SNAP Challenge – Stepping Into Someone Else’s Reality (PT.1)

So this will be my first multiple post topic on this blog. I felt that this matter is too complex to fit in one post, primarily because I don’t like leaving my readers with a full essay to read.

For those of you who have never heard of the SNAP challenge, it’s basically a challenge for people to live on the weekly budget given to those who live on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps). The weekly budget for this challenge is $31.50, $4.50 per day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This year I was reminded of this challenge because there was an article about Ron Shaich, the CEO of Panera Bread, taking up the challenge and blogging about its effects on him each day. Ron’s partaking of this challenge isn’t something sporadic. First off, Ron actively works to spread awareness for in his words “food insecurity in America.” Secondly, SNAP is being threatened with cuts in funding by a proposal in the House of Representatives.

The reason why I want to blog about this topic is because it is something that Americans overlook. Too many Americans take food for granted. We go to the grocery store and look down on off brand products. We are blessed enough to be able to afford choice selections of fruits, meats, and snacks. More importantly, we don’t have the stress of counting how much our basket costs and whether we can afford it or not. With $31.50/wk these things we take for granted become unavailable choices.

In college, I realized how wasteful Americans are with their food. Growing up in my household, leftovers were and are never thrown away. Sometimes it gets to the point where we’d be eating the same assortment of plates for a few days, but food is never thrown away unless it has spoiled. But my experience in the dining halls changed how I thought other people conducted themselves with food. Having a buffet style dining system meant people would be grabbing 2 or 3 plates regardless of how much they weighed or were able to eat. I saw people take single bites out of certain things and never look at it again. All of the leftovers eventually went into the garbage can. This wasteful habit that many Americans have developed is an example of how our prosperity is taken for granted.

Unfortunately taking these things for granted is a reality of life, and what you do with your prosperity is your choice. But the goal of the SNAP challenge as well as this post is to let people know that there are in fact people who are less fortunate than us. It’s a reminder of how good your life is and if you have the ability to throw food away, maybe you need to recalculate what portions you’re making, as well as how much food you’re buying.

Thanks for reading. Like I said above, this topic will be a multiple post topic. Feel free to comment.