I treated myself to vegetables for the first time this week. And made my signature sandwich AGAIN. According to the Walmart app, the zuchini and squash is around $0.50 and my signature sandwich is the usual $0.82. Lunch totaled $1.32, leaving me with $2.89 for dinner.
This lack of freedom is getting old. It’s boring and frustrating. After 5 days I get what it feels like to be hungry and cranky and frustrated. Are the last two days really necessary?
The hungrier and more frustrated I get, the more I criticize this challenge, which I realize is ironic because these feelings are the exact point of the challenge. This challenge also made me realize how people in these situations have a change of mindset. I find myself thinking strategically all the time, and thinking of ways to get around the system. People need to understand that the people in poverty who become criminals do it out of desperation to get by, not with bad intentions. The system doesn’t work for them, and if anything it works against them, so why should they continue to follow it? My change in mindset not only comes strategically, but also critically. One of my main criticisms of the SNAP challenge is this: now I get what it feels like to feel hungry and have to budget and have a lack of freedom, but I still have 100% feelings of security. People on food stamps don’t have the security of knowing where their next meal is coming from, or even if they will have the next meal. My days go by anticipating one meal to the next, knowing exactly where my food will come from and knowing that I will be fed. I also have the security of knowing that if I get dangerously hungry or if I have the desire to cheat (I’ve had the desire but I haven’t acted on it), I can eat whatever I want and as much as I want and unless something goes terribly wrong in my life, I will never even come close to feeling the insecurity that people in poverty feel every day of their lives. I think this feeling of insecurity is one of the most significant issues of people in poverty and people on food stamps and the SNAP challenge will never be able to replicate that, or even come close.
SNAP Challenge 