Tuesday, September 15, 2015

SNAP Challenge Day 2 Review

What can you and can't you buy with SNAP benefits?

Households CAN use SNAP benefits to buy:

Foods for the household to eat, such as:  
breads and cereals;  
fruits and vegetables;  
meats, fish and poultry; and   
dairy products.
Seeds and plants which produce food for the household to eat.

Households CANNOT use SNAP benefits to buy:

Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco
Any nonfood items, such as: pet foods, soaps, paper products or household supplies
Vitamins and medicines
Food that will be eaten in the store
Hot foods



I have to say that today was a pretty typical day of meals for our household.

Breakfast- Oatmeal with sliced banana, coffee (half & half and splenda), and a glass of skim milk

Snack- Iced coffee (coffee, skim milk and splenda over ice)

Lunch- A chicken sandwich (deli chicken, tomatoes, lettuce* and peppers) on homemade bread and a banana




Snack- 1/2 an apple with peanut butter

Dinner- Pasta, tomato sauce, ground turkey, skim milk, garlic bread** and a salad*




* Still trying to use up the romaine lettuce!  Today's portion was $.15
**Used powdered garlic from my spice rack on homemade bread with oil

Grains- 5 servings
Fruits/Vegetables- 7 servings
Protein- 3 servings
Dairy- 2.5 servings



What did I learn today?

- Bananas brown really quickly!  Normally I buy a variety of fruit for the week.  Since this week our budget was slim, bananas were chosen as a daily staple.  I had planned on one banana per person per day but they are browning quickly, hence my two banana day, see above.  I am thinking that banana smoothies may in be order later in the week if we end up needing to freeze some.

- Planning is great until something goes unaccording to plan.  I have been baking my own bread for years now.  I make a large batch of dough once a week, store it in the fridge and bake a loaf every few days.  Today I was trying to do too many things at once and burnt the bread.  We are fortunate to have a pantry fully of ingredients as a back up but if we were truly going by budget a burnt loaf may have meant going without for a few days.

- When using mostly fresh ingredients you really have to plan ahead.  Oatmeal for breakfast?  Add 5 extra minutes over cold cereal for cooking.  Cut up veggies with lunch?  Add an extra 5 minutes to clean and chop.

FRUGAL TIP OF THE DAY:

Don't waste anything!

When I cut up vegetables I save ALL of the scraps (onion skins, carrot tops, broccoli ends, etc.) in a ziptop bag in my freezer.  When I collect enough I throw it in my crock pot with some water and a little salt for instant veggie broth.

I do the same thing with bread scraps and ends.  Into a freezer bag they go and when a recipe calls for bread crumbs out they come and into the food processor they go!

3 comments:

  1. You do a good job with the homemade bread!

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  2. I never would have thought that bread making could be so easy! My new favorite is dutch oven bread, it makes such a lovely loaf, crusty on the outside and warm and soft on the inside, it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Recipe to come soon!

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