Gwyneth Paltrow's Food Stamp Diet

[Broomstick]

@Shodan

If Gwineth Paltrow thinks that this is the kind of thing you should buy when you have $29 a week to spend on groceries, then Ms. Paltrow is an air-headed bimbo who wouldn’t know a bargain if her personal assistant made an entry on her calendar to have the housemaid hit her in the face with it.

‘If you shop at Whole Foods, $29 doesn’t go very far.’ Gosh, what a valuable insight

Ms. Paltrow has been extremely wealthy her entire life, basically, she has never wanted for anything and has always been able to purchase top-shelf quality without a second thought. Why would she have any notion of eating on a $29/week budget? Certainly, it is not something she has ever had to deal with in reality. It’s like saying someone is an idiot for not speaking Mandarin when they’ve never been outside Toledo, Ohio in their entire life.

This has probably been eye-opening for her, if for no one else. Sheltered rich woman has a glimpse into one of the suckitudes of poverty. ::: clap :::

My first thought on hearing she was doing this was “well, she’s going to have to lose the organic foods” because when you’re that poor organic fruit is just not on the menu.

[Shodan]

@spinky

And that is also entirely consistent with “she did not say this is a week’s worth of food [nutritionally].”

I think Paltrow was trying to say “people can’t buy enough food to live healthily on $29 a week.” Which is stupid.

There are four people in my household - me, my wife, and my son and daughter. Our food budget is $120 a week. None of us are starving the last time I looked.

Regards,
Shodan

[wonky]

@Broomstick

Why would she have any notion of eating on a $29/week budget?

Agreed. And at least hers actually comes in under the limit, unlike some of the other lists people have come up with on other sites.

[wonky]

@Drunky_Smurf

At my store they are $1.50 a piece. It must be nice being so rich that $3 is free to you.

Cilantro is $1.50? Where in the world do you shop?

Heck, even the downtown LA Ralphs via Instacart lists it for $.79, and they have crazy markup.

[cmyk]

I find this whole fiasco to be tragic.

For just a few extra dollars, she could’ve afforded 20 limes.

[Chetumal]

I agree that her food choices were just stupid rich bitch asshattery and shows how out of touch she is.

I could easily feed myself 3 healthy meals plus snacks per day on $29 worth of food. Here is what I would buy:

I canister of oatmeal -$3
1 quart 2% milk -$2

I bag dried split peas -.85 1 bag dried lentils -.85
1 large onion - $.50
Several zucchini - $2

1 whole frozen chicken - $6
1 3-lb bag frozen tilapia filets -$6
1 bag brown rice - $1.5

2 cans black beans - $1
1 package corn tortillas - $2

1 dozen eggs - $2
1 pint cottage cheese - $2

Total: $29

First, I’d roast the chicken, giving me enough chicken meat for three lunches or suppers along with brown rice and some zucchini.

Next I’d boil the chicken carcass and sautéed onion down into a rich stock and make a large batch each of hearty lentil and split pea soup, enough for 12 servings of healthy, filling soup.

Breakfast is oatmeal with milk, both filling and healthy.

The tortillas and beans will make over a dozen black bean tacos.

Eggs are hardboiled and used as healthy snacks.

Tilapia is broiled and served with brown rice, 6 meals easy right there.

Cottage cheese is another filling healthy snack.

This is MORE than enough healthy, filling nutritious food for one person for a week.

Paltrow’s stunt is a bunch of BS

[amarinth]

One of the reasons it’s interesting that she’s doing it is that about 2 years ago, she put out a cookbook with recipes that cost astronomical amounts of money (supposedly $300/day for a family), saying that anything less is too unhealthy for her children. She got slammed for being out of touch.

She eats expensive food and is known for doing so. I’m agreeing with the well intentioned, but naive.

[jz78817]

@Shodan

If Gwineth Paltrow thinks that this is the kind of thing you should buy when you have $29 a week to spend on groceries, then Ms. Paltrow is an air-headed bimbo who wouldn’t know a bargain if her personal assistant made an entry on her calendar to have the housemaid hit her in the face with it.

‘If you shop at Whole Foods, $29 doesn’t go very far.’ Gosh, what a valuable insight.

Regards,
Shodan

meanwhile, even poor people in this country have high rates of obesity because the only junk they can afford sufficient amounts of are making them fat.

[Chetumal]

@jz78817

meanwhile, even poor people in this country have high rates of obesity because the only junk they can afford sufficient amounts of are making them fat.

I disagree. See my post above with grocery list and 1-week meal plan. All good, healthy, nutritious food, on a budget of $29 with food left over (oatmeal).

[Shodan]

What Chetumal says. It is perfectly possible to obtain sufficient amounts of healthy food on $29 per person per day. I do it practically every time I go grocery shopping, and nobody in my family is either malnourished, or fat.

Regards,
Shodan

[Little_Nemo]

@jsgoddess

She did not say it was a week’s worth of food. Where are you guys coming up with this? She was given a budget and attempted to come up with a shopping list based on the budget. She did not then say “And this is the way you should all eat!” She said “Holy shit, that’s not much money!”

And I’ll say again she failed to convey that message. A person who supports the idea of cutting food stamps isn’t going to look at Paltrow’s groceries and say “Wow, I had no idea that twenty-nine dollars bought so little food. A person can’t live on that.” No, a person who supports cutting food stamps is going to look at her groceries and tell themselves “Why would a person on a budget buy all those limes? It just goes to show that anybody who says they can’t live on twenty-nine dollars a week is a bad shopper.”

[Chetumal]

@jz78817

meanwhile, even poor people in this country have high rates of obesity because the only junk they can afford sufficient amounts of are making them fat.

Oh, c’mon, really?

If a person chooses to spend 6 bucks of their SNAP benefits on cheetos, soda and Little Debbies instead of, for instance, canned tuna, multigrain bread and milk, that’s their own fault if they are both fat and malnourished. Don’t blame on it the guvmint. IMHO, food stamp amounts are more than adequate to help a low-income person eat a healthy, nutritious diet.

Oh and BTW, I am a grateful recipient of SNAP benefits, so I know from whence I speak.

[wonky]

@Little_Nemo

And I’ll say again she failed to convey that message. A person who supports the idea of cutting food stamps isn’t going to look at Paltrow’s groceries and say “Wow, I had no idea that twenty-nine dollars bought so little food. A person can’t live on that.” No, a person who supports cutting food stamps is going to look at her groceries and tell themselves “Why would a person on a budget buy all those limes? It just goes to show that anybody who says they can’t live on twenty-nine dollars a week is a bad shopper.”

Sure, but frankly the people who are in favor of cutting food stamps would not have been convinced by any argument. If the picture showed meat, they’d say they could get it for less or ask why people on food stamps need meat. If the picture didn’t show meat, they’d demand to know why people are doing fad diets like vegetarianism on food stamps. If the picture was extreme: “You’re just making it up to make it look bad.” If the picture showed bounty: “See, you can live on that!” If the picture showed more calories: “See how piggish poor people are.” If the picture showed fewer: “Right, like anyone eats like that.” If the picture had no veggies: “Eating right is just as cheap as eating wrong, but you have to work for it.” If the picture were all veggies: “Even I with my mansion and yacht can’t afford these luxury items!” If it were all carbs: “This is why poor people are fat. You don’t have any willpower.” If it had no carbs: “What, you can’t stoop to eating rice?” If it were midwestern: “Americans are so spoiled. Look to other cultures. In Mexico, they eat rice and beans and it’s a complete protein.” If it were “exotic,” well, we’ve seen that.

As I said upthread, someone posted a list from another site which would cost me at least 50 dollars. The prices were absurd. Five dollars for five pounds of flash-frozen chicken breasts? Insanity.

[Broomstick]

@Shodan

I think Paltrow was trying to say “people can’t buy enough food to live healthily on $29 a week.” Which is stupid.

There are four people in my household - me, my wife, and my son and daughter. Our food budget is $120 a week. None of us are starving the last time I looked.

Paltrow insists on organic produce and other high-end items - do you? That’s one of the major differences between you and I and her. Her definition of “healthy diet” is quite different than ours.

[wonky]

@Broomstick

Paltrow insists on organic produce and other high-end items - do you? That’s one of the major differences between you and I and her. Her definition of “healthy diet” is quite different than ours.

I haven’t priced out her list, so I’m not sure if it has to have been organics. I don’t think I’d really label anything on there “high end” for LA. It’s not baby bokchoy and star fruit and Asian pears and truffles and silky chickens.

(And now I kind of want something made of chicken and truffles and baby bokchoy.)

[jz78817]

@Chetumal

Oh, c’mon, really?

If a person chooses to spend 6 bucks of their SNAP benefits on cheetos, soda and Little Debbies instead of, for instance, canned tuna, multigrain bread and milk, that’s their own fault if they are both fat and malnourished. Don’t blame on it the guvmint. IMHO, food stamp amounts are more than adequate to help a low-income person eat a healthy, nutritious diet.

Oh and BTW, I am a grateful recipient of SNAP benefits, so I know from whence I speak.

was this really worth two separate replies?

[Weedy]

@Little_Nemo

Somebody posted their own list:My list, however, would probably look more like this.

I was curious what that list would be like at Australian prices. It came out to $44 US.
Chetumal’s list was much better, (except the tortillas and black beans, which are three times as much here. But I substituted).

It’s interesting that no one buys flour, to make tortillas, or bread, or anything. Too time consuming? No oil or butter either.

[Elemenopy]

I didn’t read the whole thread, but Paltrow’s list looks pretty much like one Saturday’s worth of food for my family of 5 (plus some more protein, cheese, and don’t forget seasonings and oil)…taco night.

ETA: If I were single and very $$ constrained, I’d eat a lot of potatoes, onions, dairy, and cheap greens. Probably could stretch one chicken or pork picnic roast throughout the week and stay under budget.

[lorene]

@Little_Nemo

I agree. If you can buy avocados for twenty-five cents in California, they’re a good buy. But one avocado won’t feed you for a week. She should have bought a half-dozen of them.

The avocados at my local stores would be overripe after 3 days. Buying more than a couple would be a waste. But yeah, swap out half the limes for another avocado.

@Broomstick

That’s a possibility.

I’ve said more than once that most people screw up the food budget the first month or two they’re on food stamps. There is a definite learning curve here. Given Gwyneth’s lifetime of ample money it shouldn’t be surprising if she did just that. She might never have needed to purchase food on such a restricted budget before.

Do benefits offices offer classes in how to stretch the money/maximize your food stamps? It seems like a good idea, although I assume it would open them up to lots of (justifiably) disgruntled recipients using the time to complain.

The food pantry associated with my employer has cooking classes so that recipients can learn how to prepare healthier meals and use unfamiliar ingredients. We sometimes get unusual donations and they’ll go to waste if people don’t know what to do with them. The woman who runs the classes is both a registered dietician and a professionally-trained chef, and she’s really good at imparting the message that everyone deserves enjoyable food, including snacks and dessert.

[Dangerosa]

@lorene

Do benefits offices offer classes in how to stretch the money/maximize your food stamps? It seems like a good idea, although I assume it would open them up to lots of (justifiably) disgruntled recipients using the time to complain.

The food pantry associated with my employer has cooking classes so that recipients can learn how to prepare healthier meals and use unfamiliar ingredients. We sometimes get unusual donations and they’ll go to waste if people don’t know what to do with them. The woman who runs the classes is both a registered dietician and a professionally-trained chef, and she’s really good at imparting the message that everyone deserves enjoyable food, including snacks and dessert.

At least here, there are organizations that do it. My minister’s husband teaches them. I don’t believe any are direct through the benefits offices - but people are certainly referred through the benefits offices (the offices themselves are probably so understaffed and underfunded that they depend on private charities for the courses).