Welcome to the USC School of Law "Food Drive" & SNAP BLOG

Yesterday I completely and totally broke the rules. I started off alright. I had cereal for breakfast that cost around a quarter (since I bought it on sale). But for lunch Ashley was leaving for the weekend and I wanted to celebrate with a real meal before she left. So, I took her to one of our favorite places. I completely broke the rules (she didn’t because she had to quit anyway).

The fact that I was able to quit so easily underscores the reality that I don’t really know what it is like to live on SNAP. I can try to simulate the kind of diet that I would have to have, but since I’m doing it by choice rather than necessity means that I don’t really know what it is like to live on assistance like the one I am trying to recreate.

After lunch, I had a meal of potatoes, beans, and a few collard greens; a meal that costs around a dollar. But I have the knowledge that I can afford an ice cream if I really wanted it.

Obligatory dietary roundup:

Breakfast was a banana, plain fat-free yogurt (3/4 cup), 1 egg (hardboiled), coffee; all coming in at just over a dollar. Lunch was about $0.75 worth of leftover cabbage soup (stock full of vegetables and very filling). As it happens, dinner last night was over at the in-laws since family was in town. They bought take-out Mediterranean food, which was great.

One of the riddles that I contemplate from time to time is the American diet. At no time in human history has a society ever enjoyed more access to a diverse array of excellent nutritional choices, both in terms of availability and capacity to purchase. Furthermore, at no time in human history has a society had more knowledge about how to eat well and the importance of good nutrition. Nonetheless, our national diet is simply atrocious. Why?

The only answer I can derive is that substantial portions of the individuals in our society consistently make irrational self-destructive choices. I include myself in this group, at least occasionally (I fight a junk food habit – definitely a first-world problem).

[As for everything that is wrong with our national diet, I think that this is pretty common knowledge; just for fun, here is a link to the view from across the pond: http://www.epha.org/a/1279.]

What do we gather from this? At a minimum, I think it strongly questions the concept that individuals will make the best choices from the available options. Of course, advocating government inhibition of personal choice generally is met with opprobrium and concerns ranging from economic interference to Orwellian totalitarianism. Absent from the conversation, of course, is the enormous social cost of preventable self-destruction.

So where do we go from here?

Comments welcome; critique especially welcome; responses probable. DSJ

Question for all participants: How much money would you be spending on food this week if you were not participating in the SNAP Challenge?

I ask that question to encourage and challenge each of you to “donate the difference!!” If I was not participating in this challenge I would fall into my same spending and eating habits. Since we are living off of only $20 this week, take the difference that you would have spent and donate it to charity. Melissa and I plan on calculating this difference and donating it to the Harvest Hope Food Bank. It only makes sense to give this money to a good cause, when we otherwise would just keep it ourselves.

On to my eating for yesterday and today. My breakfasts and lunches were the same as usual, but I did eat a frozen pizza last night for dinner. I read all of these other posts and how the other participants are eating nutritious meals, and it makes me feel guilty for eating so unhealthy. Tonight I am planning on eating pasta and saltine crackers, as I am running out of food that I got from the grocery store on Friday. Also, my pop-tart box ran out this morning, so tomorrow morning I will miss my first meal of the challenge.

Again, I want to reiterate the challenge above. It would bring this experience full-circle if we used the money we saved this week to combat the problem that we are raising awareness for. The donation can be to any charity, but it would be particularly appropriate if the charity involved feeding the less fortunate!!

Ok– so I have to share this story about Abby (my 11 year old who is participating in the challenge with me).  She has been such a trooper all week and she really shined last night.  Yesterday was Abby’s aunt’s birthday (my husband’s sister).  The entire family went out to eat to celebrate her birthday.  I was not able to go- spent my evening in the library.  I really assumed that Abby would decide to blowoff the SNAP’s challenge and eat anything and everything in sight at the restaurant.  Abby is not a breakfast eater- never has been and none of my motherly coaxing (or demanding) that she eat breakfast has ever changed this fact.  She takes her lunch to school most days (we have determined that if we really qualified for food stamps, she would likely also be getting free lunch at school).  Based on this, she had a grand total of $4 to spend at dinner, if she was going to stick to the program.

When she arrived home last night I asked her about her meal, what she had ordered, etc.  I fully expected to hear that she had gone all out and ordered whatever she wanted.  Turns out, when she got to the restaurant, she carefully studied the menu and was able to find a kid’s meal for $3.50– which is what she ordered.  To say that I was beaming with pride is an understatement.  What a gal!

Yesterday during our chat in the Pro Bono office about our experiences doing the SNAP challenge, several of us mentioned the necessity of planning ahead.  I thought about this last night as thunderstorms roared through my neighborhood. I was putting together a super easy, super quick casserole for dinner and thought, “What happens if the power goes out now?”  Normally, that would be just the time to say, “We’re eating out tonight!” But eating out is not in the SNAP budget. Because I’ve been keeping costs way under budget all week, I could have run to Publix and grabbed a package of hot dogs to cook over a fire in the fireplace. But even that made me think what a luxury it is to have a wood burning fireplace as a back-up cooking option.  (My wood is all free, thanks to a friend who lives in a wooded area nearby and a brother who doesn’t mind splitting logs.)

Then, I faced another “emergency” this morning. I was pakcing my lunch for the day — chicken soup again — and for some reason I could not get the lid of my thermos to go on right.  Lid on wrong = chicken soup in my lunch bag and not in my stomach = bad. Thankfully, we had leftovers from last night’s casserole, so I popped those into a Tupperware container to reheat in the law school microwave at lunchtime. Disaster averted.  But it also makes my total cost of food for the day go a little higher.  Good thing we’re just having spaghetti for dinner tonight.

The other thing I’ve come to appreciate this week is how much I dislike canned vegetables. I’m used to getting fresh or frozen vegetables, but they are generally more expensive. That’s why my mom usually bought canned veggies when I was growing up, and now I remember why I don’t buy them!  Bleck. Last night’s chicken casserole just wasn’t as good with canned peas.

That said, here is the recipe for last night’s casserole:

Chicken Pie Deluxe (that’s right…no ordinary chicken pie!!)

• 1 1/2 cups dry stuffing mix (I use Pepperidge Farm, which was on sale this week)
• 1 stick butter*
• 2 cups cooked chicken (leftover from roasted chicken earlier in week)
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup peas (I used 1 small can)
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the stuffing mix and butter. Press into a pie plate. Heat the remaining ingredients in a pan on the stove, mixing well, then pour this mixture into the pie shell. Sprinkle more dry stuffing mix on top. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes or until hot. Serves 4-5.

*Frugal tip: don’t throw out the paper wrapper on the stick of butter. Save it in the refrigerator, and the next time you need to grease a cookie sheet or other pan, just use the butter side of the paper.  There is usually just enough butter sticking to the paper to lightly grease a cookie sheet or casserole dish.

The following post is based on a number of conversations I had with a wonderful friend, Ruthie Millar.  She’s been living on $4 a day, by choice, since last March!!!  The post is a little longer than my past ones, but the information is invaluable!  Her words of wisdom have proven extremely helpful, and I thought it would really be shameful if I didn’t share it.  Here’s Ruthie:

“I started this last March before Daddy died. We were talking one night (3am ) about how expensive it was to live these days but how cheaply it could be done…and so it began.

First of all… BIG LOTS is your friend!!! They have great prices on canned veggies and they take coupons. Stock up but check the expiration date.

Dry Beans, Dry Beans, Dry Beans!!! And their buddy RICE!!

Don’t eat out…ever.

Check out the farmers market, the fresh veggies are cheaper and are better for you. I go to the Clemson Poultry Farm to gather fresh eggs…well…they GATHER them but fresh, cage free eggs are only $1 a dozen. I don’t know if USC has a similar program but CU has a student farm and Mamma and I hit it every Wednesday. I also buy fresh local milk.  It is a bit more expensive but lasts at least a week longer so there is no waste. This is part of my making a concerted effort to only eat food that is grown or produced within 100 miles of where I live…of course I make exceptions for fresh SC shrimp.

Make your own granola…it is so cheap to make and freezes well and it much better than store bought. I have a great recipe that I can send you as well.

Buy store brand…that’s a given.

Buy bone in chicken and cook it, debone it, then boil the bones and make your own stock…Aunt Grace would be so proud.

I cook my rice in my homemade chicken stock…it is so much better.

I also buy real butter in bulk (it comes in a big roll).  It is local and lasts forever. I have friend who freezes her butter, I guess you can do that but keeping it is the fridge or a butter bell is just the same.

Fresh Bread…buy day old at a local bakery.

Makes lots and lots of tea…hot, iced, it’s all good. I have learned to drink unsweetened tea….not easy…we are Southern…but I grew up drinking it,  Daddy grew up drinking unsweet tea too because sugar was rationed during WWII…two savings there, calories and cost. If you have to sweeten it use local honey.

Also, I stopped using all commercial lotions and cleaners. For a daily moisturizer I use olive oil…it lasts forever and while it may be more expensive initially check out the ingredients of your fav lotion and then read the ingredients of olive oil..,it’s just that…olive oil. Your skin will love you.

For house cleansers I use baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice…in various and sundry combinations. I also use baking soda to gently exfoliate my face and brush my teeth. One more tip…I have friends who travel all the time, they save all of the little hotel shampoos and soaps for me. Not only are they cute, they are free and I haven’t purchased toiletries in over a year.

Mamma suggested (and I do this too) that when you do go out to eat only eat half and take the rest home, hence two meals for the price of one. Both of us save our potatoes from our meal and take them home and then you can make, potato soup, hash browns, mashed potatoes, etc. Mamma is not at the point where she swipes the sweet n’ low packets off the table but I have a feeling that is not far off. LOL!

One other thing and then I will hush…I have been cooking with cast iron for several years now. It started when Nannie gave me one of her skillets, black as night and seasoned to perfection. I have since added various family pieces to my collection and some were in desperate need of TLC, with a little (a lot) of elbow grease I now have wonderful heirloom pieces of cast iron cook ware that will never wear out. You can pick up cheap pieces if you scour (no pun intended) yard sales and various relatives pantries.  My whole collection only cost me the time and energy to refurbish it.”

Thanks SO much to Ruthie Millar, for sharing her amazing bits of wisdom.  After the challenge ends, I hope to continue to use her tips in order to waste little, help out the local economy, and to promote a healthy planet.

Day 3:  November 16th 2011

Weight: 198.2 lbs.

Meal One: 8:15 AM

• Flour (3/4 cup), 300 calories, 9 g P, $0.25
• Egg, 80 calories, 7 g P, $0.15
• Banana, 100 calories, $0.25
• Milk, 150 calories, 8 g P, $0.25
• Sugar (1 tbp), 50 calories, $0.05
• Vegetable Oil (1/2 tbps), 60 calories
• Vitamin Supplement, $0.05

Total for Meal One: $1.00, 740 calories, 24 g P, 1 Fruit, 1 Milk

For Breakfast I made banana pancakes.  Combined I calculated the Sugar and Vegetable.  It was very good, but has a lot more calories than oatmeal, so I cut back to only one sandwich for lunch

Meal Two: 12:45 PM

• Peanut Butter, 200 calories, 8 g P, $0.15
• Bread (2), 150 calories, 7 g P, $0.15
• Apple, 100 calories, $0.30
• Carrot, 30 calories, $0.15

Total for Meal Two: $0.75, 480 calories, 15 g P, 1 Fruit, 1 Vegetable

For Dinner, I decided to keep with Pasta, partly for the protein but also partly I like the taste better.  If I get sick of pasta I’ll go to rice for days 4 and/or 5.  I was also craving a latte, so I pulled out my espresso machine and made one.  I make my own syrup (dissolve sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract into water) which works out to about $0.15 per shot.  So all-in-all, only spent an extra $0.40 on my latte (since I was going to drink the milk anyway.

Meal Three: 5:15 PM

• Pasta (4 oz); 420 calories, 14 g P, $0.25
• Turkey (5 oz); 340 calories, 25 g P, $1.10
• Milk; 150 calories, 8 g P, $0.25
• Coffee, 25 calories, $0.25
• Vanilla Syrup, 100 calories, $0.15
• Salad, 30 calories, $0.25
• Raisins, 130 calories, $0.30

Total Meal Three: 1195 calories, 47 g P, $2.55, 1 Fruit, 1 Vegetable, 1 Milk

Total Day 3: 2415 calories, 86 g P, $4.30, 3 Fruits, 2 Vegetables, 2 Milk

Today’s the first time I’ve gone over $4, but my daily average is still below.  I can spend $4.40 Thursday and Friday and still end up at $20 for the five days.  I’d like to bring up my average Fruits to 3.0, so I’ll have to eat an additional food (maybe a banana) tomorrow.  That probably means no latte tomorrow.

Plan for days 4-5:

By eating a fourth fruit on Thursday, I’ll probably go over $4 on Thursday as well ($4.10 if all goes according to plan), but that still leaves me with $4.70 to work with on Friday.

My revised goals for the week.

1. Avg $4 or less ($20 total for 5 days), $3.73 so far
2. Avg 2000 calories or more (10,000 for 5 days), 2005 so far
3. Avg 70 g P or more (350 g for 5 days), 75.3 so far,
4. Avg 5 Fruits/Vegetables combined (25 for 5 days), 4.67 so far
5. Avg 2 glasses of Milk (16 oz) (80 oz for 5 days), 2 so far.

Since we’re at the end of the semester, most of my classes have come to an end!  So, with no morning schedule, I headed in early anyway to “get my study on.”  I plopped down in the Pro Bono office and helped myself to an amazing cup of free coffee.

Well, after a bit of studying, I headed down to the lobby where I was scheduled to meet someone to talk about a Moot Court competition.  As I’m sitting on one of the couches, I notice a huge, HUGE, line at the snack counter in the lobby.  I also notice the following: once the student reaches the front of the line, he or she is given a Chick-fil-A sandwich; there is no exchange of money for said sandwich; and each transaction is recorded via a camera snapshot taken by a photographer   So, picture it: lots of smiling, free chicken sandwiches, and a long line of students.  The atmosphere in the lobby could NOT have been more pleasant!

But, there’s a problem: I’m doing the SNAP Challenge (which isn’t the problem), I’m hungry (still not quite the problem), and…….I’m a vegetarian (today, apparently, a problem).  You may not be aware of this, but vegetarians don’t eat Chick-fil-A sandwiches–even when they’re hungry.  Some of you out there may be screaming at me as you read this: “Rachel, just take the sandwich!”  However, I’ve been a vegetarian for 17 years, and people, I’m not changing.  Free sandwich or not, I wasn’t going to partake.  Which leads me to the following reaction as I stare at the Chick-fil-A sandwich eaters from afar: I am mad.  Not slightly mad, I’m bitter.  Seriously, I could not help but glare, mutter under my breath, and hope that the pickles on those sandwiches were bread & butter instead of dill (obviously because b&b pickles are gross and dill pickles are AWESOME).

Obviously NOT in our lobby, but it's the same thing. So, please stop smiling at me... it's like you're purposefully mocking the fact that I won't be able to eat that FREE Chick-fil-A sandwich. Photo courtesy of http://noeyehasseen.com/blog/eat-mor-chikin/

No free sandwich for Rachel.  At this point, it’s 11, and I’m back in the Pro Bono office, and since I am STARVING, I bust open my greek yogurt (this time with dates & figs on the bottom, yum!).  Greek yogurt with dates & figs = $.99…OUCH! A few hours later, a number of us participating in the Challenge met up in Pam’s office to talk with local media, AND to chat with each other about challenges, advice, and thoughts about the experience in general.  As we talked, I slowly (and yes, I mean slowly) ate my PB&J sandwich at  (and yes, it was delicious, again).  I must say, it was really nice to sit and talk with others who were going through the same thing.  We swapped recipes, talked about social principles, and chatted about our dilemmas during the challenge.  It was SO NICE!

After our meeting, I headed to my carrel where I dined on mass quantities of water as I continued to “get my study on.”  Several hours later, I realized that it was time for the last of one of my seminar classes, and instead of holding it in the normal classroom, we were having our final “hoorah” at the Thirsty Fellow, a restaurant close to campus.  At this point in the afternoon, I am COMPLETELY zonked.  Imagine: zero energy.  This is no joke, just ask the two Kristy’s.

So, after driving to the restaurant, I decide to sit in my car in order to give myself a pep talk.  This class could go one of two ways: (a) our Professor could offer to buy us a round and maybe even get us some FOOD; or (b) I could spend the next two hours surrounded by beer, pizza, and laughter…. as I sipped on water.  While I did begin my time with water, our professor (in his amazing generosity) chose option (a), thus making my afternoon…. HECK, IT MADE MY DAY.

Frosty glass + FREE cold beer = happy student

Ladies and gentlemen, I enjoyed the most delicious cold beer of my life, followed by two glorious pieces of pizza.  I actually did contemplate option (a) as a possibility prior to class, and asked several fellow Challengers to ensure that by accepting gifts of food/beer, I would not be straying from the challenge.  Everyone I spoke with agreed that accepting was totally normal, and that kindness & hospitality is what makes this world a better place!  For a student on SNAP, a gracious invitation to lunch might just be the ONLY time they would be able to eat out.  Wow.

After class, I headed back to the law school where I headed to my FINAL NIGHT of Trial Advocacy…I’m slightly tired at this point, but the massive amount of calories I had just enjoyed were greatly assisting me.  However, my total money spent for the day was $1.85, sooooo, I splurged and got a Coke Zero.  WOW!!!  I’d almost forgotten how awesome soda was!  Grand total for the day: $3.10 (ONLY THANKS TO KIND CHARITY).

It has been a great third day for me and I hope everyone has had a great day as well!! I will say again that I have enjoyed reading the other entries from today! I have good news… I have been posting updates on my Facebook about the challenge and the news has spread to the Upstate area. Daniel’s mother and my Mom have taken interest in the challenge and have been spreading the news to their coworkers. I am excited to see the awareness is growing and I hope through this experience we can all gain insight, I know I already have!!

I am very proud to announce….I survived the day without eating pretzels!! I woke up late this morning and had to run out of my apartment in a hurry to get to school on time. I didn’t have time to prepare my lunch, so my pretzel snack didn’t get packed either. For breakfast, I had my normal breakfast bar and water. I didn’t get to eat lunch until 2:45, and my stomach was letting me know! I had some tomato soup with crackers for lunch and then a frozen pizza for dinner. I do not feel as hungry today as I did yesterday and I think my body is starting to adjust to the calorie reduction.

Samantha’s entry really stood out to me today. She stated, “when you are hungry to the point that you lose concentration, you NEED food in order to be productive. So maybe, we need to feed people before we expect them to contribute to productivity.” Coming from a biology teacher’s perspective, I can see that in my classroom I have many students who are half asleep and have no interest in what I am teaching. Some of these students are from households that struggle and face financial burdens. I always wonder if my students are asleep because they think my teaching is boring (I hope not!) or because there are issues going on at home that prevent them from having the energy they need to stay awake. Some of my kids NEED a hearty meal in order to be productive in school. I can’t imagine effectively teaching my kids with an empty stomach. I would constantly be thinking about how hungry I was, or be asleep because I had no food to metabolize to make energy. How can I expect my kids to learn with an empty stomach, when I know I couldn’t teach them on an empty stomach? This brings me to the point that although there are some controversies with free and reduced lunch programs at schools, kids need to have food in order to be productive in school. What happens to the kids that are on free and reduced lunch, but then go home and don’t have dinner because their families can’t afford it, or there is no food left for the week? There has been some mention in some parts of the state about providing dinner for students who meet certain qualifications. It will be interesting to see how the program evolves and what qualifications parents must have in order for their kids to receive dinner at a reduced cost, or possibly free. I am also anxious to see if there will be any change in achievement once the kids who need the food most starting receiving 3 meals at school each day. I know if parents are on the SNAP program then their kids automatically qualify for free or reduced lunch, but I am not sure how the school dinners will be implemented. It is something to think about and keep an eye out for!! This challenge has opened my eyes to the struggles that my kids are facing and also helped me have a little more patience with the students who face this challenge every day!

Until tomorrow….

Today when I sat down in Real Estate Transactions I noticed that the person before me (or people before me) had dropped one potato crisp thing and one reese’s piece (is the singular a piece of reese?).  At first, I had the normal “If you can get into law school, you should be adult enough to clean up after yourself” response.  But then, I thought: “What waste!”  I would have eaten whatever unwanted junk food this person was so carelessly munching on that they didn’t even notice they dropped some of it.  Come on! At this point in the week I’m craving anything with more calories than Diet Water (just wait, it’ll come out soon enough).

So, it had me thinking about how much food gets wasted in this country and an article I read a while back stating that each American wastes about 1,400 calories of food a day. A DAY!  How crazy right? http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/food-insecurity-and-massive-food-waste/    That’s a lot of meals people.  More importantly, some of this wasted food could be put to better use.  Restaurants/bakeries could donate unsold items, people could compost the food they don’t use instead of buying fertilizer, all sorts of stuff.  But most importantly, we can choose to not waste the food by making smarter food choices in the first place.  Anyway, that’s my soapbox for the day, here’s what I ate:

Lunch- grilled cheese and tomato soup

Bread, 33 cents, Cheese 35 Cents, Soup 1.67

2.34 Lunch Total

Dinner -Salad and Pasta w/ Tomato Sauce

1/2 of 1/2 Onion, 24 cents, Sauce- 1.40, Lettuce, 33 cents, Salad Dressing- 5 cents, Pasta, 20 cents

Daily Total- $4.56 but I had some leftover budget from yesterday so I’m still good

Wasted Potato chip thing and reese's pieces... the shame...

I have been so very hungry in Con Law the past 2 days that I decided to eat breakfast this morning.  When I discovered that I did not, in fact, have cereal or milk like I thought, I decided to scramble eggs.   I’ve said this before but it’s worth repeating:  I can’t cook.  At all.  Those were probably the worst eggs I’ve ever had.  They were burned and I had no salt, but I ate them.  3 eggs cost me $0.39.  Despite being gross, the eggs kept me content through my classes.  I came home for lunch and had the macaroni left over from my dinner Monday night.  That cost $0.37.  Then I had to change to go to my internship.  It proved to be quiet a challenge because I am so sore from working out yesterday.  I’m not particularly athletic, so I usually get sore when I work out but this is so much worse than usual.  I obviously made an unwise choice in trying to work out during the challenge.  After changing for work I was so irritated that I decided I wanted some ice cream, and I was going to have some, budget be damned.  I ate a small bowl that I’m estimating cost about $0.75.  I just finished a bowl of beef ramen noodles for dinner, just $0.19!  My grand total for today is $1.70 at this point.  Now I’m headed to a friends house to bake up a storm for the CALS bake sale tomorrow.  (It’s a donations only sale so bring $0.50 and splurge tomorrow if you feel up to it!)  And I have $2.30 left for today to do some sampling tonight.  I’m making Diet Coke brownies, which I have never done before, so hopefully they are delicious.

Overall, I felt like today was a little bit easier than the rest of the week.  I may be a breakfast person from now on.  I hope everyone else is doing well!

For lunch, I went on an expedition through the law school to find a meeting that was serving free food. I found one! The American Constitution Society hosted an extremely interesting talk about individuals who cannot afford to pay child support and are therefore held in civil contempt. They also served pizza! After lunch, a group of challengers came together to discuss our week so far- our struggles, insights, etc. We also discussed our new found appreciation for money in general. Our week long challenge only applies to food. But if we really depended on food stamps, would we be able to afford our cough drops, make up, dish soap, etc.? Would I be able to cook the majority of my meals in my beloved crockpot? Probably Not! Just something more to think about. One fellow challenger considered my lunch expedition to be cheating. However, the rest pointed out that emergency soup kitchens and similar services exist to support those in immediate need. So…the jury is still out on that. But, while eating the pizza, I realized that as the number of mouths to feed increases the nutritional value of the food usually decreases (an discovered insight I share with fellow challenger, Taylor).
But now for why I love my crockpot…
Last night, I peeled and sliced one baking potato. My potato came from a 5lb bag, but one can be bought individually for less than a dollar. I also mixed one can of cream of mushroom soup with a small amount of grated cheddar cheese. These items wait in my refridgerator over night. This morning, I placed the sliced potatoes in the bottom of my crock pot and covered them with my soup mixture. All day it cooked while I was at school and greeted me with a wonderful smell and delicious taste when I arrived at my apartment. Even after the challenge, I will continue to use this recipe!

Obligatory dietary roundup:

Today I ate the same thing as yesterday, at least for breakfast and lunch (and probably dinner):

Breakfast: $1.12, 720 calories
Old fashioned oatmeal (1 cup)
Banana
Plain fat-free yogurt (3/4 cup)
Egg (1, hardboiled)

Lunch: $1.21, 500 calories
Brown rice (1/2 cup)
Mixed beans (1/2 cup)
Romaine lettuce (1/5 head)
Roma tomato

Dinner: $0.75 (est.)
Cabbage soup

Total for the day should be around $3.08, though I may add some chamomile mint tea, cheese, and whatever else at the end to bring it up to $4.

I am finding that the biggest hurdle to succeeding on the challenge is the time required to prepare the food. That said, once the challenge is over, I plan to spend this Sunday afternoon preparing inexpensive, nutritious food for the rest of the week.

Now let’s move on to what I really want to talk about. As previously discussed, I think it is common knowledge that our culture attaches a stigma to accepting government “handouts.” Very briefly, I would like to unpack our attitudes.

As an aside, I put “handouts” in quotations because, based on everything I’ve heard from anyone having contact with government welfare programs, it is very difficult to be professionally poor in the United States, or at least in South Carolina. One must work very hard to chase down and prove eligibility for benefits, periodically recertify eligibility, and navigate a minefield of one-off events that can destroy your eligibility but not your need. But I digress.

It seems that individuals within our culture typically subscribe to one of two dissonant attitudes toward government welfare programs; namely, focus on the needs of the individual, or focus on the desirability of the system as a whole. This is not to say that there is not variation along a spectrum; indeed, many individuals simultaneously subscribe to iterations of both attitudes.

First, support for such programs seems to focus on the need of the individual recipient, whether out of a sense of generosity toward meritorious need, social duty, morality, the social desirability of investment or prevention of crime or other social costs, and/or (less admirably, but I believe realistically) squeamishness at immediately consigning those without the means to meet their own needs to an ugly fate.

Contrarily, opposition to welfare programs tends to focus on structural systemic factors, such as perverse incentives not to work, the probability of abuse, ideological opposition to government involvement in welfare at all, and inordinate social cost.

The result is a pushme-pullyou tension that does something but doesn’t seem to do it that well.

Absent from the dialogue (such as there is one) is a theory of when and how aid should be given to those in need. I submit that our attitude should be one of collaboration: where industrious persons are making responsible choices and doing what is within their power to advance beyond a state of need, or at least to survive, society should recognize that it is in the best interests of the general public to collaborate with the needy individual in improving his or her situation. Arguments can also be made for paying up-front social costs to prevent greater costs later even in the case of lazy persons making irresponsible choices; but that is a topic for another day.

Comments welcome; critique especially welcome; responses probable. DSJ

Thanks to Ellen Richardson in the USC School of Law Library for posting information about the SNAP Challenge on the  law library blog: http://blawg.law.sc.edu/?p=2120  She also posted valuable research information for further inquiry about SNAP and food related legal issues.  Thanks Ellen.