PREcisely !
Posted on 09/23/2013 1:20:00 PM PDT by wbill
In my work, I see more people who want to focus on losing weight rather than gaining weight, so I don’t often stop to think about the problem of hunger.
It’s easy to overlook the fact that hunger is still a big problem in in the United States. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2011 about 50 million Americans were living with food insecurity — 33.5 million adults and 16.7 million children.
What is food insecurity? It’s the inability to provide adequate food on a consistent basis. For adults, not getting enough food can have harmful effects, but it can be especially harmful for children who need adequate nutrients for proper growth and development.
I’m familiar with the Good Shepherd Food Bank so I know hunger exists in Maine, but to what extent? Maine ranks 18th in the nation and second in New England in terms of food insecurity. Since 2004, the number of Mainers facing hunger has increased 50 percent.
The population of Maine is about 1,328,371 — the food insecurity rate is 14.7 percent of households, or 200,000 people.
Food insecurity can lead to nutrient deficiencies, delayed cognitive development, asthma, decreased immune system function and increased fatigue. A contributing factor to childhood obesity is the lack of access to healthy foods for children living in food-insecure homes.
My office is situated such that I have a big window facing the drive-thru of a fast-food restaurant. There is a pretty steady line of cars going through on a daily basis. Fast food once in awhile isn’t a big concern, but eating a quick meal from a fast-food restaurant or a convenience store on a regular basis is expensive and the food is usually higher in fat and sodium and lower in vitamins and minerals. If you were to price the items out compared to what you could purchase at a grocery store, it wouldn’t be such a deal.
When grocery shopping, nutrient-rich staples such as whole-wheat bread, brown rice, steel-cut oats, corn tortillas, dried beans and peanut butter are good choices. Fresh fruits and vegetables are healthy choices but can be expensive if not on sale. Canned fruit packed in its own juice or frozen fruit or vegetables are great choices. If you buy canned vegetables, drain and rinse them to remove sodium before consuming.
If you are affected by food insecurity, there are many resources available to help. One way to find them is to dial 211 and ask for resources in your area. Food banks, soup kitchens, etc., are located in communities throughout the state, usually staffed by volunteers. If you don’t live with food insecurity but want to help others who do, perhaps volunteering your time at a food kitchen or donating money or food to these organizations would be within your means. Every little bit helps.
SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program previously called the food stamp program. SNAP provides $5 a day to help those unable to purchase food. To see what it is like, try to eat off of $5 a day. You’ll get a little more perspective on how difficult it can be for some families in America and right in your home town. Remember that $5 has to include your morning coffee.
Want to do more? The Good Shepherd Food Bank has a calendar showing 30 Ways in 30 Days to help solve hunger. Some of the suggestions include: » Volunteer at a local food pantry or meal site. » Watch the films “A Place at the Table” or “30 Days on Minimum Wage.” » View poverty statistics for your county by googling “Map the Meal Gap.” » Make a financial contribution to the food bank.
For information on the Good Shepherd Food Bank go to www.gsfb.org. For information on food insecurity in the U.S., check out www.feedingamerica.org.
Georgia Clark-Albert is a registered dietitian nutritionist and certified diabetes educator at Penobscot Community Health Care in Bangor. She provides nutrition consultant services through Mainely Nutrition in Athens. Read her columns and post questions at bangordailynews.com or email her at GeorgiaMaineMSRDCDE@gmail.com.
With the right PR campaign maybe we could get Yankees to consider kudzu a delicacy too...
This is basically my family’s budget, and thatincludes items such as razors, pull ups, and tp. I cook and bake. It’s that simple. I also garden and can. When I see gardens in our many HUD lots and smell feeshly baked bread from their kitchens I’ll start to feel a twinge of sympathy. Instead I see first-of-the-month shopping carts full of frozen pizzas and premixed flavored sugar drinks.
Dollars translate into calories, and people have very different calorie needs to avoid hunger. A 5’2 woman who weighs 125 pounds could easily assemble the needed calories on $5 a day, but a 6’3 male who weighs 210 pounds might not.
You can even treat your favorite date to a $1 Double Cheeseburger with all the trimmings at McDonalds.
How many are getting tats and the latest jordan sneekers?
$5 a day seems like a lot of money if you do your own cooking. Chicken is 70 cents a lb on sale. Cabbage, tomatoes, onions, etc are about 50 cents a lb. Potatoes are 30 cents a lb on sale. Heck, frozen pizza is $3 a day on sale, and that’s a full-grown adult’s recommended daily allowance. Even if you subsist on frozen TV dinners, if you buy the budget versions, you’ll never go hungry on $5 a day.
Box of Cereal (what's on sale this week?) for $2.50 and a gallon of milk for ~$4. Breakfasts for the week are taken care of. AND....if I'm feeling cheap, the store-brand cereal is $1.87, so I can save a bit there, if needed. Total cost....$6.50.
Lunches? Loaf of Bread for $2, or a $1.19 for store brand. Jar of PB for $3. Or, if I want, some ham and cheese, would be around $5. Total Cost? Top end, $7.
Dinners? # of hamburger ($6) and a thing of rolls ($1). That's 2 nights, at least. Package of pork chops ($5 for 2 nights' worth) and a package of frozen chicken for 2 more night's worth ($9 for 2.5 #, that'd be 2 weeks worth, so $4.50). Leftovers of some sort one night. And that's the week.
Total cost - $6.50 + $7 + $6 + $1 + $5 + $4.50 = $30 / even for the week. Leaves 5 bucks for a bag of whatever fruit is on sale, or veggies, or seasonings, or whatever. And, if I hit the sales (for instance, the frozen chicken is often BOGO) then there's more money in the budget.
Mrs WBill and I do this every week. What's on sale? What do we have coupons for? We eat pretty well. We just don't eat out, ever.
If I had $20/day or $140/week for a family of four for food, we'd be on easy street, comparatively speaking. I'd see a lot more steak and seafood. Might even put eating out back into the budget.
Without Coupons and Gardening Yes. And, it can be fairly Healthy if you have time to devote to shopping for bargains.
With Coupons and Gardening it can be done on less.
yep. Miss one meal in a year and you are “starving”
lol
and speaking of ...
When was the last time unemployment ‘benefits’ were raised? the max has been $450 a week for the last 20 years (that I know of)
If you really want to splurge, a six-pack of Piels Draft Style and a bag of pork rinds!
0.03 _ 1 multivitamin
0.20 _ 2 eggs
0.08 _ 2 whole wheat toast
0.50 _ 3 sausage links
0.05 _ butter
0.50 _ milk
0.08 _ 2 whole wheat bread
0.75 _ pbj or salami/cheese
0.00 _ water, tap from well
1.50 _ Chunky soup, or similar
0.15 _ saltines, 1/3 stack
0.25 _ sherbet, 1 cup
0.00 _ water, tap from well
- - -
4.06
*rarely* eat that much . . 5’11,185
A company local to me exports 'kudzu flour' to Japan. It's made from the roots, or the stems.
If it takes off, there are a fair number of locals who are sitting on a fortune.
Sigh. I could eat easily on $5/day, and fairly well.
The only way I could eat easily on $5/day would be hunting (successfully), once a week.
5.56mm
PREcisely !
See my post #47. Ditto what you said.
Now - there's no way that I could eat out on $5/day. That's why my family doesn't eat out. :-) Besides, Mrs WBill is a better cook than most restaurants.
But eating on $5/day can be done. And $5 per person per day gets even easier.
$5 per day is fairly easy to do in a balanced manner. You won’t eat ribeye steak, or drink alcohol but you can eat reasonably healthy on $5 per day.
Therein lies the problem. Most of these people aren't fat because they overeat per say but because the food they eat is mostly empty calories and thus the body demands more of the crap to do the same as fruits and veggies etc.
And there is the rub. Big Agri-business is mostly ingredients for processed foods which has the empty calories. And they get these huge subsidies from Uncle Sugar. Which in turn makes the processed food real cheap and people with low incomes buy the cheap food because then they can also buy Xboxes and Cell phones and such. If they would eat healthy and spend more time shopping for deals on good food they wouldn't be so fat. But because the government in essence subsidizes bad food the sheep graze on it and get fat.
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