I tend to be skeptical when people speak of having an immense amount of trouble eating on a limited budget. The problem is that people don't know how to buy properly... Um?!?! Where's your rice and grain?!?!... Though not ideal, most frozen vegetables are frozen fresh, are cheaper, and last way longer... Cheese?! Don't buy cheese! It's more expensive than you think and you don't actually need it. Until you're shelves are thoroughly stocked with staples, don't mess with it!... Why don't people load up on canned beans, corn, dry pastas, tomato sauce?!?!... etcetera... etcetera. Also, more people need to be educated as to the cooking, nutritional, and low expense wonders of tofu. The masses have this incorrect notion that it's one dimensional.

Those who are carnivorous can fit their meat in there too. The problem is that when people shop, they may make a list of what they want to buy, but tend not to have a plan past the first few days for what they're going to be preparing.

It's all about stocking. Once your shelves and freezer have everything to tie a meal together, you can start wasting that $21 to $30 a week on meats, fresh produce, and cheese.

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Ease of opportunity, access, ability to cook in your place of residence if any, ability to have a fridge especially a full sized fridge, in their place of residence. I, know how to make it work, fairly well, but at the over a $120 level, and it is still very "hard" at the $170 level.

I also have a whole lot of time to devote to this one thing and the people around me usually help, rather than hinder my healthy lifestyle. What it takes, to do the "stocking" you speak of, is getting an organization which works with the food bank, to pick up specific items for the individual or group, which frankly isn't how it's usually handled. So, we're talking about how one goes about making themselves the exception.

Every 90 days or so, to restock the pantry, for which, given the SRO's I've been in, most people do not have the physical space for.

When we talk about how it's possible, in the richest of cities with the best variety and availability and it's still a darn pain here and getting harder as the prices jump and the quality drops & the stores which did carry food stamps stop doing so, we who can actually get 170, where as other states have lower amounts... Simply put, what we're asking of people is they be the best of people under the worst of circumstances, not to mention their predisposition for multiple issues and that is, realistically speaking, systemically speaking, a kind of evil.

Seriously, if I were to make full use of the farmer's market correctly, I would have to go early in the morning to get the right quality & variety and make two trips because otherwise it's too heavy to carry & too hard to keep things from getting crushed. Then back again later, to get the best prices on items which have been bagged for quick sale or are simply priced dropped because they want to sell out and go home. This stuff, will have to be cut up and used or frozen quickly. With a bigger freezer than you have now.

Also, I would probably ask if they could put aside a special box of stuff that they can't or won't sell because of marks or bruises, not the stuff that's crushed in or rotting, so I can buy it, if I have enough, at discount. Now, this takes being personable, and persistent and reliable, and having enough every time, to make it worth their while, if they will, and most will not, consistently, if at all & all the work to do this has to start again with a new employee.

The farmer/seller also have to trust that if one gets food poisoning, they won't be ratted out for selling "bad" food.

Then I'd have to buy herb & veggie plants and treat them very carefully. Now, I lose easily most of what I've bought in plants because I don't pay enough attention & certainly I'm lucky for space & what I can do if it gets too hot/cold.

I, can do it, and often do so at a level which is basically healthy and gourmet, but, seasonally, I'll have deficits and as they mention a lot of repition, unless I'm willing to go out of my way in terms of time, effort space every week or so.
I do miss volunteering, where I could control some of what we took out of the food bank for people, including myself, as a volunteer.

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Oh no! I get it! It's not at all easy to do, and especially in this city, in this city of so many singles, at that. It works better under a full house and where energy and commodities aren't as expensive. The problem with Americans is that we are always ill-prepared for rough times, and we continue to remain so even under pressures or crises. The fact of the matter is that a low income or poor individual or family values their access to cable t.v. more than they do proper nutritional practices... When I was a kid living in E. Palo Alto, every last one of us knew what was on HBO the night before, but so many of us had terrible diets because we were eating processed and far less than nutritious foods because our families couldn't afford anything else with such out of whack priorities.

Regardless of what government is or isn't doing, regardless of the given income, so much of it comes down to citizens just being lazy- choosing to buy five Hungry Man frozen meals as opposed to spending that same amount on 2 weeks worth of food.

Also, most people don't know how to cook either. I mean, actually COOK!

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I get your point, but I think we're talking about different segments of the population. My parents were "poor" for a very long time too, in that "we're going to Goodwill for your winter jacket & some toys" way; but they were also, in Marin. So, sure it's an old used, rebuilt car bought 60 miles outside the city limits, but it's a volvo station wagon. Our parents are college educated, live inside the Bay Area & to some extent have resumes to kill for. When they need to learn something or know some one, it's not entirely about going outside their socio-economic and cultural background to get it, to put themselves out there. For most people on food stamps, their basic struggles aren't just about food & those struggles hamper their ability to do what needs to be done to nail down this "strict diet/budget."
As I've seen from a number of people, not having enough food and having to jump through multiple hoops to try to maintain having what food they can get, makes food one of the things which is now working their last nerve, instead of being restorative, it's barely maintenance.

Hopefully prop H will pass and we'll be able to go forward with getting out from under PG&E "piggie" and people will tear up some concrete for Victory Gardens, and tons of people will fill the colleges for an education while the economy recovers, racking up their own bad (loan) debt and hopefully in other places the landlords won't have just bought up 300 plus buildings at above market rate, so the rents won't skyrocket (East Bay, for example) and shortly we'll rebound.
But, for those who haven't tried living frugally, or don't understand and are frustrated by what the poor don't seem to be able to accomplish, this is a good way to check in, see what another part of the population has going on.
Personally, I don't think a one week trial is enough :).

P.S. Most of my "Cooking" is mainly "carfully steamed". Reminds me, I should get back in the habit of using a wok and nailing down the timing for what goes in, when.

Edited at 2008-10-09 07:08 am (UTC)

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We are and we aren't talking about different segments of the population. People at every level beneath rich, to poor, down to homeless have their unique issues and concerns when it comes to the topic. Of course their are exceptions, caveats, odd circumstances, and so forth, but the fact is that people across the board do not put forth the ingenuity they should... I've known totally homeless, destitute individuals who were as healthy as any average person because they treated their time and meager resources almost with a survivalist mentality- lived day to day and not meal to meal.

People are uneducated as to the programs out there, they don't know or don't have the nards to politely bug their local grocers, they know nothing of nutritional values in food, they spend money on the wrong kinds of things.

I could go much deeper into this, but the fact of the matter is that food all throughout the US is in abundance and wantonly wasted, regardless of prices. This is not an issue of terrorism, stock crashes, acts of god, etc., in which civilians are dependent upon their nation for help. This is an issue that can totally and 100% be remedied on an individual to individual, citizen to citizen, family to family, neighborhood to neighborhood basis with little to no need for government interaction.

Too many people think all the responsibility belongs to politicians and then blame them when everything goes wrong. This, the issue of food, is one of those things that can easily be fixed if we realize we have as much responsibility to one another as do those on "the hill" have to us.

Filtered down into every facet of this country, it's biggest problem is we are a country of politicians and not one of citizens. We're waiting around for people to look out for our best interests when so many of them can be facilitated on a communal level without government help or handouts.

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