SNAP Challenge – Day 0

I just got back to La Crosse after a wonderful Christmas break with family and friends. The last week of the break was spent in Florida and on a cruise to the Caribbean. Needless to say, I ate quite a bit of food and not much of it was healthy. I will be weighing myself tomorrow at the gym to get my starting weight for this challenge (and to see the damage done from my trip).

After getting unpacked, I went to the local Festival Foods grocery store to stock up for my week of healthy, low cost eating. I shopped completely on a whim, without planning it out and keeping track of cost in my head. In the end, I ended up spending just over $32. This was $2 over my goal for the SNAP benefits, but I figure this is pretty negligible. The following list is my purchases for the week:

GRAINS

• 1 box of 100% whole wheat pasta
• 1 bag of brown rice
• 1 container of old fashioned oats
• 1 bag of ORGANIC quinoa (only $2.90 mind you)

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

• 1 can of stewed tomatoes
• 4 oranges
• 7 bananas
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 bag of baby carrots
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 pack of frozen spinach
• 1 bag of frozen brocoli

PROTEINS

• 1 bag of tilapia filets
• 3 cans of tuna
• 1 bag of dry kidney beans
• 2 dozen eggs
• 1 container of fat free cottage cheese

*One thing that I will point out is that I did not purchase any seasonings or cooking oils. I will try to limit these as much as possible to spices and seasonings that most people would have sitting around the kitchen, and do all of my cooking that needs oil with olive oil.