Poor people can't afford healthy food

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When new grocery stores open in these food deserts, they typically cannot turn a profit and our frequent targets for theft. People don’t suddenly start buying and cooking vegetables from scratch just because there’s a grocery store nearby. Most poverty in America is a cultural issue rather than a simple lack of money.

And your source for this conclusion?

New Poster, come over to the poor counties on the eastern shore. Go into any grocery store. Look in the shopping carts.
It is obvious that grocery buying decisions are cultural. Very few are buying bananas, rice, beans, potatoes and heads of cabbage (some of the cheapest foods in grocery stores.)

Carts are loaded with 2 liter sodas and processed food in packages.

And this is why food stamps should be changed to be like WIC - the gov gives $ to help people eat. It shouldn’t be able to be spent on soda and chips. Let them spend their own money on that and food stamp $ on healthy food.

It is wild to me when people who don’t have money buy soda. I was poor in my 20s and I wasn’t spending my grocery money on drinks (tap water is free when you rent), or desserts. I remember once being stuck in line behind this woman who was clearly broke and screaming at the cashier about a 50 cent coupon for her soda and that wasn’t working and just thinking….put the soda back and get some frozen spinach dummy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we have lost the plot, I guess OP didn’t articulate her thoughts correctly. Clearly, she wasn’t referring to the 0.1% subset of poor people who may not have a house or a stove etc.

I think she was alluding to lower income people relying on fast and junk food instead of trying to cook from scratch. As the obesity rate in America is inching closer to 42% and 78% of the population is overweight and obese, I think we all need to take ca stock and reduce processed and fast food consumption.

Sure, there are always lots of arguments as to why something can’t be done, but the truth is those arguments are valid for a very tiny subset of low income or poor population. Rather than stoves and access to food, what would help us tremendously is if people have more time to plan and cook, this applies to all income levels.

Our policies don’t support healthy eating, downtime and a culture where we take care of ourselves. It’s all about the bottom line and that obsession is being reflected in the health of our people.

The interesting thing is it’s not like middle class and upper class people
aren’t obese, despite having all the tools, including Ozempic. Many who aren’t obese have disordered eating.

Totally agree, overweight and obesity is rampant in all classes, we all need to change how we eat.

What? Lots of people aren’t overweight and don’t have disordered eating. Those people (like my family) just have thin genes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of this works when the stove in your crappy apartment breaks and you’re scared to tell the landlord because if he comes in he’ll know you have more than the allowed number of occupants in your place.

Or when you have a slumlord who won’t deal with the mouse and/or roach infestation so you can’t store any food in bulk.

Excuse lady has joined the chat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up poor. My single mom made minimum wage her entire life as a personal support worker. She is from southern Africa and only has a 6th grade education. We ate very healthy food. What made it work was that she cooked from scratch and we ate the same food several days in a row.

She managed the cost of food by preparing simple healthy dishes (stews and cornmeal porridge, or stews and rice).

She managed the time it takes to shop and cook by cooking one or two big pots of stew per week, so there was not so much variety in what we ate. We didn't have a car, so we took the bus to the grocery store once a week.

She got paid every Thursday and on payday we would have a treat (maybe a pizza or burgers).

Anyway, she came from a different place and a different time, but that is how you can be poor and eat healthy.

So why don't you go to a store today, armed only with $300 in food stamps for one month for 4 people and see how you do. Feel free to come back and show us how you did it.

But what will she put in the bento boxes for morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and pre-dinner snack?

Large amounts of mixed greens and beans and small amounts of meat. It’s really not hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this works when the stove in your crappy apartment breaks and you’re scared to tell the landlord because if he comes in he’ll know you have more than the allowed number of occupants in your place.

Or when you have a slumlord who won’t deal with the mouse and/or roach infestation so you can’t store any food in bulk.

Excuse lady has joined the chat.

I'm shocked there aren't more people making excuses. WaPost and NY times has been pushing this whacky stuff for years.

" Poor people are starving" Really, they sure as hell don't look like it.

"Poor people eat bad food because it's the only joyful thing in their sad life" Really, these people don't know about true poverty. These people are doing great compared to the poor in other countries.

"Poor people live in a food desert" Ah ok, seem to be doing pretty good for living in the middle of a "desert." And they can't drive anywhere because no spark plugs. And spark plugs on backorder, Amazon can't deliver. And bus driver called off sick. And friends and family have covid. Kid has ADHD and can't drive. And they only sell Twinkies at the grocery store so what do you expect them to eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this works when the stove in your crappy apartment breaks and you’re scared to tell the landlord because if he comes in he’ll know you have more than the allowed number of occupants in your place.

Or when you have a slumlord who won’t deal with the mouse and/or roach infestation so you can’t store any food in bulk.

Excuse lady has joined the chat.

I mean, these are all valid excuses.

I met an Uber driver today who used to live in what he called a crash house. In Arlington. He said the landlord had set up 3 bunk beds in each bedroom of a 3 br apartment and also rented out the walk in closet separately. 19 people living there. There’s no way anyone there was cooking a pot of stew.

In my younger years I lived in a studio in DC and one of my neighbors had 3 adults living in a studio. Maybe they were cooking a pot of stew, but to the above poster’s point, they might not be calling maintenance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this works when the stove in your crappy apartment breaks and you’re scared to tell the landlord because if he comes in he’ll know you have more than the allowed number of occupants in your place.

Or when you have a slumlord who won’t deal with the mouse and/or roach infestation so you can’t store any food in bulk.

Excuse lady has joined the chat.

I'm shocked there aren't more people making excuses. WaPost and NY times has been pushing this whacky stuff for years.

" Poor people are starving" Really, they sure as hell don't look like it.

"Poor people eat bad food because it's the only joyful thing in their sad life" Really, these people don't know about true poverty. These people are doing great compared to the poor in other countries.

"Poor people live in a food desert" Ah ok, seem to be doing pretty good for living in the middle of a "desert." And they can't drive anywhere because no spark plugs. And spark plugs on backorder, Amazon can't deliver. And bus driver called off sick. And friends and family have covid. Kid has ADHD and can't drive. And they only sell Twinkies at the grocery store so what do you expect them to eat.

There’s so many ignorant tells in your post, but this is The one I’m going to point out.

Starving and malnourished are completely different things. Many people experiencing poverty and food insecurity ARE starving for food that actually nourishes their brains and bodies. Calories aren’t the problem, government subsidies take care of that.

It’s so clear based on this post and so many others that this is another issue that the extremely privileged group DCUM refuses to understand, and that’s not can’t understand, that’s refuses to understand, until Thanksgiving comes and they need a volunteer opportunity for them and their kids to share on Insta. The poors are there solely to make you feel superior about your “choices” and position in life, until
You need them to feel humble about how #blessed you are, even though you hate that hashtag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this works when the stove in your crappy apartment breaks and you’re scared to tell the landlord because if he comes in he’ll know you have more than the allowed number of occupants in your place.

Or when you have a slumlord who won’t deal with the mouse and/or roach infestation so you can’t store any food in bulk.

Excuse lady has joined the chat.

I'm shocked there aren't more people making excuses. WaPost and NY times has been pushing this whacky stuff for years.

" Poor people are starving" Really, they sure as hell don't look like it.

"Poor people eat bad food because it's the only joyful thing in their sad life" Really, these people don't know about true poverty. These people are doing great compared to the poor in other countries.

"Poor people live in a food desert" Ah ok, seem to be doing pretty good for living in the middle of a "desert." And they can't drive anywhere because no spark plugs. And spark plugs on backorder, Amazon can't deliver. And bus driver called off sick. And friends and family have covid. Kid has ADHD and can't drive. And they only sell Twinkies at the grocery store so what do you expect them to eat.

There’s so many ignorant tells in your post, but this is The one I’m going to point out.

Starving and malnourished are completely different things. Many people experiencing poverty and food insecurity ARE starving for food that actually nourishes their brains and bodies. Calories aren’t the problem, government subsidies take care of that.

It’s so clear based on this post and so many others that this is another issue that the extremely privileged group DCUM refuses to understand, and that’s not can’t understand, that’s refuses to understand, until Thanksgiving comes and they need a volunteer opportunity for them and their kids to share on Insta. The poors are there solely to make you feel superior about your “choices” and position in life, until
You need them to feel humble about how #blessed you are, even though you hate that hashtag.

Why don’t you put some facts in your posts instead of lecturing people? Back it up. How many people in the US are starving or malnourished? Not living in a food desert but clinically undernourished.

[Anonymous]

I agree with OP to some extent. The average nonwhite low-income family doesn't feed their kids lentils and rice, or beans and rice. Those meals are healthy and cheap. I also cook a lot of chili over spaghetti. The average American doesn't "know" or "care" about eating healthy. Excuses, excuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When new grocery stores open in these food deserts, they typically cannot turn a profit and our frequent targets for theft. People don’t suddenly start buying and cooking vegetables from scratch just because there’s a grocery store nearby. Most poverty in America is a cultural issue rather than a simple lack of money.

And your source for this conclusion?

New Poster, come over to the poor counties on the eastern shore. Go into any grocery store. Look in the shopping carts.
It is obvious that grocery buying decisions are cultural. Very few are buying bananas, rice, beans, potatoes and heads of cabbage (some of the cheapest foods in grocery stores.)

Carts are loaded with 2 liter sodas and processed food in packages.

And this is why food stamps should be changed to be like WIC - the gov gives $ to help people eat. It shouldn’t be able to be spent on soda and chips. Let them spend their own money on that and food stamp $ on healthy food.

It is wild to me when people who don’t have money buy soda. I was poor in my 20s and I wasn’t spending my grocery money on drinks (tap water is free when you rent), or desserts. I remember once being stuck in line behind this woman who was clearly broke and screaming at the cashier about a 50 cent coupon for her soda and that wasn’t working and just thinking….put the soda back and get some frozen spinach dummy.

My parents are poor but always have soda fully stocked. I don't think food stamps should pay for soda or maybe just $5 a month limit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with OP to some extent. The average nonwhite low-income family doesn't feed their kids lentils and rice, or beans and rice. Those meals are healthy and cheap. I also cook a lot of chili over spaghetti. The average American doesn't "know" or "care" about eating healthy. Excuses, excuses.

The average white low-income family doesn’t do that either. It’s mostly immigrants and rich people cooking from scratch. Half a century of industrial food manufacturing, coupled with women entering the workforce en masse and turning to convenience foods because they didn’t have time to cook, meant most people lost the tacit knowledge for cooking. If you have a lot of time and/or money to throw at it you can relearn it. My great grandmother cooked everything from scratch because that’s all she could afford/all that was for sale. My grandmother used canned food because now they were middle-class and prosperous. My mother fed us frozen vegetables and pasta. I spent a lot of time reading cookbooks and practicing. I hope to teach my kids so that when they’re adults this is just “what one does.”

[Anonymous]

I kind of get what OP is saying. My parents grew up poor in the 40’s and 50’s and ate home cooked, generally healthy food. My grandparents shopped and cooked.

My father’s parents were in NYC and didn’t have a car but took the train/bus to shop and fed a family of 9.

My mother’s parents were a little better off and lived in NJ, right outside of NY. My grandfather had a car so they could get to the store. They had a yard and grew a lot of vegetables. They even grew figs, blueberries, strawberries. There was no fast food or going out to dinner. My grandmother was always cooking and fed a family of 7 plus borders they took in. She also took a trip south once a year for canning and brought preserved food back.

I know conditions aren’t the same today there are a lot of single heads of households who work. My grandmothers didn’t work so they had time to plan meals and cook for their large families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When new grocery stores open in these food deserts, they typically cannot turn a profit and our frequent targets for theft. People don’t suddenly start buying and cooking vegetables from scratch just because there’s a grocery store nearby. Most poverty in America is a cultural issue rather than a simple lack of money.

And your source for this conclusion?

New Poster, come over to the poor counties on the eastern shore. Go into any grocery store. Look in the shopping carts.
It is obvious that grocery buying decisions are cultural. Very few are buying bananas, rice, beans, potatoes and heads of cabbage (some of the cheapest foods in grocery stores.)

Carts are loaded with 2 liter sodas and processed food in packages.

And this is why food stamps should be changed to be like WIC - the gov gives $ to help people eat. It shouldn’t be able to be spent on soda and chips. Let them spend their own money on that and food stamp $ on healthy food.

It is wild to me when people who don’t have money buy soda. I was poor in my 20s and I wasn’t spending my grocery money on drinks (tap water is free when you rent), or desserts. I remember once being stuck in line behind this woman who was clearly broke and screaming at the cashier about a 50 cent coupon for her soda and that wasn’t working and just thinking….put the soda back and get some frozen spinach dummy.

Soda is about the cheapest “treat” out there. If you were only “poor” in your twenties, you might not get that. Also, frozen spinach usually costs more than a soda — so I’m guessing you included that bit for the joy of calling a stranger whose circumstances you didn’t actually know a “dummy”.

And, yeah, tap water, while not exactly “free”, is included in the rent. It often tastes terrible though, and may have other issues— including lead pipes— that might make it a problematic choice. I’m guessing that you didn’t spend your “poor” 20s in Flint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When new grocery stores open in these food deserts, they typically cannot turn a profit and our frequent targets for theft. People don’t suddenly start buying and cooking vegetables from scratch just because there’s a grocery store nearby. Most poverty in America is a cultural issue rather than a simple lack of money.

And your source for this conclusion?

New Poster, come over to the poor counties on the eastern shore. Go into any grocery store. Look in the shopping carts.
It is obvious that grocery buying decisions are cultural. Very few are buying bananas, rice, beans, potatoes and heads of cabbage (some of the cheapest foods in grocery stores.)

Carts are loaded with 2 liter sodas and processed food in packages.

And this is why food stamps should be changed to be like WIC - the gov gives $ to help people eat. It shouldn’t be able to be spent on soda and chips. Let them spend their own money on that and food stamp $ on healthy food.

It is wild to me when people who don’t have money buy soda. I was poor in my 20s and I wasn’t spending my grocery money on drinks (tap water is free when you rent), or desserts. I remember once being stuck in line behind this woman who was clearly broke and screaming at the cashier about a 50 cent coupon for her soda and that wasn’t working and just thinking….put the soda back and get some frozen spinach dummy.

Soda is about the cheapest “treat” out there. If you were only “poor” in your twenties, you might not get that. Also, frozen spinach usually costs more than a soda — so I’m guessing you included that bit for the joy of calling a stranger whose circumstances you didn’t actually know a “dummy”.

And, yeah, tap water, while not exactly “free”, is included in the rent. It often tastes terrible though, and may have other issues— including lead pipes— that might make it a problematic choice. I’m guessing that you didn’t spend your “poor” 20s in Flint.

The person in front of me buying the soda was also not living in flint Michigan. We were in an area where the tap water was just fine. But again, excuses, excuses. Also why is poor in quotations? I was poor. It’s not something I am proud of but I had a tough few years in my 20s. Also at that time, yeah a pack of frozen spinach was the same or less in cost than a two liter of soda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this works when the stove in your crappy apartment breaks and you’re scared to tell the landlord because if he comes in he’ll know you have more than the allowed number of occupants in your place.

Or when you have a slumlord who won’t deal with the mouse and/or roach infestation so you can’t store any food in bulk.

Excuse lady has joined the chat.

I'm shocked there aren't more people making excuses. WaPost and NY times has been pushing this whacky stuff for years.

" Poor people are starving" Really, they sure as hell don't look like it.

"Poor people eat bad food because it's the only joyful thing in their sad life" Really, these people don't know about true poverty. These people are doing great compared to the poor in other countries.

"Poor people live in a food desert" Ah ok, seem to be doing pretty good for living in the middle of a "desert." And they can't drive anywhere because no spark plugs. And spark plugs on backorder, Amazon can't deliver. And bus driver called off sick. And friends and family have covid. Kid has ADHD and can't drive. And they only sell Twinkies at the grocery store so what do you expect them to eat.

There’s so many ignorant tells in your post, but this is The one I’m going to point out.

Starving and malnourished are completely different things. Many people experiencing poverty and food insecurity ARE starving for food that actually nourishes their brains and bodies. Calories aren’t the problem, government subsidies take care of that.

It’s so clear based on this post and so many others that this is another issue that the extremely privileged group DCUM refuses to understand, and that’s not can’t understand, that’s refuses to understand, until Thanksgiving comes and they need a volunteer opportunity for them and their kids to share on Insta. The poors are there solely to make you feel superior about your “choices” and position in life, until
You need them to feel humble about how #blessed you are, even though you hate that hashtag.

You are correct. They are actually malnourished because they are eating crap. Nobody expects these people to eat organic chicken from Wegmans, but the vast majority of these people are making horrible choices.