Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it,
follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.
Our rules have been updated and given
their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!
The $21/week Food Stamp Challenge
Posts
Okay, so, not the best example. But the local bakery has a similar deal if you go in the morning before the fresh stuff is out. You only need to lower your standards a bit before people start paying you to take their food.
Obviously not a solution on a broad scale, but I'm just saying.
15 seconds in the microwave and they're as good as new. :^:
That's pretty much my experience with them. When I was in college, my parents decided to cut me off one year, and it was pretty tough living. I lived with a few guys in a rented house and basically lived off of tutoring money. I mostly ate what you guys mentioned - rice, dried beans, potatoes, occasionally canned soup when it was on sale or must-sell chicken. One of my roommates was a marine, and we'd occasionally have MRE nights. They're kind of tasty at first - at least compared to the canned-chicken-soup-drizzled-over-microwaved-potato-for-the-third-day-in-a-row, but they all have that undertone of flavor and texture that you find in protein bars which becomes impossible to ignore in surprisingly short order.
My sweet, untouched Miranda
And while the seagulls are crying
We fall but our souls are flying
This is true. They also are far from cheap...and that expense isn't just because of their "government contracted" nature. Creating varied meals that stay shelf-stable for a couple decades just isn't all that cheap.
This is true. Sometimes it was a real tough choice between whatever the chow hall was slapping down or an MRE. And shit, some MREs aren't all that bad...and I usually had a decent stockpile of just those varieties.
Wow, our food stamp program up here is pretty strict on that kind of shit. Or maybe they're just excessively stupid. Because I know that here one can't even buy chocolate milk with food stamps...only the regular variety. Which I think is kinda asinine.
Out of curiosity, are food stamps generally meant to be an entire person's source of food, or as a supplement to whatever meager budget they already have? Because if somebody has even $5 or $6 a week to kick in, it really alters the equation. Just sayin'.
I used to hide three boxes of them inside the hull of my track at all times, just in case. But man have you had the new ones? Holy crap, some of them are fantastic. Spicy Penne Pasta and Chicken Fajitas are amazing, plus they come with a sealing bag to mix your drinks and and such.
Well, they may not actually be "new", but we didn't have them in Korea. I was still eating MREs from the early 90s over there.
My sweet, untouched Miranda
And while the seagulls are crying
We fall but our souls are flying
I mean, surely in areas where you statistics are giving out a lot of foodstamps you'd do well from a public health perspective to set up stores where they take regular food options and combine them into packages which reflect however much per week one has to spend while being nutritionally complete.
Isn't this basically where the MRE idea gains its elegance, but avoiding the "oh god it also lasts 10 years and can suffice as a building material" aspect?
And fuck yes, I think NOT STARVING is an excellent motivation to get off your ass. I certainly want these programs to make sure these people are employed and able to eke out a living for themselves, and I don't think every poor person is a lazy idiot looking for a way to mooch off the system. But supporting yourself is why you get a job in the first place.
EDIT: My boss gave me a list of things to make sure were always stocked this week for WIC. It's a better way of making sure people are not just eating, but also eating healthy. I agree with Cat that we need to make sure nutrition is taught in schools, and that a person shouldn't be fucked out of a job hunt because they got sick from eating nothing but McDonald's Dollar Menu. A lot of poor are uneducated, and if we're paying for their food, might as well go the extra mile and make sure it's good for them.
Food stamps only cover food. As has been said, they are still paying for everything else. Which I have found eats up a lot more of my monthly budget than food, even when my rent and utilities(water and lights, not cable tv and internet) were under $400. But you think paying rent and having running water and lights is not incentive enough to get a job, nay, you want to, literally, starve them? You are a sadistic motherfucker.
No you can't, unless your only gauge of nutrition is available calories. We've established that you $21 is enough to avoid going hungry. Unfortunately, the closest thing we've gotten to actual nutrition is jam and juice, and maybe the occasional banana.
Yes, because when people are starving, they're fully capable of making rational decision, and working at optimum capacity. They'll also apparently be able to generate jobs from thin air even in a dismal economy, as well as making sure that the available jobs in question are within driving/walking/bussing distance. Because, you know, it's not like people are ever unable to find work after looking for it. Nah, the only reason why they're not working is because they're not malnurished enough.
This goes doubly if you're 8 years old and still growing. Not getting enough vitamins and minerals? Tough. If you don't like it, then go work at Nike, like everyone else your age.
I have not suggested that we go off and let these people starve. Furthermore, I've already made the same argument that people shouldn't be screwed out of a job due to an illness caused by poor diet. But ultimately, we all get jobs so we can afford to feed and shelter ourselves. Well, I do anyways. Maybe I'm just weird.
The eight-year-old comment justs adds to an already ridiculous post.
I work in Frozen Food and Dairy, and just from us you got Milk, Eggs, Cheese and fruit juices. I'm sure bread, meat and veggies are also offered. I'm not sure of the details, but if that system was expanded, food stamps could be cut down to 10 bucks or so supplement the diet. That should feed people in a way that promotes a good diet while offer a bit of variety here and there.
lern to reed jackass.
Uh, no, most of our food in the US isn't imported. As of 2003, imports accounted for about 11% of US consumption.
Tariffs and subsidies probably at least partially explain why the import percentage is so low though.
as i said at the top of the page, this has been split. And I know now that its not 'most' across the board. just most of your seafood and a large proportion of fruit.
Yeah, you can definately see it in the fruit. Even buying fruit at wal-mart can cost you around $40 a week if you're not careful. I miss my old place with the apple tree and garden out back, I saved a ton of cash.
The Vac - My Science Fiction Epic
Fortune Pancakes - My Gag-A-Day Comic
Spaghetti and ghetto sauce.
.99 for spaghetti and a buck for sauce.
Or better yet, just spend 10 bucks and get a costco super tub of sauce.
Anyway, I don't think spaghetti + "ghetto sauce" has much nutritional value at all, and at least personally, I'd be feeling pretty bloated (and disgusted) pretty fast on that diet.
If you focus on the nutrition, it's very hard to hit a calorie content that's net-positive day-to-day-- if you focus on the calorie count, it's very hard to hit any nutritional goals at all. I found a bag of pretzels that cost $2 and had 1600 calories-- but that's still too expensive day-to-day. All of the time I spent trying to track down new/better/cheaper foods was just more activity, and I ended up hemorrhaging weight away even if I was getting proper nutritional intake--
I'm currently near 52kg at 180cm (male phenotype), and I'm just starting to pick it up thanks to having a college meal plan. Still, it's one meal a day on average, and the only way to make the calorie mark is to eat serving after serving of things I hate.
50 bucks a year for costco. If you can't afford that well then....recycle cans and bottles.
Nice thing about spaghetti and ghetto sauce (ala non-named brand) is it gives you an asston of carbs to make you feel full as well as give you that nice energy burst from all those god damn carbs. If the italians can do it, why can't we?
And yeah, I think $50/yr puts Costco right out considering that even though buying bulk does save you money, buying bulk also requires more of an up-front investment.
Seriously, grocery shopping without a car is a whole different experience than doing it with a car.
Hey guys.
Costco doesn't take food stamps.
Neither does Sam's Club, Smart and Final, or any other big bulk membership store that I've ever heard of.
Her kids were taken away from her, and she has no job and no money. She recieves over $100 per week in food stamps and lives in a three-bedroom apartment that, despite its location in the shadiest area of town, is pretty fucking nice. She doesn't pay one goddamn penny in rent.
So how exactly is she getting these benefits and regular people who actually need help and have jobs, who are struggling genuinely, get $21 a week? Should I be writing a congressman about this?
Edit (Because I feel bad for not taking the challenge): Cup noodles at 27 cents each. 7(.27) = 1.89? There's lunch. 3.50 for a gallon of milk, 2.00 for a box of frosted flakes. Eggs and potato(e)s are cheap, and so is chicken. Last time I bought chicken hindquarters they were like $.29/lb. Fish is cheap too. I can get a ten pound box of decent quality fish filets for like $12. And there's a lot of possibilities, there.
I could survive on $21 a week. I wouldn't want to have to. Survive is the operative word.
Even basic nutrition at $21/week will be difficult. Certain weeks you wouldn't get enough of one thing and you'd get too much of something else. In that case I wouldn't worry so hard about nutrition as I would just keeping myself going on $21 a week. Your circumstances have got to be pretty grave if that's what you have to do. I think people can do it, but Christ, no one in America should have to. The state of California can feed the entire world twice over. We dump thousands of tons of food in the pacific ocean every year. Can't get it overseas to people before it goes rancid, and apparently a lot of people have a problem with distributing it to people who could use it in America.
:?
I hope.
Is there some sort of Easy Nutrition website? <.>
I learned everything I know about nutrition from a college bio 2 course. We had to do a week long complete nutritional analysis. It was very eye-opening. I don't care who you are and how well you think you take care of yourself. Sodium levels are off the fucking charts, and almost no one gets enough water. Potassium is also heavily lacking in diets. My nutrition was decent except for my sodium. Ridiculously high. It is so difficult to get around as well. I actually try very hard to eat well and balanced. We cook the majority of our meals at home. I just couldn't believe how high my sodium intake was.
I'm not saying I'm a nutritional expert, but our instructor is. One of his PhDs is in nutrition and he's a complete food nut. It was cool because he taught us a lot about nutrition and body chemistry and how they can affect each other, but he also basically ragged on us everyday for eating crap. Couldn't bring a bag of chips in that class room without being hounded for 30 minutes.
I know this is a bit of a tangent off the thread, but I don't understand why we can't teach basic nutrition and fitness in high school. For all the "physical education" classes I took, I didn't learn a damn thing about how to take care of my body the right way until college (and, even then, largely post-college).
Also, how good is that potassium chloride salt replacer? I occasionally use msg, as I've read that if you use msg+salt you get overall more flavor for less actual sodium (i.e., you end up using less salt).
Amen. My highschool taught a class called 'wellness.' It was your basic required freshmen PE course. We learned absolutely nothing about food and nutrition.
@Irond Will: A diet high in sodium can shorten your life by a good decade easily. Especially if you are genetically predisposed to heart problems. Americans love salt for whatever reason. Not only does a lot of our prepackaged food come with a lot of sodium to begin with after its prepared we add more to taste.
Also, why in God's name do you use MSG? That shit is horrible. I avoid it whenever I can but its in a lot of shit today unfortunately.
I think it's mostly because salting your food is tasty, but almost any processed food seems to give you tons of it already. My canned soups, for instance, give something like 30% of your sodium per day.
http://troublethinking.wordpress.com (Updated Wed) http://twitter.com/#!/Durandal4532
A Lunchable has twice the amount of sodium in it a human adult should consume in a day. And we feed them to kids daily.
HERE WASH IT DOWN WITH A COKE EAT UP AMERICA LAWLS
edit: I'm sorry I'm getting very upset
Coincidentally my wife and I bought $13 worth of groceries one week and never missed a meal. College will do that to ya.
Maybe they weren't buying food every week.
Maximum disbursement is $155 per month for a single person, or about $36 per week. For a family of four, it's $518, which comes out to $30 per person per week.
They also subtract 30% of your income from your allotment, which is why the average per person is $21 rather than $36 or $30.
BTW, to go from a week's budget to a month's budget, you don't just multiply by four. You multiply by 52 and divide by 12. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
It isn't that much difference though, with that math. $91 instead of $84. Of course as the numbers get bigger the difference probably is a lot more.