Food Stamps For Fast Food? Yum, Say Restaurants

[DainBramaged]

America's poor, who are more likely to be plagued with poor nutrition and stricken with obesity than higher income groups, statistics show, are also more likely to get their meals from fast food restaurants. Where else can you get a days' worth of calories for $5, no preparation required?

And this is the problem that bedevils a growing group of food policy experts, who see the external costs of such dietary choices in the rising cost of obesity and diet-related health problems. It's a vicious circle, too: Children who are raised in households in which they receive low-quality food are more likely to be poor themselves, in addition to suffering from diet-related diseases and struggling in school.

There's even evidence that high-calorie, low-nutrient-value diets (think sodas, french fries and low-quality proteins like hamburgers and chicken nuggets) contribute to aggressive risk-taking behavior.

All these concerns paint a picture of a sad, endless loop: Low income leads to unstable homes, unfortunate health outcomes and poor nutrition; unstable homes, unfortunate health outcomes and poor nutrition lead to lower incomes. And while we're at it, the circumstances of low income and poor nutrition are related to high debt (from health care bills) and poor success in school and criminal convictions.

http://www.walletpop.com/2011/06/28/food-stamps-for-fast-food-yum-say-restaurants/

:popcorn:

[aquart]

1. Uh, food stamps won't buy a hot roast chicken.

How do they figure they buy a Big Mac?

[kestrel91316]

18. Here in CA you can buy all manner of fast foods with EBT cards.

There are no food "stamps" anymore. They load your benefit $$ onto a debit card.

[SoCalDem]

30. The EBT card will only pay for eligible foods though

the way they are rung up determines what's eligible. Hot deli foods are still not eligible. Customers slide the EBT card to pay for FS foods & then pay cash for the others...or use their other debit card if they have one

[aquart]

33. I know. But New York doesn't allow "cooked."

Potato salad, cole slaw, cold cuts, fine. Roast chicken, nuh uh.

[Le Taz Hot]

2. How do they figure you can get

a day's worth of nutrition with $5.00 buying fast food? The dollar menus are fast disappearing and virtually NONE of that stuff is nutritious. Now, cooking from scratch using basic ingredients, you can easily eat for $5.00 a day.

[hobbit709]

5. If you have a refrigerator and a stove maybe.

Lots of people on food stamps have neither or can't afford the utilities to run them.

[Le Taz Hot]

6. I think the vast majority of people on food stamps

probably have access to a stove and refrigerator but that doesn't address my first question which was, how can you have NUTRITIOUS meals at fast food restaurants for $5.00 a day? How about if those on food stamps were offered an opportunity to voluntarily attend free workshops about stretching the food budget by cooking from scratch and how to do it? The reality is that most young people have no idea how to cook from scratch and, because of lack of knowledge, fail to get the most bang for their grocery buck.

[hobbit709]

8. Sometimes ANY meal is more important than a nutritious one.

Most of those workshops are somewhere not close by for people with limited transportation resources.

[Le Taz Hot]

9. Ah, another obsticle.

Now the workshops are not accessible. Well, transportation could be provided. Next.

[hobbit709]

10. It's obstacle.

I take it you've been really hungry.

[Le Taz Hot]

14. Ah, sorry. Misspelling.

It happens. :shrug: I take it that you meant "I take it you've NOT been really hungry." and the answer to that question is, why yes, yes I have been very very hungry. I grew up poor but was fortunate enough to have around me people who lived through the Depression and they taught me how to cook from scratch. I don't see what is wrong with passing on that knowledge to those who wish to learn it.

[hobbit709]

16. try hungry as in no food at all for 3 days.

At that point you will eat anything and nutrition be damned.

My mother tells me of surviving the winter of 44-45 in the war in Vienna. The basic food ration was 2 kilos of potatoes per week and you were lucky to get half that. If there was meat in the pot it was rat. you didn't pick the insects out of the beans since they added protein. You walked a mile or so with a bucket to get water because all the mains were broken from the 24/7 bombing.

[kestrel91316]

19. There is no shortage of books and videos on basic cooking at the public library and

online (via free library computers).

IMHO anybody who "can't cook" these days is just lazy, assuming they have a stove or hotplate, a pan or two, a spoon, and a tiny fridge.

I'm not sure why otherwise intelligent folks act like it's rocket science.

[cbdo2007]

12. fruit, bread, veggies, lunch meat, cheese

don't need a refrigerator or a stove to buy that stuff at the store for < $5.00 and eat healthy.

But I'm sure you'll come up with more excuses for them.

[hobbit709]

13. See how long those last without refrigeration in the TX heat.

I'm not making excuses. You wouldn't catch me inside a McD's if my life depended on it.

[cbdo2007]

15. They only need it to last 5 minutes until they get in their mouth.

Then you go back for dinner and buy more. Then you go the next day and buy more. No refrigerator or home needed.

[hobbit709]

17. Just how nutritious is lunch meat?

Maybe you don't have time or ability to make 3 store runs a day. If you get the same at a convenience store at the corner, it will cost you more than $5 a day. and $5 a day is a lot more than most people get in food stamps, try more like 2 bucks a day if you're lucky.

I knew someone who was getting $86/mo in food stamps for him and his wife-she was on disability and he was unemployed. Then they cut it to $10/mo because they made $200 too much one year. He told them to keep it since that didn't even make it worth the effort of coming down and filling out the paperwork.

[WatsonT]

24. You can always come up with excuses

however this concept that it's either eat at mcdonalds or literally starve to death for lack of other options is entirely new and entirely invented.

[hobbit709]

27. Excuses?

I point out different scenarios. Not everything in the world is either or.
If you want to take that as excuses, well, that's your viewpoint.

[WatsonT]

29. Most of the world does not possess a refrigerator or microwave

somehow not everyone starves.

[Obamanaut]

28. The same thing occurred in a "diaper" thread. Regardless of the scenario

presented re cloth diapers there would be a response such as "this can only work if..." or "that cannot work because..."

Didn't matter that the person presenting the argument had either seen it done or had done it themselves.

[cbdo2007]

26. Right - see how the circumstances keep changing to prove your point??

You'll always find someone MORE needy than your last example.

So, did your friend who was getting $86/mo in food stamps have a refrigerator? "They made $200 too much one year" - right, so they have SOME money coming in. Do they have a stove?

"He told them to keep it...not worth the effort" - so they must not be THAT hungry. I would go down and fill out paperwork somewhere if they would send me $10 and I sure as hell don't need the extra money.

How nutritious is lunch meet? Hmmm, sliced turkey and chicken? You don't know how healthy sliced turkey is? You think it's LESS healthy than a McDonald's cheeseburger?!?!

Give me a break. Go ahead, give me your next example of someone without any arms and legs who has to get by on $.50 per month....

[aquart]

34. True, although it is getting much tougher.

All but one of my sources for good, fresh vegetables and fruits refuse food stamps and the one that takes them is expensive on all but a few loss leaders. My favorite supermarket for meat just up and closed one day.

[peace frog]

3. The sad fact is

the recipients of SNAP food stamps are homeless folks who may be sleeping on a friend's or relative's sofa, or renting a cheap motel room by the day with no place to prepare food. In such cases, it makes sense to allow the purchase of fast food with food stamps, and there are healthy choices that can be made from ff menus.

[LeftinOH]

4. My understanding of food stamps (SNAP) is that prepared (hot) food is not eligible

for purchase. Same for alcohol, smokes, pet food-

[kestrel91316]

20. All the fast food places here have signs saying they take EBT cards.

[pstokely]

22. but candy and soda are eligible

nt

[izquierdista]

7. There is a solution to this "problem"

Rather than allow food stamp/WIC/EBT funds to be used at McDonald's, a for profit private enterprise, what you do instead is have subsidized government owned and operated cafeterias. Cafeterias that serve nutritious, not junk food at very low cash prices and that accept a wide variety of vouchers, coupons, or assistance cards.

This is the idea behind the bar mleczny or "milk bar" in Poland. It was an idea of the Communist post war government and you can still find them (although not as many) operating today. Originally, they served vegetarian dishes along with milk and dairy products, which is how they got their name. Nowadays, with more meat available, they serve all types of dishes, but the cuisine is definitely Polish peasant food: pierogi, golabki, kluski, barszcz, kasza, and lots of potatoes and cabbage. You can get a good meal for a dollar and gorge yourself for $2. When you go into one, you see quite a few pensioners who are probably on fixed incomes and watching their grosz (pennies) closely, but at least they can afford to get a hot, nutritious meal.

I don't know how it would go over here in the United States. Probably would be very popular in places like Buffalo and Chicago and Milwaukee given their Polish population. Unfortunately, here in the U.S., when you go to a cafeteria at a government building, the food service is usually contracted out to a for-profit company, and so the prices are no great bargain.

[dionysus]

11. good idea.

[pstokely]

23. Soup kitchens?

nt

[WatsonT]

25. I believe that's a fancy term for a soup kitchen

which isn't necessarily a bad idea.

I'd far rather we give out food that is controlled for health reasons than to just give out the money which can be used for anything.

[izquierdista]

31. More than a "soup kitchen"

That term conveys some concoction of vegetable peels and mystery meat in a watery broth served with bread hard enough break rocks with. The bar mleczny is set up like any cafeteria where you pick up your tray and silverware at the front and slide it along, making your selections until you get to the cashier. I've been to many, and I've never had a bad meal. Cafeterias are quite popular in the South, but like anything in America, they are all run for a profit. For the government to actually own and run a cafeteria, at a loss and for the benefit of hungry people is probably too much to ask Americans to swallow.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

37. Maybe they'd go less apeshit if it was a State that did it instead of the Federal Government. -nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

35. I'm salivating already.

If I make a tourist trip to Poland, I'd certainly go to one of those.

Mmmmmmm. Pierogi.

[pstokely]

21. You can't use EBT at Subway but you can buy candy at 7-11 in some places

nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

32. already allowed in California.

[Cannikin]

36. I can buy several days worth of groceries for what a fast food meal costs.

And you get so little nutrition for the amount of calories and bad fats they contain. I can't speak for those with um... absolutely no appliances or ability to make fire to cook with, but my personal situation isnt that different, and I learned early on that eating out at a fast food place was just a poor choice both financially and nutritionally. Your food stamp money won't last the month eating out.

[kentauros]

38. I have to wonder

if we weren't in wars costing trillions of dollars, would we still be just as stingy with the money we give to those less fortunate?

Personally, I do not care what they do with the money we so generously hand over. There should be no strings attached, so why do we expect them? I certainly wouldn't want the IRS to tell me what I could and couldn't do with my tax refund (when I got one), so why do we do the same for the poor? There's no reason we can't offer advice, but I don't think we should dictate how our gift to them can be used. We're giving them a pittance as it is. why make it that much more difficult for them?