No excuse going hungry in the US

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 10-29-2016, 06:58 AM

Interesting. Are those bulk prices? Except for the eggs and electricity, those are better prices than we typically see around here. Your minimum wage is also 38% higher than federal minimum wage (31% higher than my state sets it).

**sv2007** · 10-29-2016, 08:43 AM

Originally posted by Joan.of.the.Arch View Post

Interesting. Are those bulk prices? Except for the eggs and electricity, those are better prices than we typically see around here. Your minimum wage is also 38% higher than federal minimum wage (31% higher than my state sets it).

Those are actual prices I paid at a nearby Chinese grocery chain store on Thursday.

The rice was the only thing I didn't buy because we buy them in 40lb bags. Chicken was a whole chicken that also happened to be on sale (down from $1.30/lb). Everything else was regular price..

We buy groceries on a just-in-time situation; i.e. we want to cook something that night and we go buy the ingredients. Granted some times we spend more, but the above is to illustrate that a good meal can be had for very little money w/o advanced planning.

**97guns** · 10-29-2016, 09:15 AM

There are lots of people who don't want to work or advance their career to better themselves. I see so many 20 and 30 something's panhandling on the corner, these people are fully capable of getting a job, bottom line is THEY DONT WANT TO WORK.

And in within my own group of friends and family I see the same. My niece went to college and is now a parking attendant, prior to that she was a gas station cashier.

I have a cousin that has more invested in tatoos and body art than anything else she owns, not even sure if she has a job

A friend I went to high school with has not had a job in 25 years and lives at home with parents

I have a hard time understanding the thought process of these people, are they waiting for it to fall into their laps?

**Singuy** · 10-29-2016, 09:17 AM

Originally posted by sv2007 View Post

rice @ $0.75/lb
bananas @ $0.75/lb
chicken @ $1/lb
eggs @ $3/dz
tomatoes @ $1/lb
energy @ $0.14/kWh

The cost of cooking dinner for a family of 4 using the above is $6 and 30min of cooking/prep time. Food and energy --> incredibly cheap in the US.

Labor is expensive in the US; mnimum wage is $10/hr with some areas $15/hr. At work, if I go out to eat lunch, I pay about $13. If I eat in the company cafeteria, I pay about $8. This reflects the high labor cost in US.

So, a working person should be able to feed his/her family based on math.

Why are kids still go hungry? and at large enough numbers that we read in the news that schools are offering breakfasts and meals because hungry kids don't learn well.

Is it bad financial management by parents? E.g. buying expensive prepared food (expensive labor). Or is it more due to bad time management leaving no time to cook meals? (E.g. too much web surfing?)

I wonder about this every now and then.

A typical family of 4, 2 adults and 2 child probably will be okay.

Most of the children who are food insecure are the SINGLE parents with multiple kids. You have a single mom who is working at a diner, having to balance the cost of day care, work hours(probably can't do the entire 40), buying clothes, school supplies, gas, utilities, and rent(most likely can't get a roommate). Based on your calculation, it still cost about 400-500/month on food..and that's if they can find $1/lb chicken.

**bjl584** · 10-29-2016, 11:33 AM

What is your definition of "hungry?"

The government's definition is rather convoluted.

Food Security in the U.S. - Definitions of Food Security | Economic Research Service

http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/definitions-of-food-security.aspx

**snafu** · 10-29-2016, 11:45 AM

A group of women in a Service Organization were very concerned with nutrition [particularly for pre school children] in low income/welfare families. They got permission from authorities to run short term, hands on kitchen sessions at community clinics.

While the woman liked the social and eating sections, they weren't interested in our audience participated, demonstrated, take away sheets. So much easier to send the kids to the corner store for Doritos and coke. I doubt much real food from Food Bank is actually used by recipient unless it's given/sold to someone.

I don't know if there are any studies on home use of Food Stamps/Food cards. I've seen a few disputes when the cashier rejected items, the shopper paid cash for junk foods.

**disneysteve** · 10-29-2016, 02:51 PM

Hunger and nutrition issues are not simply about dollars and cents. Access to food is one issue. For example, there isn't a single full-service supermarket in the city where I work, a town that has been named the poorest city in America more than once. People do their shopping at the corner store that is well-stocked with junk food and processed crap but nearly devoid of fresh produce, meats, etc.

Many of my patients are without power at one time or another due to their inability to pay their bills, sometimes for weeks at a time. That makes storing food and cooking rather difficult.

I have a reasonable number of patients who are at least functionally homeless. They may have a roof over their heads but it doesn't belong to them. Some live in motels via state housing programs, but they don't have any access to a kitchen. At best they have a small hotel room fridge and a microwave. And again, very limited access to purchase groceries.

By the way, some of your prices are rather high. I guess we're lucky to live in an area with more reasonable costs. For example, bananas are $.49/lb and just last week, one local store had eggs on sale for $.88/dz or $.49 if you had the coupon from the circular.

**Thrif-t** · 10-29-2016, 02:56 PM

I think it's a combination that people are lazy and they don't have enough time.

Lazy because sometimes it can be a lot of work to put a healthy from scratch dinner on the table and it takes a lot of time!

Not that that is any excuse, just saying. I do it regularly for my family but I"m lucky I only work part time and have the time to do it.

**myrdale** · 10-29-2016, 04:24 PM

I am still trying to square childhood obesity with hunger. I have a hard time understanding how we have both.

**disneysteve** · 10-29-2016, 04:40 PM

Originally posted by myrdale View Post

I am still trying to square childhood obesity with hunger. I have a hard time understanding how we have both.

Obesity happens when people have enough money to buy food but limited access to and limited knowledge of a healthy diet.

Hunger happens when people simply don't have enough money to buy food, healthy or otherwise.

**FLA** · 10-29-2016, 05:23 PM

in our worst neighborhood, the closest grocery store is 2 bus transfers away. There no longer is any state funded day care so single moms of young children really struggle to find a job that will cover day care, transportation and healthcare. So imagine leaving your kids with some overworked, not so hot but cheap babysitter, working all day for minimum wage, taking the bus with transfers to the grocery store, trying to find healthy foods on sale using the EBT card and come up with meal plans while rushing home to get the kids from the sitter and make some semblance of dinner. That's a good scenario. Throw a monkey wrench in like substance abuse and that's why kids need breakfast at school. Try living at the poverty line in this country and see how many healthy meals you can wrangle together.

this is my opinion, we don't need to have the welfare queen discussion

**FLA** · 10-29-2016, 05:28 PM

Originally posted by snafu View Post

I don't know if there are any studies on home use of Food Stamps/Food cards. I've seen a few disputes when the cashier rejected items, the shopper paid cash for junk foods.

according to the NYS SNAP program information available, there is less than 3% abuse of the system. I have heard similar percentages for several other states.

**FLA** · 10-29-2016, 05:33 PM

also, I did home care in the ghetto for 11 yrs, I can tell you food pantry food gets eaten unless people have donated crap no one eats and gov't cheese and peanut butter gets used.

**GoodSteward** · 10-30-2016, 04:15 AM

I read an article once that did a study on why kids are starving in a particular 3rd world country but the mothers are fat. They thought the kids were being abused by not being allowed to eat much. However, what they found out is that the diet for a poor area is super high carb. Flour, rice, etc. Due to this both the mother and the children are actually malnourished. The child burns the carbs off, but isn't getting much from them for nutrition. The mothers metabolisms are dropping so they don't burn as much of the food, making them become fat.

Being fat doesn't mean you are not malnourished. It all depends on what you are eating too much of that makes you fat. If it is mostly carbs, which is the case for most of America, then you are definitely malnourished regardless of if you are skinny or fat. This is why I get concerned when people reduce their food down too much to fit a budget. The lower you go, the more carbs you buy because that is what is cheapest. This will mean very bad things for you in the future.

No excuse going hungry in the US