http%3A//beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/articles/chew-feeding-america
- ...and to the diabetic on food stamp challenge...
http://chefprivato.blogspot.com/
- And a previous DL thread.
http://www.datalounge.com/cgi-bin/iowa/ajax.html%3Ft%3D10802118%23page:showThread%2C10802118
- Sorry...forgot the benefit site.
I've decided to go in the morning 11 a.m. anyone?
http://www.stirringthepotharlem.com/%23
- What Mario eats in a day could feed a family of four for a week.
- No because I have to take two buses on a three hour round trip after working two shifts to find produce.
Welfare%20Mom%2C%20DL%20Icon
- If you prepare your own food, it's easy. The biggest hurdle is spending upfront for spices and things you will use over and over but have a high initial cost. once you have staples your grocery trips are going to be less expensive, especially when you figure out your consistent menu.
- I'm surprised it took so long for a cunt like R6 to show up.
- lol, R7!
- Mario's grocery bill is probably $530 a month. Can he really survive on one Twinkie a day?
- R6 I can guarantee you it is not easy. In fact it is quite difficult.
- Living in the city, no. I would need a plot of land and some seeds.
- It's very doable. Put down the chips and the pop.
- $1.48 a day. Is that your only income? Food Stamps being your only source of money? Doubt it.
- This question involves too many variables. For example, what is your daily level of physical activity? Are you disabled? Where do you live? What are your transportation options? What are your grocery store options? Do you have access to a freezer? Do you have sufficient storage options? Do you have the ability to buy in bulk? I believe that $1.48 is theoretically possible for some persons, but not even close to being possible for others. I could do it if I had to but that is primarily because of where I live. It would be joyless eating though.
- I live on a tight budget and try to eat healthy. I rarely buy salty or sugary snacks, soft drinks, pastries, white bread, and processed 'ready to eat' meals.
I freeze all of my leftovers so I won't have to eat one dish for several days. For snacks I eat carrots with a (spicy or mild) yogurt based dip sauce.
But even I spend about 3.00 per day for food.
- [quote]Mario's grocery bill is probably $530 a month.
Surely you mean, a day.
- In the end, this is just free advertising for Battali and his business.
- Now way. I used dinner. One night I made baked salmon with a couple of sides, and then a beef and broccoli dish.
On average per person per day mine comes out to $2.15 per meal.
LuciferTheLightBringer
- Its an exploitative and derogatory game to look down on people who are poor and accuse them of being unable to take care of themselves.
You have to be rich to play, though, because you won't actually stick to the plan because it doesn't cover champagne and filet.
That is the entire point.
- So, what you are saying is that you couldn't ever get that extra sixty cents, right?
Riight.
- Do most people live somewhere where, in addition to food stamps, there is a food bank or food pantry? Some food pantries, especially one run by the Catholic Church (open to everyone, of course) in the small northern NY town in which I am unhappily currently marooned, are really quite generous. But no (usuallY) fresh produce, alas. And there's canned milk but no fresh. But pretty good on canned stuff. Back in the day, I contributed to food banks in SF; feel sort of guilty now, being a "participants", but is a nice safety net.
Occurs to me that maybe someone of great means (not just me, giving $200 to SF Food Banka season when made c. $55,000)- like, for example, George Clooney (who is very generous of course) could hold up on the fucking Darfur orphans for a few months of years and help out:
Hungry Americans? Hello??
Poor and annoyed
- I'm not sure I understand R19's point.
- R10 actually it really ISN'T that difficult, but the problem is most people are fat lazy fucks that never learned how to cook, and they shovel unhealthy cheap fast food in their mouths to satisfy their urges.
Food and health are like anything else in the world - if you think having all the effort of pressing a button and expecting instant results is going to give you the world, then you're about to get a rude awakening.
- and PS, I made $20 stretch over a month with a handful of spices, noodles, soups, and some beans, only having meat (pork) once or twice a month. Lived that way for several years after graduation.
- So R23 give us your menu at 1.48 per meal.
And while you are at it, do it as a diabetic (many on food assistance are)limited beans, no pasta, no rice, not much bread etc.
Once you have your menu and costs post it and we can judge it for you...
My gosh. ONE frigging apple costs half a buck. I really don't think it can be done.
- p.s. where is that idiot poor girl who usually mucks up any thread of this kind?
- Bean soup every night as a 24-year-old is pretty different from putting food on the table for a family as an adult at the peak of your earning potential. I'd say "fuck it" and head to Taco Bell too.
- Mario Batali was convicted in court of stealing his busboys' tips. He was ordered to pay back millions of dollars. It is a travesty that he is pretending to take part in this event benefiting the poor.
I am very glad the attorney general of NY took him to the whipping post for exploitation. In the state of Florida where I am currently (reluctantly) residing, it would never happen.
Food is a fetish in America on every level and most upper-middle class people could never cope with what many Americans have to face every day.
- I've had no choice, but to do it.
Been on food stamps since last August. I get $200 a month which is the max for a single person. For it it averages to about $2.15 a meal ($200/31/3)
When I lost my job I had a pretty full pantry of spices/herbs etc and haven't had to buy them.
I plan all my meals around the grocery store's flyer. I don't buy anything that is not on sale. If there's a decent sale like 10 boxes of pasta for $10 I stock up. I cook in bulk and freeze stuff like pasta sauce and homemade soup.
I eat a lot of pasta, a lot of rice, a lot of beans and potatoes. Will only buy meat when on sale and it's usually hamburger and chicken (which has gotten way too expensive).
I drink only filtered water (Brita). Cutting out soda saves a good chunk of money. Don't drink coffee or tea.
I've started baking again for the occasional treat.
I live for sales on turkey around the holidays. I can turn a 20 pound turkey into over 50 meals--turkey dinner, hot turkey sandwiches, turkey pot pie and then turkey soup with the remains. I do the same with chicken but can usually only manage 15 meals at most.
- R21, the difference is that Darfur actually needs the help. Americans have the means to adequately feed and provide healthcare their fellow citizens, but coose instead to transfer money to the rich. Those war victims in Africa cannot make a similar choice.
- You can hate on churches all your want, but they provide free meals and food to anybody who asks with no strings attached and they do it without 'government help' of any kind. They hustle for donations from parishioners and local businesses.
I see it every day, and it sickens me that people are politicizing food.
- R29, it is people like you who I really admire. Not those who make gobs of money and have no real skills, but those who are resourceful and creative.
Good for you. I am resourceful too, but you are great at it. I can only imagine how to get 50 meals out of a 20 pound bird.
- Just eat rice and beans. You can buy a 20 pound sack of rice for $10 where I live. Then add beans. Rice for breakfast, and lunch. Dinner is beans.
Complete protein. Throw in a vitamin tablet, 1¢ and you have all you need to live.
So what if you have to eat the same thing every day? Animals do it. It's charity, so you can't expect better.
- I am not on any sort of budget and I just looked at my food bill for the last two weeks and it turns out I feed myself within that amount!
My shopping list for the past two weeks:
1/2 dozen eggs = £2
Organic produce box (fruit and veg) = £12
500g porridge oats = £1.25 (I buy a 1kg bag every month for £2)
1 kg grains (brown rice, sushi rice, quinoa or wholemeal cous-cous) = £4.50
Meat/fish/tofu – I add ££10-12 worth to my produce order once a month. This month I ordered pigeon breasts and a rabbit, and I also bought some cubed pancetta.
Occasional purchases of spices/honey/etc = £5
Skimmed milk = £6.30
This works out at about £3 per day and I eat a very varied diet. I'm not diabetic, but I am on Weight Watchers so I am avoiding high-fat and sugary foods.
The thing is, while it is possible to eat on a tight budget, it isn't necessarily practical - especially for people on very low incomes who may not have the underlying resources to buy things in bulk – also they may not have a freezer. The people who find they can survive on this kind of budget tend to be quite educated about food and they know how to buy things in season when they are cheaper (and nicer) and they vary their diet according to what’s on offer. I reckon someone from a medium income who falls on hard times would have an easier time living on this kind of budget than someone who has always lived in straitened circumstances. Having access to low-cost fresh produce is an issue – pretty much everyone in the UK will have a cheapie street market close to where they live, but I gather this is not the case in the US. Also, you have to completely avoid convenience food.
It also takes effort and thought. I used to date a guy who was on benefits and he spent about three times what I did on food and ate crap out of tins and packets. He claimed he “had to” eat badly because healthy food was “so expensive” but in fact he bought all his food at the overpriced convenience store a few paces from his home rather than walking half a mile to the local supermarket which was much cheaper (and he wasn’t working, so he had the time). He never went to the local produce market which would have been even cheaper than the shops.
YouMayBeAnonymousButIHaveAName
- I can't believe the US (which seems to pride itself on being 'anti-socialist') offers up to 200 dollars of food stamps for a single person. In the UK, a person get about 60 pounds a week to live on (but that's for everything... barring the possibility of social housing).
- Btw, I don't disapprove of that fact people should get help. I'm just surprised people get that much in America.
- R35 UP TO 200 is the phrase that rings true.
Not 200 in fact rarely near that.
In the US most people on food assistance are employed. Every penny you make goes to reduce those dollars.
They take into account how much rent you pay as well..in fact if you qualify but pay high rent (almost impossible not to in some cities) you don't qualify at all.
In the UK you have socialized medicine so you don't pay those costs, the poor often do. (And before we get the freak out about emergency rooms and it being free check the real data.)
- From 1980 to 2003 average CEO pay has gone from 40 times average workers' pay to 400 times average workers' pay.
- Those of you eating for pennies per meal need to start posting some recipes and meal plans...
- You are right R39 they say it is easy, they say they can do it but they never list the food. Bite by bite food can be expensive.
I saw a container of beautiful strawberries for 1.99 and I grabbed it. I had half with my coffee before breakfast.
That dollar worth of berries and my coffee would probably blow the 1.48.
- You people don't know how to shop or cook. I had no problem buying food for $20 in 1953!
- Beef and Broccoli - better than anything you'll get at a Chinese restaurant. And it's only $2.58 per serving only because I used top loin steak. You can probably squeak it down to $1.50 per serving if you use flank steak.
http://truthspew.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/food-beef-and-broccoli/
LuciferTheLightBringer
- I remember seeing a book called I Feed My Family of Four on $5 a Day at a thrift store once. I wish I had gotten it so I could have something to say on a thread like this. I did thumb through it and it did have recipes IIRC.
- R34, I don't know where you are getting a box of organic fruit and vegetables for £12, but in America it's probably double that price. A small head of organic iceberg lettuce is $3 - 3.50. Fruit and veg is outrageous. One non organic apple probably costs close to $1
And R35, the only thing available for single people in America is food stamps. We don't have any type of welfare for single people. Only people with children and even then there is a limit of 2 yrs of assistance. Public housing goes to people with children or the elderly. If your single in America, you are fucked and you will have to go homeless. There aren't any "benefits". There isn't a job seekers allowance and it takes about a year or longer to get on medical disability. And most people get turned down for disability. And we have to pay for all our medical expenses (unless you pay a few hundred a month for insurance). Need to go to the emergency room? $1500 just to walk in the door
- >>>>>You can hate on churches all your want, but they provide free meals and food to anybody who asks with no strings attached and they do it without 'government help' of any kind.
I'm not hating on churches and I don't know about you, but I consider the fact that they don't pay any taxes to be a fabulous form of government help
- r44, I buy the small fruit and veg box from the site linked below every fortnight - if I bought the items separately it would cost double or triple what I pay.
And for those asking for meal plans, here is what I ate yesterday:
Breakfast:
30g porridge oats cooked with water (12p per serving of oats)
Plum compote (made with plums from my fruit box, for which costs detailed below)
Snacks: 1 pint skimmed milk (45p)
Lunch:
50g quinoa (25p)
juice 1/2 lemon (12p)
1/4 cucumber(22p)
Dinner
savoy cabbage (from my veg box)
40g pancetta (49p - I used 1/4 of a pack that cost £1.99)
Smoothie made with:
Banana (from veg box)
tbsp yoghurt (16p)
25g frozen raspberries (42p)
(veg box cost is 92p per day including the delivery cost)
The total is £3.15, give or take a penny. The reason I can calculate this to the nearest penny is that I do WW and have to weigh all my food.
http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/fruit-veg/fruit-veg-boxes
r34
- Well, I know I could live on that, because I've lived on less in the past, when I was in graduate school and when I was disabled after an accident. I don't know if I could keep children happy on that, but I could feed them nutritious meals. I think some of the problems for the poor are not knowing how to cook, not knowing how to stock a pantry with staples, not having a well-equipped kitchen (cooking tools are expen$ive), and not having a good freezer. Once you know how to buy in bulk, cook in bulk and know a few recipes for cheap protein (eggs, cheap cuts of meat, legumes) you can do it.
- More recipes, please.
- Takes planning and discipline, but it's doable.
One big difficulty is resisting the constant bombardment of ads selling cheap tasty fast food.
If you've got kids that 99 cent value meal sure seems like a good deal at the time.
- Beef Esterhazy
1 round steak, 1" thick, about 1 1/2 lbs
seasoned salt
all-purpose flour
2-3 tbsp shortening
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1/2 cup snipped parsley
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, quartered
1 tbsp paprika
2 beef bouillon cubes
1/2 cup sour cream
About 1 hour, 30 minutes before serving:
1. Rub steak with seasoned salt, flour lightly. In skillet with high sides, heat shortening; in it brown meat on both sides, remove.
2. To drippings in skillet, add celery, carrots, onion, parsley and mushrooms. Saute a few minutes, then stir in paprika and 2 tbsp flour. Now add bouillon cubes and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, stirring. Return meat to skilled, simmer, covered 60-70 minutes, or until fork tender.
In bowl, beat sour cream. Slowly add part of gravy from skillet, while beating. Return to skillet, bring almost to boil, stirring. Serve, sliced, with noodles. Makes 6 servings.
- Yum!
Making%20lentils%20as%20I%20type
- red-cooked chicken
1 tbsp vegetable oil
8 chicken thighs, skin removed
water
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/3 cup soy sauce
12 slices peeled fresh ginger
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, halved
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp oriental sesame oil
2 tsp minced fresh cilantro
2 tsp minced green onion
Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add chicken, brown 2-3 minutes per side, remove. Discard fat. Whisk in 1 1/2 cups water with next 6 ingredients. Add chicken; cook uncovered, turning occasionally, 30 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter, cover and keep warm. Skim and discard fat from sauce. Return skillet to heat, bring to boil. Blend cornstarch with 2 tbsp water in bowl. Add to boiling sauce, whisking until thickened. Stir in sesame oil. Pour sauce over chicken. Garnish with cilantro.
The sesame oil is a bit expensive. I cook enough Chinese-themed meals to make it worthwhile to buy a small bottle and keep it refrigerated. Likewise, when I buy a bit of ginger root, I know enough meals using that ingredient to make sure it doesn't go to waste.
As for the chicken thighs, I buy those when they're on sale. When sirloin goes on sale, I buy a few for beef with broccoli and freeze the meat until broccoli is on special. Freezing it helps in slicing the meat thin enough for stir frying. And, again, I buy round steak when it's on sale and prepare the round-steak recipe above. Sour cream goes on sale fairly regularly.
- So much delusion on this thread.
- Delusion of what?
- R6, instead of general tips, link to recipes which lists the cost of each ingredient.
- [quote]If your single in America, you are fucked and you will have to go homeless.
I think the idea is that, if you are single with no dependents, you can move into a roommate/sharing situation before resorting to taxpayer subsidies for your own place.
Depending on the state you live in r44 there might be benefits available that you're unaware of. There are a lot of government benefits that go unclaimed because the agencies don't have a budget for outreach.
- You can make a cheap-ish yummy meal. Tuna Pot-erole.
Use tuna, frozen peas, milk, cheese, butter and some kind of starch. Plus normal stuff like onion, celery, garlic, salt and pepper. The recipe I have at the link uses noodles, but I'm gluten-free so we use quinoa and just cook it up in a pot, which is much quicker and still quite delicious. We also skip the mushrooms. It's a well-balanced meal high in protein, including grain and vegetables. I was surprised how good it is - I had only been making tuna salad and stuffing peppers or celery with it, and this is more satisfying. In fact, I'm going to make some now.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tuna-noodle-casserole-from-scratch/
- I costed out several of these 'cheap' recipes and they cost more than 1.48 per serving. Our British friend is spending close to 2.00 per meal.
While many of you say 1.48 VOTN gives a recipe at almost 3.00.
- VOTN is clearly a cut above
- For those suggesting pasta, beans and rice please keep in mind it's eating for $1.48 per meal for a diabetic. Diabetics can't do much pasta or rice and can't even eat that much beans, which are a carb. Even whole wheat bread and pasta are usually a problem.
I'm a diabetic and any kind of rice, even brown, leaves me with high blood sugar. I can't do rice at all.
I also have to watch my fat and sodium so I can't flavor with bacon even if I get it for free and I can't buy things that have a lot of sodium. I don't even use frozen peas or spinach because it's high in sodium. Most frozen vegetables aren't though. If the canned kind with no salt added are included in sales I'll buy those but often they are excluded. Except for cottage I can't eat cheese. I do buy no salt added cottage cheese when it's on sale for $1.99 and can get 4 portions out of that and I force it down but cottage cheese without salt is disgusting, adding some fruit or sugar free jello doesn't help in the least. It's like eating bread baked without salt, horrid. Still that part has nothing to do with being poor but with having medical conditions. But for the poor salt free bread and other products might be out of their reach.
The best things people with all my conditions can eat are just fresh produce and some lean protein and those are the most expensive things out there. I've gone to my local farmer's market and it costs as much as the organic food coop, more on some things. I certainly could never afford the farmers market eggs at 5 bucks a dozen or their cheese (if I could eat cheese) at 29 dollars a pound. The seafood guy at the farmers market prices start at about 11 dollars a pound up to about 40 dollars a pound for shellfish items. The meats there, grass fed I guess, start at 9 dollars a pound for hamburger. The good news is they take food stamps. The bad news is if a person bought enough produce their for even a week it would use up every penny of even 200 dollars for the month and leave that person with nothing to eat for the other 3 weeks of the month.
In addition I have a lot problems with my stomach and can't do spice or tomatoes or vinegar or anything with acid, no oranges either.
Honestly even if I had all the money in the world my food, with little salt or spice would take like shit but the more medical conditions you have the harder it is.
Now throw in being too disabled or elderly to get around and no way to carry much or get to churches with food pantries. It's very likely there is either a physical inability to take public transit or not being able to afford 5 dollars or more round trip added on to buying your groceries or getting to a pantry every time for the fare on a bus or subway and no decent food store near by and you are totally screwed if in addition to this you are poor. Also throw in that for these people times are never going to get better. They can't, not won't, but can not work. There could be 100 jobs for every person and they would not be able to take advantage so help from the government is all they can ever have to survive. Imagine how frightening it is to hear how some in this country want to take even that little bit away from them.
- Only a whore would do this kind of thing
- R60 that is a tough situation. You circumstances are much worst than even a typical diabetic on food assistance.
You make a good point...people do suggest rice, beans, and other high carb items that if eaten at all must be eaten in very small quantities.
Fortunately not everyone has to restrict sodium as much as you do.
- I cook like r29 all the time. I also buy the "manager's specials/reduced for quick sale" items on their sell by date. You can get meat and bread that can be used that day or frozen, and fruit and vegetables that usually have a few days left in them.
My first job out of college, I lived in an SRO in NYC. It was like living in a dorm room but without the dining hall. I had a small dorm size fridge with no freezer and a hot pot. I lived on tunafish, Kraft mac & cheese, soup, oatmeal and rice and beans. I had very little disposable cash, and whatever money I had was for going out to clubs, not eating. My company always had big client meetings at least once a week and I could usually count on scoring a leftover bagel or half-sandwich a couple of times a week.
- Thank you R62. It's true, not many have that much restriction on their diet. BTW, I'm diabetic from childhood and still quite thin, underweight actually. Unfortunately there are no food pantries in my area or churches that have any kind of assistance problem. I never buy junk food; never have since I've known all my life to watch what I eat. I'd be the freaky kid eating celery with a tsp of peanut butter while out with kids eating Good Humor ice cream. Now that I'm older everything is much worse. But more than my conditions, poverty has led to my worsening conditions, especially since the huge cuts to Medicaid that are already in place. I have to spend hours a day on the phone fighting for what kind of treatment, tests and drugs my doctors want me to have. I'm also asthmatic and often just have to hang up because I'm out of breath. But there are many like me, especially seniors or those with diabetes and kidney problems, which sooner or later most diabetics have. If your kidneys are bad not only do you have to be careful of sodium but potassium in foods as well, like no bananas, no potatoes, very little dairy and lots of other restrictions. Many diabetics end up with amputations making shopping around for sales on food extremely difficult to say the least.
When the government calculates food stamps they do not figure any special needs at all into it. Now there are already two cuts scheduled for Food Stamps in 2013 and the GOP and Ryan Plan want to do away with them altogether.
What are people who cannot work, not if they were offered a job for 10,000 dollars a week, supposed to do? Are they lazy leeches because they are too old, sick or disabled to work? Is getting sick, old or disabled a crime to be punished by no roof over your head, no medical care and starving to death?
For some of us keeping all Republicans out from the WH on down is literally a matter of life or death. I know I'm scared 24/7. I hardly sleep anymore so scared Romney will win or the Dems will lose not win the House or worse lose the Senate too. I've never been so scared in my life, not even some years back when I also had to fight cancer. Even cancer was not so cruel that it wanted to take away any chance I had to pay rent on my studio apt or take away what little food I had or my medical care.
R60
- R63 All great ideas...that would kill a Diabetic.
R64...America has become a pretty evil country, survival of the fittest and their intention is for the old, sick and weak to die off.
- I know it R65. I know it. That's why I'm so terrified. I'm too much of a coward to kill myself. I'm hoping that I'll just die quickly once I'm homeless and have no medical care or food. Seriously, I'm not a religious person and if the GOP gets in surely there can be no god, not a good one anyway, but if there is something in charge out there I pray all day that he, she or it would just take me already. I'm ashamed to admit I'm a grown man and then some and I spend a good part of my day just crying in fear. That's no way to live. I just want out before the kind of suffering the GOP wants for people like me is put into place.
R60/64
- R60, thanks for your comments. I have kidney failure, and have the diatary restrictions you mentioned. Such a drag. I don't think most food pantries get healthy canned food donations - not much of that, anyway. Canned soups, even "low-sodium" - are still too high in salt! Cooking from scratch all the time is sorta boring too, especially for us singles.
- R66 what city are you in?
I want to see if there might not be more help for you than you think.
- Food Stamp activist as always.
http://www.foodbanknyc.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/5/17/Living-on-a-Food-Stamp-Budget-as-a-Diabetic
- r60 this might work. You can easily swap out ingredients (ie skip the raisins).
Chickpeas and kale are very filling and unbelievably nutritious. Quinoa is the most nutrient-dense grain on the planet.
Kale and Quinoa Salad
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
For the salad:
1 large bunch curly kale – (chou frisée)
2 large carrots, peeled, grated
1/4 small head of red cabbage, shredded
1 cup chick peas
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup golden raisins
http://tastefoodblog.com/2012/02/03/cooking-for-your-health-kale-and-quinoa-salad/
- [bold]Good.
For.
Him.[/bold]
Glad that somebody is addressing the national shame of hunger in America, even if it's as much of a hypocrite as Mario Batali.
Jesus, there are some cynical twats on this board.
- R70 You did not state how many that salad served.
A diabetic could have 1/6 of the salad and that would max his carbs for that meal.
- The recipe says serves 4-6.
So 1/6 of it would be an appropriate size, probably on the small side.
- I'm having r52's recipe tonight!
Happy
- And just where in the fuck is someone going to get sherry and a dutch oven on $200 R52? I appreciate the recipe, but people are so mentally lazy when they can't compute the cost of a meal factoring in cooking tools and what not.
- R75, spare me the self-righteous snit. I've actually been on food stamps and ate decently, including the recipes I posted up thread. I got the base of the Dutch oven at a consignment store for eight dollars. I bought a replacement lid, aluminum rather than cast iron, at a hardware store for around six dollars. And, as I discussed up thread, I realize equipping a kitchen is expensive and that's one of the problems for people on food stamps. However, it's not impossible.
I figure most people on Datalounge tend toward the liberal side of politics. But some of you seem to be hysterically sympathetic without being at all realistic. I'm quite sure I'm not the only person posting here who's run a kitchen using SNAP benefits. It's not impossible to eat decently.
- R60 sure is a victim.
- Speaking of "self-righteous snit", R76, by any chance do you have kids to feed? Just curious.
- I agree you're being ridiculous r75. To eat on a shoestring you have to cook for yourself. You can use a pan. Doesn't have to be a dutch oven. Sherry is not that expensive. You can even make the recipe without it; you're allowed.
To dismiss some of the helpful suggestions here in order to emphasize the helplessness of others just feeds your ego. Doesn't help any poor people.
- [quote]Doesn't help any poor people.
Ain't nobody on this thread helping poor people. It's uptight cunts with eating disorders trying to tell everyone else how smart they are.
- Actually the chicken with sherry recipe is a pretty good idea.
To make it on the 1.48 you would have to eliminate the fresh cilantro, they sherry unless you were using it in other dishes and got it at a great price, however it could be adapted to work.
This will link to a cheaper recipe but a version of the same flavors.
http://chefprivato.blogspot.com/2012/05/living-on-food-stamp-budget-as-diabetic.html
- Food stamps/SNAP cover vegetable and herb seeds. I grew fresh herbs and peppers in pots on my porch. I realize not everyone has that option.
- I wish that I had SNAP
- OP, I have one word for you: Congee.
- R81, I just made that recipe tonight, it's delicious!!
- R84...I have had congee in a nice Chinese restaurant before. It had shredded duck and preserved egg.
I thought it was delicious.
- Apparently, people on food stamps don't know how to go to the library and gets any number of thousands of available specialized cookbooks.
I guess your bigger issue is you can't read, right? How else to explain your helplessness?
- R60 sounds like a mess and a half.
- The recipes are bullshit, they expect people to have spices and pots that people without money will not have, and they pretend gouda cheese costs .36 cents. Yes, they are only using a bit but you will have to spend a lot more money to buy all these things before you even begin.
- You can't really be arguing that the lack of the correct cookware/spices is what is preventing people from being able to cook meals cheaply, r89.
- While I agree that austerity recipes that include a lot of eight-cent tiny amounts of expensive spices and oils are pretty misleading, I also think that it's kind of insulting to suggest that the poor are so totally clueless about nutrition and cooking that they're all just a good ninth-grade health class education away from being healthy and sexy like good Americans. I feel like I know very few people who would really be able to successfully feed a family a regular, well-managed, healthy diet of legumes, Aldi spices, and clearance protein for years on end - it's just that none of us have had the bad luck to end up having to do so.
- Most people eat cheese a little bit at a time. Are you upset because he ate an ounce of gouda rather than an ounce of cheddar?
People can and do buy the whole piece of cheese, they get their benefits all at once and can shop like anyone else, it is just a matter of eating cheese one ounce at a time to make the food last.
- [quote]The recipes are bullshit, they expect people to have spices and pots that people without money will not have
You pick recipes which require spices you already have. When spices go on sale, as they usually do around Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can pick up a few extras to extend the range of recipes you can prepare. You also clip coupons and shop at stores that double them.
If you're short on cooking tools, you scout Goodwill, consignment stores and garage sales. I'm still using the Farberware saucepan I bought from Goodwill for five dollars.
I'm glad you're sympathetic to the difficulties people face. But seriously, it's not as dire as you make it sound. You cannot buy delicacies and the best knives. But you can prepare a tasty, nutritious meal on food stamps.
- I second that. Once the said spice or flavoring is in your larder, it's there.
I just finished a bottle of vanilla, nice quality, that I bought perhaps five years ago maybe more. That was worth the expense. Buying one expenditure like that per month means having a reasonable larder after a year. Nothing exceptional, but enough to get by
- The people who are so desperate that they have no pots/pans, no spices (nor access to them), and completely lack the wherewithal to get a library book and follow a recipe are not the people SNAP is intended to help.
Those poor souls need to find a homeless shelter and maybe assisted living. Medicaid and other state/federal programs ARE out there to help (provided they do not have substance abuse issues as a root cause).
SNAP is supposed to be a temporary fix for people who've hit hard times. It's not a rescue plan for people who are so poor and helpless that they incapable of preparing the most basic meal.
- So how many of my datalounge peeps will be there tomorrow. I am going at around 6 p.m. to see Annie Golden and then staying for the choir.
- Anyone who thinks a church is doing it no strings attached is a fool.
LuciferTheLightBringer
- I'm in church as I type this
Churchie
- R97 A church is doing what?
This was put on by a hospital.
- Yummy recipes
- Come on Lucifer...what are you talking about?
- Bringer of lite-lunches
- If you live in the Northeast, Ocean State Job Lot sells a full range of spices grown in the US (as opposed to imported from China, India or Indonesia with no health and safety standards) for $1.
- I'm living on such a zero budget right now. I have to make cheap 'stews' and nosh on them all week. I get so sick of eating the same thing.
I splurged last week and got one of those Subway monthly special footlongs for $5. Halved, it was both lunch and supper.
- 5 bucks would have purchased some decent food for a few treats.
Kind of a gross choice for a splurge.
- This thread makes me feel SO fat.
- How was Annie Golden?
- Who is Annie Golden?
- How can you not know the Golden one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DaaOmotck_hI%26feature%3Dtopics
- R105 has an eating disorder.
- R104, my sympathies, I've been there and it sucks big time.
- Annie Golden bump.
- What does she have to do with the frugal cook guy?
- R113...you need to read the thread to find out.
- If I lived in America and lived on a budget I'd do couponing, the amount you can save is rudiculos it takes a lot of time to prepare n get the coupons. I do like to cook cheap food sometimes I get a lil satisfaction from being cheap.
- I did a search to see if the DL had ever shown any love for Annie Golden and I find this old thread.
Love the Golden video and am also impressed at just how hard this Chef is working AGAIN to bring attention to health and food issues. Bravo!
