Lesson Plan

Program: Food Insecurity Education Program

Lesson/Presentation: SNAP Benefits and Smart Shopping on a Shoestring

Setting/Audience: Adult volunteers at area food pantry/food bank

Date: 7/12/14 – 4 hour session from 1:00-5:00 PM

Materials Needed: notepads, pens, pencils, whiteboards, dry erase markers, handouts from USDA, calculators.

Objectives:

·        (Cognitive) – The participant will become familiar with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and learn to calculate appropriate SNAP benefits using the eligibility guidelines provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)  (http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility)

·        (Cognitive) - By the end of this session, the participant will be able to identify the seven food items to buy when shopping on a shoestring budget (http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2014/01/16/7-foods-to-buy-when-youre-broke) and will accurately list these items on the grocery list worksheet handout.(http://www.choosemyplate.gov/budget/downloads/grocery_list_interactive.pdf)

·        (Psychomotor) – By the end of the session, the participant will construct a grocery list of healthy foods and “shop” for these items with only the limited budget allowed for a single individual receiving SNAP benefits.

·        (Affective) – At the end of this session, the volunteer will recognize the challenges of selecting healthy foods on a limited budget, and at least half of the participants will show a willingness to experience the challenges first-hand by volunteering to take the SNAP Challenge.

Introduction: Now that everyone has had the opportunity to tour the food pantry facility and see how this organization works, we’re going to spend our session today learning more about the challenges that those individuals who regularly experience food insecurity face on a daily basis. Many of the individuals we serve are unemployed or disabled, but there are also many who are classified as “working poor”, those who work a full-time job, or sometimes multiple jobs, but whose income is so low that they qualify for additional assistance in the form of SNAP benefits.

At the conclusion of today’s session, you will all be familiar with SNAP, you will know who qualifies for these benefits, you’ll know seven grocery items which are considered the most nutritionally sound for those who must learn to stretch their grocery dollars, you’re going to construct a grocery list and “shop” here in the food pantry, on a strict budget. If you are particularly moved by this experience, I would like to see if you will volunteer to put yourself in the shoes of the public we serve, and agree to take the SNAP challenge, spending one week preparing and eating only those foods which you have purchased with the SNAP benefit allowance, based on the participation guidelines handout. http://www.harvesters.org/_FileLibrary/FileImage/ParticipationGuidelines-evergreen.pdf

Content Outline	Method	Time Needed	Materials Needed
1)      SNAP ·        What is SNAP? ·        Who funds it? ·        Who is eligible? ·        How are benefits calculated?	Lecture/Discussion	One hour	Notepads, pens, pencils, whiteboard, markers, calculators
2)      Learning to Shop with limited funds from SNAP ·        Making a plan ·        Where to shop ·        What to buy ·        How to save	Discussion/Activities	One hour	USDA handouts, computers with internet access
3)      Let’s Go Shopping! ·        Meal planning ·        Making a grocery list ·        Shopping at the pantry ·        Explaining purchases	Activity/Discussion	One hour, 30 minutes	Notepads, pens, calculators, grocery “vouchers” or play money
4)      Wrap-up ·        Raising awareness ·        Experiencing firsthand ·        The SNAP Challenge	Discussion/Questions	30 minutes	None

The four-hour lesson, shown above, will be broken into four parts.

Part 1 – SNAP – This part will be presented in a lecture format, discussing the USDA’s SNAP benefits program. How did SNAP begin, and how is it funded? These questions will be answered, and then there will be a discussion about who is eligible to receive SNAP benefits and how benefits are calculated. Using handouts from the USDA which indicate guidelines for SNAP benefits, the participants will be given several samples of individuals or families who may or may not be eligible for SNAP benefits, and they will work together to calculate what the benefits will be for each sample. Depending on the size of the audience, this activity will be completed in small groups, with each group taking a different sample.

Part 2 – Learning to shop on a SNAP budget – This section will be part discussion and part activity. We will discuss a list of seven food items which are both nutritionally sound and inexpensive, and which can be included on the grocery list of most any SNAP shopper. We will also talk about the importance of meal planning, where to shop most affordably, what items to look for, and where to find coupons. Participants will use the internet to look at grocery ads or find coupons.

Part 3 – Let’s Go Shopping! – Based on budget estimates for SNAP benefits for a single individual, each participant will make a shopping trip to the food pantry store to “purchase” a week’s worth of groceries for him/herself, using a voucher or play money. Prior to shopping, everyone will create a basic meal plan and a grocery list to follow. At the store, participants will shop, following their grocery lists as closely as possible, and using their calculators to keep track of their purchases. Anyone who exceeds the set grocery budget must put something back to stay within budget. When everyone is done, we will spend time discussing the purchases, and the rationale for buying the items acquired.

Part 4 – Wrap-up – As part of the wrap-up, we will discuss the SNAP Challenge, the program which tasks those participants who volunteer to participate with living for one week on the typical SNAP allowance that they had for their shopping trip. By taking the SNAP Challenge, each volunteer will get to experience first-hand the difficulty of eating every meal on a strict budget for a full seven days. The idea is that by experiencing this challenge, and possibly feeling hungry part of them time, empathy for the citizens we serve will be increased. Even for the most compassionate volunteers, this dose of reality can improve and increase their resolve to continue their work to help food pantry clientele, and to better understand how to discuss their hardships.

References:

Crowe, A. (2014, January 16). 7 Foods to Buy When You're Broke. Retrieved from U.S. News and World Report: http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2014/01/16/7-foods-to-buy-when-youre-broke

Harvesters Community Food Network. (2014). Take the Food Stamp Challenge. Retrieved from       Harvesters.org: http://www.harvesters.org/GetInformed/Index.asp?x=060|080&~=

United States Department of Agriculture, 2013. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.             Eligibility. Retrieved from: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility.

United States Department of Agriculture, (n.d.). Healthy Eating on a Budget. Retrieved from:              http://www.choosemyplate.gov/budget/index.html