Food Stamp Cuts: Families Will Face Tough Choices
- Thread starter Banjo
- Start date
Maybe now they can only have one cart filled with steaks, roasts, processed foods, cookies etc and of course powerade.
Here in SC a family of 3 gets $525/month. Most likely that would mean a single parent and 2 kids (with no father in the picture). I thought a bit about how far that $$ can go. 98% of the kids I volunteer with get free lunch (and also breakfasts now) at school. But even eating something at home prior to school can be inexpensive. Instant oatmeal, a piece of wheat toast and a glass of juice likely is less than $1 total. Let's say the 2 kids do that daily .... $60 per month total. That leaves $465 for dinners and whatever the parent spends on their own breakfast and lunches during the month. Say that adult spends $150 on those 2 meals (hopefully eating at home and not at Wendy's, BK or McDonald's). That would still leave $315 for 30 days of dinners, or $10+/day.
I'd bet money that my wife and I could survive on 2/3 of $525, or $350/month and eat healthy at the same time.
It is NOT a cut. It is the temporary boost to the federal program coming to an end.
Somehow in the media this gets translated into 'cut'.
Somehow in the media this gets translated into 'cut'.
Is someone going to tell me that a mere $11 reduction in foodstamp money for a single individual (or $36 reduction for a family of four) is some type of horrible tragedy that is going to starve the people using the SNAP program.
Amount varies State to State. In Mississippi it's 123.75/ person = $371/mo family of three. i think that will go to 353 per family of three.
An interesting observation: groceries tend to be higher in poor neighborhoods where many are on SNAP and shoppers are immobile, then in affluent neighborhoods where shoppers are mobile. Of course the grocery selection is vastly different in these two neighborhoods. In the hood there are chicken backs and and pigs feet, and in the country club area, duck and free range whole chickens. It isn't easy to get by on 123/mo ($4.10.day), but it can be done with lots of beans and rice and jello bought in bulk, and a snack bag of Fritos for the appetizer course and goblet of tap water for the beverage.
According to http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0732.pdf
This was enough for a 19-50 year-old to eat "nutritiously" on the "thrifty" plan for 20 days in 2010. That should be approximately 14 days in 2013. Presumably the other 16 days someone else pays for your meal or you don't eat nutritiously, or you make enough cleaning toilets to pay for those additional 16 days of meals.
I grew up on raman noodles and kd, who the fuck decided that its inhumane to live mostly off beans and rice?
It was a huge motivator for me when i got to go out for a burger, not even a fancy ass meal. Who the fuck are you and the rest of the liberals to say people who dont work hard enough deserve something better than they can afford?
Whats wrong with having to clean toilets for a living in order to eat?
You, piezoe, and your liberal dickhead buddies are one of the most destructive forces in america today.
I eat high fiber instant oatmeal probably 5 days per week. A box of 10 packets costs like $3 or $4 at the most. One serving is 40% of daily fiber requirement. A piece of whole wheat toast is 5 to 10 cents. A glass of juice maybe 10 cents max. So you can eat breakfast for 50 cents and not be eating crap.
You can do the same with other meals too, a bit more expensive most likely but it's possible to live within the allotment of $$$ given to them. Many parents, poor and rich, buy crap for their kids to keep them happy.
I agree high poverty areas have worse choices at stores. Big problem is that many of these people make poor choices. They buy the Fritos, Ho-Ho's, candy, regular soda .. crap with high calorie content. But I know in the area where I volunteer at school there have been educational programs to teach these people how to eat healthier. Some try but most stick to their old habits.
And last, food stamps were never meant to be the sole means of groceries but instead a safety net to supplement what people bought. In modern times people have an expectation that they will be taken care of. My grandparents lived through the depression and never expected to be taken care of. Today we have an "entitlement" society and it seems to get worse with each new program rolled out by the government.