Send all your eco-inquiries to Jennifer Grayson at eco.etiquette@gmail.com. Questions may be edited for length and clarity.
More than one in seven Americans is now on food stamps. That's a sobering statistic in and of itself, but it's even more worrisome when you consider the implications for our future health.
High caloric fast food is cheap and plentiful, and with many states allowing fast food establishments to accept food stamps, the dollar menu may seem, to some, the only option to keep hunger at bay. No wonder the rates of obesity -- particularly child obesity -- continue to climb, with some areas of the country seeing marked increases since the start of the recession.
Our economic health, too, is at risk: The US spends $147 billion a year treating obesity-related ailments. That's more than the current recession cost our economy in its first 12 months.
It doesn't have to be this way. That's why, when a reader wrote in to Eco Etiquette a few weeks back asking if it was possible to eat organic on a food stamp budget, I didn't hesitate. As I covered in my previous column, a healthy organic diet on public assistance is possible, but it does take a bit of know-how; like learning to cook, shopping for staples like dried beans and rice in bulk, and finding farmers markets that accept food stamps - like the ones run by Los Angeles' Model Neighborhood Program (which I feature, below).
All seemingly sound advice; but seeing, of course, is believing. That's why this week, I decided to put my tips to the test, attempting to put together an entire week's worth of well-balanced organic meals on a budget of just over $33 (the average weekly benefit for an American on food stamps).
Did I succeed? WATCH:
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David Katz, M.D.: No Obese Child Is an Island
Tim Harlan, M.D.: Why Fast Food Isn't Cheaper Than Healthy Food
What I really enjoyed though, was Jennifer's creative way of stretching the budget (that stew looks delish'). I would be interested in seeing most posts like this teaching all of us during these economic times how to live green, eat organic and save money.
Knowing how to use all of our resources more effectively is information we all can benefit from.
Sheesh!
R/ PRONESE
Yes, this can be time consuming. But many people are trapped in a cycle of having to earn more to be able to afford a lifestyle that costs more. If you make minimum wage, your take-home on 20 hours of overtime may be as low as $120. Many families strapped for time are spending that on fast food. Another thing about having more time is you have time to participate in a 'favor economy' with other families. Many weeks I am benefitting from someone else's good fortune and abundance, or sharing something that we made too much of. People who work all the time are deprived of these social connections that literally provide.
You are correct that this is far easier in rural settings, or in small towns, but people are resourceful. Maybe people who live in a big city can band together - committing to purchase food from a particular farm, take turns driving to pick up the supply and distributing the food.
If you have children, involving them in the selecting and cooking of untainted food not only teaches them a life skill but is fun. The use of crock pots, cooking multiple meals at a time and freezing them can help alleviate the scheduling issues somewhat.
I agree - not easy - but so damn important - we need to brainstorm and find ways to make it possible.
Secondly, cooking like that takes time, and surprisingly, many if not most people on Snap have jobs, albeit minimum wage jobs.. you know the ones that require manual labor, or being on your feet all day. Picture coming home from a job like that, and then needing to take the hour to hour and half required to make a soup, or cook brown rice.
All in all, the idea is lovely, just not very practical.
By the way, no one says you have to eat all organic or eat McDonald's. Make a big pot of rice and beans for goodness' sake. Or a thing of pasta. Either of those options is a better choice than a Big Mac.
Beans and rice on a weekend, fine. On a week night, not so much. Whole grain pasta, the sort I suspect you mean, is noticeably more expensive than white.
What I am saying here, and in part from experience, is while your piece is excellent for those who have the means to even reach a farmers market it doesn't address the day to day realities of many on SNAP.
It's also a shame, that people have to spend more for "organic" food. Basically, we are paying extra to remove all the wonderful benefits that the agri-mafia like Monsanto have forced upon us --- making sure we cannot tell GMO foods from non-GMO.
So now, we shell out extra money, to remove the IMPROVEMENTS in our Corn.
Do you know what Organic food REALLY is? It's food before the 1980s. Before squid genes ended up in a tomato, and seeds could self-terminate, and soy ended up boosting estrogen in men.
We ate much the same foods in 1970 as we do now. (the exceptions being soda pop, and fast-food)
We were healthy and thin.
Something has changed dramatically with our food.
The movie 'King Korn' was an eye opener for me.
I walk into today's superstores and wonder "where is the food?"
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You mentioned corn. Did you know that the corn we eat today is totally different than the original "corn." It was genetically altered to get the thing we all corn today.
And one other thing, in order to grow "organic" the entire output of crops raised by conventional farming in 2008, it would take an additional 121+ million acres. It leaves a larger carbon footprint than conventional farming, which is ironic, no?
I like organic food but it is not the solution to the world food problem.
"Your post is so devoid of any knowledge."
:-]
Also, doing that buying trip in LA I can see. I challenge you to come do the same thing in a small rural town. My town isn't even that small, but the farmers market does not accept food stamps, and the local co-op can be very expensive. Organic in the store is priced well above anything else as well.
I won't argue that you can't eat healthy on food stamps, of course you can. And for a lot cheaper than the supposed cheap fast food. That crap is junk on your waist and on your bottom line. It is the convenience that people are really buying into.
Documentary with similar goals...
1 in 7 Americans, many of them children are living this film.
There are plenty of filthy rich people wasting your tax dollars, soaking up government money, wheeling and dealing to get no bid govt. contracts, sending your neighbors to war. Plenty of them doing plenty of drugs, sniffing coke out of the belly buttons of strippers, having their drunk rich kids run over our kids and then get off in court with a slap. Don't see you moaning about their misuse of YOUR tax dollars. YOU are footing the bill for all of us, remember, and we thank YOU for it.
We have a largely grain based diet with the fairly new addition of HF Corn syrup plus all the other additives,colors,preservatives,emulsifiers,"natural flavorings", etc that degrade the value of food.
We aren't educating a proper food pyramid with veggies as the foundation, everything else in small amounts. We educate with a food pyramid that reinforces big Ag influence in our diet and most people can't even find the will power to stick to that.
Education is the only weapon we have ( which includes modeling good behavior to our friends and family).
Poor people are not lazy. They work harder than anyone. They have to.
Everyone should have access to nutritious affordable food.
But try feeding a family of four for 90 bucks a week when you depend on public transportation, work two minimum wage jobs, and the only stores are convenience stores.
The level of self-serving conceit demonstrated here is disgusting.
Glad you all are doing well.
But, a little compassion and an effort to understand would go a long way.
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There are numerous options for cooking meals at home that cost less than eating fast food, but many are too lazy to cook and others will tell you they don't have time even though many things can be cooked very quickly.
Now once you taste real food, you know fast food is gross!
Try visiting the poor area of a large city.
Check out the opportunities to garden, to shop, to work.
Or, more likely, you can just put your head back up your posterior and continue to feel superior to all of your 'lazy' fellow citizens.
Enjoy the growing season.
As a bit of curiousity, did you continue the experiment into eating only what you could purchase on your budget?
This is horrid if your information is accurate. Fast food is so tempting for many - and so unhealthy!