The other day, I mentioned the Montpelier family that is doing the “Food Stamp Challenge.” You can read all about their experience by clicking the links in the original article.
On day 5 of their blog, the “rules” of the food stamp challenge are posted. One of them is:
During the Challenge, only eat food that you purchase for the project. Do not eat food that you already own (this does not include spices and condiments).
This is the most foolish part of this whole “challenge.”
A person living on a food stamp (or comparable) food budget does not buy food in weekly $21 increments.
This rule, however, illustrates the real solution toward alleviating hunger among the poor – education.
Is it me, or do I simplify the solution to every problem down to education?
Instead of raising the food stamp allotment by a dollar here and a dollar there, the government should teach people seeking help how to eat well on less money. There should be mandatory classes on shopping and preparing nutritious food for less money, as a qualification for benefits.
There are a few key steps that will allow anyone to eat for less money. The first is buying in bulk, which is why this whole concept of a week’s worth of food stamp allotment drives me batty.
Another thing that is important is buying on sale. It is important to read the sales fliers every week and stock up on things when they are on sale.
For example, last week there were great sales on chicken, so I have a freezer full of chicken. This week, ground turkey is on sale, so I am stocking up on that.
I would not want to each chicken for 7 days, followed by ground turkey for 7 days, so I buy a lot, then I can mix it up in the following weeks, with whatever is on sale then.
This is why the concept of not eating what other foods you have on hand is not realistic. In order to buy things when they cost less, you need to stock up. You need to think big picture to do this successfully. In fact, many people even plan their meals monthly.
Which brings me to another education area: meal planning. I noticed that the family in this story said that they would decide what to have for dinner and shop for that. Meal planning alone would cut their budget noticeably.
Buying in season is another biggie. I was totally shocked that they said they bought non-local apples. WTF? It’s September in Vermont for crying out loud.
Anyway, it is important to buy things when they are in season because the prices are so much lower. Many things can be frozen or canned for later use, if you want.
This does mean that you have to go without certain things when they are out of season, but who wants to eat produce grown in Mexico anyway?
The last area would be the actual cooking. Eating healthy is a learned skill and, as politically incorrect as this is, there are many poor people who are not that smart. I mean, if you weren’t taught it, you won’t know it.
I don’t understand why people think you can solve a problem like hunger by throwing more money at people who do not know how to maximize the benefits of the money they already have.
Food stamps fill only a temporary need, but eating well on a small budget is a life skill that will reap ongoing benefits.
September 18th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Charity darling. I can not believe you would like the GOVERNMENT to teach mandatory classes on anything, even if as you suggest it would have to be completed before getting benefits. Why is the government supposed to take care of us in this areas but not in other areas. Look I agree with you that people make really poor choices in food and nutrition and in fact make poor choices whether they are poor and on assistance or wealthy. But really the GOVERNMENT. WTF as you say. Would they use the USDA food pyramid for class materials. Or would they quote Walter Willett?
September 19th, 2007 at 7:36 am
I don’t want the GOVERNMENT to do anything, but if I have a choice between dumping more money into benefits that people will never know how to use wisely, or dumping money into an educational program, yes, I do favor the education.
“Why is the government supposed to take care of us in this areas but not in other areas”
Last time I checked, which was yesterday, in fact, the government takes care of all areas of education.
September 19th, 2007 at 7:36 am
Unfortunately.
September 21st, 2007 at 7:38 am
But you don’t agree with the government taking care of all areas of education and yet you would like it to take care of this area? That seems kind of selective to me and a bit of a cop out to equate it with K-12 education. How about other ways of accomplishing the goal of teaching those on public assistance how to be better shoppers and prepare more nutritious foods? Church suppers promoting thrift and nutrition perhaps, or neighborhood gardening/food preservation clubs or well really anything but the government mandating a certain curriculum around food?
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Okay, let me fill in a few things here.
1. In my perfect world, people – not government – would provide the things that people need. I think all social services should be private.
2. This post is addressing this world – the not-so-perfect, on-the-verge-of-socialism world I live in.
3. If more money has to go into the food stamp program, I think it would be better spent on education.
September 26th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Actually, these are good ideas about nutrition education as well as common sense about how to make a limited amount of money go farther through proper planning and actually cooking instead of buying ‘prepared’ foods.
But the whole food stamp challenge is ridiculous on many fronts…no one lives on $21 per week – anyone getting that amount has to have other income to devote to food.
This national publicity stunt is all about generating enough ‘examples’ of people failing the challenge in order to justify more money in the program itself, with all these ’stories’ about people taking the challenge being used as part of the lobbying efforts.
Instead, take the BETTER Food Stamp Challege