it's funny; I hadn't even heard of this food stamp challenge til today. I did hear about that governor out in Oregon, though, which was my inspiration.
I'm so used to living with the consequences of my shopping choices, good & bad, that I was embarrassed to put up today's post about wasting $30 at the grocery store on stuff like lettuce and cheese. Cuz now everybody knows I'm not superwoman, lol.
Beans and rice and eggs. Oatmeal. Cooking oil. Some fruit and veg. Milk for the kids. Margarine (not good, I know now.) Cheese, occasionally. Meat very occasionally. That's what I grew up on. We were poor people. This was during WW II. I grew up tall, strong, and healthy.
Now I go into stores and see things like 1/1/2 ounces of some dried treat food for kids in a plastic container that costs around $2.50, that you can buy with food stamps. I see many consumers with food stamps buying shockingly non-nutritious food for their families at their local grocery. Then they pay cash for the six pack of Bud and the cigarettes. The smart ones go to the health food store and load up on cheap bulk staples--lentils, beans, brown rice, oatmeal,etc.-- and get a package of carrots, some onions, cabbage, etc. etc. Our local farmers' market takes food stamps, and produce is cheap here. This is probably not true most places.
Everyone needs an education in how to feed families cheaply. Who knows what the future may bring? I'm glad I don't have to eat the monotonous diet of the poor now, but believe me, if I were poor, I would cut out the treats in favor of solid nutrition. It's bad enough being poor as it is, without getting sick because you eat bad food.
We haven't even got a Farmer's Market. Just Wal-Mart -- three SuperWalmarts in one town, and a Harp's trying to stay afloat by offering (overpriced) organic produce and that. Wal-Mart, having driven out the local groceries, now is free to charge what it wants for bad produce and nasty meat, which it does. Try living on a dollar a day here. Ha!
That farmer's markets take food stamps is a wonderful thing, but keep in mind that many states have discontinued food stamps for magnetic strip cards, such as Texas' Star Card. And most farmer's market merchants can not afford the card reader setup required to accept those cards for payment. Not to mention that many market locations are ill-suited to provide the electricity and telephone/internet connectivity needed to make the system work.
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