Posted on 11/10/2013 4:30:29 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
McAllen, Tex. — They were already running late for a doctor’s appointment, but first the Salas family hurried into their kitchen for another breakfast paid for by the federal government. The 4-year-old grabbed a bag of cheddar-flavored potato chips and a granola bar. The 9-year-old filled a bowl with sugary cereal and then gulped down chocolate milk. Their mother, Blanca, arrived at the refrigerator and reached into the drawer where she stored the insulin needed to treat her diabetes. She filled a needle with fluid and injected it into her stomach with a practiced jab.
“Let’s go,” she told the children, rushing them out of the kitchen and into the car. “We can stop for snacks on our way home.”
The family checkup had been scheduled at the insistence of a school nurse, who wanted the Salas family to address two concerns: They were suffering from both a shortage of nutritious food and a diet of excess — paradoxical problems that have become increasingly interconnected in the United States, and especially in South Texas.
For almost a decade, Blanca had supported her five children by stretching $430 in monthly food stamp benefits, adding lard to thicken her refried beans and buying instant soup by the case at a nearby dollar store. She shopped for “quantity over quality,” she said, aiming to fill a grocery cart for $100 or less.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
With the proper ingredients I can make a batch of 3 dozen cookies, where as the store bought package may contain up to 12 cookies at 3 times the price of the raw ingredients.
I fed 3 of us in the 70’s on #130 a month. Because I made every thing from scratch except the canned veggies and fruit. They ate a lot of plain Cheerios too. Lots of Mac & Cheese and hot dogs when necessary. We never starved, nor were we fat. I used coupons even then to make that $130 GO FURTHER!
I agree what these bottom edge of society’s people need are basics, but their environment, their neighborhood, their culture, their schools are all against that. Basics don’t get government subsidies, grants, entitlements and targeted dollars. Sad fact, but true.
It’s not safe telling my wife I want lobster, steak, champagne, caviar and cake for dinner, when asked. She goes on-line and starts looking for it. I told her stop that I’m making cheeseburgers. She said it’s a special weekend. I told her being poor is more special.
That’s the formula.
As a matter of fact, even if the father of those children is living with the family, if he is an illegal, his income is not counted when Texas determines their eligibility for food stamps. This allows our government to provide more generous benefits to families with one or more adult illegals. Crazy but true.
Do you dare suggest that stupity, ignorance, and the resulting poor choice-making produces poverty rather than the other way around?
The financially-troubled NYT would never look into that mirror.
Let’s go,” she told the children, rushing them out of the kitchen and into the car. “We can stop for snacks on our way home.”
LOL!!!
They ain’t getting very far.
Why not open store dedicated to the needs of those on welfare&food stamps, and educational appointments.
They have a doctor office, dentist, eye Dr., a psychologist , etc and the store would carry almost nothing that came out of a bag, box or can that had more than 5 ingredients.
You like mole’? Make it yourself.
Salsa? Otra vez.
a
In a way, we ARE the cause. We pay her to live this way. We pay her babydaddies to knock her up and disappear to some unknown street corner to sell drugs or rob liquor stores. All of the moral decay found in America's poor is subsidized by us, the idiot taxpayers who allow it.
My comment after the WaPo article:
This is the law of unintended consequences rearing its ugly head for all to see. Good intentions do not good outcomes make, when the government attempts to “help” millions of people by giving them handouts. The EBT/SNAP program has now mis-raised a generation of unmotivated dolts, living as serfs on the Democrat welfare dependency plantation. More children means more EBT money, no fathers needed! A hundred generations learned the hard lessons of frugality, but today natural law is turned on its head by politicians seeking to buy cheap votes. But as bad as this system is, in terms of reinforcing negative human behaviors, the worst is yet to come. What happens when (not if) the EBT system implodes during a financial crisis, computer network failure, or cyber attack etc? A month ago we saw a 17-state “glitch” cause the EBT system to go down, and within three hours, there was looting of supermarkets by outraged welfare recipients, who do not see the “magic money” appearing on their EBT cards as charity, but as an iron-clad human right. This will end in tears and catastrophe not if, but when, the EBT system collapses and 50 million Americans go hungry, and then go looting, and then go rioting.
Good for you. I knew how to make a grocery budget stretch as well when the kids were young and we didn’t have much money to spare.
As empty nesters, we don’t have to be as stingy, but for health and taste preference reasons, I cook simply with grilled meat/fish, salads and fresh/frozen veggies. Snacks are usually fruit, sugar free pudding, crackers/lowfat cheese, and nuts. Oatmeal (not instant) with fresh fruit is our breakfast mainstay-can’t get much cheaper than that. We have the occasional treat - ice cream, cookies, etc.
I can throw together a good, nutritious, cheap dinner in 15 mins. I’m sure you can, as well. I’m not one to spend hours in the kitchen prepping a complex recipe with 20 ingredients. It can be done, even with a minimum of effort.
Poor choices in younger years which bear adverse consequences and not having a job with the physical and emotional benefits it brings are at the root of these problems. The cycle is generational.
How long do you suppose that will stay up?
I agree, home-making skills (or whatever they are called now) are sadly lacking in a huge percent of the population.
/johnny
/johnny
The FAMILY CHECKUP had been scheduled at the INSISTENCE of a SCHOOL NURSE... Almost every area of this woman and her children’s lives must be subsidized and regulated by the govt. So it only makes sense that a SCHOOL NURSE would insist on a FAMILY CHECKUP. Maybe the school will suggest they all be fitted with black boxes for dietary data collection with real time monitoring.
For the Democrats, the system works, because these people are voting Democrat. THAT is the objective.
-— I agree, home-making skills (or whatever they are called now) are sadly lacking in a huge percent of the population. -—
Even the rich. I know plenty of wealthy people who don’t live well at all. They eat poorly. Their homes are messy. Their kids are a mess.
There is something to those studies that appraise a great homemaker’s skills at $100k/yr.
I had a glass of powdered milk that I blended with ice, vanilla extract and Trivia today.
Delish!
I do most of the grocery shopping and cooking in my household. Dried beans, peas and lentils are great for a budget. I took advantage of a deal at the local market yesterday. Chicken quarters (leg and thigh) were on sale for $0.49/lb. Do the math, that's 10 lbs for $4.90. I made a huge batch of chicken soup ... with lentils, Poblano peppers (also on sale), onions, garlic and bulk frozen vegetables. Total cost was $11 and change. This made enough soup for about 12-14 dinners for four (2 adults and 2 late teenage girls) and a number of lunches coming from leftovers.
Cost per serving: about $0.20.
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