Posted on 08/18/2014 11:34:16 AM PDT by GraceG
Absolutely yes. They should take advantage of every assistance that is offered to them. They should also know that EBT cards can be used for seeds and seedlings, should they want to begin growing their own food.
If you’re eligible, I don’t see anything unethical about using an EBT funds (government money) to stock up for possible outcomes of things the government has done.
People who have worked all their lives and paid taxes have already paid for this. It’s not a “freebie” for them. Use it.
Powerful difference, thanks for mentioning this.
I believe that everyone deserves to have their nutritional needs met. If it takes food stamps at times, so be it.
What galls me is using food stamps for food that does not nourish, like soft drinks, chips, junky food that eventually impacts health and puts a strain on the healthcare system. The occasional coke or bag of chips is understandable, but some ghetto dwellers don't even know how to cook (slothful) and they raise their kids on nothing but junk.
IMHO, Canned and dried food purchased with EBT and/or SNAP seems perfectly OK to me for those who are in financial straits.
A local market here, Winco, employee owned and with stores in many states, has wonderful bulk bins of dried beans, rice, oatmeal, flour, dried milk, nuts, everything…it’s very economical to load up on prep supplies there. They have even better deals on large lots of their most popular items, like black and pinto beans. So food stamps — or your money — go twice as far. It seems to me that’s the most practical — and ethical, if you’re concerned about that — way to buy.
I wish your friends the best of luck — and health.
Unless you cannot feed your family, I would say no. And if you have preps, I would suggest relying on those when you are low on funds, instead of federal benefits.
Imagine the potential problems if you are drawing EBT/SNAP and someone reports there is tons of food already in the house. At least the people shipping SNAP food to family overseas are essentially getting rid of the evidence.
Do it. Why should the scum of the Earth be the only ones who get bread and circuses?
Okay, you’re a decent man, you stand ready to work, but the work has dried up—because of the policies of the leftards who are buying the votes of the rabble.
Get some. F them. Take it, because in the course of justice it would have been yours anyway.
“hard to live in USA and _not_ make significantly more than that”
If you include entitlements, yes. However, there are many today who can’t find a job at all, despite diligent efforts.
This is a personal choice. I can’t tell anybody what to do. I wrestled with that choice once, myself, when trying to decide whether to apply for disability. I gave in and applied, hating myself for being “weak”, and then got rejected. Sometimes I’m glad of that, sometimes I’m angry about it. But that’s life, it happens.
One warning I would give: benefits quickly become an addiction. They are a trap. I’ve watched people slide into that hole. One friend was downsized from the job he had worked his tail off at for 12 years, and within 2 weeks he had stopped even pretending to look for a job. It was just easier to sit around and get unemployment. Heck, I’ve had to try and train people who were only working so they could get back on unemployment again after their benefits had run out, and most were not ashamed to say so. Entitlement is a trap. It suckers you in.
Maybe it would help to look at the benefits as a loan? Maybe they could keep track of what they use, and then when they get back on their feet, find charities to donate to to pay it forward? Maybe they could help out at the food pantry? Or sort donations at charity drives? I don’t know.
If they do decide to get a SNAP card, most states allow people to buy food-producing seeds or plants using food stamps. Something to keep in mind.
I actually have food stamps and I have been buying food for storage.
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I need to get some sleep but later today I will post more about what I am buying.
First of all Grace, bless you for your kindness - not only in your efforts to assist this family, but in trying to spare their dignity as you have been. For a person who has worked and been a responsible adult for all their life, it is hard to cede what feels like the last bit of pride, to give up the last one thing that nobody else can take away - one’s ‘good name’ that now ends up on a list for charity.
That said...
*sigh*
Going by what I’ve seen of SNAP (a dear friend is on it, and IMHO really should be getting the full EBT rather than ‘food stamp’ version), it is possible to budget current food purchases while also slowly accumulating prepper stores. Totally possible so long as they don’t insist upon costly fresh meats or over-processed kiddie foods or sodas.
Hygiene items or OTC meds and other first aid supplies aren’t covered by SNAP, far as I know.
Prepared foods as from the deli supposedly are not as well, yet those and apparently fast food places and convenience stores are perfectly acceptable for those who have the EBT cash cards.
It’s awful hard to make a good impression on a potential employer if your hygiene is not up to snuff. Or just to go thru life without aspirin or bandaids. I often purchase for my friend those items his SNAP card cannot, or I buy what he likes on sale even if it is food. We don’t bother trying to even-steven the amount spent, but in exchange he willl also pick up food items he knows I will use.
As for yourself, my friend whom I’ve already mentioned survived for a long time on his food preps before finally having to apply for assistance. His personal SHTF would have done him in, had he not had those resources, at least, while fighting a battle (or several of them, actually) on multiple fronts.
You can only help someone so much. At some point they have to make their own decision about what is best for them.
How does your state figure out if you are using EBT/SNAP for long term food storage?
I have been trying to add a few cans and items a month for my emergency food supply for the past year or so.
I also buy meat when on sale to freeze because prices have been climbing and they go on sale less often.
My supply came in handy with all the snow we had last winter and we couldn’t get to the store. I had been building that supply back up since then but it pretty much got wiped out when the idiots at my local DFS decided to screw with me.
I was up for renewal for both food stamps and medicaid and got all my paper work in on time but it turned into a mess because they kept asking for things I had already provided, my application got “lost”, and a few other problems. They have been having problems there lately and the state has had to come in to clean it up but I don’t think it did any good. I have had my account moved to St. Louis even though I live over 2 hours away.
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So I went a month with out the food stamps and lost about a 5th of the next month. The good news was I got that all this month and I put it to good use.
I have bought several big cans of different food at the local outlet for a major food service company. Most of it in the reduced/damaged area. Most are in good condition and not worried about them going bad anytime soon and the rest I will use over the next few months.
At the Wal-Mart in another town they carry the 28 oz cans of Keystone canned meats. I bought 8 of the beef at $6.28 each. They had been $5 for a while when I didn’t have the money to buy any but my mom had bought a few cans. They also have turkey, chicken, pork and ground beef but we just get the beef. Worth looking for to see if your store carries them as they are just the meat and sea salt.
At Aldi’s I picked up a few cans of salmon and ham. I also get my natural peanut butter here unless I want crunchy and I get that at W-M.
My mom bought a new dehydrator and we will be using that to do veggies. She has a garden but it is mostly tomatoes. The ground hog got the beans and some of the spaghetti squash.
I also stock up on baking staples and plan to buy more when they go on sale around the holidays.
Right now the supply I have bought would feed me for about a month or so but if my family needed food also it would be about 2 weeks. My short term goal is 6 months for me or 3 months as a family. My mom also is buying for storage when she can.
I really need to start storing more water but I keep drinking it.
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I get $189 a month. I’m single, no kids, no car, I have the same Go Phone I bought in December of 2007 and I have several health issues that prevents me from working at any of the few jobs available in my area. I need to apply for disability but I keep putting it off. I live in a house owned by my parents but they are struggling like everyone else.
I rarely buy junk food or even packaged food. Yes I buy some but usually less than $10 a month if I do.
I usually shop sales, look at price per unit and by ingredients. Sometimes it is worth paying a little more to avoid some ingredients. Some items I only get name brand but most store brands are as good or even better.
Most states allow you to buy seeds and food plants and some you can go to farmers markets.
Last time I looked Schwans accepts EBT but I don’t know if that has limits like being home bound.
I get mine at the start of the month and my mom gets her Social security usually at the end of the month. We have an agreement that if a good deal comes up that we can’t pass up that whoever can buy it will and the other will help cover if they run low or out and need something.
In March Kroger had ground beef, half pork loins and corned beef on sale. I got 3 corned beef but they were out of the other so I got a rain check for up to 10 each. When I went back in April I was able to get the ten 3 lb packs of beef but only 3 of the loins. They were nice enough to give another rain check for the other 7. My mom bought those with her money the next time we went because I wouldn’t have had enough. I gave her some of the beef and I got some of the pork. I used up most of this meat when I had the issues with DFS.
Sorry this is so long but I wanted to show that not every one uses EBT for all junk food and soda and using it to store at least a few weeks of food can come in handy for various situations from the weather to the government trying to screw things up.
I should mention I only got assistance a little over 4 years ago when I ended up in the hospital even though most of my issues have been the same for years before that but I resisted applying even though I would be accepted.
I go to my doctors a few times a year, take my medications and am working on the health issues I can and trying to improve or control the ones that will never be totally right again. I have had a few set backs with a medication that caused more problems.
I eat a lot better food now with EBT than I did buying what little money I make by doing surveys bought. I remember the week before I got sick I mostly ate cream cheese, saltines and some canned corned beef because they had been on sale.
I still do surveys and that is basically the only money I make but not having to use it on food has let me buy other items I need. Right now I am saving up to buy a pair of boots this winter. I had some money saved but I used most of it to buy food when they cut me off.
I would tell them to go ahead and apply. They could buy food for now, for storage and save some of that money up for things that EBT doesn’t buy and maybe help get back to where they were and then wouldn’t need food stamps any longer.
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Most foods last at least 6 months to several years past the date on the package. It is just a matter of good judgement if it is still good or not.
The Keystone canned meat has on their website that it is good for at least 5 years past the date.
Sweetened Condensed milk is on my long term storage list because it just gets better as it ages and has many uses.
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Don’t worry, accepting assistance doesn’t suddenly make you a liberal. I still vote the same way I did before and have actually gotten more conservative on some issues. ;-`)
Exactly as this poster has demonstrated, the SNAP/EBT card can go a long way. However, expect the occasional snafu with dropped coverage and lost paperwork.
My friend and I do the bulk of our shopping in the WalMarts of our respective locations. Were there an Aldi close enough to make it worth it, I would shop there too. Ditto the local ethnic market. [Caviat: I will still shop a good deal on packaged products at the local Hispanic market, but never again their “fresh” meats. If it seems too good to be true - it is!]
I also do what I call guerilla shopping in which I catch the weekly grocery store sales. New sales post every Wednesday. The trick of it is to restrict yourself to sales items that are a better deal than the regular prices at WM; also to refrain from adding junky filler-type foods to one’s diet only because of *oh but what a great price*. Hit the sales items like a warrior and fade out to shop another day, LOL.
True, it takes a little prepwork. But - keeping in mind that oftentimes the claimed ‘regular price’ is ridiculously high - I can attest that it is especially satisfying to walk out with a receipt that says I *saved” more than I spent in the store!
With regard to WalMart, lately they have been stretching their JIT (just-in-time) shipping too far. Or more likely, their staff are stretched too thin to shelve products sitting on the docks out back. At any rate, I’ve learned the hard way to build up my own backup supply of oft-used basics like bread and luncheon meat so that I’m not forced to buy a pricier substitute. Hmmmmmmmm, I wonder if that’s part of Wally World’s strategy...
Getting back to the weekly grocery sales, I never pay full price on hamburger any more. You can cook a bulk amount as loose meat, stuff it into freezer bags and fold the bags to form easily separated chunks to throw into soups & veggie dishes. There’s your protein-and-a-vegetable. Just squeeze a bit of expansion room along the edges too, before it freezes hard, while removing all the air you can to prevent freezer burn. I reckon you could do that with any cooked meat you wanted to shred off the bone before freezing.
I don’t get it. UI would barely pay my mortgage. I can’t see how I could get addicted to that!
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