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Always contentious.
In 2013 the SNAP - food stamps - benefits were cut (or not expanded, I forget what the actual issue was), and we got into an argument with friends one night. At dinner lol. They: "Heartless bubblegums starving people." Us: "No one starves, anyone w/o food in this country and time is just dumb." That set up an experiment: we decided to live for a month on only that amount of money we'd get from food stamps. And we did. This is a cut-paste from the page I typed up after:
=========================================================
The SNAP Month, Nov 2 to Nov 27, 2013
Started with $347.00, derived by using the Oregon SNAP benefits estimator based on 2 adults with no income. A hypothetical couple who have lost their jobs. We spent $315.40 in that period.
Rules from this experience:
1) No restaurants. None. On this budget you must prepare all food you eat.
2) You must know how to cook and have a kitchen. Prepared foods are ALWAYS more expensive than buying the ingredients and doing it yourself. The kitchen doesn't have to be expansive, but it has to exist.
3) You cannot buy steak or pop, etc. You must maximize the healthy calories per dollar; pop is out because they're empty calories. Steak is out because you can get the same calories and nutrients at half to a quarter the price in other items. You cannot 'treat' yourself; you cannot afford it.
4) Be prepared to be bored. With this budget you'll eat plenty of healthy calories, but it gets monotonous. We are absolutely spoiled for choice, and our pallets have grown so accustomed to such a huge variety of tastes that it will knock you back when you're limited. If you don't know how to use spices and cook the boredom will be many times worse, probably intolerable and you'll bust your budget on prepared food.
5) Stop eating as much between meals. Snacks must be homemade. (Our favorite was peanuts, raisins, and chocolate chips mixed together. All cheap at WinCo.) No impulse buying of snacks. Carry your snacks from home.
6) Throw nothing away. You have to conserve what you have. This is less an issue than most make out; mold can be cut off cheese, wilted or old vegetables cook up just fine, stale bread toasts up well, the bottom and sides of the ketchup bottle have enough for a couple of more meals – cut the bottom open and get it. Most of what we throw away is bad planning and laziness; you can't afford either on this budget.
If you want to make it more authentic do two other things; only use public transportation for your food shopping and eat nothing at work, at friends, etc. We didn't do the former, we used our cars. But largely did do the latter, iirc, we each had only one eating episode each at work.
Conclusion:
Two people with a kitchen, knowing how to cook, and with transportation can eat healthy and filling diets on nothing but Oregon SNAP benefits. In fact they'll have more than enough food. The receipts attached show what we bought (with over $30.00 left over at the end of the period), and the pictures show the food left over.
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Still have all the receipts and pictures lol. So, my thoughts are - blame game or not - the same. There's plenty of good food available and affordable. If people don't have it it's because they're either ignorant, lazy or both. I actually ate enough in the SNAP month to stay overweight! Yeah, I get people go through things, life can be hard (really!), screwed up in the head can scupper all plans and make anyone stupid, sometimes you can't get out of it by youself, etc, etc, etc... And children are vulnerable, because they rely on adults to feed them. So they undoubtedly suffer for the sins of the idiots in their lives.
But "hunger" in the USA (least in 2013, and I don't think it's changed) is an entirely political issue. It's used dishonestly to push politics, not to actually feed people who have no way to get enough food to be healthy. We are blessed to live in a unique time and place - the USA, where the scourge of mankind - starvation - is simply no longer real. And we're too stupid to know it.
In 2013 the SNAP - food stamps - benefits were cut (or not expanded, I forget what the actual issue was), and we got into an argument with friends one night. At dinner lol. They: "Heartless bubblegums starving people." Us: "No one starves, anyone w/o food in this country and time is just dumb." That set up an experiment: we decided to live for a month on only that amount of money we'd get from food stamps. And we did. This is a cut-paste from the page I typed up after:
=========================================================
The SNAP Month, Nov 2 to Nov 27, 2013
Started with $347.00, derived by using the Oregon SNAP benefits estimator based on 2 adults with no income. A hypothetical couple who have lost their jobs. We spent $315.40 in that period.
Rules from this experience:
1) No restaurants. None. On this budget you must prepare all food you eat.
2) You must know how to cook and have a kitchen. Prepared foods are ALWAYS more expensive than buying the ingredients and doing it yourself. The kitchen doesn't have to be expansive, but it has to exist.
3) You cannot buy steak or pop, etc. You must maximize the healthy calories per dollar; pop is out because they're empty calories. Steak is out because you can get the same calories and nutrients at half to a quarter the price in other items. You cannot 'treat' yourself; you cannot afford it.
4) Be prepared to be bored. With this budget you'll eat plenty of healthy calories, but it gets monotonous. We are absolutely spoiled for choice, and our pallets have grown so accustomed to such a huge variety of tastes that it will knock you back when you're limited. If you don't know how to use spices and cook the boredom will be many times worse, probably intolerable and you'll bust your budget on prepared food.
5) Stop eating as much between meals. Snacks must be homemade. (Our favorite was peanuts, raisins, and chocolate chips mixed together. All cheap at WinCo.) No impulse buying of snacks. Carry your snacks from home.
6) Throw nothing away. You have to conserve what you have. This is less an issue than most make out; mold can be cut off cheese, wilted or old vegetables cook up just fine, stale bread toasts up well, the bottom and sides of the ketchup bottle have enough for a couple of more meals – cut the bottom open and get it. Most of what we throw away is bad planning and laziness; you can't afford either on this budget.
If you want to make it more authentic do two other things; only use public transportation for your food shopping and eat nothing at work, at friends, etc. We didn't do the former, we used our cars. But largely did do the latter, iirc, we each had only one eating episode each at work.
Conclusion:
Two people with a kitchen, knowing how to cook, and with transportation can eat healthy and filling diets on nothing but Oregon SNAP benefits. In fact they'll have more than enough food. The receipts attached show what we bought (with over $30.00 left over at the end of the period), and the pictures show the food left over.
=========================================================
Still have all the receipts and pictures lol. So, my thoughts are - blame game or not - the same. There's plenty of good food available and affordable. If people don't have it it's because they're either ignorant, lazy or both. I actually ate enough in the SNAP month to stay overweight! Yeah, I get people go through things, life can be hard (really!), screwed up in the head can scupper all plans and make anyone stupid, sometimes you can't get out of it by youself, etc, etc, etc... And children are vulnerable, because they rely on adults to feed them. So they undoubtedly suffer for the sins of the idiots in their lives.
But "hunger" in the USA (least in 2013, and I don't think it's changed) is an entirely political issue. It's used dishonestly to push politics, not to actually feed people who have no way to get enough food to be healthy. We are blessed to live in a unique time and place - the USA, where the scourge of mankind - starvation - is simply no longer real. And we're too stupid to know it.