STIMULUS WATCH: $25 check may cost you food stamps

well that is a shame because there are several to choose from at the Krogers near medical center and the other one near reliant stadium.

again your argument was that it cost more to eat good foods than junk. Since rice and beans cost half that of your junk food example per calorie, I think that has been totally trashed. You tweaked you junk diet to provide the most calories per dollar so I tweaked mine. I seriously doubt you think people on food stamps only live on cola and twinkies.

Carbs are good for you. You need carbs. It is the most required macronutrient in weight and calories. Half or more of your caloric intake should be carbs. Simple sugars and fat (like in your more expensive junk diet) are the least needed. Omega-3 fats found in tuna are great for you. So is soluble fiber found in beans.

Your nutritional knowledge is low. And your argument is now absurd and has shifted dramatically.

 

My argument is, and has always been, that for people on limited budgets, that assembling a balanced diet is very difficult, and calorie-laden governemtn subisidized Carbohydrate delivery vehicles like rice and corn and yes, their derivative junkfood products are the most afforadable and the most available.

Further, my argument is that these carb-laden foods are eminently more affordable than non-carbed up products) and their availabiilty leads to overconsumption thereof.

Now - I'll concede that if somebody followed your crate of tuna from Sam's club and 25 lb sack of rice from Chinatown diet - they would probably not spend that much money. - I laugh at it though becuase it's unrealistic and presents its own substantial problems, including mercury poisoning and other deficiencies - your isolated case cannot be imparted to everybody else.

 

I should have made it based on quiche.

 

Sam's and china town cost more on those items than Kroger's does. See the guy who bought a 25lb bag for 17 bucks.

Complex carbs are good for you. I don't care what Atkins fad is around.

It would be very hard to eat enough good foods like chicken, rice, potatoes, oatmeal, tuna etc to become obese or diabetic simply because of the volume involved.. Which are the two biggest problems that come from an unhealthy diet. Not mercury I am afraid.

And if you look back I agreed with you right off the bat that it would be hard to get fresh fruits and veggies but that does not mean obesity and diabetes.

 

It is hard. I mean you cannot go with the frozen stuff or the ready to eat, and certainly cannot eat out. But when you have little money you need to exchange that for time.

 

To be fair he only made it after his Cola is cheaper argument fell through. So i doubt he actually thinks that.

 

They're fine in moderation, but my argument is that the cheapest food is grain-based carbs - a 25 pound sack of rice doesn't help this. That's the one food that you can get for cheap all the time. That's the point.

Cola is cheaper if you don't measure in bulk.

 

Is it just me or does this guy look like a white Robert Horry?

 

neither of those I bolded describes rice, potatoes, beans etc.

grains are the foundation of our diet. Not just "fine in moderation"

See the old pyramid



the bottom there is "grain-based carbs". You need those.

 

The assertion is correct, i mean look at Mac n Cheese. Enough in one box to feed a family of 2 or 3 for a meal for like 30 cents. While it can't be the only source of nutrition it has to be involved if one wants to be able to eat on such a low monthly budget.


But there are folks around the US that Mac n Cheese would be a healthy upgrade to the alternative for them.

 

20 pounds of rice is not bulk. It costs very little. I bet I could beat cola with a 5 pound bag also but this isn't fun anymore.

 

It's a subsantially larger serving than you can get cola in. (the cost is primarily in the packaging).

 

Good to see you doing this. I have worked professionally with these types of problems all my life whether in the welfare office-- food stamps and AFDC or as a lawyer. This is one of the reasons I don't have the political opinions of most of the relatively contented, yet naive, often GOP folks on this bbs. The safety net in this country totally sucks for an advanced country and we therefore throw away so many people, relegating them to disease, chronic pain or TDC. Volunteerism helps, but is no excuse for not having the modern safety net of a wealthy country.

 

In this thread: People who have never had to eat on $100 a month.

Unless you've lived it (really lived it over a long period of time - not just being fashionably poor in college) you really don't know.

 

LOL at fashionably poor. All the cool kids don't go out for beers and pizza. Or grab lunch with their coworkers.

 

I have lived that type of living for over one year when I was a kid. I really didn't feel that bad at the time, we were never hungry, I thought eating lots of chicken was great since in China we didn't have chicken but few times a year. Now I am not sure how we manged it.

 

True, most kids get more money from middle-class mom & dad now that their childrens' consumption habits reflect back on them.

Considering that this is what you chose to take exception to with my post, I'll just go ahead and assume that you have no idea what it's like trying to eat on $100 a month (though it was fairly obvious from your posting that that's the case).

I find that those who advance these sorts of diets are usually the same people who have never had to put themselves in the position to eat that diet - and often, they're the same people who would never subject themselves to a lifetime of meals consisting solely of bread, rice, beans, and potatoes.