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Whole chickens are around 11$ to 15$ (depending on size)....around 3.50$ a pound. I can't imagine getting five or six family meals out of a 2 pound bird.
I live in North Virginia, one of the highest cost-of-living areas in the nation, and the most expensive whole chicken I have seen was $8 and some change. The pre-cooked ones are generally $5.99 or $6.99. We usually get dinner and either another dinner or a few lunches out of one. I do know most of the lower income folks around here shop at Aldi's, the Mexican markets, or Asian markets, all of which have lower produce prices than regular grocery stores.
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I'm merely saying that in order for the poor (which means "people with almost no options" in my opinion) to be able to take advantage of what's being suggested here, OTHER things have to change first.
No, you're just perpetuating your thread at this point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jade408
You didn't understand my intent. I am not saying poor people have it easy. We have high expectations for poor people than we have for ourselves. You can hop over to any one of the forums, and talks of food stamps quickly talk about how we should disallow the purchase of soda/junk food on food stamps. As if people on food stamps should be smarter shoppers than the rest of us.
Higher expectations? No, that's twisting the intent of the thread, which asked can people of low income eat in a healthy manner.
Is eating in a healthy manner for poor people a higher expectation than someone of a higher income?
Or are you saying that the extra effort involved somehow isn't fair? If so, then you are agreeing with what I said, that being poor as opposed to being rich isn't fair, and never has been. People who are rich can pay for someone to prepare their healthy food. People who are poor must prepare it themselves. Is this a higher expectation of poor people?
And discussing how other threads say people on food stamps should be banned from making poor food choices is irrelevant. The thread questioned whether it's possible for low income people to eat healthy food. Whether or not they have the choice to eat badly on food stamps is not part of this discussion.
I live in North Virginia, one of the highest cost-of-living areas in the nation, and the most expensive whole chicken I have seen was $8 and some change. The pre-cooked ones are generally $5.99 or $6.99. We usually get dinner and either another dinner or a few lunches out of one. I do know most of the lower income folks around here shop at Aldi's, the Mexican markets, or Asian markets, all of which have lower produce prices than regular grocery stores.
Yeah, no kidding. Even the no antibiotics birds aren't that much, but more importantly, you just don't need that much meat to live a healthy lifestyle.
You need protein, yes, and I think some of us, myself included, benefit a lot from meat in our diet.
But how much meat? Certainly not more than you could get if you spread 2 lbs of cooked chicken across two days of meals for six people.
Chicken soup, chicken pilaf for dinner. A boiled egg with your toast and jam for breakfast. That is fine for anyone who is not actively trying to body build.
The question is not "Can you eat like a rich person on a poor person's budget?"
The question is whether it's possible to eat a healthy diet on a limited budget. And I think many of us have done so. In fact I have done so while eligible for WIC (but not taking it because we were on the line).
I could cook for cheaper too. In fact, I could think of lots of ways to spend less in my food budget. My food budget is high. But it's not about whether you and I could do it. It's about whether or not people who have no money OR time could do it. And I say no, they cannot.
I've actually seen it up close and personal. A maid I had when I lived in California had no car and took the bus, she had kids, and she had several other houses to clean. One day I started talking to her and found out the real story behind her situation, and it scared the living daylights out of me. So much so, that I started picking her up from her home to clean my house, OR driving her either to the next house, or home, to help her make up some of the time she wasted transferring buses, and waiting on bus benches. She had almost no free time.
I saw her "home" because she invited me in. That was scary as well. She lived in a bad part of town, and her kitchen was (I kid you not) the size of a closet. She had a hot plate on a small shelf and a microwave oven. That was all. The kitchen sink was kinda old, but worked well, but she had a rickety fridge which must've been considered "full size" back in the 50s, back in those days when middle class women didn't work and sat around dreaming up what to cook to impress their misogynist husbands. Nowadays, that size of fridge reminded me of one that might best be suited to a little gnome. Oh yeah, and no shelf space to speak of.
So it's not about whether we can spend less. For us, spending less is a mere academic exercise.
It's for those who truly have no time, no money, and have several jobs and responsibilities.
You didn't describe your maid's diet so I must conclude you don't know. Why do you assume it was unhealthy? Quick, healthy and frugal meals can be achieved with the tools she had (hot plate, microwave and 50s fridge).
I'm merely saying that in order for the poor (which means "people with almost no options" in my opinion) to be able to take advantage of what's being suggested here, OTHER things have to change first.
While driving your maid around, you may have missed how the nation's enthusiasm for giving the less fortunate a helping hand is on the wane. Waiting for other things to change is a fool's game.
If you have been poor or worked with poor people for any length of time, you would realize that poor people have options. Obviously, not as many as wealthier people, but options nonetheless.
People on the exact same income chose different options all the time. Some move into apartments that prohibit freezers. Others do not. There are plenty of low-rent apartments that don't stipulate no freezers in the lease. Some spend their limited income on cigarettes, pop, and/or beer. Others do not. Some spend their food dollars on Big Macs and Mac & Cheese. Others do not.
Anyone with twenty dollars in their pocket has options on how to spend it.
I can't help but wonder what's behind your continued insistence that poor people don't have options and choices to eat healthy.
While driving your maid around, you may have missed how the nation's enthusiasm for giving the less fortunate a helping hand is on the wane. Waiting for other things to change is a fool's game.
If you have been poor or worked with poor people for any length of time, you would realize that poor people have options. Obviously, not as many as wealthier people, but options nonetheless.
People on the exact same income chose different options all the time. Some move into apartments that prohibit freezers. Others do not. There are plenty of low-rent apartments that don't stipulate no freezers in the lease. Some spend their limited income on cigarettes, pop, and/or beer. Others do not. Some spend their food dollars on Big Macs and Mac & Cheese. Others do not.
Anyone with twenty dollars in their pocket has options on how to spend it.
I can't help but wonder what's behind your continued insistence that poor people don't have options and choices to eat healthy.
You don't know any poor people.
Go to a poor neighborhood and let me know how many decent supermarkets you find. It is mostly fast food restaurants and corner stores.
Most of our supermarkets are in suburban / upscale urban areas, with large parking lots and poor access to public transportation. How do poor people access the "cheap" healthy food the rest of us eat?
Last edited by Opin_Yunated; 07-15-2014 at 08:02 AM..
Reason: length.
Go to a poor neighborhood and let me know how many decent supermarkets you find. It is mostly fast food restaurants and corner stores.
Most of our supermarkets are in suburban / upscale urban areas, with large parking lots and poor access to public transportation. How do poor people access the "cheap" healthy food the rest of us eat?
Actually, Denver has some supermarkets in poor areas, and public transportation is available just about everywhere in the metro area. Suburban groceries tend to be located in business areas, which is where the pt goes.
I'm a dog trainer in-training (meta, I know), and if anyone's food budget could be described as "limited" its mine.
Buying reasonably healthy ingredients from the grocery store is at most marginally more expensive than buying processed junk there (mostly because of fuit/veggies), and considerably less expensive than fast food.
Personally I think a lot of the rhetoric around income/social class and obesity reveals the culturally exclusive perspective of the "intellectual class" in that it ignores the fact that many low-income Americans are black and Latino, two groups of people with demonstrably different attitudes towards food and obesity than the "WASP" set. And even without that factor, it's condescending too: I doubt many of these people are really too poor/disadvantaged/ignorant to buy healthy groceries, they just have different priorities, which I think is true with most overweight Americans. It's not any kind of moral condemnation, just a sign of the times really.
The food desert claim was a myth that was debunked over a year ago. The study found that lower income neighborhoods have nearly twice as many supermarkets and large-scale grocers per square mile, and three times as many corner markets per square mile, than wealthier neighborhoods.
I agree with others that a crock pot is an ideal appliance for very busy people with limited means. Many models are under $20, new, and some of those are programmable. Much cheaper than a microwave. A 5-7 quart crock pot can provide 2 healthy meals for a family of four for about the price of a fast food combo meal or a package of processed frozen food-like junk.
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