Food Stamps to be drastically cut in the US

[klr]

...

$200 is a lot of money for one person for food. If I had to, I know I could survive on $10/week, no problem. I'm not saying the needy SHOULD only get $10 per week. It's just an indication that with some care, that $200 can go a fucking long way. I'm not against helping the needy. I'm against the jackalopes who scam the system.

Hold on ... food prices in the USA are not much cheaper than in Ireland or the UK, are they? 10 dollars is about 7.50 Euro at current exchange rates. I would struggle mightily to just meet basic - and I do mean basic - breakfast and fruit requirements with that.

It would be easy to live on ten dollars a week if you ate nothing but rice and pasta, and drank water. No meat. No vegetables. Maybe you could also get a loaf of bread. No butter, though. Jam? Forget it.

Really? I would have though that would be a stretch, unless you can bulk-buy rice and pasta on the absolute cheap.

In any event, it matters not: It would be grossly unhealthy, and therefore doesn't count. Even "primitive" hunter-gatherers would have a much better diet than that.

Anyway ... back to $ 200 a month. Let's say $ 45 a week, or c. 34 Euro. I could live on that, but I'd have to stop buying a full roll every day, which counts as my main meal. Beyond that, I could cut costs in other areas by buying more cheaply than I do at present, or by cutting some things out altogether. But even as it is, I buy a lot of generic (cheap) brands, rather than the much more costly big-name brands.

[cronus]

When everyone heads for the cheap seats the price of the cheap seats goes up. You must factor in the full equation here or you are not thinking it through.

[Warren Dew]

...

$200 is a lot of money for one person for food. If I had to, I know I could survive on $10/week, no problem. I'm not saying the needy SHOULD only get $10 per week. It's just an indication that with some care, that $200 can go a fucking long way. I'm not against helping the needy. I'm against the jackalopes who scam the system.

Hold on ... food prices in the USA are not much cheaper than in Ireland or the UK, are they? 10 dollars is about 7.50 Euro at current exchange rates. I would struggle mightily to just meet basic - and I do mean basic - breakfast and fruit requirements with that.

It would be easy to live on ten dollars a week if you ate nothing but rice and pasta, and drank water. No meat. No vegetables. Maybe you could also get a loaf of bread. No butter, though. Jam? Forget it.

Actually you could get a reasonable amount of meat; 70% lean ground beef is quite cheap in the U.S. on a per calorie basis, and turkey even cheaper. You could even get a limited amount of frozen vegetables, which while not as tasty as fresh vegetables, have all the nutrients.

You'd be eating far healthier than the average American, what with giving up the soda, sugary breakfast cereals, candy bars, etc.

In answer to klr, food is much cheaper in the U.S. than in Europe, for a variety of reasons.

[Warren Dew]

In any event, it matters not: It would be grossly unhealthy, and therefore doesn't count. Even "primitive" hunter-gatherers would have a much better diet than that.

"Primitive" hunter gatherers have a diet much healthier than almost anyone in the industrialized world. That's why their teeth are perfect, they don't get cancer or diabetes, etc.

Eating a "primitive" hunter gatherer diet is also extremely expensive in the western world, because of the cost of fully pastured meats, fresh vegetables, etc., and the complete lack of cheap staples like bread and potatoes. I don't think it's reasonable to expect people on food stamps to be able to eat a diet that the upper middle class can't afford.

[klr]

In any event, it matters not: It would be grossly unhealthy, and therefore doesn't count. Even "primitive" hunter-gatherers would have a much better diet than that.

"Primitive" hunter gatherers have a diet much healthier than almost anyone in the industrialized world. That's why their teeth are perfect, they don't get cancer or diabetes, etc.

Eating a "primitive" hunter gatherer diet is also extremely expensive in the western world, because of the cost of fully pastured meats, fresh vegetables, etc., and the complete lack of cheap staples like bread and potatoes. I don't think it's reasonable to expect people on food stamps to be able to eat a diet that the upper middle class can't afford.

Those points were in my mind when I posted that, but I wanted to see if someone else picked up on them.

There's also the fact that people in "modern" societies can't afford to devote the time to sourcing all their own food, and nor would it be possible given the environment they live in.

[pErvinalia]

Food has been getting more expensive as fuel costs rise. It will only continue to rise, I expect.

[cronus]

Food has been getting more expensive as fuel costs rise. It will only continue to rise, I expect.

It'll rise quicker once the panic sets in.

[pErvinalia]

My wife is a recently sworn in US citizen, and she is very patriotic about it. She loves the US, memorized the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem, and likes the flag and such. It's a bit quaint. Well, she ordered a new credit card from these companies that will give you some sort of image or pattern on the card. The one she wanted was an American flag. She later learned that the EBT card has the American flag on it, and she turned in her credit card for a new one because of the embarrassment of being thought to be using EBT. She's a great gal. Came to the US and made it by digging it out, making her own breaks, learning, working hard, getting it done. I am so proud of her. She's worse than me when it comes to the government benefits scammers. She sees how many immigrants scam the system for free stuff and it rightly pisses her off -- she played by the rules, filed all her taxes, did all the right things, and has always been ineligible for anything from the government. Lazy-asses and under the table scammers take advantage, and are handed almost blank checks.

Here we go. More nasty moralising from conservatives. The fucking rich skim more off the system than the poor. I'm so sick of conservatives losing their shit over this. Fuck off, the lot of you.

Just wanted to apologise for dragging your wife into this. I really do hate conservatives, but I shouldn't have stated that so strongly in a post that was largely personal.

[Coito ergo sum]

From what I've read, food stamp fraud is at 1% or less.

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3239
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/fraud/fraud_2.htm

All depends what they consider food stamp fraud. A lot of it is not caught, because they don't really do much to investigate whether someone whose applying for benefits is telling the truth. For example, my wife knows someone who fraudulently modified her paycheck to send in, so she could show she made less than she made. They don't verify the salary with the employer. They just believe what the applicants show them.

http://townhall.com/columnists/danholle ... /page/full

Despite the alarming frequency of news reports, the United States Department of Agriculture insists fraud accounts for only 1% of the total cost of the food stamp program. Since the program costs nearly $80 billion, that is nearly $800 million a year in fraud. That’s enough to buy nearly 4,500 single family homes.

Of course, none of this accounts for the hipsters, who were heaping “Thai yellow curry with coconut milk and lemongrass, Chinese gourd sautéed in hot chile sauce and sweet clementine juice” onto their plates, “all of it courtesy of government assistance.”

It is difficult, if not impossible, to calculate the exact degree of abuse. A Bush-era document says more than one-quarter of all benefits go toward food items not considered “basic.” It’s unclear if coconut milk and lemongrass would be considered basic, but if that ratio holds true today, the abuse far outweighs the fraud. That’s $20 billion in taxpayer money going for things like chips and soda, and maybe sweet clementine juice.

[Coito ergo sum]

My wife is a recently sworn in US citizen, and she is very patriotic about it. She loves the US, memorized the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem, and likes the flag and such. It's a bit quaint. Well, she ordered a new credit card from these companies that will give you some sort of image or pattern on the card. The one she wanted was an American flag. She later learned that the EBT card has the American flag on it, and she turned in her credit card for a new one because of the embarrassment of being thought to be using EBT. She's a great gal. Came to the US and made it by digging it out, making her own breaks, learning, working hard, getting it done. I am so proud of her. She's worse than me when it comes to the government benefits scammers. She sees how many immigrants scam the system for free stuff and it rightly pisses her off -- she played by the rules, filed all her taxes, did all the right things, and has always been ineligible for anything from the government. Lazy-asses and under the table scammers take advantage, and are handed almost blank checks.

Here we go. More nasty moralising from conservatives. The fucking rich skim more off the system than the poor. I'm so sick of conservatives losing their shit over this. Fuck off, the lot of you.

Just wanted to apologise for dragging your wife into this. I really do hate conservatives, but I shouldn't have stated that so strongly in a post that was largely personal.

Well, I'm not a conservative, and I'm opposed to the rich scamming the system more than the poor. I've said so in other threads, but this thread is about food stamps.

Just because Solyndra makes off with billions doesn't mean that it's o.k. for people who don't need food stamps to scam the system.

And, nothing I said was "moralizing" at all, other than the basic morals that stealing and lying are wrong. Gee, I didn't know those two concepts were so controversial.

[Coito ergo sum]

In any event, it matters not: It would be grossly unhealthy, and therefore doesn't count. Even "primitive" hunter-gatherers would have a much better diet than that.

"Primitive" hunter gatherers have a diet much healthier than almost anyone in the industrialized world. That's why their teeth are perfect, they don't get cancer or diabetes, etc.

Eating a "primitive" hunter gatherer diet is also extremely expensive in the western world, because of the cost of fully pastured meats, fresh vegetables, etc., and the complete lack of cheap staples like bread and potatoes. I don't think it's reasonable to expect people on food stamps to be able to eat a diet that the upper middle class can't afford.

Their teeth are perfect because they die before the age of 40. The diabetes I will give you because the rate of diabetes is directly linked to obesity. Cancer, of course, doesn't occur in as many instances when people die earlier, and also they don't have a good system of record-keeping of diagnoses in hunter-gatherer communities. They still die of evil spirits.

They don't each "much healthier" than we in the industrialized world. They lack refrigeration and they lack a wide variety of foodstuffs. They are prisoners of the seasons and of the weather, and their basic diet may have only a few things in it.

Eating a primitive hunter gatherer diet is impossible in the western world, at least if you're going to buy anything at the store. But, it's easy if you become a hobo and head out into the wild and hunt and gather. There, you'll eat racoon and squirrel, either killed directly or more likely scavanged, and you can pick berries and eat leaves growing in the woods.

Hunter gatherers did not eat "fully pastured meats." Farmers and ranchers did that. Hunter gatherers ate wild game, when they could get it. And, fresh vegetables came when there were agrarian communities, not hunter gatherers. Hunter gatherers ate wild stuff.

[Clinton Huxley]

So, CES, when are you going to take the 10 dollar/week challenge? Its easy to say you could do it...

[klr]

So, CES, when are you going to take the 10 dollar/week challenge? Its easy to say you could do it...

[Coito ergo sum]

So, CES, when are you going to take the 10 dollar/week challenge? Its easy to say you could do it...

Why would I? I did my time when I was 18-20 years old, surviving on Ramen and cheese sandwiches. I know it's doable.

http://www.budget101.com/household/dirt ... es-14.html

How can someone eat on $10 a week?

Here is a list of groceries that can be purchased for approximately $10.

1. Baking Powder (MYO!)
2. Eggs
3. Flour
4. Fruits (on sale)
5. Hamburger
6. Rice or Ramen Noodles
7. Margarine
8. Milk
9. Potatoes
10. Salt
11. Vegetables (on sale)
12. Tuna (1 or 2 cans)

What's For Breakfast?

* Scrambled eggs in a Biscuit
* Fruit Smoothie, Hash Browns
* Muffins, many kinds...
* Pancakes, Fruit
* Potato Pancakes
* Tortilla with scrambled or fried eggs inside
* Donut Muffins
* Rice Pudding

What's For Lunch/Dinner?

* Tortilla with anything you have on hand in it.
* Tomatoes/onions/hamburg etc.
* Shepherds Pie (Hamburger/gravy over mashed potatoes/corn)
* Veggies in gravy over rice
* Baked Potato and Vegetables
* Scalloped Potatoes and Vegetables
* Oven Baked French Fries & Salad
* Vegetable Soup w/ or
w/o Rice
* Tuna/ Pea Wiggle (serve over toast or biscuits or saltine crackers)
* Scalloped Potato/Tuna Casserole
* Popovers fill with: tuna pea wiggle recipe or gravy/veggie mix
* Chicken Pot Pie
* Pizza Pasta

Although the above menu is very limited, this grocery list is for extremely tough times and is meant to help you get through the week, not to base your diet on for any length of time! ~Liss

Again, please note that I did not suggest that the needy OUGHT to be required to follow such strictures. It's simply a reality that people should keep in mind -- money can go a lot longer than it does, if people give it some thought.

[Clinton Huxley]

I still think you should try it, post pics of your meals. You've nothing to lose but your beer belly....