I’d be okay with that. Honestly, I think sheer ignorance IS an issue*, and I’m in favor of education generally. I’d just point out that we don’t limit what people can buy with their unemployment or other cash benefits, and there’s no reason to treat EBT differently just because it’s not cash.
*The other day at Dunkin Donuts, I heard a woman order a chocolate coolata with whipped cream (at 8:00 am shudder), and a sausage, egg white, and cheese on a wrap, because she’s on a ‘low carb diet’.
ETA that I was required to attend classes on unemployment, and I think lots of states require that. And once again, I’m okay with it. I don’t think that public assistance should come entirely without conditions. They just need to be reasonable and not punitive.
I think you guys shouldn’t waste so much time trying to make Macgiver see reason. After all, he thinks tgat the most devastating fighting technique is the deadly simultaneous DOUBLEPUNCH!!!
Agreed - I think the issue is that what people considerable “reasonable” differs considerably.
Me, I still chuckle over the white lady down at public aid who was outraged - OUTRAGED! - that she had to produce proof of marriage to claim her husband on the same account. Um… you’re claiming your married, is it THAT hard to prove it? And that unreasonable a request?
Who said anything about friend’s land? I GIVE the wood to friends. It’s all about leveraging what is around you to survive. Food Co-ops, group purchase of bulk goods, free cooking fuel…
This is going off track into the land of what-if’s and doesn’t affect the concept of providing cost effective nutrition. We don’t pay for alcohol because it’s prime function is not nutrition but somehow a cheese doodle is a civil right. Nobody has suggested tofu flavored rice cakes as the only source of public assisted food yet that is the flag that is being planted. Give me cheese doodles or give me death is not a legitimate rallying cry.
Considering that adults are making decisions to feed children on a limited budget I don’t understand the objections to some standard of nutrition.
(Alright, I’m not the typical public aid recipient, we know that already, right?)
The more I think about it the more I think Magiver’s “price per pound” limit has some merit IF it could be implemented in a cost-effective matter on the administrative/bar code side of things. Say… no meat over $5/pound permitted - that allows for some cuts of steak and quality seafood, but eliminates luxuries like Kobe beef (also might eliminate some sliced deli meats, which can be quite expensive).
Well, that takes care of the meat, right?
Not sure about “reasonable limits” elsewhere. That could be tricky.
I keep suggesting that a monthly newsletter should be sent out, with nutrition information, cooking tips, ways to save money, etc. (Perhaps a voucher for a subscription to the local newspaper, since the Sunday edition is usually where you get the motherlode of coupons) Magiver, once again, NO ONE IS SAYING THAT KIDS SHOULD EAT NOTHING BUT COOKIES AND CHIPS!!! Just that people should be allowed to make their own choices. Once again, you cannot force people to eat healthy – no matter what restrictions. (I mentioned my aunt and uncle above – and no, they’re not on food stamps) However, why can’t a kid have a few cookies or a dish of ice cream every now and then? Yeesh. It’s not about “civil rights”, it’s about not being so anal and looking down on those who are on public assistance, insisting that, “It’s MY money, so I get to decide how they can eat.”
Let people just buy their grocceries like everyone else. If they make poor choices, they’re only hurting themselves. (And no, it’s NOT wasting “your money” that can go and help someone else. Hell, you didn’t even know that EBT was a federal program, funded by federal taxes)
BTW, you can “age” your own cheese, technically. My father once found a block of cheddar (sealed in one of those vaccum packs) that had gotten stuck in the back of the fridge for three years. So he served it at Christmas (on a cheese and cracker plate) It tasted absolutely divine – just super sharp and heaven on crackers.
Although I am not in favor of government regulation of diet, I am also surprised by the responses I’ve seen thus far. My perception is that this board tends to favor government intervention over individual rights in cases where the expenses are passed on to the rest of society (ie seat belt laws, motorcycle helmet laws, mandatory health insurance, even an overall frowning upon risky outdoor activities that may necessitate rescue), yet in this case overwhelmingly supports an individual’s right to spend taxpayer dollars buying junk food for their children. Won’t the health costs resulting from years of a kid dining on twinkies and frozen pizzas be passed on to the rest of society?
It’s my money and I can decide if it’s not wasted harming children. The amount of money that the poor get is already tight. There isn’t room for the snack equivalent of sawdust.
Restricting nutritional sawdust does not eliminate choice in the selection of food that tastes good. It is not a quest for tofu flavored rice cakes.
And yes, they are harming me because the states have effectively admitted nutritional failure in the establishment of breakfast and lunch programs for school children. We’re paying twice to feed children.
But by saying that no poor person ever needs things like steak or seafood, you obviously do want to restrict their choices, even when it comes to nutritious foods! A nice lean steak is a wonderful source of protein, iron and lots of other nutrients. Seafood is a super source of protein that’s also very low in fat. In some parts of the country (New England has lobster, Alaska has fresh-caught salmon), seafood is cheaper than ground beef. But heavens to Betsy, at the same time no poor person ever needs to spend their benefits on ‘nutritional sawdust’, they also don’t need to spend it on highly nutritious food that is ‘too good’ for them. Right? :rolleyes:
It’s rather like how so many homophobes actually have same-sex urges. I think some, not all, conservatives speak contemptuously of the poor because they fear becoming poor. They know that claims about how it couldn’t happen to them are worthless.
Liberals tend to accept that it could happen to them–that it could happen to anyone. It doesn’t violate any liberal world-view to think that.
Actually, yes. I just did my reauthorization training (for food handler certification) at a local shelter yesterday, and I can state with a certainty that the hot meal that we provide clients always has something, a snack pack of pudding, a snack cake, pie or cake if it’s donated, and there’s a little canteen where snacks and things can be bought with pocket change.
The bag lunches that we provide for the clients to take with them the next day always includes some kind of “treat” item. There’s a sandwich or two (usually one if it’s meat/cheese, two if it’s pb&j or just cheese) a piece of fruit or carrots/celery, a bottle of water and a can of soda or juice, and a small bag of chips/pretzels/snack crackers or a small candy bar or a single wrapped snack cake. Sometimes if we get a donation, there’ll also be a handful of Jolly Ranchers or “Fun Size” candy bars (bites) or mini Reeses or something like that in addition to the “program” meal.
The thing is, Magyver has very little concept of food, cooking, and ingredients. A good cook can take a good steak, slice it up thinly, add broccoli and rice, and have a great beef and broccoli meal. He thinks eggplant parmesan is a healthful dish (it’s really not; adding eggplant to 3 pounds of cheese doesn’t make it healthful). Lunch meat like over-salted, water-injected ham or bologna is very cheap, but good-quality slice roast beef, which goes a long way in a sandwich, costs over the suggest dollar limit per pound. If people like him who are completely out of touch with cooking are the ones dictating the choices, we’re all in trouble.
Infants can qualify for WIC if they have some special condition. For instance, when I was born my parent’s were lower middle-class, but definitely not poor. But we got WIC because my twin and I were both anemic. I don’t think there were a lot of restrictions placed on what my mother could buy because she said all the kids in the family (plus the adults too) gobbled up the largess (I’m sure they shared with the little iron-deficient babies.) I’m still anemic, though. SO WHERE’S MY WIC, GOVERNMENT!!!
Also, just like to add that things that can seem like “junk” in one context can provide nutritional benefit in another. I learned this the one time I worked at a soup kitchen. We served the folks chicken between two pieces of bread, a piece of fruit, a donut, and a pickle. For some reason, the pickle really confused me until someone explained that pickles contain sodium, which you actually need if you’re outdoors all day in the heat, sweating.