Food Stamp Challenge

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
Food Stamp Challenge
41
Wed, 04-15-2009 - 5:06pm
Some friends and I signed up for United Way's food stamp challenge. The rule is you have to feed yourself for $7 dollars a day. Since I have quite a bit staples at home (rice, flour, pasta, canned tomatoes, beans, etc.), I am going to limit myself to $5 dollars a day and see how it works. It will be interesting to see if it is still possible to stick to my vegetarian, mostly organic diet. If nothing else, I will save on grocery money! ;-)
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
Fri, 04-17-2009 - 11:31am

How long has this been going on? Because often it takes a long time to change people's habits and perceptions. You mentioned that it is required in schools in Michigan to take a class in health, but what if these people never made it through high school? Children growing up on junk packaged foods are not likely to have a taste for, and the skills to cook, say fire-roasted baby beets with goat cheese on a bed of field greens.

There could also be a misconception that the farmers' markets are expensive. Within certain populations mainstream campaigns are not very effective. Let's not even talk about people with limited resources and education. And it is not only THOSE people lacking willpower and motivation. Look at this country as a whole: we all know that eating less and exercising more is important, yet the obesity rate in this country continues to grow.




Edited 4/17/2009 11:34 am ET by marie_1229
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-17-2003
Fri, 04-17-2009 - 12:17pm
Not to mention farmer's markets generally don't take food stamps.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-29-2008
Fri, 04-17-2009 - 1:18pm

I was pleased to notice that our local Farmer's Market began accepting "vouchers" last year.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-04-2008
Fri, 04-17-2009 - 2:48pm

The East Side market was around when my grandparents lived in Detriot!




iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
Fri, 04-17-2009 - 3:59pm

Just got off the phone with Detroit Eastern Market, apparently they do take food stamps, or rather, there is a booth outside the market that you present them with your EBT card, they will charge your card, and give you tokens which you can use to shop. Learned something today, thank you!

So is it a personal observation, or is it based on some numbers that you think people are not taking advantage of a place where one can get fresh produce at a reasonable price?

"What you can't teach is self motivation".
You are correct, you cannot TEACH motivation, you find ways to motivate them. It is easy to make generic comments as such, I am guilty as well. Every time I walk by an obese person, I said to myself, "how can people let themselves go like that"! Or sometimes people on this board show up and say they have X amount of credit card debt, I wonder why they did not do something sooner.

The thing is neither you or I were in their shoes, but in some ways we are all in this together. Heathcare costs in this country are skyrocketing. Somebody has to pay for all that. Even from the most selfish standpoint, I would rather have my tax dollars go towards finding ways to help people get healthier because prevention is always cheaper than treatment.

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."
- The Great Gatsby -




Edited 4/17/2009 4:01 pm ET by marie_1229
Community Leader
Registered: 07-26-1999
Fri, 04-17-2009 - 4:17pm
That must be a newer class requirement.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2005
Fri, 04-17-2009 - 4:25pm

We are a family of three, and $7/day/person would be $147. WOW. We buy Pepsi and Oreo's all the time and still don't spend that much. (And our toiletries are usually included in the amount we spend weekly.)

Mostly we eat cereal or bagels for breakfast,
leftovers, peanut butter sandwiches, or a quick sandwich at a fast food restaurant for lunch,
and a nice dinner (most nights anyway).

We could DEFINITELY cut back, but so far, I think we are doing okay without "sacrificing" much. I clip coupons when I can find any I will use, and I work in a co-op, so I get a 10% discount on the organic food I feel is necessary (and once in a great while I get FREE food from work - a bag of bagels, or cereal).


 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-16-2004
Sun, 04-19-2009 - 7:49am

I attended a workshop for my job where I learned about a perspective on poverty. The book it was based on is called, "Bridges Out of Poverty" by Philip DeVol; Terie Dreussi Smith Ruby K. Payne. Devol taught the workshop....but anywhoo


It was interesting and I did end up buying the book, although I haven't completely finished reading it yet. The theory behind it is there are distinct vantage points of each class: poverty, middle and wealthy. The food example was:


Poverty - How MUCH food?


Middle Class - How well does the food taste?


Wealthy - How nicely/elegantly is the food presented?


So these are the ways in which different classes tend to view food. Kind of like a cultural thing. I would argue those in middle class might tend to ask how healthy is the food as well....but not sure.


Nonetheless, if you grow up with the potential to go hungry on a regular basis, then it makes sense that you would mostly concern yourself just with the fact that you HAVE food and not much beyond that. Fear of starvation is, I'm sure, very traumatic and so worrying about fat content would probably not be high on the radar.


But also, another idea was that those in poverty do not think like those in middle class about money in general. So while people considered middle class are worrying about paying off debt, retirement, college savings for kids as a LONG-TERM perspective/goal, those in poverty are thinking about TODAY. They are thinking, "How can I juggle my minimum wage job with no childcare since the babysitter is a no-show??" Or "The car broke down! If I'm late again, my boss is gonna let me go"....thinking into the future is not the norm at all. Relationships need to be central in order to have a back-up plan that consists of cousin Suzy coming over in a pinch to take care of the kids or Fred down the street helping to fix the car. And money is often used on what might be considered "frivolous" outings or things

 


 



iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
Sun, 04-19-2009 - 4:36pm

Those are some great insight! I have noticed even in the last few days of having a tighter grocery budget, my attitude towards food went from "Is this going to make me fat"? to "Is this going to fill me up till the next meal"?

Would love to hear more when you finished the book. Maybe I should check it out as well.

Thank you for sharing!

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-04-2008
Sun, 04-19-2009 - 7:58pm

The Michigan curriculum has in fact changed significantly and the class of 2011 will be the first with the much higher standards, more math classes, science and languages.