News
Navigation
Other Issues
This Issue
- Front page
- News
- Sports
- Opinions
- Intermission
- Dining Guide
- Night Life Guide
- Careers
- Features
- Classifieds
Buy
SMS
RSS feeds
Comments about "The food stamp meal plan: $3 a day"
<< Back to The food stamp meal plan: $3 a day
12 Comments on this article:
Um, I lived on Foodstamps when I was younger and I can't think of anyone who just fed themselves on foodstamps alone. Most people on foodstamps receive other forms of government assistance as well, and work, at least a minimum wage job. It is really hard living on that amount of money anyway and yes, for my childhood the food I ate was not that healthy, or abundant, especially after my parents got off of foodstamps, but I think it is a bit disingenuous to say that most people on food stamps only get 3 dollars a day worth of food.
Additionally, the real problem in these communities is not that they need more government food handouts thrown at them. What they need is better education and opportunities to gain real and valuable work skills, and actual jobs that they can do. Nutrition and other medical education would also help. They do not need pity, either, we all benefit when we have a trained and educated work force. And I don't think everyone needs to go to college, but the trade programs that used to exist have disappeared.. Bad things happen in life and some people will always need the assistance, and we should be taking care of the poor, but I don't think that the real problem is that they aren't receiving enough money in foodstamps.
Sorry, also want to add, that the reason that the unhealthy foods are so cheap is because our farm subsidy bill subsidizes corn (which becomes corn syrup) and not fruits and vegetables, making these foods really expensive.
I completely echo student's remarks. When I first saw the fliers for this, I accepted that the $3 a day might be a symbolic stand against a lack of support for people on food stamps, but increasingly the event has tried to make the stretch that $3 is all that one would get on food stamps. In fact, this is only an average, so there are people on food stamps who get less support, but supplement their income with food stamps, and those who get more and might actually be able to live off food stamps, albeit less healthily than we might consider appropriate.
I just think that when you are less than honest, people will not listen to you and you can not help your cause
Mexico radicals may think that got over on America, but when the see how they just starved not only the poor in Mexico, as well as all of Latin America, the world and California: there is not a thing, even selling drungs and prositution will not be enough to keep up!
"Crude Breaks $120 a Barrel Barrier: time to panic," by John
Gittelson, c. 6 May 2008
Talk about perfect timing,
"Analysts Predicts $200 Oil could happen this year,"
I'm living on a graduate stipend, and honestly, I average about 6-7 dollars a day on food - that includes about 100 dollars/month on groceries + some amount of eating out.
The great thing is, I eat HEALTHY. The trick is to buy on sale, and get lots of produce and fruit. Example: 3 weekday lunches = 1 package of shaved deli meat (2.50), half a loaf of whole-grain bread (full loaf = 2.00), a head of green lettuce (.99), half a cucumber (whole = .69), 2 tomatoes (~.66 at .99/lb). Add in some baby carrot sticks (1 1b = 1.29), and yogurt (1.50 at .50/container). Still hungry? Snack on a quaker granola bar - box of 10 can be had for 2.50.
Rice is 8 dollars for about 75 servings (10 pounds)... A stir-fry of vegetables and a little bit of meat or tofu is fast, super healthy and can come out to less than 2 bucks a serving. Beans are really nutritious and cheap, fruit and vegetables that are in season is also healthy and fresh. Even meat can be a good buy on sale - just don't be eating prime steak every day.
So yeah, 3 dollars/day might be a stretch, but eating on something approaching that budget doesn't have to leave you starving or deprived of nutrients. You pay the price when you shop at convenience stores - so if you keep track of sales at Safeway, Lucky, Ranch99, etc (and it really doesn't waste that much gas money to go to all these, if you just stop in on your way somewhere else, or plan your routes properly) or know for instance, that milk is always the cheapest at Trader Joe's, and you are willing to cook a lot and never waste leftovers, then eating cheaply and well is totally doable.
For those of you stuck on campus without transport... tough luck. I guess you have to eat at the overpriced campus eateries or shop at higher end groceries nearby like Andronico's and Whole Foods. But you can look forward to the day when you have your own kitchen and can search out cheaper food options further away :)
Well, if you can't live off $3 a day... here's an idea: stop having babies out of wedlock and GET A JOB
Poor people do not shop at Trader Joes or Safeway, they shop at Food For Less. And Jimbo, you exemplify the problem with this campaign, they have not chosen the right message and messenger. Most people that get Foodstamps have jobs, and are single working females with children. Foodstamps was set to help people when the bad unexpected things happen (ie: you are widowed, you husband runs off, there is the Great Depression, the factory you worked for moves to China, you suddenly become disabled) my Mom worked my entire childhood. Most people on Welfare do not want to be on Welfare and are actively working to make sure that they are not, or that their children won't be. But of course there are always those examples of the multi-generation welfare family who lives in one house and all the teenagers have children. But despite what the Right Wing will tell you, these are not the norm, the working class people are.
In response to Student, I just want to say a couple things. I don't think that the Food Stamps Challenge was in any way disingenuous. Yes, the money that low-income people receive in food stamps is supposed to be supplemental to other forms of income - so people have more than $3 to spend on food/day. BUT, with rising costs in health care, housing, food prices, etc., poor people really are now forced to rely on their food stamps budget for food. Many people really are being forced to survive on $21/week.
Obviously, what needs to be advocated for is a higher living wage, better public education, increased job opportunities in low-income communities, affordable health care for all Americans. But, that doesn't mean that it is not also necessary to advocate for increased funding for food stamps in the United States - an amount that has not increased in over a decade. In order to combat poverty and inequality in the US, we must push for comprehensive reform. To say that the Food Stamps Challenge and what it sought to provide awareness about was inadequate, in my opinion, is an unfair attack on a campaign that did a lot of good on campus....
Somehow I don't think that "Kashi Ranch Flavored Rice Cakes" are especially necessary to anyone's diet!
"BUT, with rising costs in health care, housing, food prices, etc., poor people really are now forced to rely on their food stamps budget for food. Many people really are being forced to survive on $21/week. "
What part of I grew up on food stamps did you not understand? You are preaching to the choir. There are probably few people on this campus who can tell you what it is like to grow up poor better then I can. My problem with the campaign is three fold.
1: The language used was paternalistic. Poor people do not need pity.
2. Using the homeless man on the street as a representation is bad group policy. He is not representative of this community, and these people have different needs then most of the people on welfare. Additionally most people see the homeless as criminal or insane (which is horribly unfair). This is a bad messenger.
3. If you are not honest no one will believe you and they will continue to have the image of welfare queens and drunks in their heads.
Look, my boyfriend is an econ major and when you give him figures like this and tell people MILLIONS ARE LIVING ON THREE DOLLARS A DAY (which is untrue) then he says bullshit and doesn't want anything to do with your organization. You need to be real and see that this community is complicated. There are many many reasons why there are a lot of people on foodstamps right now including outsourcing and the housing crisis, in addition to all of the other reasons, such as disability, absent fathers (or mothers), poor education etc. etc.
Look you guys are going to be senators, lawryers etc. etc. And you claim to be fighting for this community. Well then you need to have a nuanced and respectful understanding of this community in order to do real things. And you need to be real and honest in your representation. Perhaps you should actually try to have conversations with people who were/are on Welfare. My mom is always willing to come down here and give a talk. Or I could. So please don't tell me how it is. I know.
Student, we are largely in agreement here. I agree that there are many reasons why people are on food stamps, and that there are many complex factors that contribute to poverty in America. I think to a large extent this was conveyed... and to the degree that it was not, you should talk to the organizers of the event so that they can work to improve their awareness materials for future years... If you want to know whether or not the organizers have spoken with people on food stamps, or on welfare, you should ask them yourself. And if they haven't, it's an important suggestion to make to them.
The homeless man as a representation you're talking about was the photo display? That photo had a quote from Nelson Mandela about poverty. It also had an image from the Rwandan genocide in it. It was a piece of art. Didn't say anything about food stamps. To me, it looked like that was just intended to be a powerful photo to make people think critically about poverty and inequality generally, domestically and abroad - and not specific to the Food Stamps Challenge.