No excuse going hungry in the US

[StormRichards]

this is the stupidest sentence yet besides comparing a college kid living on little for a temporary time period to a family with generations of poverty living in the ghetto with no access to hop into friends' cars because their friends are in the same situation.

I don't think you really want answers to your questions. I recommend you read Nickel and Dimed, a book on what it is really like to live on minimum wage. Quite eye opening.

I has similar thoughts when I read that post. Jitney service is common in really poor areas because few have access to cars. Many of the cars in those areas are owned by people you shouldn't associate with anyway, and probably don't use it for grocery "runs." Drug runs maybe.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Um most inner city people don't have a car. If you lived a long term in place like that in that situation you'd know that. Gas cost more and local bodegas charge more. Most there have never been to a costco and I pick costco because it has a membership and usually in suburbs. So going is a PIA and buying stuff not worth it.

Assuming that they can scrape together money to buy in bulk. Also usually Walmart doesn't open in cities either, Target does but it's not Super Target. And having lived there I can say the store is smaller and less food stuff.

It sucks to live like that.

[disneysteve]

I didn't keep writing organic in the ingredients because the point was eating healthy

Organic does not equal healthy.

Organic food has the exact same nutritional value as the conventional versions of the same thing in most cases, but the organic ones are far more expensive. If we're talking about poverty and hunger, organic shouldn't even be a part of the conversation. If the problem is affording food, you need good and inexpensive nutrition.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I am not sure what you are confused about. All the ingredients are cheap, 90% healthy (Yes the split pea soup has 1 small container of organic sour cream). All of the ingredients is whole, organic food. Organic veges. I didn't keep writing organic in the ingredients because the point was eating healthy at a low cost. I've frequently stated we shop at just one health food store. Grocery Outlet has A TON of organic, whole food. They specialize in organic whole food and junk food imho. The little amount of meat we eat is from local growers, the animals are pasture raised and fed grass instead of corn.

What I find confusing is that you find these things healthy for YOU to eat, but not healthy for residents of a third world country to eat. You said to GoodSteward when he was talking about a study in a particular third world country, " They didn't have a chance because they weren't even eating real food. " I think the people GoodSteward was talking about were likely eating the same sort of high carb foods you are talking about. I'm not criticizing what you choose to eat. I'm asking why is it "not real food" when someone in another country eats it?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I'm not sure where you are getting that I'm making a "very good living". I don't think I cared enough to bring up what I make or don't make. Money is not all that important to me; it is how a person live and seek out achievement that makes a difference for me.

Pardon me for thinking you had written about making a good living. I thought I had read about that in your first post or two in these SavingAdvice forums, a forums whose focus is something other than, "how a person live and seek out achievement." The focus of this forum is saving money.

[StormRichards]

Pardon me for thinking you had written about making a good living. I thought I had read about that in your first post or two in these SavingAdvice forums, a forums whose focus is something other than, "how a person live and seek out achievement." The focus of this forum is saving money.

I read a thread that was bumped today and made the same assumption. One comment referenced stock options, which are traditionally (not exclusively) offered to people in higher end jobs.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

retiring in 30s would also make the assumption you made a good salary. Actually MM said it's easier to FIRE on a larger salary and live cheap than FIRE on a small salary and live on less. Makes only mathematical sense.

[sarah]

$2.00 a Day Poverty

There are a million and a half Americans living on less than $2 a day per person. I would recommend that you read $2 a Day: Living on Almost nothing[I] in America by Kathryn J. Edin before you start making judgments

[sv2007]

Pardon me for thinking you had written about making a good living. I thought I had read about that in your first post or two in these SavingAdvice forums, a forums whose focus is something other than, "how a person live and seek out achievement." The focus of this forum is saving money.

Saving money is easier to do when you have more money, right? I mean, if you don't even have enough to put food on the table, then how can you save any money. Therefore, that part of my post that you quoted seems very relevant to saving money.

In fact, some on this forum thinks saving money is just putting aside some amount of their take home pays. That's all good, but that's actually only a very small part of saving money. Here's the larger part: now make that savings grow; beat the SP500. One must look far and invest the time to rise above average; otherwise, there's no reason to think about early retirement or whatever that's not the average outcome.

The facts are clear: look at the food prices; look at the minimum wage. Hunger shouldn't be in the US for any able-bodied person who's even the least industrious. And as a corollary, kids shouldn't be hungry with parents who are the least bit industrious.

[sv2007]

retiring in 30s would also make the assumption you made a good salary. Actually MM said it's easier to FIRE on a larger salary and live cheap than FIRE on a small salary and live on less. Makes only mathematical sense.

Well, I retired; what should I said otherwise? I get paid money and stock incentives; so I say it when asked. I may not be very modest, but I don't think you'll find any of my post where I gloat over anything I do. It goes against my belief that almost all humans are equal in potential but shaped by environment. I.e the old nature vs nurture. I'm a believer of the proletariat; the common man/women/gay/transgender/black/white/yellow/orange/green, all are equal in potential.

I don't quite understand the amount of negativity I see here when I reply the standard new college grad salaries (it is so standard that most companies pay exactly the same). Many reply in disbelief or criticize, but my numbers are true (NGC salaries aren't exactly a secret) so it just kind of boggles my mind.

As for "FIRE" large/small salaries, let's see if I can make sense by showing how I feel about it, i.e. look life thru my eyes. I believe each person has an individual lifestyle that cause them severe discomfort when it's not met (see the recent post by hundredK). Now, I don't care to understand other people's lifestyle choices nor do I care how the person acquired it. But they are uncomfortable when it isn't met. So, I'd say, it may be equally hard to "FIRE" large and small salaries.

Frankly, I think people here place too high an importance on money. Look beyond; see life. You may better achieve the end result of saving money. Once you've looked beyond, I think you'll have an easier time making your savings grow without actually caring too much about money. It is kind of funny, but I think this is the best way I can describe it ATM.

[sv2007]

What, not real food? I imagine the high carb food the people GoodSteward was writing about were eating foods just as real as the also high carb foods you just gave recipes for: refried beans, tortillas, rice, carrots, split peas, onions, falafels, pita bread, spaghetti. You just said these were healthy.

Those are real food. High carb? Look at the food pyramid that most of us grew up with: grains and cereal at the bottom. Check out the typical Chinese diet: rice is like 80%.

This thread is about how cheap food is in the US --> that it is hard to go hungry. It isn't about how to put filet mignon on every table.

One of my favorite food is sweet potatoes in liquidy rice: peel sweet popatoes, cut into cubes; put into pot with uncooked rice and 4x the normal water (for rice). Excellent and tasty. You can feed 4 < $2.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I agree that those are real foods. They are real foods when I eat them; they are real foods when poorly nourished people eat them. They are real foods when lumberjacks eat them. They are real foods when my baby niece eats them. They are real foods when a scholar eats them; they are real foods when anyone eats them. They are the kinds foods eaten all around the globe, the basis of much of human nourishment.

Of course starchy foods are high carbohydrate. Perhaps I should not have mentioned carbs; I really only wanted to say that these foods are real foods whether Outdoorsygal eats them or Goodsteward's studied third world parents and children eat them.

[FLA]

The facts are clear: look at the food prices; look at the minimum wage. Hunger shouldn't be in the US for any able-bodied person who's even the least industrious. And as a corollary, kids shouldn't be hungry with parents who are the least bit industrious.

I don't think it's that simple, a matter of being industrious. Not everyone is cut out for college and better job opportunities. Some people are suited to only low paying or minimum wage jobs. It is easy to go hungry on that pay.