunch
|
$4
|
|
Pepper
|
$3/ea
|
1 pepper
|
$3
|
|
Onion
|
$1.64/lb
|
3 lbs
|
$5
|
|
Apples
|
$5/lb
|
7 (2-3 lb)
|
$10
|
|
Garlic
|
$1.00/ea
|
1 fist
|
$1
|
|
$23
|
This adds up to $23, not $20, so I am hoping for additional savings somewhere in here that bring my total down to $20.
I am feeling pretty good about this optimization, even as I am aware how close to the edge this takes me. It is just barely there. I think about the recent cuts, about what it would mean to go down thirty cents a day, $2.10 less for the week. What would I give up? Probably the corn flakes, leaving me with oatmeal (cold or hot) for breakfast.
I am satisfied with my plan, until I lay it out as a week's menu:
Sunday
|
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
|
Friday
|
Saturday
|
|
Breakfast
|
Muesli
|
Muesli
|
Muesli
|
Muesli
|
Muesli
|
Muesli
|
Muesli
|
Snack
|
Banana
|
Banana
|
Banana
|
Banana
|
Banana
|
Banana
|
Banana
|
Lunch
|
Gallo Pinto
|
Gallo Pinto
|
Gallo Pinto
|
Gallo Pinto
|
Gallo Pinto
|
Gallo Pinto
|
Gallo Pinto
|
Snack
|
Apple
|
Apple
|
Apple
|
Apple
|
Apple
|
Apple
|
Apple
|
Dinner
|
Sleek
|
Sleek
|
Sleek
|
Sleek
|
Sleek
|
Sleek
|
Sleek
|
NO VARIETY. Yeah, I can switch the banana and the apple, or the
sleek and the gallo pinto, but…this is going to get very old very fast. Maybe I can dress up the gallo pinto with a banana, ersatz maduros, but now the second guessing begins....
Why did I spend so much on breakfast? It is the most important meal of
the day! And this is where my variety will be for the week: I can have hot
oatmeal, or corn flakes some days for a change. If I have any left over it might make a kind of dessert one night.
Maybe I will sub in a pear or two for a couple of apples, but apples travel better to work. If only I had money for an egg, or a sweet potato, or a
mango. Mangoes cost a dollar each, but bananas are much cheaper at about 35 cents! I could trade a banana for a mango, but I would rather have tea and a fresh chile. The cheapest I can get an egg is a half
dozen for $1.69. The debate in my head rages on. I had an alternative meal I considered instead of the sleek that involved a dozen eggs ($2.19) and frozen O'Brien potatoes with onions and peppers ($3.75). With various arrangements of omelets, frittata, and hash I could liven things up a bit, but I realized that eating 2 eggs 6 nights in a row was really not very healthy, and I would still need one more meal to round out the week when I finished the dozen.While not as bad as eating eggs every day, I am sure my monotonous diet is still nutritionally deficient long term. I realize there are no orange fruits and veggies, and I may buy a carrot or two if I have money leftover. My half serving of dairy a day doesn't come close to meeting my nutritional needs, but being lactose intolerant I can't see being able to afford any more lactose-free or soy products.
These are my tradeoffs to make. While I can afford some fresh veggies with planning, hustle, and determination, I still can't afford the variety nutrition demands. There is only one of me, and it is very hard to beat the monotony on $32.14. I imagine with a second mouth to
feed and $64.28, I could have more variety and mix things up more. But that is
someone else’s SNAP Challenge, not mine.
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