Thoughts on Day 1 from Cathy

Monday morning -  I’m starting the SNAP challenge today.  I’m heading out on my first shopping trip.  Since I’m usually a convenience shopper, I plan to do some research before I buy. (I remember when we were first married and I comparison shopped in three stores with my list in hand before I bought anything.  I was followed in one store and accused of being a spy for a competitorJ.  I’ll be careful today!)

Overall, I think it will be easier (by no means easy) for me than for many.  I am not a big eater and have few foods or meals that I “love”. 

I’ve thought a lot about my eating habits.  I know I will have to compromise in a lot of ways.  I’m a vegetarian, so I am already used to getting my protein from sources other than meat, poultry, fish, or seafood.  So I don’t think protein will be challenge for me.

One big challenge will be produce.  I eat organic produce as much as possible.  I’m sure this will not be possible.  I will probably end up peeling all my produce instead of just washing it.  Not a great sacrifice, but still a change in my normal habits.

Another big challenge I anticipate is coffee.  While I’m not passionate about too many foods, coffee is one of them.  I made a pledge to myself years ago, that I will not drink coffee that is not fairly traded.  (Hooray that Hopewell is now serving “Cave Bird Coffee!!)  I’m not sure I can go a week without coffee because I’ll get headaches, so I’m hopeful I’ll figure something out.

Well, off I go.  I’ll let you know what happens.

Monday afternoon –  I just got back from my shopping excursion.  I found that Schwan’s was by far the cheapest for many of the things on my list.  Wegmans and Giant were about the same for the other things.  I ended up getting a few things in each store,

I was able to get fairly traded coffee at Wegmans.  Two of their specialty coffees that you can buy by the pound are fairly traded.  So I was able to fit 2 ounces into my budget.  I believe that Giant carried Equal Exchange coffee by the bag, which would be my choice if I found myself on a limited budget long term.

I got organic apples, but nothing else I got was organic.

The only thing I had planned to get but didn’t was hummus.  Fortunately, I remembered while I was shopping that I had committed to bring fruit to a women’s group meeting on Wednesday.  So I skipped the hummus and will try to get some grapes on Wednesday morning.