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How easy is it to eat healthy on food stamps?

BeachBumDeac

BeachBumDeac

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http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-inte...arbs-panera-ceo-learns-to-live-on-4-50-a-day/

PNRA -1.54% CEO Ron Shaich is trying to subsist on $4.50 a day for a week. It’s not going so well.

Mr. Shaich agreed to try to get by on the average amount allocated to individuals in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as part of a hunger awareness campaign in which a number of corporate executives and politicians are taking part – September is Hunger Action Month — and to bring attention to a Congressional proposal to cut funding for the program.

Spending just $31.50 per week on food has turned out to be a lot harder than Mr. Shaich thought.

.....

For breakfast this morning, Mr. Shaich had dry cereal and water and made chickpea soup for both lunch and dinner. “The only veggies I’ve had are the canned tomatoes in my soup,” he says. “It’s very hard to eat well. Money really provides choices.”
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Money provides more choices? NO WAY!!!!!
 
Food stamps are supposed to be a supplemental program.
 
I know the director or a non-profit that works with local farmers and farmers markets to make good food available for food stamps in "food desert" parts of CLT. According to her, you can eat very healthily on food stamps, but it takes a lot more effort than going to the local corner store that will sell you all of the chips, cereal and cheapo frozen/processed food you want. Unprocessed veggies are some of the most affordable (and most healthy) sources of calories, but getting people to buy them takes a lot of education and convincing. There's a lot more involved in buying, prepping, cooking, planning, etc than just buying chips and microwavable meals. Just making healthy choices available isn't enough. There's a big difference in the amount of time a single mother on food stamps has to prepare food for her family and the time a middle class family has to do the same.
 
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Pulp free? C'mon.

Edit: Making fresh, healthy food available isn't enough for Americans in general so I don't know why people expect it to be enough for the working poor.
 
Shorty said:
No, really. It's true. I have some money and this morning I chose two eggs over easy on wheat toast, bacon, grits, orange juice (pulp free) and black coffee. It was delicious.
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I can't drink OJ and coffee at the same meal and not get heartburn.
 
Shorty's a pub, of course he drinks pulp-free. That's why he had the eggs over-easy instead of scrambled hard with cheese like a real man.
 
RacerDeac said:
...Unprocessed veggies are some of the most affordable (and most healthy) sources of calories, but getting people to buy them takes a lot of education and convincing....
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This. Have you noticed how inexpensive whole sweet potatoes are? Nutritious as hell and takes like 3 minutes in the microwave..
 
Portion control + breaking a daily sweat = mystery solved.

A 5 lb. bag of apples costs $3.50 and a dozen eggs costs $1.99. Chicken breast is $1.99 per pound at HT, 365 days a year.
 
DeaconSig said:
Shorty's a pub, of course he drinks pulp-free. That's why he had the eggs over-easy instead of scrambled hard with cheese like a real man.
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To be honest, I prefer OJ with pulp. My teenage daughter won't drink it, though, so my wife always buys pulp free. I guess I could buy my own OJ.

And I always put Texas Pete on my eggs, over easy or scrambled.
 
Shorty said:
To be honest, I prefer OJ with pulp. My teenage daughter won't drink it, though, so my wife always buys pulp free. I guess I could buy my own OJ.

And I always put Texas Pete on my eggs, over easy or scrambled.
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Pulp lets you know that you're not drinking some Sunny-D storebrand clone that was left over in the swill at the bottling plant that is put into translucent milk containers. Pulp has a relationship with an actual orange.

And which genetic misfire eats eggs without Texas Pete?
 
jhmd2000 said:
Pulp lets you know that you're not drinking some Sunny-D storebrand clone that was left over in the swill at the bottling plant that is put into translucent milk containers. Pulp has a relationship with an actual orange.

And which genetic misfire eats eggs without Texas Pete?
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Louisiana > Texas Pete
 
jhmd2000 said:
Pulp lets you know that you're not drinking some Sunny-D storebrand clone that was left over in the swill at the bottling plant that is put into translucent milk containers. Pulp has a relationship with an actual orange.

And which genetic misfire eats eggs without Texas Pete?
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Dead on about the orange juice. No clue on the eggs.
 
jhmd2000 said:
Pulp lets you know that you're not drinking some Sunny-D storebrand clone that was left over in the swill at the bottling plant that is put into translucent milk containers. Pulp has a relationship with an actual orange.

And which genetic misfire eats eggs without Texas Pete?
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All Oj is highly processed flavor blending to get it to taste the same all year.
 
Veggies can be expensive. Plus they can be very hard to find in impoverished neighborhoods.
 
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