Cooking on a budget? Try dinner in a SNAP!

You’ve worked hard all day. You want to fix your family a healthy dinner, but you’re on a budget. You have Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to pay for the meal, but what will you fix? That's where Dinner in a SNAP comes in. A four-part virtual program hosted by AARP during Hunger Action Month in September, Dinner in a SNAP attendees were shown how to quickly fix one of the nutritious meals prepared by chef Thomas Yager of Mercy Chefs.

Motivated by the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina to his hometown in New Orleans, La., and the quality of the food being served to those impacted by the hurricane, chef Gary LeBlanc and his wife, Ann LeBlanc, founded Mercy Chefs in 2006. Mercy Chefs is a faith-based, nonprofit disaster and relief organization that provides professionally prepared, restaurant quality meals to victims, volunteers and first responders in natural disasters and emergencies. It also provides food service in underserved communities across the country and around the globe in partnership with existing like-minded organizations. Since its founding, Mercy Chefs has responded to over 200 disasters in the United States and foreign countries with the assistance of over 15,000 volunteers.

AARP Virginia collaborated with Mercy Chefs to present the Dinner in a SNAP series during Hunger Action Month to increase awareness of hunger across America. Each program was a 45-minute easy to follow, step-by-step cooking demonstration by chef Yager. Each recipe and shopping list is easily accessible on Mercy Chefs’ website, with an estimate of how much the ingredients would cost in the preparer’s SNAP benefits.

During the first session, Yager prepared shepherd’s pie with peas and carrots. Attendees from across the United States participated in the Zoom demonstration and observed him prepare an entrée that could feed a family of four from ingredients purchased with SNAP benefits.

For the second installment of Dinner in a SNAP, Yager prepared potato encrusted chicken legs and provided helpful hints to make cooking the entrée easier. The third nationally viewed cooking demonstration involved more advance preparation for the braised beef goulash with macaroni and corn. Yager cooked the beef roast in a crock-pot in advance to reduce the four and one-half hour cooking time to fit within the 45-minute program. He used a chuck roast, as it is a less expensive cut of meat, and fits within the budget-conscious emphasis of the Dinner in a SNAP program.

Session four was designed to be a demonstration of sauteed tilapia with lemon rice and cole slaw. Yager substituted snapper for the tilapia because the snapper was on sale at the grocery store that day, but noted that tilapia would typically be more cost friendly.

People who live in Hampton Roads are fortunate that Mercy Chefs established its headquarters in Portsmouth. In addition to the corporate headquarters, Mercy Chefs established its first community kitchen at the Portsmouth headquarters in 2019 and since launched other community kitchens in Richmond, Va.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Dallas, Texas. The community kitchens serve nutritious meals to low-income, food-insecure populations.