SNAP Challenge Day One #JFSnapChallenge

There has been a lot of work going on behind the scenes the last few weeks to get ready for our SNAP Challenge. Audrey, Maurene and I signed up to live on less than $4 a day each for five days. We planned our menu carefully and have completed most of our grocery shopping. Yesterday we started on a little prep work to make sure our week went as well as could be expected. 

Over the last weeks I have been talking to my girls about what we are doing and why but I still expect there to be a few bumps in the road. They are five- and four-years-old, a deeper understanding of social policies of our federal government are not within their grasp yet. I just hope we are able to follow our plan and finish our goal of five days.

I want to share a little of what we did to get ready for this challenge as well as our menu. It might enlighten you to the struggles of the food insecure.  And I also encourage you to read "Those People" on Scarymommy.com. It is a story that will change the way you think when it comes to the food insecure. 

Here is our planned menu. I warn you things almost always seem to fluctuate around our house and we never seem to really stick to a menu. That said, we have fewer groceries to work with this time and no eating out options. 

Monday
Breakfast - Pumpkin Muffins and hot cocoa
Lunch - Tortilla, banana, and peanut butter
Snacks - Pumpkin Bread
Dinner - Mushroom Alfredo and peas

Tuesday
Breakfast - Chocolate, Peanut Butter Oatmeal and orange juice
Lunch - Carrots, celery, apples, peanut butter and ABC Soup
Snacks - Chocolate Muffins
Dinner - African Peanut Stew and cornbread

Wednesday
Breakfast - Rice Pudding and hot cocoa
Lunch - PB&J and apples
Snacks - Black bean brownies
Dinner - Spaghetti, red sauce, mashed cauliflower and peas

Thursday 
Breakfast - Fruit, leftover cornbread and chocolate soymilk
Lunch - Pumpkin Bread, celery and peanut butter
Snacks - Rice Pudding
Dinner - Black Bean Soup, rice and corn

Friday
Breakfast - Pancakes, applesauce and orange juice
Lunch - Rice, beans, and rot-tel
Snacks - Black Bean Brownies
Dinner - Chili, cornbread and peas

A few things you might notice about our menu include the lack of coffee and  animal products. I reduced both several months back. I still keep a little coffee and tea in the house but do not need it to wake up. The meat product reduction was a decision I made a few months back after learning I was pre-diabetic. Normal weeks I will purchase a few expensive animal product alternatives to placate those in the house who do not care for my eating style but this week we did not have it in our budget. I also will typically get a half-gallon of cow milk for the girls to drink as they are not as fond of soy milk. This week I decided to utilize our purchase of  cocoa powder to make the soy milk more palatable. I will report the results.

Be sure to follow with us the rest of the week as I share the previous day's actual menu and any struggles we have had on the way.

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