People make fun of this. But if you are on a poverty budget, you have to buy cheap calorically rich food as you would starve on expensive healthy options. Not to mention, most poor people live in grocery food deserts where the closest food market is a dollar general that doesn’t carry fresh/healthy food.
Edit: Since people seem to think they’ve solved the food insecurity for 34 million Americans. I’ll continue to go with organization international and domestic that actually studied this.
So I live in the US. I have 2 friends that got scurvy in 2017. How did they get scurvy you might ask? Let me tell you. They live about 30 mins from the grocery store in a car. Which they don’t have. The closest person that can take them grocery shopping lives about 2 hours away. Plus they’re poor as shit.
To save money they spent 3 months eating nothing but homemade biscuits (scones for non Americans). The lack of vitamin c gave them scurvy.
They live on a fixed income. My state tightened requirements for food stamps. They were fucked.
I will say that the UN came to my state several years ago. They literally called it the 3rd world and said it was the most impoverished place in the developed world. So, there’s that.
I tried chicken and rice for a few weeks as a diet and it was beyond miserable. Only thing that kept me on it was using sauces I shouldn’t have. Yes, cookies and sweets are a little more money than rice and beans but anyone who has been subjected to the latter can testify it’s akin to eating condensed sadness. High fructose corn syrup makes this garbage dirt cheap but that’s a whole other issue.
The cart is all cookies and unnecessary shit like that. Comparing that and how eating the same food for a long time is “miserable” to places that are starving because they don’t have food is amazing. Peak America energy lol
Also cooking takes time. I make dinner every night and even with previously prepped things it’s usually 20-30min every evening. If I worked 2 jobs (12-16hr) I wouldn’t have the time nor energy, either.
I honestly don’t know how people do it. When my wife’s out of town for a week, nothing gets done beyond basic survival. I don’t have time to do any other chores, and I only work 1 job.
I live alone and everything gets done. I cook meals that have 1/2 days of leftovers and leapfrog through them so I’m not eating the same thing all week. I grocery shop after work on Friday and clean house on weekends. It’s not that difficult to manage. I guess kids would throw some complications on that though but I do have working out and hobby stuff after work that could be swapped with child care time.
I never had more time than living alone. Having a spouse and 2 kids is mayhem.
The kids make the things you mentioned impossible. I’m up an hour before them to get the day going. Then it’s getting everyone together to get to work and daycare. Pick up kids from daycare after work, cook/have dinner, a little down time (like 30-60 minutes tops) which is spent with my kids, then it’s baths and bed time routine for both of them. At this point, it is somewhere between 8 and 9, depending on how bedtime went and you haven’t even cleaned up dinner or their lunch stuff. Now you can’t leave your kids alone in the house, so you can’t run any errands.
If you have practice or activities after daycare, push everything back another hour or 2.
It’s a lot to do, which is how I dont understand how single parents do it every single day. I can handle it for a week, but a lot of routine chores don’t happen. Things like a load of laundry goes in at 10p and I pass out and it sits wet until the next day.
This was in reply to “when my wife’s out of town for a week.” And me talking about how i have no idea how single parents do it… So… not there. When she’s home, the duties are split and it’s manageable
I believe in you. There’s lots of easy stuff you can make that’s good for you too. Just have to look up recipes. I’m gonna be staying with someone for a few weeks soon and I’m dreading it because they eat like shit.
I don’t know much about diabetes diets so can’t speak to that but I haven’t really found junk food to be any cheaper than any other ingredients. Steak is more expensive but my grocery store usually has sales on particular cuts or older stuff you just need to use right away.
Now that I work 12 hour shifts 5 days a week… I only cook on the weekends. I try to make a bigger meal that saves well though. Chili, etc. after that’s gone just easier things like sandwiches until the next weekend.
This week I’ve had my eyes opened to batch cooking. We were a bit skint (not poverty line skint) and working opposite shifts to each other, so for time and money we bought in ingredients for lasagne and chilli and made a massive batch of each on Sunday.
All week I’ve been taking the chilli to work and the family have been microwaving the batches when Wifey finishes work.
Cost me 50% of my usual food budget this week, and we still got in all the usual stuff for lunches with fruit and such.
Downside was Wifey overcooked the lasagne, so it can be a gamble I guess, but I will certainly be making a massive batch of Chilli in the future
This person has blown money not getting the store brand. Driving farther to get real food cannot be that much more expensive, but let’s say it’s even $4 more. You’d get your money back buying a pound of apples. As someone who didn’t grow up with means, I know a lot of people with carts like this and it’s mostly just a history of bad choices.
Food deserts are places more than 20 minutes away from a grocery store. So at least that’s a 40 minute round trip if you have a car. And spoiler alert, most people living in poverty don’t have reliable mods of travel. It’s a proven fact that processed foods provides more calories for less than fresh produce. Two oreo cookies is more calories than a apple and they keep longer. Are there some people that make poor eating habits simply because they can, absolutely! But that’s not what I’m talking about. Please don’t demonize people for the failings of our society.
Calories, yes. Actually making you feel full? No. Oreos burn far too fast to provide meaningful fuel for your body. Non reliable transportation I completely understand. I share a car. But if you have access to a car even sometimes you can make it work. If you can’t afford even oreos then I understand. A 40 min round trip is do-able. It sucks, but once a week it works. Now, a food desert is also defined as somewhere over 10 miles away. Let’s say it’s 15 for nice math, that’s still rare. If you take a car that gets an abysmal 20 miles to the gallon and you spend $4 a gallon on gas (also an awful price) it would cost $6.00 to go to the store. $6 a week can change things, but that’s also do-able. Apples will keep on the counter for a week for SURE. So even accounting for a terrible scenario you’re better off buying apples even if you only have access to a car once a week. I know this isn’t everyone, and some people straight up can’t afford even the gas to go to the store, but my mother nickel and dimed her way through my childhood and we were able to stay decently fed. Even a box of pasta is cheaper. Forget fruit. Just eat pasta. It’s certainly better than oreos and keeps just as long
I live in central Europe and veggies and fruit are one of the first things, you see when you enter a store. They’re also really affordable and you can get them in pretty much every corner store all over the town as well. There isn’t a place where basic fruit and veggies are more than 15 minutes walking/public transit distance from you within the city. Never had to drive to a grocery store in my life. Some places are even open at night.
Let’s not blame the people for eating like this, when that’s exactly what the system is set up for.
But it’s not though. Many people on Lemmy act like the US is some evil cabal trying to kill its citizens. No. The area is just big af. People went west and were mostly self-sufficient (with regards to food production before anyone starts getting angry). Now that people aren’t self-sufficient anymore, instead of moving closer they stay put, but there’s so few people that a business can’t sustain itself. I understand some people can’t afford to move, but some people are unwilling to
Used to be that small towns had general stores so you never had to go that far. Walmart killed them all. Pair that with a lack of walkable roads, and rural America is fucked.
But it’s not though. Many people on Lemmy act like the US is some evil cabal trying to kill its citizens. No. The area is just big af. People went west and were mostly self-sufficient (with regards to food production before anyone starts getting angry). Now that people aren’t self-sufficient anymore, instead of moving closer they stay put, but there’s so few people that a business can’t sustain itself. I understand some people can’t afford to move, but some people are unwilling to
Yes, but I lived it long before watching the video. Growing up my neighborhood was literally isolated for all the surrounding grocery stores. The poor side of town was on the west side of a major highway and all the grocery stores were on the east side. But strangly enough the west side has less on ramps to the highway and even fewer bridges to get to the other side. So you had to drive an extra 20 min just to cross from west to east. But east to west was literally 2 min. A lawsuit eventually got that “fixed” but it shows malicious intent by those in power.
People make fun of this. But if you are on a poverty budget, you have to buy cheap calorically rich food as you would starve on expensive healthy options. Not to mention, most poor people live in grocery food deserts where the closest food market is a dollar general that doesn’t carry fresh/healthy food.
Edit: Since people seem to think they’ve solved the food insecurity for 34 million Americans. I’ll continue to go with organization international and domestic that actually studied this.
https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/key-statistics-graphics/
https://www.chn.org/voices/food-insecurity-is-already-a-huge-problem-for-the-u-s-in-2023-it-may-get-worse/
https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/food-insecurity#:~:text=A definition of food insecurity&text=More than 34 million people,insecurity in the United States.
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So I live in the US. I have 2 friends that got scurvy in 2017. How did they get scurvy you might ask? Let me tell you. They live about 30 mins from the grocery store in a car. Which they don’t have. The closest person that can take them grocery shopping lives about 2 hours away. Plus they’re poor as shit.
To save money they spent 3 months eating nothing but homemade biscuits (scones for non Americans). The lack of vitamin c gave them scurvy.
They live on a fixed income. My state tightened requirements for food stamps. They were fucked.
I will say that the UN came to my state several years ago. They literally called it the 3rd world and said it was the most impoverished place in the developed world. So, there’s that.
West Virginia?
Alabama
https://www.newsweek.com/alabama-un-poverty-environmental-racism-743601
Username checks out
Granted they were headed to West Virginia next. So they may have changed their tune. Heh
Why do they live on fixed income? There’s not even semi-local charities willing to donate food?
I mean maybe, but how do you get involved with one? Also, they’d have to deliver.
I’ll admit I’ve done no research, but wouldn’t Meals on Wheels fit this perfectly?
That’s a good question. She is on disability, but he is her caregiver. So, I don’t know if that would feed both. I’ll ask them about that.
Rice and beans, baby! It’s a world wide staple for a reason.
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I’m not sure what you wanted to say with the first link, but
man that’s a big difference. I wonder what’s up with that, are single woman household much poorer or something?
Yeah if it were that simple, world wide hunger would have been solved.
Some places just don’t have anything to eat. The person in the photo used their money foolishly. It’s not the same problem…
I tried chicken and rice for a few weeks as a diet and it was beyond miserable. Only thing that kept me on it was using sauces I shouldn’t have. Yes, cookies and sweets are a little more money than rice and beans but anyone who has been subjected to the latter can testify it’s akin to eating condensed sadness. High fructose corn syrup makes this garbage dirt cheap but that’s a whole other issue.
Try using spices and vegetables. When people say rice and beans they don’t mean literally only those two ingredients
The cart is all cookies and unnecessary shit like that. Comparing that and how eating the same food for a long time is “miserable” to places that are starving because they don’t have food is amazing. Peak America energy lol
Until you realize that some people are soon poor, they may be lucky to have a microwave, let alone a stovetop/cooking pots, pans.
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Because that’s the same as the intersection of poor and “working more than one job, has no time to cook, and can’t afford lots of kitchen gadgets”
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Maybe if they post those links a few more times…
Also cooking takes time. I make dinner every night and even with previously prepped things it’s usually 20-30min every evening. If I worked 2 jobs (12-16hr) I wouldn’t have the time nor energy, either.
Now throw in a being a single parent!
I honestly don’t know how people do it. When my wife’s out of town for a week, nothing gets done beyond basic survival. I don’t have time to do any other chores, and I only work 1 job.
Child labour
I live alone and everything gets done. I cook meals that have 1/2 days of leftovers and leapfrog through them so I’m not eating the same thing all week. I grocery shop after work on Friday and clean house on weekends. It’s not that difficult to manage. I guess kids would throw some complications on that though but I do have working out and hobby stuff after work that could be swapped with child care time.
I never had more time than living alone. Having a spouse and 2 kids is mayhem.
The kids make the things you mentioned impossible. I’m up an hour before them to get the day going. Then it’s getting everyone together to get to work and daycare. Pick up kids from daycare after work, cook/have dinner, a little down time (like 30-60 minutes tops) which is spent with my kids, then it’s baths and bed time routine for both of them. At this point, it is somewhere between 8 and 9, depending on how bedtime went and you haven’t even cleaned up dinner or their lunch stuff. Now you can’t leave your kids alone in the house, so you can’t run any errands.
If you have practice or activities after daycare, push everything back another hour or 2.
It’s a lot to do, which is how I dont understand how single parents do it every single day. I can handle it for a week, but a lot of routine chores don’t happen. Things like a load of laundry goes in at 10p and I pass out and it sits wet until the next day.
What is your spouse doing during all this?
This was in reply to “when my wife’s out of town for a week.” And me talking about how i have no idea how single parents do it… So… not there. When she’s home, the duties are split and it’s manageable
Sorry I got confused by this line.
I also live alone, and my kids are grown up and gone.
I came to feel that “It’s not worth it to cook for just one person” was a pretty lame excuse to eat frozen food and other garbage.
I’m trying to cook more stuff I can freeze or at least store for a few days.
Still pretty lazy though.
I believe in you. There’s lots of easy stuff you can make that’s good for you too. Just have to look up recipes. I’m gonna be staying with someone for a few weeks soon and I’m dreading it because they eat like shit.
It’s kind of hard right now, because food prices have gone up so much .
But you don’t have to poison yourself
Rice would be a choice, but I got type 2 diabetes a couple years ago after having pneumonia.
What’s really bad is bread, which is annoying because it is relatively cheap.
I don’t know much about diabetes diets so can’t speak to that but I haven’t really found junk food to be any cheaper than any other ingredients. Steak is more expensive but my grocery store usually has sales on particular cuts or older stuff you just need to use right away.
I do not have children but that is a dramatically out of touch perception of parenthood
Seriously, do one big dinner every Sunday and freeze enough portions for the rest of the week. Healthy, delicious, cheap and saves time on weekdays.
I’ve mentioned that a few times and people went “eugh, I don’t want to eat the same food two(!) days in a row”.
:/
If that’s a big issue you can always save some from last week and alternate.
Now that I work 12 hour shifts 5 days a week… I only cook on the weekends. I try to make a bigger meal that saves well though. Chili, etc. after that’s gone just easier things like sandwiches until the next weekend.
This week I’ve had my eyes opened to batch cooking. We were a bit skint (not poverty line skint) and working opposite shifts to each other, so for time and money we bought in ingredients for lasagne and chilli and made a massive batch of each on Sunday.
All week I’ve been taking the chilli to work and the family have been microwaving the batches when Wifey finishes work.
Cost me 50% of my usual food budget this week, and we still got in all the usual stuff for lunches with fruit and such.
Downside was Wifey overcooked the lasagne, so it can be a gamble I guess, but I will certainly be making a massive batch of Chilli in the future
This person has blown money not getting the store brand. Driving farther to get real food cannot be that much more expensive, but let’s say it’s even $4 more. You’d get your money back buying a pound of apples. As someone who didn’t grow up with means, I know a lot of people with carts like this and it’s mostly just a history of bad choices.
Food deserts are places more than 20 minutes away from a grocery store. So at least that’s a 40 minute round trip if you have a car. And spoiler alert, most people living in poverty don’t have reliable mods of travel. It’s a proven fact that processed foods provides more calories for less than fresh produce. Two oreo cookies is more calories than a apple and they keep longer. Are there some people that make poor eating habits simply because they can, absolutely! But that’s not what I’m talking about. Please don’t demonize people for the failings of our society.
Calories, yes. Actually making you feel full? No. Oreos burn far too fast to provide meaningful fuel for your body. Non reliable transportation I completely understand. I share a car. But if you have access to a car even sometimes you can make it work. If you can’t afford even oreos then I understand. A 40 min round trip is do-able. It sucks, but once a week it works. Now, a food desert is also defined as somewhere over 10 miles away. Let’s say it’s 15 for nice math, that’s still rare. If you take a car that gets an abysmal 20 miles to the gallon and you spend $4 a gallon on gas (also an awful price) it would cost $6.00 to go to the store. $6 a week can change things, but that’s also do-able. Apples will keep on the counter for a week for SURE. So even accounting for a terrible scenario you’re better off buying apples even if you only have access to a car once a week. I know this isn’t everyone, and some people straight up can’t afford even the gas to go to the store, but my mother nickel and dimed her way through my childhood and we were able to stay decently fed. Even a box of pasta is cheaper. Forget fruit. Just eat pasta. It’s certainly better than oreos and keeps just as long
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What a weird way to spell “chronically overstressed”.
That’s too many letters you can just say lazy or stupid.
… rice, beans, and a $15 rice cooker?
I’m as lazy as they get in the kitchen. If I can’t throw it in a pot, walk away, and walk back to food then it’s too much effort.
Rice and beans is cheap, quick, and easy.
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That’s all part of the problem though, isn’t it?
I live in central Europe and veggies and fruit are one of the first things, you see when you enter a store. They’re also really affordable and you can get them in pretty much every corner store all over the town as well. There isn’t a place where basic fruit and veggies are more than 15 minutes walking/public transit distance from you within the city. Never had to drive to a grocery store in my life. Some places are even open at night.
Let’s not blame the people for eating like this, when that’s exactly what the system is set up for.
But it’s not though. Many people on Lemmy act like the US is some evil cabal trying to kill its citizens. No. The area is just big af. People went west and were mostly self-sufficient (with regards to food production before anyone starts getting angry). Now that people aren’t self-sufficient anymore, instead of moving closer they stay put, but there’s so few people that a business can’t sustain itself. I understand some people can’t afford to move, but some people are unwilling to
Used to be that small towns had general stores so you never had to go that far. Walmart killed them all. Pair that with a lack of walkable roads, and rural America is fucked.
But it’s not though. Many people on Lemmy act like the US is some evil cabal trying to kill its citizens. No. The area is just big af. People went west and were mostly self-sufficient (with regards to food production before anyone starts getting angry). Now that people aren’t self-sufficient anymore, instead of moving closer they stay put, but there’s so few people that a business can’t sustain itself. I understand some people can’t afford to move, but some people are unwilling to
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Dude please don’t spam the same links a dozen times
On a poverty budget a plant based diet is healthier and vastly cheaper. A bag of rice and a bag of beans is cheap.
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I can get rice and beans at dollar general or literally any bodega in any city I have lived in.
Lol this is complete bullshit. What a clown.
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I see you watched the Wendover Productions video.
Yes, but I lived it long before watching the video. Growing up my neighborhood was literally isolated for all the surrounding grocery stores. The poor side of town was on the west side of a major highway and all the grocery stores were on the east side. But strangly enough the west side has less on ramps to the highway and even fewer bridges to get to the other side. So you had to drive an extra 20 min just to cross from west to east. But east to west was literally 2 min. A lawsuit eventually got that “fixed” but it shows malicious intent by those in power.
I can’t believe that’s the best option, snacks and some weird pre made stuff