I don’t have any food pictures to share today, Day 5 of my SNAP Challenge.  For seven days, I’m subsisting on food which I have purchased with a budget of $31.50.  So far, I’m about 5 dollars under budget.  My previous 4 days are documented at this link.

I was out of the house for most of the day today, an experience undoubtedly shared by most SNAP recipients.  Yesterday, I made six sandwiches and a batch of cookies.  Today, I ate all of the sandwiches and about half the cookies.  I was walking around outside most of the day at a Cub Scout event.  It included lunch (hot dogs) which I needed to forego.  Instead, I ate four of my sandwiches, and made myself a glass of Kool-Aid.  I didn’t want to carry liquid around with me all day, and I didn’t splurge on pre-sweetened Kool-Aid.  Instead, last night, I mixed a cup of sugar with one of the 20 cent packages, and made my own pre-sweetened drink mix.  The peanut butter cookies made a good snack, as I ate a few in lieu of the normal things I would have eaten, such as trail mix or granola bars.

Lunch did give me an opportunity to talk to some of the Cub Scouts about what I was doing.  One of them asked me if I had enough money to buy food.  I told him that I did, but I wanted to know what it was like for the millions who can’t truthfully answer yes to that question.

For a quick supper at home, I finished the two remaining sandwiches (one ham and cheese and one peanut butter).  I also had two quesadillas, consisting of a flour tortilla and a “cheese” slice (whose package, like that of the shredded “cheese”, nowhere contains the word “cheese”).

Tonight, we went to a party, where I nursed a glass of water, which prompted some conversation.  When one person asked why I was doing this, I didn’t have a particularly good answer, other than to say that it gives me the right to criticize others who have done it.

I should be in good shape for the remaining two days of the challenge.  I still have two calzones in the freezer, and enough to make myself two cheeseburgers (a third of a pound of ground beef, a few more slices of “cheese”, and two hamburger buns).  Of course, I don’t have any ketchup or mustard.  I also have half a loaf of bread, almost a full stick of margarine, a cup or so of milk, a couple of eggs, a few hot dogs, a few slices of cheese, and a pound or two each of flour and sugar.  I don’t think I’ll need to make any more purchases, and I think I might even be able to bake myself a cake Monday.