Food Stamp Challenge

Earlier this semester, our Community Nutrition class took a challenge that is gaining popularity in the United States. Eat on $4 a day for 5 days. No free food acceptance. The "food stamp challenge" is supposed to simulate what it would feel like to live on food stamps and/or be food insecure (food stamps is known today as SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The easiest way to do this, of course, would be dollar TV dinners and cans of refried beans - but being a stubborn nutritionist, I thought I could eat healthy on not much money without blinking an eyelash. I was right about being able to eat nutritiously for little money, one just has to have the know-how. But I was wrong about two things.

First, I had a rough time eating only broccoli, tortillas, bread, oatmeal, green peppers, grapes and the other sustenance food I bought. Somehow in my excitement of "the challenge" I forgot that my eating habits aren't that great, nutritionist though I am. Basically I eat whatever I want whenever I want. This is the first time in my life I have ever had to restrict my diet. It was a mental strain, especially as others around me continued to eat whatever they wanted. I broke down the fourth day and bought some iced oatmeal cookies for $1.08 (don't worry, I still was under the $20 limit).

My second incorrect assumption was that I would know what it felt like to live on food stamps. I did not learn this. I learned how it felt to be food insecure. Those can be one and the same, but they can also be two very different things. In both my research and in my own experience (purchasing groceries weekly for clients who use food stamps), I have found plenty who say they do not starve on food stamps, but also plenty who say they can’t qualify for food stamps and are starving. Others have commented to me that they see people on food stamps buying uncommon and expensive foods. I know personally those who I buy for are certainly not starving.
This experience did not put me in the shoes of those on food stamps, but it has enlightened my view on the flawed system I live in - one where tax payers’ money can go to artichoke hearts and filet mignon for some while others go hungry because they cannot qualify. I do not have a solution. But as I have learned through the years, I can make the biggest difference by starting where I am, helping those near me get the food they need.

For a different view on the food situation in America, see CNN reporter Sean Callebs' experience on the food stamp challenge. $176 for food for a month. Callebs was a proponent of the portion of the stimulus package that fed into the SNAP program. Go here to read why.

More reflections of Congress-men and -women who have taken the challenge can be found at this site, as well as a great debate with pro and con comments.

Thanks for reading,
Heather