Reflecting on the Week

The Food Stamp Challenge is over, and I made it through the week without cheating. I lost three pounds, triumphed over my addiction to Diet Pepsi (for the week only), and feel quite proud of myself.

 

Enough about me. Here are the lessons I learned:

 

Living on food stamps is not just about the food. It takes a lot of planning ahead to live on a food stamp budget, and still, even if you get the calories you need, you can’t get the nutrients. Maybe some nutrition expert can figure out how one can eat healthily on a food stamp diet, but I can’t see how it’s done. Fruits and vegetables, especially fresh ones, are very expensive relative to foods like pastas and bread.

 

Cooking makes the dollars go further. The chicken I roasted carried me through the weekend. I made chicken soup with ramen noodles to go with my chicken dinners and chicken salad for lunch. To be very honest, I almost never cook, except on special family holidays like Passover and Thanksgiving. One needs to know how to cook, must have the time to cook, and the oven to cook in. Low-income Americans who live in cheap motels, for example, may have neither refrigerators nor stoves.

 

My diet was pretty boring, though the chicken made it quite a bit better. Good thing I like chicken. Again, I’m sure someone with more skill in the kitchen and more time than I have, could plan more interesting meals.

 

I spoke with a radio talk show host today, who said that food stamps just increase dependency, that poor people should be taught a lesson, and that they should just stop having children. He also said that food stamps were just meant to supplement anyway, that kids get free meals at school, and that poor people should get their lazy selves off their couches and get a job.

 

I tried to keep my cool and countered that most of those families receiving food stamps had at least one and maybe two working adults in them, and even working full time at a low wage job put that family below the poverty level, and that, even if he was right, which he wasn’t, should the children be punished by sending them to bed or to school hungry or malnourished? I said it was in our interest to ensure a generation of healthy children if we want to be competitive in the world, and besides that it was a moral issue that in the wealthiest country in the world, tens of millions of people struggle to have enough to eat every day and many fail. Talk about clueless and cold, in my estimation, that guy was it. 

 

We are heading into summer vacation, which is a time of particularly high risk, since many children will not have access to the breakfast and lunch programs they receive during the school year. 

 

It’s clear to me that Congress must act and pass the provisions of Representatives Jim McGovern’s and Jo Ann Emerson’s Feeding America’s Families Act. I am grateful to them for inviting me to participate in the Food Stamp Challenge. Now I hope it will make more than a three pound difference.

Comments

[Patricia H]

Please count among the 'lazy slackards' persons like me who worked 45 years 10-12 hour days, through two cancers (Hodgkins and Thyroid) and a major stroke. I did not need food stamps until medical bills wiped out my salary, my savings and my IRA. Now I am weak, nearly sixty and in need of both disability and food stamps. Unlike the national average of $1.05, I receive $0.93 per day to assist with food.

[aimee alaine]

California recently launched a campaign, "Champions for Change" where mothers work hard to communicate to their families 3 keys for healthy living:
1. Eat more fruits and vegetables
2. Get 30 minutes of exercise each day
3. Speak up for healthy changes

My hope is that there is some understanding that the decision to purchase fruits and vegetables is not just about education, it is about financial limitation. With gas at $3.59/gallon here in Indiana, our family has made different choices because of our limitations. Although we have not needed food stamps for our family, we regularly reflect on the impossible equation for most families striving to do the things "they know" to do. This challenge has led many people to reflect on the impact of poverty - and I offer, the impact of every day living is hitting those in poverty, those in the middle class, those who are the working poor, those who have degrees and are still paying for them.... and my point is - the list continues.

[michael martin]

i hope that pepole understand what we people that live on food stamps understand how hard it really is

[Easy Weight Loss]

Lets fight hunger. With or without food stamps, lets not depend on the government at all times, lets all work hard to have a decent meal at our tables.. for our children and their future...

-Yoko