“The U.S.D.A. report found that milk, cheese, potato chips, beef, cold cereal and baked bread were among the top purchases for all households.”
I find this astonishing.
I raised a family and the only time potato chips entered the house was on a special occasion,as a treat.
What a waste of money.
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ML/NJ
Most of the people getting food stamps get them because they have made a long series of bad choices.
Another 40 cents of every dollar was spent on “cereal, prepared foods, dairy products, rice and beans
Number 1 they have their groupings wrong. That will skew the results. No way would I put dairy products, rice, and beans in with prepared foods and cereal. If they set the groupings right the numbers for their unhealthy choices would probably be higher.
Families no longer have planned, healthy meals. And it isn't just the foodstampers. Growing up certain foods were reserved for special occasions. Typical times for special treats like soda, chips, etc. were family picnics, birthday parties, holidays. We had a weekly treat as well on Sunday nights. We were allowed a candy bar while watching Disney and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. I recall one friend Friday at their house was pizza and soda night. Many of these habits have stayed with me. You still won't find things like soda or chips or candy in my house.
Yup.
Still that way today.
An *occasional* summertime meal of deli meat sammiches gets a special garnish of B&B pickles and chips.
I don't think we exceed 3 bags per year.
Potato chips are delicious.
My choices=My money.
What they don't tell you, is that ON TOP of food stamps, most of these families with kids, are also getting school breakfasts and lunches, provided from government programs.
Eliminate having to pay for breakfasts and lunches for 20+ days a month, that makes that $ 127 go a lot farther.
There are no sodas, potato chips, candy or ice cream in this house. Not saying there never is but those just aren’t items bought regularly. There is a box of rice krispies with about 1 serving left that was bought to make Christmas goodies and there likely won’t be another cereal box here until next Christmas. Very little prepacked stuff either.
When I want some potato chips, I’ll slice a potato and fry it. The cost savings is HUGE. By weight, there are only about 2 potatoes in a large bag of chips.
While I make homemade bread, it costs about $1/loaf. The better buy is store brand for 88 cents or reduced deli loaves for 50 cents. The freezer is stocked with reduced meats.
It amazes me how people willy nilly grab items off the shelves without a worry on the price. 90% of my time in the store is comparing prices.
I once knew a welfare mom who wouldn’t buy real potatoes because she said it took her a half an hour to peel them. Then cook them and the kids ate them and she had the mess to clean up whereas a bag of chips cost about the same and no fixin’ or mess.
I tried to tell her there wasn’t any nutrition in those things but it took “too much time” to cook.
Same here. My late mother fed us seven kids Saltines as a treat or she would bake us a chocolate cake.