Watching Hunger Hits Home

[redhen]

Our food pantry in our town is still judged by income level... you just cant walk in there and get free food.
Soooo anyone that is working or just recenly lost a job or on unemployment and yet still struggling for food,.. most likely wont qualify for help...

 

[chickened]

We have a 5 dollar store here where I live where you pay 5 bucks and get about 4 or 5 bags of food and usually all the bread you want once a week. They say it is low income but the folks running it look the other way. I see people bring an elderly person in with them and they get a bunch of food and then split it or something like that. They call it the food aid network or something. There is also the Gleaners.

 

[bakerjw]

Well, it comes down to one of 3 options.
1 - Take children away from parents that don't feed them properly. More government intervention and how will it funded?
2 - Expand the food stamp program for a broader segment of society. Again, how will it be funded?
3 - Expect people to be self reliant. Seriously, do we need more reliance on the government?

I have been in the poor to low middle class income range for a large majority of my life. My kids NEVER EVER went hungry. Not once. And I've never received a cent from the federal government so I know that it's possible to be self reliant.

 

[bakerjw]

So what is the longest that you've ever gone without food?

do not eat for the next three days and somewhere around the third day that feeling that you feel, that is hunger.

 

[Frogdogtimestwo]

What I saw when I watched this show; I get frustrated with the parents of these hungry kids. It is a vicious cycle of what the parent's are teaching them to eat. Yes, you can say that's all I can afford (ramen, hamburger helper, etc) but that is just not the case. I keep track of grocery costs consistently in my area (which has one of the highest cost of living in the US) A bag of corn or peas from the freezer section costs under a dollar, dried beans are under a dollar a pound, rice is 15.00 for 25 pounds, etc. In major cities discount produce markets have a lot of reasonable produce/fruit, you just have to ask around to find these kind of store locations. The lady shopping with her baby at the convenience store kills me, seriously you are paying 2 to 3 times as much from a store like that, go to the grocery store even if it means a 45 minute train ride and get food that will make 2 or 3 meals for what you paid for the ramen. Flour is cheap, make bread daily, tortillas, noodles. Heck, a pound chicken necks and some water will make broth for soups without all the sodium and chemicals for less money as well.

What a lot of those parents need is some home Economics classes which have been taken out of most high schools, they have no idea how to feed their families and that is why they are starving, not just the lack of food but the lack of knowledge. Just my humble opinion.

 

[RHRanch]

What I saw when I watched this show; I get frustrated with the parents of these hungry kids. It is a vicious cycle of what the parent's are teaching them to eat. Yes, you can say that's all I can afford (ramen, hamburger helper, etc) but that is just not the case. I keep track of grocery costs consistently in my area (which has one of the highest cost of living in the US) A bag of corn or peas from the freezer section costs under a dollar, dried beans are under a dollar a pound, rice is 15.00 for 25 pounds, etc. In major cities discount produce markets have a lot of reasonable produce/fruit, you just have to ask around to find these kind of store locations. The lady shopping with her baby at the convenience store kills me, seriously you are paying 2 to 3 times as much from a store like that, go to the grocery store even if it means a 45 minute train ride and get food that will make 2 or 3 meals for what you paid for the ramen. Flour is cheap, make bread daily, tortillas, noodles. Heck, a pound chicken necks and some water will make broth for soups without all the sodium and chemicals for less money as well.

What a lot of those parents need is some home Economics classes which have been taken out of most high schools, they have no idea how to feed their families and that is why they are starving, not just the lack of food but the lack of knowledge. Just my humble opinion.

(I don't know if this is the case for the lady in the video you saw), but are you not aware that in many communities there are no grocery stores? The reason is usually because really poor urban communities are not targeted by developers who don't want to deal with the crime and lack of spending power of those communities. Often a convenience store is the only local option.

 

[Frogdogtimestwo]

She stated it was a 45 minute ride for her on the train. I guess I have been lucky enough to live in places that have a grocery store, even if it was a crappy one. I don't have the answers, nor do I want to argue but that is what I saw/felt when I watched that documentary. I donate to food banks often, and hope it is helping these families, but I also know I have been one of these families and I could pull a meal out of nothing and we always had fruit or veggies to be consumed.

 

[hemet dennis]

What I saw when I watched this show; I get frustrated with the parents of these hungry kids. It is a vicious cycle of what the parent's are teaching them to eat. Yes, you can say that's all I can afford (ramen, hamburger helper, etc) but that is just not the case. I keep track of grocery costs consistently in my area (which has one of the highest cost of living in the US) A bag of corn or peas from the freezer section costs under a dollar, dried beans are under a dollar a pound, rice is 15.00 for 25 pounds, etc. In major cities discount produce markets have a lot of reasonable produce/fruit, you just have to ask around to find these kind of store locations. The lady shopping with her baby at the convenience store kills me, seriously you are paying 2 to 3 times as much from a store like that, go to the grocery store even if it means a 45 minute train ride and get food that will make 2 or 3 meals for what you paid for the ramen. Flour is cheap, make bread daily, tortillas, noodles. Heck, a pound chicken necks and some water will make broth for soups without all the sodium and chemicals for less money as well.

What a lot of those parents need is some home Economics classes which have been taken out of most high schools, they have no idea how to feed their families and that is why they are starving, not just the lack of food but the lack of knowledge. Just my humble opinion.

Most of the things you brought up involve planing and some work.

 

[Frogdogtimestwo]

True, it does require some forethought but a crockpot is simple and many one pot meals are something you could pull together quite quickly, easily 30 minutes or less. One of the example families had teenagers in the house, why can't they cook it? I am just throwing my thoughts out there, mostly I am heartbroken this is an issue at all.

 

[chickened]

Well lets see 45 minutes on a train or miss 45 minutes of Oprah... Excuses are like ####### everyone has one.

She stated it was a 45 minute ride for her on the train. I guess I have been lucky enough to live in places that have a grocery store, even if it was a crappy one. I don't have the answers, nor do I want to argue but that is what I saw/felt when I watched that documentary. I donate to food banks often, and hope it is helping these families, but I also know I have been one of these families and I could pull a meal out of nothing and we always had fruit or veggies to be consumed.