[TheSpottedOwl]

I wish Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats would find a way to flag all such foods as not eligible for food stamps; or a way to flag only cheaper basics as eligible for food stamps. In other words, disallow potato chips and frozen fries but allow raw potatoes, disallow bread but allow wheat flour (they can make their own bread, or at least biscuits or pan breads), disallow sodapop but allow raw sugar (I grew up with a lot of Kool-Aid). Allow beans and rice but disallow any meat since foodstamp users always have enough cash for cigarettes and alcohol and they could use some of that for hamburger or tuna.

I understand your frustration. I used to judge what people bought with my hard earned money, when I used to be able to work. I collected foodstamps while working a 40 hr minimum wage job. Then people started watching what I bought. I made a point to turn those 1/2 price tags on meat so that my fellow citizens saw that I was thrifty. Day old bread, dented cans, coupons.

Raw sugar costs twice as much as processed. I got a 5lb sack of regular sugar for 1.68 at Food 4 Less, along with packs of Kool Aid(yes I did buy a couple of grape flavored ones lol!)at 10 for a buck.

My altitude and crappy oven probably wouldn't make bread. It would more than likely make bricks. You have to factor in the faulty appliances poor people must make do with. If I find a used bread machine, I will definitely make my own, because not only is it cheaper, it is better for us. The link I posted above has a manual for a basic bread maker, that can be printed out. After he retired, my dad made the best bread on earth. Hot out of the oven, slathered with REAL BUTTER! Oh yeah, he made fruit crisps from the peach and plums grown in the backyard :) He taught me that dented cans and day old bread would not kill us. My mom wouldn't touch the stuff for fear of food poisoning.

I have often thought about volunteering to teach young welfare mothers how to shop wisely, and to cook tasty, healthy, and inexpensive food. Of course along with shop classes, home ec classes are gone. I feel sorry for them and their children. Us old timers sit here and judge ignorant girls who really don't know any better :(

Have you ever tried to make decent fries from raw potatoes? Yuck! I bought a 1lb bag of shoestring fries for 58 cents at FFL. Oh and btw, I almost was able to quit smoking until my 8 day vacation at the hospital. Thanks to the smokers on FR, I discovered organic loose tobacco and cheap filter tubes. Cheap, and they don't stink!!

[Solitar]

When I wrote that foodstamp users should buy “raw sugar” it did not occur to me what real “raw sugar” was. Yes, I meant processed white sugar — to make cheap homemade drinks, candy, and even wine rather than buying prepared stuff.
French fries from raw potatoes I’ve made a lot of in fifty years — practice (and clean oil) makes them better. Some mainstays of my diet when in Pennsylvania was fried fish (those cheap frozen one pound blocks), and french fries from raw potatoes. I even got fairly good at making potato chips — but that takes a lot of work.