Am I annoyed or sympathetic?

[australorpchick]

Reminds me of an incident a couple of months ago. DD and I stopped at the Dollar General near our house to pick up some tissues and cough drops. The lady and man in front of me had loaded up on a bunch of junk food, yoohoos, chips, lots of soda, cookies and ice cream. The healthiest thing I saw was a can of raviolis. Her total for all this junk food was over $100. She whipped out a Lone Star card. I could see if she didn't have the transportation to shop at HEB and get healthy food, but there's a smaller grocery store one block down the road from DG. I just worked a 10 hour day, so someone could eat like that, at the taxpayers expense?!

 

[kuntrygirl]

chickensducks&agoose :

In a Craigslist near me, I found this ad:

We have almost never been in a situation like this, and though I am embarrassed to ask this, it has come to the point that in order to get by for the next 2 weeks +, Todays date is April 13th I think. We are in need of some very small but meaningful help until the first of the month, (May). when we have food stamps again. Both of us are disabled and unable to work at this time. Without feeling like a beggar in he streets, we need a small compliment of things to get us by, again, just for until May 1. We have done the food shelf thing, and Burlington offered virtually no food and most was spoiled. We need the following items: Whole Milk, Any Meat, Instant Coffee-Tasters Choice, Diet Pepsi, One Large Soda, Pepsi or Dr. Pepper, Cereal-Frosted Flakes, Frosted Cheerio's,Waffles, Eggs, Cat Food, Cat Litter, clumping plz, TP, Scott Towels, and gas for the car to get to Dr. Appointments. Anything


I feel sad that these people are needing things they can't afford, but if one is asking for charity, I feel annoyed by requests for sugary cereal and sodas... also, i know that the food shelfs around here are stocked often, and funded by federal and state money, as well as donations, so I call 'foul' on that part... Do you think that food shelfs, stamps etc., should pay for junk?

I think that you are annoyed as I am. To answer your question.......

Do you think that food shelfs, stamps etc., should pay for junk?

I DO NOT think that food shelfs, stamps, etc., should pay for JUNK. I feel that there should be several exclusions when using food stamps. I despise the fact when I go in the store and see people with 2 and 3 carts full of JUNK. I do not feel that sodas and snacks (Little Debbie's, Honey Buns, Ding Dongs, Chips, etc) should qualify for Food Stamps. This JUNK is not a necessity to live. This JUNK is a luxury. I feel that the ONLY things that people should be allowed to purchase with a food stamp card is rice, potatoes, meat, bread, eggs, milk, limited juices (Orange juice) fruit and vegetables. Anything else is a WANT and not a NEED. Too many people (to include elderly people) who really, really need food stamps and they can't get it because someone keeps having babies and increasing their Food stamp card to $600.00 and half of the food that they purchase is chips, soda and snack cakes. You see these people in the grocery line and they are as sharp as a tack. Their nails are freshly manicured and painted, toes/feet have been pedicured and they have just left the chair at the beauty shop. They are also carrying a Gucci or some other designer purse. Then they push their carts to their car and lo and behold they click the door opener to a Cadillac Escalade. Now true enough, this person MIGHT BE but highly not likely shopping for someone else but that someone else still had all of this JUNK FOOD on their grocery list. If you can afford to pay (cash money) $400.00 for a designer bag, manicure/nails ($30.00), pedicure/toes ($30.00), visit to beauty shop ($60.00), then why on EARTH are you stealing and asking for Food Stamp Assistance??????? Get your butt up, stop having ALL of those kids and GET A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could go on and on about "The System" but I would be beating that horse to death. It has gotten out of hand.

 

[KristyHall]

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I have to agree with you 100%. I work retail, in a very high FS area where 70% of the people that shop at our store are on govt assistance whether it be WIC or FS. They flash around their fancy cell phones, their keys to their big expensive rigs, the wear more makeup than I have ever thought of wearing, jewlery, buy the candy for Easter/Christmas/Halloween, Steaks, Lobster, seafood. I work VERY hard for what I have. I have 5 kids and my husband and I sacrifice time with each other so we can both work opposite shifts and raise our children ourselves. Am I against FS.. no.. I have friends that use them responisbly. WIC is a great program, highly regulated, very strict, and helps a lot of deserving people out. It does bother me though when they are given 6 or 10 bucks worth of fruits and vegetables and only leave with 2 bucks worth of bananas. they dont even spend the little amount they are given for fresh foods. Do I get upset at people misusing their FS? You bet I do. Would I rather see them buying real foods, vegetables, anything but a stack of Hungry man. You bet I would. Do I totally blame them? No.. its a huge circle. The government subsidises factoy farms and GMO foods and allow them to mass produce the worst foods out there making them more affordible than fresh foods. They are cheaper and more addictive. People are uneducated about it, they eat it and today people are more unhealthy than ever and that does nothing but drive health care costs up so high that I can barely afford medical care for my children and myself. It drives me insane when I even start thinking about all the problems out there. I really wish FS were more regulated. I wish people wre more educated, Iam sad for this country at times and have been really trying to become a little more self sufficient than before and making more informed decisions aobut where my food comes from. Its been a journey, Ill admit a year and a half ago I didnt really know how to cook. And i think a lot of people are the same way.. they dont know how to cook anymore.. Just tonight I had a customer tell me he was a good cook as long as he had a microwave or oven, as I put his purchases of frozen desert pies, hungryman dinners and bags of ready to go pasta meals in a bag. Not a single fruit, bread, vegetable or "plain meat". All paid for with his food stamp card. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer.. but Education is key in the entire process.

ok I have a confession.

My parents and I went in together to buy this land. Then i was in a car accident that put me through two years of physical therapy making me unable to work. My step dad became disabled military and my mom developed a crippling cousin of MS.

We were able to scrape by with their disability checks and growing our veggies and raising chickens for meat and eggs. (I have since learned how make eggs and chicken taste different enough to not get too sick of it)

Then y sister went into congestive heart failure. lost her job and thus her insurance. two years ago. and she and her kids moved in. We could't afford to eat while she struggled to get medicaid so she could go to teh doctor and get treated and get well enough to get back to the doctor.

In desperation, my sister applied for and received food stamps. So yes were were on food stamps for trhee months. We bought mostly staples, milk, cheese, produce we couldn't grow like apples and bananas (apple trees do poorly in the deep south, I've tried. sigh. I love apples)

Because of my back injuries I sometimes hurt too much to cook every day and my mother can hardly stand long enough to make a sandwich and my sister got so sick s he nearly died and so she could hardly cook. So we also bought a LOT of frozen dinners. on days I am in minimal pain I make up a bunch of meals and freeze them, but with six people we run out fast.

My mom is also diabetic who is prone to sugar crashes so I buy a bag of candy once a month to keep on hand in case she has a crash and i have to get sugar in her quick. We also would buy beef and pork on occasion, though I tended to buy cheaper cuts of beef and marinate the heck out of them to get them tender. We never bought expensive steaks.

What agrivated me is someone told me you couldn't use coupons with the FS. You would think the government would want us to save money. It hurts one's pride to use food stamps. We aren't on them any more, now that we're better off financially. We did have our vices too. While I prefer oatmeal with bananas or other fresh fruit in it, I must admit I would buy the occasional cake mix, or a half pint of cheap ice cream.

But sometimes people on food stamps are too sick to work and it's darn hard to get disability or insurance like medicaid, so they buy instant meals because they don't have the stamina to cook. They have found out what caused my sister's heart failure but now she has years of recovery ahead of her, and years of fighting to get disability so she can get decent insurance to get the treatments needed to get better. Like the rest of the family she hates being idle.

When we were children and our mother left my abusive legal father, we lived in a car and in shelters, always on the run, we dumpster dove, begged, and relied on food banks to live. We ate a lot of unhealthy food to survive. Mom also worked during all this time and got her bachelors even though we were homeless and hiding from a sociopath.

So food stamps isn't used exclusively by dead beats. Neither is begging. There are people out there who truely need these things, and , like our family, when they got in a better system, payed back the system that helped them through volunteer work , donation and of course, we pay our taxes.

 

[KristyHall]

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I teach "nutrition on a budget" classes at a local domestic violence shelter since many of the people there are in the same category. They simply don't know how. They grew up in a world where every food is a convenience food and are intimidated by cooking.

I understand fully what you are saying. To me baking a cake on a whim is not a big deal because I've done it hundreds maybe thousands of times before while someone who grew up with Macdonalds and canned vegetables, often looks surprised when they see me get up throw a cake in the over and sit back down within fifteen minutes when ever i get a sweet tooth.

 

[KristyHall]

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While they are free to use their food stamps for whatever they please, I do find this list a bit irksome, specifically because they said they "need" the following items. I don't think anyone NEEDS coffee, soda, brand name cereal, etc. "Need" in my mind is food that will meet your basic nutritional requirements, not snack foods. I am in a tough budget spot right now and you know what I eat? Whatever I can afford to, which doesn't include snacks. I get what I NEED - meal foods, and inexpensive ones at that. I drink water because it is FREE. And I definitely wouldn't be scouting for a specific type of cereal when store brands are cheaper and of the same caliber.

IDK, I guess I can see the point that it is better that they list what they're willing to accept than have well intentioned people waste money, but on the flip side, perhaps their financial situation is due to poor budgeting decisions like this like splurging on snack foods instead of saving for bills? My ex-fiance's family was always struggling to pay the bills... because they spent foolishly. They made half the money my family did but had big screen TVs, fancy computers, every video game system you can imagine, always bought brand name foods and ample snacks, etc. I think the folks posting that ad could better use budget help and good, nutritious food than what they're asking for.

Frankly, I smell a scam. Before I offer any assistance I want to know why 2 or more alledgedly disabled people are going through ther food stamps in less than a month, still have internet to post VERY specific wants (as opposed to needs) and I'd like to see the disability certifications. Don't look now folks, but this is an increasingly frequent scam by those who don't/won't do what they can to get back on their feet.

Buff, if they are truly disabled, shouldn't they be getting disability benefits? Being the skeptic that I am, I wonder if the "disability" isn't obesity, caused by the terrible dietary choices they have made? I think a referral to Social Services is in order.

I have pride, so does my DH. Though we are both unemployed (not by choice) and only one of us is elegible for unemployment, it will be a cold day down in hell before either of us goes online begging - much less for brand specific products! We're scrambling, but we're scrambling hard! Creativity, adaptability and flexibility are our weapons and it's a tough battle. But we WILL keep our house and land. By working harder than ever before at whatever we can do and NEVER begging.

it can take years to get disability and sometime sit can take years to even get medicaid. if you and your family become sick and injured all at once, like what happened to mine, you could resort to begging. It is humiliating but, don't say never. you would be shocked what you would do for a sandwich.

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

I work in a larger city. Here's the problem with the various means to make a decent meal.

The lack of time. When the adult is working 2-3 jobs to barely scrape by, there isn't time to make a proper meal. Plus, the healthy food is expensive next to the junk. So it's more affordable to buy the junk, the kids learn how to only use the microwave, and you've now set up the cycle to repeat again.

The lack of money. So the gas gets shut off. So the stove no longer works, so they can't cook a proper meal.

I refuse to begrude anyone their situation, because I have no idea how or why they are in that position. Just because I'm not doesn't mean I am better than they are.

 

[scbatz33]

I don't think anyone takes issue when folks NEED the assistance. I would be willing to say a good majority (esp now) NEED the assistance.

But those people are not the "lifers" who milk the system. They get it, get stable and get off it.

The issue here, and what most people have complained about are those folks who are on it instead of working, or lie and cheat the system to get benefits they don't deserve.

It's those people who hurt everyone else. It's those people who waste resources that people who legitimately need can't get.

 

[kuntrygirl]

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Bingo! I totally agree with you.

 

[redhen]

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Yep! Ditto..

 

[newchknmama]

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Yep! Ditto..

Agree as well

And I apologize, I know some people can't cook and a lot dont know how or are unable. I can't judge a whole group of people, each situation is unique, which is why it is a challenging subject.