Take the Farmers Market SNAP Challenge

1. Sign Up for the Farmers Market SNAP Challenge
2. Join the discussion on social media using #fmSNAPchallenge.
3. Attend the SNAP Challenge Social at the Blacksburg Farmers Market.
4. Support the Blacksburg Farmers Market SNAP Incentive Program or your favorite hunger relief organization. You can specify your donation to support the Blacksburg Farmers Market’s SNAP Incentive Program by putting it in the memo line of your check.

SNAP Challenge Guidelines

1. You are pledging to limit your food shopping to $7.50 per day per person for a total of $52 for the week, $40 of which should be spent at the Farmers Market. As with SNAP regulations, this amount does not include hot prepared foods (like hot rotisserie chickens), restaurant meals, or alcohol, as these are not allowable purchases with SNAP funds.
2. You can use whatever cooking oils, dried herbs, and spices you already have in your pantry.
3. You can use any home-grown or home-preserved (not store bought) produce that you already have.
4. If during the Challenge, you are offered free foods, such as at a meeting or social function, you can enjoy these. For many families on SNAP, these sources of food help stretch food budgets.
5. In the spirit of raising awareness of hunger in the community, please share your experiences, positive or negative, on social media using #fmSNAPchallenge. Pictures of your grocery shopping, your meals, or your emotions are encouraged. Participate in online discussion of the #fmSNAPchallenge on Facebook, Twitter, and this blog. We will be posting resources and daily reflections throughout the Challenge.

The purpose of the Challenge is to experience the difficulty of eating healthy on a SNAP budget, raise awareness of hunger in the community, and support the SNAP Incentive Program at the Blacksburg Farmers Market.

The “S” in SNAP stands for Supplemental, which means that this food budget is not supposed to provide 100% of a person’s needs, although for many hungry families, it is the only money available to feed themselves. Knowing this, you may not be able to stay on-budget or eat as well as you’d like and that is okay. What changes did you try to make to your usual shopping habits for the Challenge? Did they work or not? These are the kinds of thoughts the Challenge is intended to raise.

 
Tweet: I’m taking the #fmSNAPchallenge & you can too. Challenge Guidelines & Sign Up here: https://ctt.ec/go4Ch+