Unfortunately, I just read this morning that many social programs (that can often help the poor afford better/more food) are going to get budgets cut in order to help pay for Katrina.

School lunch (one of my agency's programs) is going to get cut back by raising the poverty threshold for people to qualify their kids for free school lunches.

WIC (pre/post-natal nutrition for babies, etc.) is also a program of my agency, as is food stamp, so when the social programs get cut, we get cut. But who really suffers are the folks who are depending on our programs to feed their families.

There was a report on the radio just this AM...

The federal poverty cut off is $18,000 for a "family" (didn't say what size), however with the housing prices here, Santa Clara County has determined that a live-able wage for a family is $56,000. Live-able in Los Angeles is $49,000.

I think that the rural poor have some challenges and advantages. The suburban and urban poor have other challenges and advantages.

I know that I only have my one experience and as much as I hope to be empathetic and compassionate, really understanding another person's situation is VERY difficult... because I have all of my personal bias, experience, etc.

It is probably safe to say that most of us could/should eat healthier, regardless of income... and we are all starting in different places and have different baby steps.

I can't figure out why various people on the board eat the way they do... I look at peoples' post and sometimes think, "What made her decide to eat/(not eat) that today? That's not how I would have done things..." (I can't believe that I'm the only one... )

Shoot, I don't always know why I ate/eat the way I do ... Never mind trying to figure out a national/global issue.

PS to Lori, Did you ever get the card I sent?

Lori, Thank you for sharing your story with us all. I do understand your perspective and your strong feelings. I agree that education is important. We also had a very hard beginning. When we were married and expecting our first child 17 years ago, we were on welfare and food stamps. My husband worked but did not make much money loading trucks at the time. Many families have been there and having come from a very loving backround, it was easy for us to put priorities in order and make sure that we were living right and eating healthy, especially for the baby. I had my daughter through the health department's midwife program and it was a horrible and demeaning process, yet I took my vitamines and made sure I ate right for my babies sake. Depending on your social backround, priorities are very different. That is why I have a heart for the struggling and the poor. I spent my years in Tennessee trying to encourage self esteem and pride. We had a food service program and a nutrition program. Those are important to have in place, but if a group of people have little value of their own selves, you could give them all the information but what they do with it is still up to them. We have been blessed. Over the years, our struggles became fewer and our lives today are extremely comfortable. I understand how you feel and I admire you as a mother and wife!! I think you do extremely well at making for a good life for your family in spite of circumstances. You are a great example, and by your example could be a great help to people who really don't know any better. "her children will rise up and call her blessed" You are a woman of great virtue.

quote:

Originally posted by TriGirl:
Part of the problem is probably also TIME. Cooking rice and beans and all that stuff takes time. If a family is having tough times, there may be no one home to do all that stuff because everyone has to work. Also remember that there are a lot of single moms out there who have to be out working to support their families, sometimes more than one job.

Jen,
I CAN understand the time issue, but what I did was to cook big pots of beans and rice at one time (to conserve electricity so I wasn't running the stove for long periods of time every day) and then freeze them. I could use them to make burritos, the aforementioned soup, or whatever. The thing is, NONE of the articles that I've seen mention time, they all talk about $$. I'm specifically addressing the $$ issue here. But I can also address the time also, because I HAVE been there also. I didn't work for very long, but I did work part time (1 day a week) during that period of time, and by the time I got home, and nursed Rebekah, etc, I was too exhausted to cook (I know it was only 1 day a week, but with a toddler at home, the stress of dh only working 30-32 hours a week, not being able to pay all of the bills, and having to figure out what to pay based on what was going to get turned off first, it was VERY stressful AND exhausting!). But fast food and boxed or frozen entrees weren't an option, neither was potato chips or candy or cookies....there simply wasn't the $$ for them! So I had to plan. Again, part of education.

Folks, I have really really agonized over posting in this thread, so as not to bring offense to anyone, but I was strongly encouraged to post my own personal experience on this topic by a couple of the ladies that we flychat with. So, that's what I'm doing. I'm just sharing my own personal experiences.

I shared during our flychat that our BIG TREAT each month was to take our 1 year old (Rebekah) to Thrifty's once a month for a single scoop ice cream. It was .15 and the three of us could get an ice cream, and we were able to do it with our spare change. BUT we only did it once a month.

I worked in the inner city housing projects in Tennessee for a long time. My own personal expereince there was a cycle of depression. I know that when people live in a place that seems bleak and they just don't know how to get out of it, everything in their lives reflects that feeling. I knew many very young mothers and grandmothers raising children. Grandmothers in their 40's. They struggle each day to just get up and going with a positive attitude. They send their kids off to school for their breakfast and lunch and provide them with the bare essentials for dinner. Often times there is an alcoholic adult in the home. Sometimes kids are just scrounging for potato chips or some bread to just satisfy their hunger. This was not always the case, because even in these circumstances you can find loving parents or grandparents who do try to provide their kids with important nutrition. Unfortunately, the majority are the ones who don't. The children in the projects are usually on their own. They don't generally have a mom scrambling eggs before they go to school or asking if they remembered to brush their teeth. In my experience there, with the poorest of the poor, here in our own country, the education starts with self esteem and teaching the young women to take pride in themselves and their homes. They have to be shown how to nurture, because often they have not themselves been nurtured. They have to learn that the easy way is not always the best way. I think that for the very poor, welfare is more than a financial state, but a very emotional and sad place. I think that making sure they eat the right amount of fruits and veggies in a day is last on their list of priorities. They are overweight because they really don't care about nutritional requirements or exercise.

quote:

Originally posted by Lori4squaremom:
I think the key here is EDUCATION! I think that people need to be taught to cook rice from a bag (not a box), and dried beans, and how to cut up whole chickens, or to debone chicken thighs, etc.

Part of the problem is probably also TIME. Cooking rice and beans and all that stuff takes time. If a family is having tough times, there may be no one home to do all that stuff because everyone has to work. Also remember that there are a lot of single moms out there who have to be out working to support their families, sometimes more than one job.

quote:

Originally posted by Lori4squaremom:
I think the key here is EDUCATION! I think that people need to be taught to cook rice from a bag (not a box), and dried beans, and how to cut up whole chickens, or to debone chicken thighs, etc.

I agree that EDUCATION is the key. I know when dd was in middle school (early 90's) and we were living on Soc Sec. from my deceased husband I did not know how to cook cheap the way you describe. We lived on around $900 a month. She got breakfast and a reduced fare lunch at school and we ate Happy Meals at McD's at night and on the weekend if we did not go to my parents and eat there. I think the Happy Meal was either $.99 or $1.50 each then. If I had known then what I know now about healthy cooking we could have eaten better.

I know that things have changed in the past 12 years, but you know, we were eating healthier 12 years ago when we have very very very little money. We simply didn't have the money for boxed macaroni and cheese, or for hamburger meat, or for canned vegetables. We ate a LOT of carrots and celery. We ate a LOT of chicken legs and thighs (I know they aren't THE best, but definitely better than hamburger), and we ate LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of rice (yes, white) and beans. We were skinny, rarely got sick, and were healthy and never went hungry, all for a budget of $120 a month for 3 and that had to include diapers, toiletries, pet food and cat litter for 3 cats, and all entertainment. When dh's hours were cut and our grocery budget disappeared, we finally had to apply for food stamps until his hours went back to normal. I have to tell you, we got A LOT more on food stamps than we had before. That's when we started eating steak, cold cereal, white bread, etc. Our food budget more than doubled when we got food stamps....now we only used them for 3 months while dh was working reduced hours, when his hours were returned to 40 hours a week, we stopped accepting the food stamps, but it was hard, because we were getting $60 a week in food stamps! And we did continue to qualify, BUT with dh working 40 hours a week, we really didn't NEED them anymore.

Anyhow, what I'm getting at is, I do realize that times have changed, but it is hard for me to swallow that it is cheaper to eat junk! Even today, a pound of dried beans, a pound of to make it to feed rice, a pound of carrots, 2 stalks of celery, an onion, and a potato would cost me about $2 and would feed our family of 6 for two very substantial dinners....making a soup. Enough boxed macaroni and cheese plus the ingredients to make to feed our family of 6 in large enough portions to get us to the same point of satiety as the bean and rice stew would cost me nearly $4 (that would include a can of veggies or a pound of frozen veggies).

I think the key here is EDUCATION! I think that people need to be taught to cook rice from a bag (not a box), and dried beans, and how to cut up whole chickens, or to debone chicken thighs, etc.