Posted on 05/16/2008 1:19:15 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Food stamp recipients pinched by high food prices
By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago
Danielle Brown stands outside a South Side market at midnight, braving the spring chill for her first chance to buy groceries since her food stamps ran out nearly two weeks ago.
For days, Brown said, she has been turning cans of "whatever we got in the cabinet" into breakfast, lunch and dinner for her children, ages 1 and 3.
"Ain't got no food left, the kids are probably hungry," said Brown, a 23-year-old single mother who relies heavily on her $312 monthly allotment of food stamps — a ration adjusted just once a year, in October.
This is what the skyrocketing cost of food looks like at street level: Poor people whose food stamps don't buy as much as they once did rushing into a store in the dead of night, filling shopping carts with cereal, eggs and milk so their kids can wake up on the first day of the month to a decent meal.
"People with incomes below the poverty threshold are in dire straits because not only are food prices increasing but the food stamps they are receiving have not increased," said Dr. John Cook, an associate professor at Boston University's medical school who has studied the food stamp program, particularly how it affects children.
On the South Side of Chicago, people like Brown wait for the stroke of midnight, when one month gives way to another and brings a new allotment of food stamps.
Dennis Kladis began opening his family owned One Stop Food & Liquors once a month at midnight nine months ago to give desperate families a chance to buy food as soon as possible.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
This is a case that deserves our sympathy, not scorn. Given the above quote, it's likely that she just doesn't have the skills needed to learn how to boil water or safely use a sharp knife.
Duh. They probably buy sugar cakes and chips and soda.
Beans, rice, seasonings, potatoes, OJ, bananas, lentils (a bean but almost a separate food), and a few more and those children would be as healthy as elephants. Instead, duh, “Buy me those Twinkies mom” “Duh, OK”
And here lies the crux of the issue. I just got groceries last night. Couple of trays of Chips Ahoy were $8, regular price. Flour, Eggs, Milk, Sugar, etc to make the same cookies, along with a ton of other, more nutritious food? More than $8...but not much more.
I'll be glad when the MSM stops spoonfeeding us this crap.
Actually, in my neck of the woods large AA’s are $1.45 and a gallon of 2% is $2.99, and that’s shopping at the expensive shops - bargains can be found if you try....
That’s what I had for lunch..........and yesterday.........and the day before........
Those are NOT Chicagoland prices.
The other day I was in Whole Foods in Willowbrook, IL (not exactly a down-and-out neighborhood) and the people in front of me were using their Link Card (what we have in IL instead of food stamps, it’s like a credit card instead of actual food stamps) by buy ice cream and junk food. Even Whole Foods store brand is expensive.
About a year ago I was in the regular grocery store behind some teenage girls using their Link Card to buy chips and ice cream. They were thowing a fit because their card wouldn’t work. We saw them drive away in their fairly new Cadillac.
Pure and simple, it's all about the votes.
Notice the freeloader in the article has spent her FREE $312 "nearly two weeks ago"......
and not ONE WHINE re: her "babies daddies" feeding his (their) kids.
Once I stood in a checkout line behind a lady that looked just like this with a basket full of groceries I wished I could afford. When she pulled out her food stamps to pay, the cashier took several cans of dog food and said, "you can't buy these with food stamps". Without a word, she snatched the cans from the cashier and took her sweet time walking away and returning with steaks. She threw them on the counter, put her hands on her hips and snaked her head back in forth as she said in a sarcastic tone, "My dog likes these better anyway". True story.
That’s what I was going to say, WIC covers the kids. I can’t imagine what she is buying for herself that is not $312 is not covering.
Well, yes I can.
Where do you get a month’s dairy supply for $30? Seriously?
LOL! The golden trifecta.
Well, in a few years her children can enter the public education system and get FREE breakfast and lunch. By then she’ll have a few more at home though so probably won’t make much of a difference.
I guess she just doesn’t know how to shop, or won’t deny herself expensive food.
I was feeling guilty for buying solid white albacore instead of regular canned tuna the other day, but now I don’t :-P
A FReeper the other day posted that she got tired of taking food to the food bank in her 10 yr old car and watching people in their 1yr old cars coming to pick it up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.