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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.

=========================================================

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.
 
I was surprised to learn that we are the 10th fattest country in the world. Even Mexico beats us, although just barely.


I really wonder about these stats. And then, of course, I see something like this:

View attachment 843325

Chicharrones. :s0155:

Well, they do say "Grass is always greener on the other side." and from the looks of it, she's been doing a lot of grazing.
 
Always contentious.

...

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.

Yes, always contentious. Just like the argument that technically there is enough food for the world population, or enough water to grow plants all over the globe. There are both social/cultural factors as well as physical barriers. You said it yourself, transportation and access is assumed. Can it be for everyone, equally?
 
Yes, always contentious. Just like the argument that technically there is enough food for the world population, or enough water to grow plants all over the globe. There are both social/cultural factors as well as physical barriers. You said it yourself, transportation and access is assumed. Can it be for everyone, equally?

Absolutely not; access and transport takes more effort for some than for others.

My hot spot comes from the fact we're talking about food. The most basic drive of everything alive. Whenever I hear "I don't have time to eat healthy" or worse "I don't have time / can't get my kids to eat healthy" all I think is WTF do you "have time" for???

If your life is so chaotic that you are literally malnourishing yourself or your kids, when there is as a matter of fact enough resources for you to not do that, you need to change your life. Doing otherwise is akin to saying "My kid's going to suffer and maybe die from a nutrition related deficit, but there is something much more important for me to do." Oooo kaaaay...

Actually not ok. But I'm not dictator, it's their lives. And their poor kids.

I'm not against giving food to people. For free. Why not, tech has brought us to such an incredible bounty that "we" can afford it. I don't believe it's sustainable; when I get used to being given something I lose the ability to go out and get it. The piper will be paid if things ever change. But rock on.

But I will NEVER concede to the politicians who conflate "it's not easy enough for me to get food" with "our system is broken and people are suffering nutrition related disease because of the broken system." That's where all the "hunger" numbers come from. Our system is not broken.
 
The strong children will eat the weak ones. Circle of life.

Wait, you're talking about us feeding hungry kids? I didn't sign up for that. Let them Hunger Games that $h!t.
 
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.

=========================================================

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.

You seem to always speak sense.

I was raised by depression era parents. Dad born in 1920, and Mom in '26. BOTH of them grew up in dirt poor families. Dad's mom came to the US from Hungry, (as far as I know. I do not now the true roots) Grandma had an accent so I presume she came here sometime before WWI. Mom grew up in a small farming community in the West Salt Lake Valley. Grandpa worked as a miner around/near the Kennecott Copper Mine. Grandma played piano at silent movies. Mom's family somehow managed to feed eight people, through the depression, and WWII. eating from their home raised animals. Dads family of five, the same thing. there was a work ethic then, different from now. THEY, both families, didn't depend on free food, as far as I know. When I was young, fast food was seldom, as was eating out. I don't know if either one of them really learned how to cook, other than, just doing it. When I look back on the foods I like, and still cook, a lot of that came from what I ate growing up, and I STILL cook that food. I despise highly processed food. Heck, that stuff might even be what contributes to the stupidity we see today in people that can't figure out how to cook a GD CHICKEN, at home!

People today have just got used to having everything done for them. And that includes having their FOOD already made and in a box.
 

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