[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'P')oor folks don't have kitchen equipment, money, and time to prepare nutritious healthy meals of meat and fresh vegetables (no starch/sugar thankyou!) Rather they must consume copious quantities of potato/white flour/corn flour products (hash browns, french fries, doritos, chips, bread, rolls, tortillas, etc.) and soda/sweetened-water-products. This diet has prompted the recent epidemic of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, CHD, and quite possible cancer. Grass-fed beef/lamb/chicken is the antidote, rich in Omega-3's

[AgentR11]

I need a one burner stove and a cheap skillet to make healthy from scratch. Two burner and an extra pot, and I can make it pretty.

Bread requires an oven of course, but none of our consumer, or even general purpose commercial ovens make really good bread ovens anyway, so the cheap 24" varieties will do as good as any; no reason to pretend that $2,000 piece of art in your wall can get hot enough, or produce the right kind of heat to make good bread. It can't. It sucks, mine sucks, and the one in the poor gals kitchen sucks. The several tons of firebrick, mortar, and concrete that make the one at the gourmet pizza place or real bakery? That's an oven. Won't fit in most people's kitchen though.

Time, on the working poor issue, I kinda buy, but I think its the result of a mistake in judgement. If you work longer hours to get a few more dollars in pay, but then blow those dollars on very high cost vs value junk food in order to save time; I don't see that as progress.

For the unemployed on SNAP, time is the resource they have; if they could be shown how to make it work for them to reduce their costs and improve their diet at the same time, it'd be a winner. Unfortunately, I can think of no good way to make this pitch and be convincing enough to get people to gamble on a change.

I don't mean any of this in a condescending way though, I know there are a lot of challenges involved. But, the ability is there, its just so hard to sell to the folks that could make the best use of it.

nb... I think you're beating up on carbs a bit too heavily, I know I can't reach break even and not lose weight without them.

[Quinny]

It may be different in the US but here in the UK the problem is that non-discretionary spending for the working poor makes up the majority of spending. Housing and energy costs are such a large part of the budget that saving a little on food is negligible in terms of helping when a family is struggling financially.

We have cut our food budget significantly and are eating really well, but although I believe this can be done for most people, it has made virtually no difference to our financial situation.

[Livewire713]

A lot of poor urban and rural areas do not have grocery stores that are within walking distance. Most only have small convenient stores that only sell junk food, smokes, alcohol and lottery tickets.

[vision-master]

Do you know how they could predict future harvests? lsol

[babystrangeloop]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Mich., Pa. put limits on families seeking food aid
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN / Associated Press / February 8, 2012

HOWELL, Mich. (AP) - The 2010 Buick Enclave parked in her garage kept Michigan resident Renee Moore from getting food stamps for two months last year, even though her family's income had dropped to below the poverty level, her husband's Ford Explorer had 300,000 miles on it and her family had less than $1,000 in the bank.

The reason? In the eyes of the state, she owned too much.

Unlike other states that moved away from setting limits on what families like the Moores can own before they qualify for help, Michigan last year made it harder for thousands of residents to become eligible for food stamps by adopting new limits on what people can own. Pennsylvania also is toughening its so-called asset test, adding new restrictions on who gets government help.

... In Pennsylvania, regulations set to take effect May 1 mean that households can have no more than $5,500 in eligible assets, including cash, checking and savings accounts, other investments, and things like boats and planes. One car and a home are excluded, as are life insurance and pension plans, family savings accounts and personal property.

... About 4,023 Pennsylvania households are expected to lose their benefits when the limits take effect May 1. About 880,000 households now get food assistance.

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '2')010 Buick Enclave parked in her garage

[babystrangeloop]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', 'I') read that article too, but I just can't get past a question, "why not sell this vehicle"?

[AgentR11]

on image..

A 51 yr old, with a freshly stamped degree, driving a relatively new SUV; peak oil must have warped my brain, but the only image I'm getting is "idiot".

[babystrangeloop]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', 'o')n image..

A 51 yr old, with a freshly stamped degree, driving a relatively new SUV; peak oil must have warped my brain, but the only image I'm getting is "idiot".

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'D')o you know how they could predict future harvests? lsol

[Serial_Worrier]

What we need to do is feed the EBT users more macaroni & cheese product. Moar moar moar.

[Cog]

The other white meat.

[babystrangeloop]

The nation of Foodstampia, a country as populous as Spain.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]America’s ‘Food Stamp Nation’ continues to grow
Bill Schiller / Toronto Star / February 11, 2012

In 2006, there were 26.7 million people on food stamps in America. By September 2011, that number had grown to a record 46.3 million, bigger by far than Canada’s population of 33 million, and equal to that of Spain.

In fact, if the Americans using food stamps constituted a country, they would be the 27th largest nation in the world.

... Any talk about cutting the federal program troubles [Syracuse Mayor Stephanie] Miner.

“You worry about people being hungry and what people will do if they’re hungry,” she says.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('babystrangeloop', 'T')he nation of Foodstampia, a country as populous as Spain.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]America’s ‘Food Stamp Nation’ continues to grow
Bill Schiller / Toronto Star / February 11, 2012

In 2006, there were 26.7 million people on food stamps in America. By September 2011, that number had grown to a record 46.3 million, bigger by far than Canada’s population of 33 million, and equal to that of Spain.

[Cloud9]

Politics in this country is a bit like a chess game between two inmates who share a cell in an insane asylum. The game is Sisyphean in nature in that it never ends. Neither the game nor the players ever change. While there are strategies and counter strategies, posturing and braggadocio, the real truth is the players are locked in a symbiotic relationship. They need each other and they know it. The game, well the game is there for entertainment. It provides meaning to what would otherwise be meaningless lives.