For one week, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney and his wife lived on the equivalent of a Food Stamp budget.
The mission was to highlight how difficult it is to eat on $32 per week, or $1.59 per meal, and he documented the experience on his blog and through his Twitter account.
Courtney and his wife, Audrey, started the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, challenge on Oct. 20 and wrapped it up on Thursday, Oct. 28.
On Wednesday, Oct. 19, they began preparing for Thursday.
“Audrey is already starting tomorrow's dinner now - something she does sometimes when she knows the next day could be hectic. We will have black bean enchiladas. One of the few spots we splurged was on organic black beans (99 cents) because they are lower in sodium, which is a healthy choice. Audrey bought the least-expensive tortillas she could find, also 99 cents! She is cooking the beans with onion and a chili pepper and she will serve it with a small can of tomato sauce and cheese for dinner,” Courtney blogged.
On the first day of the challenge, Courtney ate a breakfast of generic cereal and some banana. For lunch, he had egg salad, a carrot and an apple. Dinner was one black bean enchilada.
The Congressman and his wife searched for deals on food and planned out meals on what they had for leftovers.
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“On the shopping front, yesterday we hit the jackpot. Audrey found a store in Rockville that sells fruits and vegetables at great prices. We got apples at 79 cents a pound, (half the cost of other grocery stores). For $6, we bought carrots, cucumbers, pears, apples and grapes,” Courtney blogged.
Cheap food became a staple. They bought popcorn because it was inexpensive and would last through the week for snacks.
As part of the challenge, Courtney passed on food during the opening of a new restaurant in Mystic.
“Because of the SNAP Challenge, I had to pass on mouth-watering local and fresh oysters from Noank, which was absolutely painful to do. I hung in there, though,” Courtney blogged.
Four days into the challenge, he said he was a little hungry and he and his wife were always looking forward to the next meal.
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