Taking the SNAP Challenge:

Understanding Food Insecurity (25 Pts)

SHERI SOTTO
Part I: Taking the SNAP Challenge
The Food Research and Action Center initiated the SNAP Challenge to give participants a view of
what life can be like for millions of low-income Americans. Members of Congress, governors,
state officials, journalists and other community leaders have taken the Challenge and have learned
firsthand what it is like to try to make ends meet on the average SNAP benefit. The purpose of
this assignment is to provide you with a deeper understanding of food insecurity issues that many
individuals/families experience in the United States (Course Learning Outcomes #1 and #3).

For your assignment, you will take a modified SNAP Challenge for two days. During the
SNAP Challenge, the following guidelines are required:

All food and beverages purchased (grocery store, fast-food, restaurant, vending, etc.)
during the 2-day SNAP Challenge should total $1 less than your normal food expenditures
per person in your household per day.

Do not eat any other foods purchased prior to the challenge (this does not include spices
and condiments).

Avoid accepting free food from friends, family, or at work, including at receptions,
briefings, or other events where food is served.

Strive for a nutritionally balanced diet.

For ideas on cooking healthy, budget-friendly meals, try the What's Cooking USDA Mixing
Bowl: http://www.whatscooking.fns.usda.gov/ Each recipe estimates the preparation time and
provides the cost to make it. They also have free downloadable cookbooks and you can build your
own cookbook by adding recipes from the site to it.

(Note: If you cannot or should not attempt this assignment for health reasons or other limiting,
financial circumstances, please talk to Dr. Richards for a slight alteration to this assignment.)

I.A. Purchasing

1. What strategies did you use to maximize your allotted money?

I used the online shopping option at Smiths so that I could more easily compare prices and
keep track of what I was buying. It also made it easy to modify my cart as I found items that
were cheaper, or fit the plan better. There was no service charge for the pick-up, so it actually
worked out really well (I might start shopping that way normally!). I also planned for the
meals to last for two days with the left overs so that instead of trying to buy ingredients for 4
meals, I only had to buy for two which meant that I could buy larger portions, or use more of
the portions I had to buy.

Target
Average
Status
Sheris Food GroupsFood
and Calories
Report
Groups
Eaten
11/20/16 - 11/21/16
Grains
7 ounce(s)
7 ounce(s)
OK
Your plan is based on a 2200 Calorie allowance while breastfeeding.
Whole Grains
3 ounce(s)
6 ounce(s)

OK

Refined Grains

3 ounce(s)

1 ounce(s)

OK

3 cup(s)

3 cup(s)

OK

Dark Green

2 cup(s)/week

2 cup(s)

Over

Red & Orange

6 cup(s)/week

2 cup(s)

Under

Beans & Peas

2 cup(s)/week

0 cup(s)

Under

Starchy

6 cup(s)/week

0 cup(s)

Under

Other

5 cup(s)/week

cup(s)

Under

2 cup(s)

2 cup(s)

Over

Whole Fruit

No Specific Target

2 cup(s)

No Specific
Target

Fruit Juice

No Specific Target

0 cup(s)

No Specific
Target

3 cup(s)

3 cup(s)

OK

Milk & Yogurt

No Specific Target

3 cup(s)

No Specific
Target

Cheese

No Specific Target

0 cup(s)

No Specific
Target

6 ounce(s)

2 ounce(s)

Under

Seafood

9 ounce(s)/week

0 ounce(s)

Under

Meat, Poultry & Eggs

No Specific Target

2 ounce(s)

No Specific
Target

Nuts, Seeds & Soy

No Specific Target

0 ounce(s)

No Specific
Target

Oils

6 teaspoon

3 teaspoon

Under

Limits

Limit

Average Eaten

Status

Total Calories

2200 Calories

1905 Calories

OK

Added Sugars

< 220 Calories

90 Calories

OK

Saturated Fat

< 220 Calories

167 Calories

OK

Vegetables

Fruits

Dairy

Protein Foods

I.B.
The

Experience
1. For the two days of the SNAP Challenge, enter what you ate and drank into USDAs
Super Tracker. Attach the Food Groups & Calories Report that includes information
about how many equivalents you consumed in each food group, compared to your
recommended levels. You can download this report to Microsoft Word and insert at the
end of your assignment.
2. Based on your Food Groups & Calories Report:
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a. How well did you meet your nutrition needs?

I actually came pretty close to meeting all of the food groups, except for protein. I only got about
a third of the protein that I should have gotten, but I met or went over the recommendations for
grains, vegetables, fruits, and dairy and stayed under the oil target. My calorie level was about
300 calories too low though, which doesnt surprise me, because I did feel really hungry during
the challenge.
b. If you were to do the Challenge again, would you do anything different related to the
foods you purchased or strategies used to meet nutrient needs? Why or why not?
Meat is really expensive to buy, and the canned chicken looked pretty gross before I cooked it in
with the rice actually, so I think I would either replace the chicken with beans to get more protein
per buck. I think I would also replace the spinach with something that gives me more calories
even though it met my vegetable requirement, eating a lot of spinach really doesnt give me that
much energy, and that is what you notice throughout the day. Even though one bag is pretty cheap
and fed my husband and I for four meals, at the end of the day it just wasnt very filling and I was
hungry!

c. Did you have any difficulty in complying with the conditions of the assignment? Why
or why not?
I complied with the conditions of the challenge, but it was definitely challenging! Just knowing
that there was only a certain amount of food I could eat, and only a few very specific items at that,
was really hard mentally. It almost made me wonder if it made me hungrier than I would have
been normally just because I knew I was limited. It was also difficult because we still had a lot of
other delicious food at home so it took a lot of self-control to ignore what we already had and just
eat what we bought for the challenge. The hardest part though was definitely just feeling hungry
all the time and trying to think of something besides when the next meal would be.

Part II. Volunteer at the Community Action Services & Food Bank
You may volunteer on your own or with a group of people. For more details, see
http://communityactionprovo.org/volunteer/ You are only required to volunteer one time for this
assignment.

Part III. Reflections from SNAP Challenge and Rotation

After volunteering, answer the following questions based on your experiences participating in the
SNAP Challenge and Food Bank experience:
III.A. What did you learn about food insecurity from this experience?
I learned that it is a lot harder to eat healthily on a tight food budget than I thought. When you are
hungry you really dont care as much about the nutrients of the foods you eat, you just want more
calories to give you energy and satisfy your hunger. So while I may pay the same thing for an
entire bag of spinach (the healthier choice) and a hot pocket if I were to do the project again I
would probably buy the hot pocket because the calories per cent is so much higher and I was so
hungry! From my experience volunteering at the food bank, I was really impressed by how much
food there is available to those who are in need of their services. I thought it was really interesting
that they accept canned food that has been expired for less than 5 years though. I wonder how I
would feel as a recipient of those services to realize that a lot of the food I am getting may already
be technically expired, but probably still safe. I wonder if recipients ever have problems with their
food being bad, and if so if there is anything they can do to replace it. There are people in every
city and in every town who are food insecure. They may not always be easily recognizable, but
that doesnt mean that they arent struggling just as much.

III.B. How did this experience help prepare you for your future profession?
I think the greatest take away from this project for me was to develop some empathy for people
who dont have enough to eat day to day. It is really hard to think about anything else but food
when you go hungry. You dont have as much energy, it is hard to be excited about doing anything
active, or be in a good mood, because you feel like you need to reserve all your energy until
whenever the next meal comes. When I counsel people with very low food security in the future I
will be able to better comprehend their situation and some of the feelings that are associated with
hunger. I also have a better understanding of how the food bank operates and some of the
resources that are offered there. This will enable me to make better referrals and recommendations
to the food bank as I meet with clients who may need their services.

Submit your completed essay to BYU Learning Suite as:

Lastname_Firstname_netID_SNAP
Failure to submit your document in this format will result
in a 1 point penalty on your final score.
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