Poor people can't afford healthy food

[Anonymous]

Just for some perspective, OP. When I was little, both my parents worked part-time and went to school part-time. We owned our house, and my mom cooked from scratch.

People simply cannot do that today. The cost of living is too high, so many parents have to work two jobs. Your mother was lucky that she was able to make-do, but many people today cannot do that anymore. It’s just a fact.

[Anonymous]

High income, highly educated people may be likely to buy healthy food vs ultra-processed, but look at Trump's grocery display at the Bedminster "press conference." Basically all junk.

For poor people without the leisure or money (or either) to pursue leisure activities people with money do junk food is IMO seriously also a means of entertainment.

I used to know a single mom, definitely poor, several kids. Her cooking skills consisted of boiling hot dogs (to the point where they bloated to 4x their original size), frying up loose hamburger. box mac and cheese (bloated pasta as well), and fried potatoes. Once in awhile she'd make a tomato-hamburger-rice-onion soup which was tasty, and she could make fry bread. That's it. She had grown up in homes where the adults drank constantly and sometimes the kids would eat dry nonfat milk powder when they were hungry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:01:15 poster here--I frequently observe in the very poor areas of the eastern shore that the Haitian Americans, speaking creole who are the poorest of the poor in the county buy mangoes, avocados, rice beans and don't buy packaged foods and don't buy 2 liters of soda.

They are buying and eating better due to cultural traditions compared to the local population who buy the 2 liter sodas, processed foods in packages, and fried fast foods.

People who run food distribution say consistently that recent immigrants who are poor grab all the dried legumes they can get and fresh produce, while the locals stock up on the donated bakery treats and cereal.

I mostly eat oatmeal, but I notice that there are VERY few non-sweetened options out there from the traditional major breakfast cereal people. Every so often I have a hankering for puffed wheat, can't even find. Cereals like Total and Wheaties get a little space at the very top of the shelves.

[Anonymous]

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.

I agree. I go through long work days and easy half work days, in waves. When I work more I tend to cook from scratch less and just don't have as much mental space or time, I have limited energy. I also snack more mindlessly. Food is easy reward when stressed and tired. And I think there are issues too with our food supply and that doesn't help.

Ditto. Some weeks its PBJ. I don't buy junk food and my fridge freezer never has space for ice cream, but when I'm in that phase I'll grab a pint of fancy ice cream and eat it all. I'd be snacking on crap if there was something in the house but I am forced to settle for apples and carrots spread with PB unless I go grab ice cream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just for some perspective, OP. When I was little, both my parents worked part-time and went to school part-time. We owned our house, and my mom cooked from scratch.

People simply cannot do that today. The cost of living is too high, so many parents have to work two jobs. Your mother was lucky that she was able to make-do, but many people today cannot do that anymore. It’s just a fact.

People absolutely can cook from scratch today. So many posts ignoring other posts from current single moms and other non rich people about cooking from scratch.

I am a single mom with full custody. I work about 50 hours a week. I cook almost all our food from scratch including bread and desserts. I do ok but I am not wealthy enough where I can pay for a cleaning service or meal kits or order instacart for all my groceries . I shop sales and lean a lot on batch cooking and freezing things. I try to multi task as much as possible, so for many meal I make part of it I make enough to freeze for another time.

Honestly I think the answer here is that some people find a way if this is something important to them and other throw their arms up and say “oh well, there is no way to do this, my only option is McDonald’s dollar menu”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for some perspective, OP. When I was little, both my parents worked part-time and went to school part-time. We owned our house, and my mom cooked from scratch.

People simply cannot do that today. The cost of living is too high, so many parents have to work two jobs. Your mother was lucky that she was able to make-do, but many people today cannot do that anymore. It’s just a fact.

People absolutely can cook from scratch today. So many posts ignoring other posts from current single moms and other non rich people about cooking from scratch.

I am a single mom with full custody. I work about 50 hours a week. I cook almost all our food from scratch including bread and desserts. I do ok but I am not wealthy enough where I can pay for a cleaning service or meal kits or order instacart for all my groceries . I shop sales and lean a lot on batch cooking and freezing things. I try to multi task as much as possible, so for many meal I make part of it I make enough to freeze for another time.

Honestly I think the answer here is that some people find a way if this is something important to them and other throw their arms up and say “oh well, there is no way to do this, my only option is McDonald’s dollar menu”.

Have you ever met someone less organized and competent than you are?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for some perspective, OP. When I was little, both my parents worked part-time and went to school part-time. We owned our house, and my mom cooked from scratch.

People simply cannot do that today. The cost of living is too high, so many parents have to work two jobs. Your mother was lucky that she was able to make-do, but many people today cannot do that anymore. It’s just a fact.

People absolutely can cook from scratch today. So many posts ignoring other posts from current single moms and other non rich people about cooking from scratch.

I am a single mom with full custody. I work about 50 hours a week. I cook almost all our food from scratch including bread and desserts. I do ok but I am not wealthy enough where I can pay for a cleaning service or meal kits or order instacart for all my groceries . I shop sales and lean a lot on batch cooking and freezing things. I try to multi task as much as possible, so for many meal I make part of it I make enough to freeze for another time.

Honestly I think the answer here is that some people find a way if this is something important to them and other throw their arms up and say “oh well, there is no way to do this, my only option is McDonald’s dollar menu”.

Have you ever met someone less organized and competent than you are?

Look, I am truly not more special or smarter or more competent than anyone else. If I can make this happen I think most other people could too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for some perspective, OP. When I was little, both my parents worked part-time and went to school part-time. We owned our house, and my mom cooked from scratch.

People simply cannot do that today. The cost of living is too high, so many parents have to work two jobs. Your mother was lucky that she was able to make-do, but many people today cannot do that anymore. It’s just a fact.

People absolutely can cook from scratch today. So many posts ignoring other posts from current single moms and other non rich people about cooking from scratch.

I am a single mom with full custody. I work about 50 hours a week. I cook almost all our food from scratch including bread and desserts. I do ok but I am not wealthy enough where I can pay for a cleaning service or meal kits or order instacart for all my groceries . I shop sales and lean a lot on batch cooking and freezing things. I try to multi task as much as possible, so for many meal I make part of it I make enough to freeze for another time.

Honestly I think the answer here is that some people find a way if this is something important to them and other throw their arms up and say “oh well, there is no way to do this, my only option is McDonald’s dollar menu”.

Have you ever met someone less organized and competent than you are?

Look, I am truly not more special or smarter or more competent than anyone else. If I can make this happen I think most other people could too.

Sorry DP. Looks like Excuse Lady is back. Now all poor people have ADD or ADHD or “anxiety”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you made a great point how growing up, your Mother didn’t have much yet prioritized good nutrition for you growing up.

I think your Mother sounds very resourceful & I am glad that your family was able to enjoy a healthy diet in spite of not having much $$.

However your post comes across as a little tone deaf 🧏‍♂️ in my opinion.
Perhaps that is just my interpretation of what you wrote - but I feel as if subliminally you are calling out poor families who make excuses for not eating healthy meals.

Each + EVERY family situation is so different in so many unique ways that it is simply unfair to judge the actions of others.

Op here. Thank you for this post. I should have been more careful in my wording. Of course there are reasonable causes for people not eating healthy. My point was only that in can be done, even under not ideal circumstances.

Saying that something can be done does not mean that if people don't do it they are defective. It is possible for me to train harder to swim 3k in open water. The fact that I can't do it does not mean I am defective.

So are you the arbiter of what constitutes “reasonable causes” for people not eating healthy? Your inability to see your myopic and judgmental views is astounding.

You are basically saying that no one can comment on aspects of poverty that need to be addressed. Even people who are poor due to “no fault of their own” should be encouraged to improve their lives. And we need to discuss these things in order to improve our society. Being poor is a lot more than “just lacking money”. Anyone who has looked at expenditures under SNAP or UBI can realize that. - NP

No, that's not at all what I'm saying. I'm saying that OP's post is tone deaf and judgmental and she ought to examine that.

I definitely think we need to discuss the things that can improve our society. But OP's post implied that every poor person has it in them to eat healthy food, which is really ignorant. It smacked of the whole "just pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality that is so toxic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's SO weird to me that people in poverty are expected to hold themselves to a high standard when it comes to food choices, but nobody freaks out when rich people to eat the Takis and Mountain Dew.

America has this weird belief that people in poverty, single moms, BIPOC are all supposed to hold themselves to a higher standard than the average middle class white dude.

I don't think they have to hold themselves to a higher standard. They just also have a choice to eat healthy or not - same as anyone else. They aren't eating unhealthy due to circumstance but by choice.

Are they also poor by choice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's SO weird to me that people in poverty are expected to hold themselves to a high standard when it comes to food choices, but nobody freaks out when rich people to eat the Takis and Mountain Dew.

America has this weird belief that people in poverty, single moms, BIPOC are all supposed to hold themselves to a higher standard than the average middle class white dude.

I don't think they have to hold themselves to a higher standard. They just also have a choice to eat healthy or not - same as anyone else. They aren't eating unhealthy due to circumstance but by choice.

Are they also poor by choice?

.

Depends. If they spend all their cash eating take out and fast food…then they are poorer by choice. Buying processed food is expensive.

[Anonymous]

I grew up blue collar. We had Friday night take out, or go eat out. Once a week. Mom cooked from scratch Monday-Thursday. Saturday was leftovers night from Thursday. My WWII dad prepared and cooked a pot roast in the oven every Sunday. He did the meat, Mom did the potatoes and vegetables. He made very good roasts. We were not rich.

[Anonymous]

It’s a lack of basic skills. It’s ineptitude and a lack of education.

Cooking from scratch when you have little money, a family, two jobs and are gone from 7 to 7 is doable. You end up eating a lot of leftovers, but it’s not hard to do. Beans, lentils, different types of stews, and vegetables.

it takes a certain amount of sacrifice to use what little money you have for necessities and not for frivolous things. I’ll get attacked for saying “not buying Starbucks”, but it really does come down to using your money wisely.

Knowing how to cook basic harty meals is something that has been lost in American culture (due to wars, women getting back to work, long hours, etc. ) and maybe even in more recent immigrant cultures, but it should be something we should strive to get back to.

Dicing up some onion, celery, and carrot to mix with lentils is extremely easy and healthy. It also does not take a long time to cook.

I’ve been reading on this thread lots of extreme and outlandish excuses as to why somebody may not cook. Scared to call the landlord for a broken stove, but that might be one family at 1 millions. Realistically, most people have just lost the ability and historical knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. I am sorry I wasn't clear. My point was that I keep hearing that poor people can't afford to eat healthy, but it can be done. It just involves planning, and cooking, and accepting that you may eat the same meals several days in a row.

Not always. Thanks for your singular data point.

The truth is hard to hear, especially when it conflicts with convenient narratives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for some perspective, OP. When I was little, both my parents worked part-time and went to school part-time. We owned our house, and my mom cooked from scratch.

People simply cannot do that today. The cost of living is too high, so many parents have to work two jobs. Your mother was lucky that she was able to make-do, but many people today cannot do that anymore. It’s just a fact.

People absolutely can cook from scratch today. So many posts ignoring other posts from current single moms and other non rich people about cooking from scratch.

I am a single mom with full custody. I work about 50 hours a week. I cook almost all our food from scratch including bread and desserts. I do ok but I am not wealthy enough where I can pay for a cleaning service or meal kits or order instacart for all my groceries . I shop sales and lean a lot on batch cooking and freezing things. I try to multi task as much as possible, so for many meal I make part of it I make enough to freeze for another time.

Honestly I think the answer here is that some people find a way if this is something important to them and other throw their arms up and say “oh well, there is no way to do this, my only option is McDonald’s dollar menu”.

What’s your job? Is it minimum wage? Regular office hours or swing shifts, evenings, weekends? Do you have a car? What’s your level of education? Where do you live in relation to a full grocery store? How many children do you have? Do you get child support? What is your neighborhood like in general? Did you grow up with a parent that made meals from scratch?

I mean, you have a freezer big enough to store things so you’re already ahead of many people.

These things matter in this context. Can it be done? Sure can, but here’s your trophy and your home made, low sugar, organic spelt cookie. For other people, it is a struggle. They don’t have the job, time, tools, resources, skills, whatever to be as awesome as you are.

I say this as someone who cooks from scratch more of less every day. I’m fortunate - I WAH and although I grew up poor, I also had a mother who cooked from scratch and showed me how. I’ve been precariously housed and was thankful I knew that to do. But I also had the skills, resources, education, and a whole bunch of things that afforded me that ability. I don’t judge. I’m grateful and I try to pay it forward.