Shopping for twenty-two people, on a SNAP budget, in an Atlanta food desert

Shopping for twenty-two people, on a SNAP budget, in an Atlanta food desert

This was the theme for our final eating ethics class. Surprisingly, we didn’t have to travel very far out of the Emory area to find a food desert. Our starting point is 300 Northern Ave., Avondale Estates, Ga. As you can see by the map below this location is part of a grouping of census districts that are all considered low income and low access which are the components that creates a food desert.

Our challenge was to shop within walking distance of this location because not all constituents have transportation at their disposal and this can greatly affect access. We found that a Dollar General and Texaco were about a 9-minute walk from our location (0.5 mile). But before shopping we did what is called a windshield survey to assess the initial resources a community has or lacks. Below is a picture to show what the walk to the Dollar General would be.

What you can see is that there is long stretches of road without much, and very little commercial businesses. Occasionally there is sidewalk, but it is inconsistent and there are no bike lanes. As far as public transportation goes, there are close Marta bus stops and the closest Marta train station is the Kensington Station (26-minute walk). At the Dollar General, we found that they do accept SNAP and that they have an expanded food section. Below you can see what the food section looked like.

  

As you can see, most of the food is processed however, there are some available frozen vegetables, eggs, and milk as staple items available. We decided to cook mostly from the refrigerated section to keep sodium to a minimum. However, to stick to our $2 per person budget we needed to incorporate nutrient dense yet inexpensive foods such as dry beans and egg noodles. We ended up staying 60 cents under budget and made from scratch mac&cheese with broccoli and bean tacos for a vegetable protein dish. We were all very thirsty from this meal because it did have quite a bit of salt added to increase flavor. I asked a resident of this neighborhood where she does her grocery shopping and she cited the Dekalb Farmer’s Market as her grocery store. This is a great option for someone with access to easy transportation, but would be an almost two-mile walk each way for someone living at our original destination without a car. This may not be an accessible option in that case. 

This is an important experience for me to have as a future primary care provider to have because when I am treating patients with chronic diseases that relate to malnutrition. It will be important for me to evaluate their food access and incorporate this into their care plan.