Groceries for the Unemployed & Laid-Off

[LuxLiving]

Getting dietary needs met while on lay-off or unemployed:

Ellen's Kitchen- Selecting high quality food on a low quality budget PART I -- Ellen's Kitchen - faqs

[rob62521]

Looks like some common sense advice on grocery buying. It's sad that someone has to write, "Never buy anything that you plan to throw away." But, I guess it needs to be said because some people don't have common sense anymore or like I like to say, "Common sense isn't common anymore."

[LuxLiving]

rob62521, you are right. Things my sister and I took for granted when my brother had his heart attack, he had no idea of - meaning - what & how to cook healthful foods, what items to avoid, what to try to get more of in his diet. He just flat out did not know. Seems strange in today's world in the U.S., even though he's an intelligent man, he had no earthly idea about his own dietary needs.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by LuxLiving

when my brother had his heart attack, he had no idea of - meaning - what & how to cook healthful foods, what items to avoid, what to try to get more of in his diet. He just flat out did not know. Seems strange in today's world in the U.S., even though he's an intelligent man, he had no earthly idea about his own dietary needs.

Far more common than you might think. I deal with it every single day counseling patients with hypertension, heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity. I ask them about their diet and they say "Oh, I eat really healthy" and then I ask for details and they start listing all kinds of crap that definitely doesn't qualify as healthy - fast food breakfast sandwich in the morning, high fat/high calorie lunch, fried, fatty foods at home for dinner (or take out). They truly have no clue at all what constitutes a healthy diet. Some of it may be denial (does anybody truly believe it is a good idea to eat a big dish of ice cream every night?) but I think much of it really is a lack of education.

Just as most of us around here wonder how people get themselves in the financial problems they do, the reality is that a great many people don't have even the most basic grasp of good nutrition.

[sidney7]

If you're unemployed or layed off I see no shame in getting food stamps. There's nothing wrong with that and if you're embarrassed about using them, many states now give you a debit card instead of actual stamps to buy food. You can always go to a self checkout at the grocery store and pay using your food stamp debit card and no one will know so nothing to be unembarrassed of.