Reply #29: Let me describe how it goes for some people in this country: [View All]

[acmavm]

You're near the end of the month, got a week or so to go and only a few bucks. So what does one do, especially if they have a family?

You buy in bulk what will get you through, you don't buy expensive fresh vegetables and fruit. In fact with a package of frozen corn going for $2.00 a pack now, you don't buy much frozen either. Back in the day it was expensive as well. You get the 3 for whatever canned crap that's on sale. Very few nutrients, but it is a vegetable.

Canned fruit is pretty much out of the question. When I was young it was semi-affordable. Two bucks for a can of fruit cocktail now makes it a luxury item or a special treat if your food money doesn't stretch as far as you need it to. But

You buy tons of potatoes, bread and pancake mix. Oh yes, a bag of sugar to go with with that bread and pancake mix. One part water and two parts sugar makes simple syrup.

If you can find a sale on some ground beef, snap it up. But that shit is expensive now, not 3 lbs for a dollar like the days I'm describing (and are still a reality for thousands of Americans today).

You eat fried potatoes and pancakes and french toast constantly. If you did get some meat, you cream it and put it on mashed potatoes. Hell, maybe you hit the jackpot and prefab mac and cheese was on sale three for a dollar. So you can pad out the menu with that. Gives a little variety.

Now, hopefully there aren't little kids. Because milk has to stretch for cooking and if there are kids, it really needs to stretch. So what you do is buy that horrific dry milk and then start diluting what whole milk you buy. It's disgusting at first but you get used to it. And in mac and cheese, no one can tell.

Little Debbies is a big item with the poor. A box of brownies or cakes is just over a dollar. If you've got kids, they really think they've hit the lottery if you got some of those things for a snack.

Toast is not only breakfast, it's snacks too. Ick, Milk toast, toast and jelly (if you have jelly), buttered toast (a misnomer because it's almost always margarine). Turns my stomach as I type.

There are a few more items in the pantry (if you're lucky) but the cost of food items goes up constantly. And amazingly enough, even though the cost goes up and the can (or box or whatever) size stays the same, you get less. Look at the front of the can (or the box or whatever).

This is a way of life for some people folks. Reading some of the arrogant shit replies to this article where the poster says the main cause of obesity can be attributed to a poor understanding about nutrition and what is good for people to eat is really screwed up. Screwed up, arrogant, and shows a boatload of ignorance.

EDIT: I'm not saying poverty is the BIGGEST reason for obesity, but it is one of the largest factors. There isn't a city in the country where hunger and poverty aren't on the increase. And there's not a food pantry in the country that hasn't seen its donations drop like a rock.

You know the one of the biggest donations to the pantries? Bread and other bakery products.