rant about food stamp challenge
i read on-line today about this food stamp challenge, where some lawmakers are trying to eat for a week on just $21 (the average amount in food stamps a recipient gets). the articles make it sound like this is really roughing it. that these congressmen and women are starving when they eat like the average joe.
as someone who has been successfully spending a max of $25 a week for the past six months, i can tell you that this is complete and utter bullshit. you can buy a lot of food for that amount of money! most weeks i don't even need to spend more than $20. last week i didn't go to the store because i had plenty of food at home. no, you can't eat a tv dinner for every meal, but having to actually cook should not be considered a hardship.
from the post:
"At the Safeway, Ryan seemed to grow depressed as he realized the limits of his budget. "It's unbelievable," he said, filling his small grocery basket with peanut butter, jelly and bread. He bought a big bag of cornmeal that he says he'll try to fashion into grits for breakfast and polenta for dinner. And he grabbed some canned tomato sauce and pasta on sale. No money for meat, milk, juice, fresh fruit or vegetables, save for a single head of 32-cent garlic to flavor the tomato sauce."
readers also have to recognize that the experiment is very artificial -- those of us who do eat on a limited budget don't purchase all of the ingredients for all 21 meals at once. i don't go through a whole bottle of olive oil in a week, or a whole bag of rice. tim ryan will still have some of that cornmeal left over at the end of the week.
by the way, if rep. ryan were to continue on a grocery budget, he could go to the grocery store down the street from me and purchase a humongous bag of kale for $3 -- enough kale to make a meal every day of the week. then he could make greens with grits.
as someone who has been successfully spending a max of $25 a week for the past six months, i can tell you that this is complete and utter bullshit. you can buy a lot of food for that amount of money! most weeks i don't even need to spend more than $20. last week i didn't go to the store because i had plenty of food at home. no, you can't eat a tv dinner for every meal, but having to actually cook should not be considered a hardship.
from the post:
"At the Safeway, Ryan seemed to grow depressed as he realized the limits of his budget. "It's unbelievable," he said, filling his small grocery basket with peanut butter, jelly and bread. He bought a big bag of cornmeal that he says he'll try to fashion into grits for breakfast and polenta for dinner. And he grabbed some canned tomato sauce and pasta on sale. No money for meat, milk, juice, fresh fruit or vegetables, save for a single head of 32-cent garlic to flavor the tomato sauce."
readers also have to recognize that the experiment is very artificial -- those of us who do eat on a limited budget don't purchase all of the ingredients for all 21 meals at once. i don't go through a whole bottle of olive oil in a week, or a whole bag of rice. tim ryan will still have some of that cornmeal left over at the end of the week.
by the way, if rep. ryan were to continue on a grocery budget, he could go to the grocery store down the street from me and purchase a humongous bag of kale for $3 -- enough kale to make a meal every day of the week. then he could make greens with grits.