Day 3. Results.

We are more than half way through our challenge.  With new reports that some in Congress want to DOUBLE cuts to food stamps, our challenge is more important than ever.  ( Read about those cuts here.  http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/09/10/house-could-pass-40-billion-food-stamp-cut-this-week/.)  

We hope you are all staying safe and dry out there.  

Lauren Mingus

Do you feel like you are getting all the nutrition you need? I think I’ve found a good balance with beans, eggs, and peanut butter for protein. My dairy has be limited to 1 to 1 ½ servings per day from cheddar cheese. While I’m eating vegetables and an apple every day, I don’t think I’m making it to 5 servings (definitely not 7). Grains have been limited to 1 or 2 servings per day (limited to brown rice).

Has your focus been affected at work? Yes, especially the first few days. I think my body is getting used to the changes in my food intake. I continue to be obsessed with the thought of food, however, which I am sure is impacting my focus.

What has been the hardest part of the challenge so far? The lack of variety. I’m missing fresh berries, Greek yogurt, oatmeal and chicken to name a few. Case in point, three of my next five meals will be rice and beans. 

John Kefalas and Beth Helmers

Breakfast: 1 1/2 c millet with banana

               1/2 c milk (Beth)

               1/4 c strawberries (John)

               coffee w/ milk (John)

Lunch: 1 1/2 c Indian curried lentil soup

               2 hardboiled eggs (John)

               1/2 c yogurt (Beth)

Dinner: 3/4 c refried pintos

               1 c brown rice

               1/4 pico de gallo

               1.5 oz. cheddar cheese (John)

               4 oz. orange juice (John)

Snacks: None

John doesn’t feel this challenge has affected his focus, and he thinks he's getting all the nutrition he needs. Me? (Beth) -- I think I'm lacking Vitamin C -- I'm craving clementines, and I may have to settle for John's orange juice, though I really don't like it. I've been tired - but that's not unusual for me. And I am fighting the onset of a cold or sinus infection.  The hardest thing for John is his work-related functions that happen over mealtimes, with often back-to-back meetings before/after. He went for 10 hours yesterday without eating, and had dinner with me at 10:30 p.m. My hardest thing is still the free food available at work (extras, leftovers)… I'm pretty sure I'm losing weight, but I need to.

Adam Wiemold

Breakfast: Egg, Potato, Cheese, and Chicken breakfast burrito. I like these, they are easy. SO MUCH BETTER than oatmeal.

Lunch: Same thing as yesterday. Just chicken chicken wraps with cilantro, chicken, cheese, and onion. My lunches are always repetitive. Im used to this concept. The cilantro saves my taste buds. It adds a lot of flavor to each dish.

Dinner: BBQ Chicken Pizza. I used my pizza crust last night. It was so great to have pizza. I was going to eat a salad with it to be healthy but once I realized how much pizza I had I quickly skipped the salad and just ate the pizza. I have three more pizza crusts left. For fun I thawed one of the extra balls of dough. Im going to see if I can bake it into two hamburger buns for BBQ chicken sandwiches tomorrow. 

Adam's Homemade Pizza.

Lauren Dewey

Breakfast: 1/4 cup of steel cuts oats, frozen blueberries, and NO coffee.  

Lunch: 1/2 cup of chicken, 1/4 cup of cheese, 1 teaspoon of sour cream, cilantro, carrots

Dinner: Baked potato, 1/4 cup of chicken, 1/4 cup of cheese, 1 TBSP of sour cream

Snack: 2 cups of popcorn, 1/2 cup of green beans, 3 clementines 

Do you feel like you are getting all the nutrition you need? I think I am coming in a little short.  I have lost a pound and a half since Sunday night.  I think that indicates that I am not getting enough calories.  I have exercised every day of this challenge except Day 3 but I still think I could be eating more.  

Has your focus been affected at work? Yes, I think it has been affected slightly.  As you will notice this blog is going up later and later each day and every participant is writing less and less.  i 

What has been the hardest part of the challenge so far? The lack of variety. I am getting pretty sick off chicken, although I know it is a luxury that others on the challenge wish they had.  

Olivia Brown Fisher

Do you feel like you are getting all the nutrition you need? Yes, I feel like I'm focusing a lot more on my nutrition during this challenge because I have to budget my food dollars so carefully. Normally I would just eat without much thought about whether I was getting all my nutrition needs met. However, I'm getting a little sick of peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast every day! My total cost for day 3 was actually $4.84, or 34 cents over my daily budget. Since I was 25 cents under budget on day 1 and 14 cents under budget on day 2, I feel like I can justify my "splurge" on day 3.

Has your focus been affected at work? I had a hard time focusing at work on Tuesday, but by Wednesday I think I was doing a little better. I don't know if my total calorie intake has been lower because of this challenge (I've never been a calorie counter) but I feel like my body is getting accustomed to this strict "diet" by day 3.

What has been the hardest part of the challenge so far? It has been hard to resist eating food that is not on my daily menu/budget. I've been offered fresh homemade food several times this week and each time I have had to turn it down. In a way that feels like an artificial restriction because if I were truly living on a limited food budget I would accept free food without a doubt. I understand the thinking behind that rule, for the purpose of this challenge, but in reality the people who are food insecure find many creative ways to compensate, including sharing food. 

Breakfast		Peanut Butter Sandwich		2 slices ww bread
		1 TBSP peanut butter		$0.25
	coffee		6 oz
	half & half		1 TBSP
Lunch - leftovers		1 slice veg quiche		ww pie crust
		1 egg		$0.28
		1 oz half & half		$0.09
		1 oz parm cheese		$0.46
		squash, tomatoes		*
		spices		*
	Fresh Mozzarella		2 oz
	Olive Oil		1 TBSP
	Tomatoes		2 medium tomatoes
	Basil		Several leaves
Dinner		Fried Rice		1.5 cups
	Tofu		5 oz
	Egg		1
	Pepper, squash, green beans
Snack		apple		1 apple
	peanuts		1 oz
Total

Day 3.

We are over the hump! As I am waiting for our participants to send me their information from yesterday, I wanted to remind everyone why we are doing this.  What is five days of sacrifice for us, is everyday life for too many people in our community.  The number of SNAP applications in Larimer County increased  92.8% between 2006 and 2012.  Please read the the article below to learn about upcoming cuts to the SNAP Program and the effects they will have on your Food Bank (We are a proud member of Feeding America.) Keep in mind when you are reading that the average Larimer County household receives $287 a month.  The average Colorado household receives $305 a month.   

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2013/09/cuts-snap-benefits-loom-food-pantries-can-only-guess-how-prepare/6796/

Day 2 Results.

Our second full day is complete. We did have our first challenge casualty, but overall, we are still standing.  I can't speak for everyone doing the challenge, but us Food Bankers are becoming a little obsessed with food.  We spent a significant more time  talking about food than we normally do.  And we work at a food bank.  Read below to see how everyone is doing.  

Amy Pezzani

Breakfast:  One hardboiled egg
Snack:  Popcorn, about 1 c. popped
Lunch:  Veggie wrap (same as day one) tortilla chips and carrots
Snack:  Yogurt and peach and a few peanuts
Dinner:  Pasta – we chose to buy the more expensive Barilla that has more protein and fiber than regular pasta.  We also bought a jar of Marinara sauce because we didn’t have enough to spend on spices for a homemade sauce.  I embellished the sauce with frozen spinach and chopped broccoli to give it more nutrients.  We had a salad with romaine and shredded carrots. 
Snack:  1 banana  

Do you have less energy today?  No, I feel just fine today because I feel like I had plenty of nutrients and calories yesterday.

Were you hungry at the end of the day?  No, I wasn’t hungry.

What did you miss most today?  Choice.  This morning I had a meeting in Denver.  Usually I am not hungry when I first wake up, it takes a couple hours.  So, I needed to take something with me.  I decided on one hardboiled egg.  I should have brought two because I was definitely hungry!  However, I was in the ration mentality which is why I chose one.  I had bread but nothing to put on it (peanut butter or jam) so that didn’t seem like a good option.  I also missed getting to choose what I wanted to eat for a snack.  My options were the same as yesterday (peanuts, popcorn, yogurt, fruit).  These are not bad options, they just seemed prohibitive since I didn’t have a choice.

Lauren Dewey

Breakfast:  1/4 cup of steel cut oats, frozen blueberries, and instant coffee.  
Lunch:  1/3 cup of egg salad on a bed of baby spinach, carrots, and a clementine.  
Dinner:  BBQ chicken, tortilla, 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, cilantro (homegrown) and sour cream.  
Snack: 2 clementines, 2 cups of popcorn, 1/2 of canned green beans.  

Do you have less energy today?  I had a 7 pm meeting and I was feeling a little drained when I was done.  

Were you hungry at the end of the day?  No, I wasn’t hungry.

What did you miss most today?  I missed drinking more than gross flavored coffee and water.  I am a big iced tea and club soda drinker.  Water just seems boring.  

Darrin Atteberry

Breakfast:  Special K Protein bar

Lunch:  Peanut Butter and bread sandwich, tomato and cucumber from his garden

Dinner:  Hamburger patty w/ tomato only (no bun or condiments)

Lauren Mingus

Do you have less energy today? I’m doing okay. Running last night before dinner was tough. My run this morning felt normal.  I’m nervous about making it through kick boxing class after work tonight.

Were you hungry at the end of the day? I was very hungry before dinner and still hungry after dinner, but felt better after a carrot and some cucumber slices. I also cheated while making my kids’ lunches and ate a strawberry. (They are not participating in the SNAP Challenge, BTW, so I didn’t actually steal food from my kids.)

What did you miss most today? I miss my usual breakfast – oatmeal, organic Greek yogurt and fresh berries.

John Kefalas and Beth Helmers

Breakfast: 1 egg scrambled with 2c fresh kale, onion & tomato, and coffee (John)

Lunch: 1 1/2 c lentil stew with 2 T yogurt (John) (Beth skipped lunch)

Dinner: 3 c vegetable  soup with 1/2 c garbanzos

Snacks:  1/2 c yogurt with 1/2 c frozen strawberries & 1/2 c banana, Popcorn, 1/2 c unpopped, w/ 2 T nutritional yeast (John), 4 oz. orange juice (John), 4 oz. chocolate milk (Beth)

I (Beth) did have less energy and I was hungry during the day, skipping lunch. But I was full after dinner, too full to have popcorn with John. 

What I missed was taking advantage of the free food that showed up at work today -- delicious looking deli sandwiches, extras from an outside group meeting in our building. This was at lunchtime, and they were very tempting. I finally took them to the kitchen, wrapped them in cellophane, and stuck 'em in the fridge. I left a note for co-workers where they could find them. Somehow I didn't want my leftover lentils after that.  John had a stressful day and missed having an adult beverage. Instead he went running -- eight miles. 

Adam Wiemold

Breakfast: Shredded chicken, shredded cheese, egg, potato and tortilla. This was great. Normally I do make my own breakfast burritos and freeze them so when I do want breakfast I can just grab one and go. Before I went out the door I used my chicken broth I had reserved and put the lentils, a Serrano, and a  clove of garlic into my crock pot.

Lunch: Today was the day of tortillas. I decided to make lunch less effort I would just bring cheese, a little cilantro, tortillas, shredded chicken, and onions into work. So lunch consisted of two tortillas with those ingredients mixed in. I have decided what I am going to do with the little bit of tomato puree I have left over, salsa. The puree, half a Serrano, two cloves of garlic, and a good chunk of cilantro. Throw this all into the blender quick and chop it all fine. It will make lunch so much better.

Dinner: Lentils, lemon pepper chicken thigh, and fried potatoes. This was also pretty good.

When I came home my place smelled like chicken thighs cooking. I couldn’t figure it out for a minute, but I think it was the broth from the chicken thighs. The lentils were maybe a little over done, but delicious. I love the amount of time I have needed to cook. It’s is taking 5-10 minutes to assemble each meal and I’m ready to go. I had to prep some on Sunday but this is great.  

I made the brownies. I was so excited for them to cool. They were not great, but they satisfied the lack of sweet food in my diet. I also made a batch of pizza dough. This was almost my undoing. I used all the flour I had left to make the dough and accidentally added a little too much water. I picked up the bag of flour with a sad face, looked inside, there was a layer stuck to the bottom of the bag. I got every little bit out and pulled off a pizza dough for 4 different pizzas. My flour is gone now. I also made the salsa. I probably cooked for another 30 minutes tonight. 

I feel like I had more energy today than I did on Monday. Monday night I was in bed by 10 and needed that late night snack. Last night I felt pretty good. Maybe it was the addition of sugar into my diet again though.

No, I really wasn’t. hungry at the end of the day. I am tired of the food that I have and trying to come up with new food ideas. I don’t eat leftovers the next day. I usually make a big dish and freeze it then eat leftovers in a week or two. This is basically all leftovers all week.

What I missed the most today was sweets. Lucky for me I misunderstood the rules a bit. I had heard the rules discussed several times building up to this, and I didn’t check the finalized rules.  I had spent all my money post tax, giving me an extra $.52.  I also bought all new spices because I didn’t think we were allowed to use ones we had in our home. Taking chili powder off my list of things I bought gave me another $.58 cents. BROWNIES!!! That’s right, as soon as I learned that I had a little extra cash I went to the store and picked up a small package of brownie mix. One egg, one-third cup oil, two tablespoons of water, and one dollar. I cut them into 16 small brownie pieces, one for lunch, one for dinner. It’s going to be great. 

Olivia Brown Fisher

Do you have less energy today? I didn't feel like I had less energy, but I found myself having a hard time concentrating at work. It made me think about the many students who struggle in school due to hunger's effects.

Were you hungry at the end of the day? I was so hungry! I had a second snack of Caprese salad at 5pm, then went to my regular Tuesday Capoeira class from 6:30-9pm. It was quite a work out! By the time I got home and made dinner it was close to 10pm. I had some lean protein, but I'm cutting back on my portion size to be able to afford organically raised chicken, and 2 ounces of chicken is very little!

What did you miss most today? I had a friend give me homemade kale pesto, but I explained I couldn't eat it due to the rules of the 5 Day SNAP Challenge (no accepting free food from friends, family, coworkers). My husband Chad decided to drop out of the challenge after he admitted that he was so hungry he ate a burger at a fast food restaurant. I have to admit I was also tempted to have some nachos after my Tuesday evening workout!

Megan Ehrlich

Do you have less energy? Yes!! I was very tired all day- to the point where it was affecting my work. I drank multiple cups of the instant coffee that I bought but that did not help. I calculated how many calories I was getting and it seemed like enough- around 1800 calories per day. I think the problem for me is that I am used to having small meals all day, so having large meals and then not eating for an extended period of time wears me out.

Were you hungry today? I was not hungry at the end of the day today, but I will note that I found myself obsessing about food all day even though I was not hungry. I think the question of whether your food will last or not has an effect on how you perceive food. It made me a little crazy if I am being honest.

What did you miss most today? I miss the small things like my good coffee and a piece of dark chocolate. I have enough food to eat but I feel restricted because I cannot go out and get a latte if I want or treat myself. I do think that would be very hard to deal with on a day-to-day basis. I think if I had to do this for an extended period of time I may end up sacrificing some of my healthy foods for the option to be able to buy discretionary foods. 

Day 2.

Results from Day 2 will be up shortly.  I'm spending the morning at PSD Global Academy and will give you updates on everyone when I am done.  I can tell you that my coffee is at the Food Bank and I am not.  This has been the hardest part of the challenge.  

Day 1. Results.

Our first day is complete!  I kind of feel like I am writing the blog version of a reality show results show.  No one will be getting a rose or voted off the island today.  I apologize for the lack of drama.  Our participants had some great feedback about their first day.  Some were hungry, some were cranky, but it was all a learning experience. Most importantly, this little blog has had almost 300 views. I assume only about 1/3 of them were my mom, which means people are paying attention.  The ultimate goal of this challenge is to raise awareness for hunger in our community and I think we are succeeding.     

Below you will find what we at and some thoughts on our first day.  

Lauren Dewey

Breakfast-  ¼ cup of steel cut oats with frozen blueberries and instant coffee

Lunch- 2 ounces of turkey on wheat bread with tomato (from my garden), and shredded cheddar cheese

Dinner- Egg salad on one slice of wheat bread with a cup of baby spinach

Snack- 3 cups of popcorn, 2 clementines, and ½ a pound of carrots

Did you do all of your shopping for the 5 days? Yes.  I spent $43. 98 at King Soopers on Sunday.

What is your strategy (did you meal plan, use coupons, consult other SNAP challenge websites?)I planned a menu based on what was on sale at the store.  We are going out of town this weekend so I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to get done and didn’t want to spend all day running around to different store.  Meal planning and shopping took about 2 hours.

Were you hungry at the end of the day? I was not hungry but I definitely had less energy than I usually do.  I took a nap after I got home from work which I never do. I went to the gym around 7:30 (very late for me) and I struggled through my workout.  

Do you think you will succeed? I think I will succeed but I will be very tired and worn out by Friday.  

Lauren's breakfast and lunch packed to take to work.  

Amy Pezzani

Breakfast-  Coffee with cream, 1 banana, oatmeal (with a touch of brown sugar which I considered a condiment and was not part of my budget).

Lunch-  Veggie tortilla wrap.  The wrap had reduced fat swiss, tomato, spinach, cucumber and pepper.  Tortilla chips (baked not fried).

Snack #1-  Peanuts and popcorn (purchased in bulk and popped this morning)

Snack #2-  Low fat vanilla yogurt and a fresh peach

Dinner:  Steamed broccoli and homemade turkey sloppy joe which included shredded carrots and spinach in the sauce on a “wheatish” bun. 

Did you do all of your shopping for the 5 days? Yes.  Sunday we spent time planning out our meals to fit within our budget.  I feel like shopping all at once is a better use of finances.  In the end I was left with about $1 out of my $67.50 budget for 3 days.

What is your strategy (did you meal plan, use coupons, consult other SNAP challenge websites?) We have kept receipts for the last couple of weeks so we know how much things cost.  This allowed us to plan out meals for the week and have a very good concept of the cost.  We added it all up and had about $20 left that we decided we would use in the produce department once we saw what was on sale.  We also bought some items in bulk, like oats, rice and popcorn, so we would only need to purchase the amount we absolutely needed for a meal.  We did also use coupons and it was great to see the total decline at the end as the coupons were scanned!

Were you hungry at the end of the day?  As day one ends I do not feel hunger.  I had a dinner with plenty of low fat protein which really filled me up and feel like I had a pretty healthful diet today with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Do you think you will succeed? I will absolutely succeed because I know I have at least the same amount of food for the other days this week as I had this week.

Takeaways Day 1:  Trying to live off the benefit for 5 days is harder than trying to do it for a month.  Also, I had to budget for my daughter to eat breakfast and lunch with the SNAP benefit.  In reality, she would have had free breakfast and lunch at her school if we lived at an income low enough to qualify for SNAP which in turn, would have helped us get more at the store. 

 I have realized midday that I am not hungry but the fear of scarcity is making me think about food way more than usual.  Knowing that I only have $1 left for food until Friday has put me in a much different frame of mind.  The only meal I don’t have planned is Friday dinner but my plan is to put together a meal of random leftovers from the week.  Even if this goes awry I will have plenty of rice and pasta to eat.

John Kefalas ad Beth Helmers 

Breakfast- Oatmeal (1 1/3 c, cooked), 1 medium banana, coffee (John), 2% milk, 1/4 c  (Beth)

Lunch- Curried lentil stew (2 c John; 1 c Beth), Yogurt (homemade, from the 2% milk),  1/4 c

Dinner- Cucumber & Tomato salad (2 c)  with onion, olive oil & lemon juice (John), Rice (1 c cooked), Cheddar cheese (1.5 oz)

Snack: 4 oz. chocolate milk (Beth), 4 oz. orange juice (John), 1 c (unpopped)popcorn with 1/4 c nutritional yeast (John)

We've done all our shopping: $44.17…Shopping list: oatmeal, millet, eggs, onions, garlic, fresh ginger, bananas, a lemon, frozen strawberries, canned tomato, 2% milk, orange juice, yogurt starter, rice, garbanzo beans, pinto beans, lentils, cheese, popcorn, nutritional yeast, coffee & orange juice (for John) and chocolate milk (for Beth).

I (Beth) was able to spend time a week ago dreaming up a meal plan & then go comparison shopping at the local food stores. I had to simplify my original plan greatly. Today's main meal, curried lentil stew, will provide another three days' worth of lunches.  Several stores have bulk bins, so that I could buy little amounts of a number of things at a relatively decent price, e.g., two breakfasts' worth of oatmeal. How fortunate we are, that we have so many good places to shop here in Fort Collins! To have the time to comparison shop, to have the transportation to do this, to have choices of where to shop -- these are things many SNAP recipients DON'T have.  And John and I have a lovely vegetable garden, too -- without the cucumbers and tomatos and other produce from the garden, this challenge would be extremely hard! (We both confirmed with Lauren that we could use our garden produce.)

At the end of the day, neither of us were hungry, though I was during the day at work, and John didn't get back from his events to eat supper till 9:30 p.m.

I am quite sure we will succeed at this challenge. Having use of all our spices, our oils, our garden vegetables -- this gives us considerable advantage.

Most of Beth and John's food for the week.

Olivia Fisher Brown

Breakfast- 2 Peanut Butter Sandwich (2 slices of whole wheat bread, 1 TSBP of peanut butter,) coffe with 1 TSPB of half and half, and 1 slice of veggie quiche (whole wheat pie crust, 1 ounce of half and half, 1 egg, 1 ounce of parmesan cheese, squash, and tomatoes)

Lunch- 1.5 cup of kale salad with ½ ounce of parmesan cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and tomatoes

Dinner- 1 cup of brown rice, garbanzo and cauliflower curry (5 ounces of garbanzos, 5 ounces of cauliflower, tomatoes, jalapenos, and spies.)

Snack- 1 apple, 1 ounce of peanut butter, 5 cherry tomatoes, and 7 raspberries

Garbanzo and Cauliflower Curry 

Did you do all of your shopping for the 5 days? Yes, I did the shopping before the start of the challenge. I bought everything at Vitamin Cottage (Natural Grocers) and King Soopers.

What is your strategy (did you meal plan, use coupons, consult other SNAP challenge websites?) I sat down on Sunday night and made a menu for the week. I tried to plan things we would normally eat. Then I looked over my receipts and the sales flyers to see what was in my budget and on sale. I always shop the weekly/monthly sales but I rarely take the time to use coupons. 

I'm fortunate that this 5 day challenge is happening at the peak of my garden produce. I am currently getting several pounds a day of heirloom tomatoes, bell and jalapeno peppers, green beans, yellow and zucchini squash, kale, carrots and basil. I also have established raspberry and strawberry plants that are still giving a few of each fruit this late in the season!  

Were you hungry at the end of the day? I was really hungry by dinner time, but I was able to snack on some fresh garden produce to tide me over until the meal was ready.

Do you think you will succeed? I ate for $4.25 total today, so I feel pretty good. However, I'm 76 cents over budget for the week, so I'm hoping to shave some costs somewhere over the course of the challenge! 

Lauren Mingus

Breakfast- 2 eggs with cheese, spinach, onion and a “side” serving of broccoli

Lunch- Spinach salad with tuna, carrots, red pepper, cucumbers (from garden), cheese with olive oil & lemon dressing

Snack- Apple slices with peanut butter (I was really struggling in the morning and my coworker gave me some popcorn)

Dinner- Brown rice with black beans, red pepper, salsa verde (homemade with tomatillos & jalapenos from garden) and cheese

Snack 5 strawberries and 1 carrot

Lots of Water

Did you do all of your shopping for the 5 days? Yes

What is your strategy (did you meal plan, use coupons, consult other SNAP challenge websites?) meal planning, sale flyer shopping, compared pricing using King Soopers website, used my Target Red Card to get %5 off plus brought my own bags to get $.10 off at Target and Sprouts. Bought all store brand items. Unfortunately, you can’t find coupons for fresh produce.

Were you hungry at the end of the day? I was extremely hungry at dinner. Felt full after dinner/snack, but woke up really, really hungry.

Do you think you will succeed? Not sure. 

Lauren's Food for the Week.

Adam Wiemold 

Breakfast- Oatmeal (Ok, it was horrible, bland, nothing to add to it. I really don’t love oatmeal.

Lunch- The chili powder covered chicken thigh, about 2 cups of salad, and a small handful of the fried potatoes all with my homemade salad dressing.

Dinner- Pasta and Marinara with fresh onions on top for a texture, Salad with Green Pepper added.  The green peppers moved to the pasta after I started to eat it.

Snack- Quesadilla with cheddar, pulled chicken, and cilantro.

I think I am going to make it but I will be sick of chicken.

Megan Ehrlich

Breakfast: Overnight Oats

-          1 cup of plain quick oats with a dash of cinnamon

-          1 cup Milk

-          1 banana

Prep: Combined quick oats, milk, and cinnamon in a bowl. Sliced banana and set on top of oats. Let oatmeal sit overnight and eat chilled or warm up in the microwave.

Taste: The bananas added a little bit of sweetness to the oatmeal, but it was not quite sweet enough. I may have to add a little sugar next time.

Megan's Oats

Lunch: Bean and Cheese Burrito with Roasted Corn and Black Beans

-          1 whole wheat tortilla

-          ¼ + 1/8 cup shredded cheese

-          1 1/8 cup black beans, no salt added

-          1/8 cup chopped bell pepper

-          1/8 cup chopped onion

-          1 cup corn

Prep: Sautéed peppers and onions with 1tsp olive oil. Added 1 cup mashed black beans and ½tsp of black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and a pinch of salt. Wrapped bean mixture in tortilla with all of cheese to reheat later. Placed corn and 1/8 cup black beans on a baking sheet. Sprayed mixture and tossed with a pinch of salt and pepper. Broiled in the oven for about 5 minutes.

Taste: The roasted corn and black beans was very good. The burrito was good as well with the exception that the beans were a little bit dry. This is a meal I would make in the future.

	Dinner: Healthy ‘Fried’ Rice -          1 cup brown rice -          ¼ cup corn -          ½ cup sliced carrots -          ¼ cup onion -          ¼ cup bell pepper -          1 egg Prep: Scrambled egg in a small skillet, then set aside. Sautéed corn, carrots, onions, and bell peppers in 1tbsp olive oil until soft. Added rice, ¼tsp garlic powder, ¼tsp onion powder, and 2tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce. Cooked until thoroughly heated, then added in scrambled egg before serving. Taste: This meal was not only healthy, but it was very tasty too! I think it rivaled take-out fried rice and it was much healthier. I will make this again after SNAP challenge is over. Did you do all of your shopping for the 5 days? Yes- I thought that it would allow more buying power to buy more food at once. What is your strategy (did you meal plan, use coupons, consult other SNAP challenge websites?) My strategy was intensive meal planning. I started planning a couple weeks before the challenge and spent more time planning my daily menus once the food was bought. I spent a lot of time making sure that I was meeting the USDA recommendations for each food group each day. Were you hungry at the end of the day? I was not hungry during the day, but after dinner I was very hungry and ended up going to bed hungry. I will be honest I was tempted to cheat, but then I remembered those who do not have extra food to eat.

 

Roasted Corn and Black Beans 

A healthy burrito with no cheese!