I like your sentiment, but MRE's are actually quite expensive compared to foods you have to cook. What I think should be done is to limit EBT purchases to the WIC program list of healthy(er)foods: eggs, milk, fruits and vegetables, cereals, rice, beans, flour, bread, etc. Maybe allow uncooked poultry and ground beef, too. Why should people be allowed to use food stamps to pay for candy, soda, and all kinds of junk food? You want that stuff? Go get a job.
I see signs on all the fast food restaurants proclaiming they accept EBT.
I remember when food aid meant excess commodities given out in bulk once a month. I knew a couple of kids whose families were eligible for them. All the moms could cook and they could stretch those commodities with a few purchases. People ate healthily and no one starved. Oh, and everyone in those families worked. Some of the kids were ashamed of being poor, but the families I knew were close and loving and good people, with nothing to be ashamed of. There were deaths or illness, mostly, that caused them to have less.
Oh my gosh, you should read about how the women (almost always unwed mothers) complain that they can’t get ORGANIC milk on WIC. Oh, the horror. As if all the rest of us go around buying $8 gallons of milk. The overwhelming majority posting mention about how they’re on WIC and food stamps. Keep breedin’ what you can’t be feedin’.