Hunger in America

Puppycow said:
Are you quite sure that every food expenditure of your whole family is entered into Quicken?

I guess if you're the sort of person that uses Quicken, you are probably a lot more organized than most people. I don't have a comprehensive database of what my family spends on food, but I imagine it's a lot more than $2.66 per person per day. I typically spend $5 or $6 just for lunch on work days. Sometimes $10 when I go with my colleagues to a restaurant for lunch. Of course, this is Japan and not America.
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I'm also wondering how $2.66 per person per day is possible. Well, unless you're eating newspapers and stolen condiment packages.
 
rustypouch said:
I'm also wondering how $2.66 per person per day is possible. Well, unless you're eating newspapers and stolen condiment packages.
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$2.66 just for food?

It's not going to be very healthy or enjoyable, but with ramen noodles at 10 cents a pack, peanut butter sandwiches, potatoes, oatmeal, and a few other things like that, it's fairly "easily" do-able.

eta: for a family of four, that's more than $70 a week. It really has to get below $15 a week for a family of 4 to really experience "hunger" as I think of it. It's way, way more common for "the poor" (scare quote not used in sarcasm - just to acknowledge variations in definition) go weeks or months without utilities, and years without medical care, than to not have anything to eat, IME.
 
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rustypouch said:
I'm also wondering how $2.66 per person per day is possible. Well, unless you're eating newspapers and stolen condiment packages.
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Start the day with say, oatmeal. Even in the individual packets that's about $.17; if you buy it in bulk you can save quite a bit over that. Want some protein? Add a couple of eggs for $.33.

Lunch? How about a bratwurst? Runs about 60 cents, add 12 cents for the bun. Maybe a small salad; I'd guess you can get by for about 40 cents.

Dinner? I get TV dinners for a buck apiece; chicken fried chicken in gravy with corn and mashed potatoes is my favorite. Alternatively I can get a little French bread pizza for the same price.

Total for the day: $2.62. It's not haute cuisine and you'd probably want to vary things--maybe a couple of bananas instead of the bratwurst. And of course, it helps quite a bit if you try to buy stuff when it's on sale or in bulk.
 
Brainster said:
Start the day with say, oatmeal. Even in the individual packets that's about $.17; if you buy it in bulk you can save quite a bit over that. Want some protein? Add a couple of eggs for $.33.

Lunch? How about a bratwurst? Runs about 60 cents, add 12 cents for the bun. Maybe a small salad; I'd guess you can get by for about 40 cents.

Dinner? I get TV dinners for a buck apiece; chicken fried chicken in gravy with corn and mashed potatoes is my favorite. Alternatively I can get a little French bread pizza for the same price.

Total for the day: $2.62. It's not haute cuisine and you'd probably want to vary things--maybe a couple of bananas instead of the bratwurst. And of course, it helps quite a bit if you try to buy stuff when it's on sale or in bulk.
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You ain't from around these parts. There is nothing here available for "a buck apiece".
 
Brainster said:
Start the day with say, oatmeal. Even in the individual packets that's about $.17; if you buy it in bulk you can save quite a bit over that. Want some protein? Add a couple of eggs for $.33.

Lunch? How about a bratwurst? Runs about 60 cents, add 12 cents for the bun. Maybe a small salad; I'd guess you can get by for about 40 cents.

Dinner? I get TV dinners for a buck apiece; chicken fried chicken in gravy with corn and mashed potatoes is my favorite. Alternatively I can get a little French bread pizza for the same price.

Total for the day: $2.62. It's not haute cuisine and you'd probably want to vary things--maybe a couple of bananas instead of the bratwurst. And of course, it helps quite a bit if you try to buy stuff when it's on sale or in bulk.
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Would be good to have more fresh fruit and vegetables, nutritionally speaking. Bratwurst and TV dinner is not healthy. Well, not 60 cent bratwurst anyway. What's in that 40 cent salad?
 
fishbob said:
You ain't from around these parts. There is nothing here available for "a buck apiece".
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I live in Phoenix mostly shop at Fry's (Kroger chain). I can guarantee those prices are available here.
 
The city gas for my house cost me about $4/month, so nickle per day to cook meals.

I just bought 4 whole frozen chickens for .66/lb. That could be 4 meals main courses for 66¢. Carrots are 50¢/ lb. Potatoes run $3 for a five pound bag, Hash browns, sausage and eggs for breakfast costs me about a buck.

REAL cooking is cheap, and if you are out of work, you've got the time.

But the heck with yet another thread on the cost of food, welfare vs spending heaps o' money. I've got taters to peel. French fries tonight. And rib eye steak, $2.50 for dinner. And home made wine, the corks cost more than the wine.
 
Brainster said:
Have you priced arugula lately? That stuff is expensive!
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It's really easy to grow, you know. Grow Rocquette, and it just just grows. And grows. And grows. Let a few go to seed, you'll have 3e6 more plants in a month :)

We've had the same patch going now for 4 years.
 
jimtron said:
Would be good to have more fresh fruit and vegetables, nutritionally speaking. Bratwurst and TV dinner is not healthy. Well, not 60 cent bratwurst anyway. What's in that 40 cent salad?
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I actually buy the pre-packaged salads for about $2; generally get about 5 servings out of them. Of course, if you want dressing the price goes up quite a bit, but I don't like the taste of most of the dressings; too much vinegar in my opinion.

Bratwurst is not something I'd eat every day, nor are the TV dinners, but they're not going to kill you in moderation. Spaghetti is another good, cheap meal. I also make delicious chicken quesadillas; I've got a little quesadilla maker I picked up for about $5 at Goodwill. The tortillas run about 20 cents, the cheese is an extra 20 cents and I can definitely feel full with only about 60 cents of chicken cooked inside that. If I feel like splurging, I put a little sour cream on top of that; Fry's had it on sale a week or two ago for $1.00 for 16 oz; add some La Victoria salsa (on special at Winco foods for $3.70 for a 67 oz jug), and maybe you're up to $1.15.

I'm really careful to look for good bargains on snacks as well. The other day I scored pretty well; picked up store brand granola bars (peanut and almond with some chocolate) packed at 6 in a box for only $10 for 10 boxes. And they are absolutely delicious; you would not think you're eating something that cost 17 cents.

Fruit is a little tougher to find cheap especially out of season. Bananas seem about 57 cents a pound no matter where I shop. I did get a smoking deal on blueberries a little while ago; 2lbs for $5.00. And they can be frozen, so you can eat them for quite awhile. I put them in pancakes and make another delicious meal for a couple of dimes.
 
Checkmite said:
Living in a quite rural area in the US at this time, I see something of an opposite curve; stores which understand they are often the only reasonably nearby solution for all but the big bi-monthly shopping trips will have higher prices to take advantage. For instance, judging by the price of a loaf of bread: the closest store to me right this moment is approximately one mile away, a gas station with a small food market; here a loaf of bread costs just about $3; there's only one brand available (a regional brand). The next furthest is in the closest town (village, really) 5 miles further, with a small grocery; it has a shelf full of variety in bread, the cheapest coming in at about $2.39. Next to this is a "dollar store" which offers a "dollar store brand" loaf of bread at $1.70; 2 miles further to the outskirts of the nearest mid-sized city finds a Wal-Mart and "Walmart-brand" bread for about $1.39; the Wal-Mart also has a small variety of regional brands of course but the prices go up.
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Bake your own bread. It tastes better, doesn't take a lot of time, and is way cheaper. I haven't bought bread in the last six months. The ingredients are really simple and if you can get a bread machine cheap (I got one for $8.00 at Goodwill) you're getting artisan-quality bread for maybe a nickel a slice.
 
fishbob said:
You ain't from around these parts. There is nothing here available for "a buck apiece".
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That's what I was thinking. The items listed would be about twice that where I live, some of them more.

Also, I doubt I could survive on that much food.

Instant oatmeal: 160 calories per package.
Egg (large): 74(x2)
Bratwurst: 300
Bun: 90
Salad: 140 (if you went full fat dressing, and used two tablespoons)
TV dinner: Hungry-Man dinners are around 800-1000 calories, depending on type but they're about $5 here. The smaller ones, such as Michelina's, are around $2-$2.50, but have 300-400 calories.

So depending on the dinner, your plan ranges from about 1150 calories a day to 1900. For me, that would be the difference between starvation and being almost constantly hungry.
 
I'm pretty sure most people can technically survive on ~500 calories a day (or less) for a long time. Vegetable oil is cheap and has a lot of calories in it, too. There are a few tricks like that in Where There Is No Doctor:

http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/hesperian-no-doctor.pdf

A spoonful of cooking oil added to a child’s food
means he has to eat only 3/4 as much of the local
main food in order to meet his energy needs. The
added oil helps make sure he gets enough energy
(calories) by the time his belly is full.
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Puppycow said:
Are you quite sure that every food expenditure of your whole family is entered into Quicken?
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You're right to be skeptical; I was incredulous myself. I think I'm probably a bit of an outlier with respect to attention to my finances. The colloquial term "anal" might be apt. But this includes all expenditures, both from myself and my wife, including dining out, fast food, etc. And I have the receipts for the last 10 months or so.

And speaking of my wife, she is the one who does the double-coupon sale voodoo that gets us, for example, 100 boxes of breakfast cereal for $25. And it is to her credit that we are quite wealthy now. I suppose it's possible that most people don't have that gift. But if I were poor, I think I would work on developing it.
 
Those of you who are doing an excellent job of feeding your family cheaply are demonstrating many of the points I mentioned in my earlier post

  • The ability to plan well in advance
  • The ability to buy in bulk in advance and store food
  • Access to refrigeration and cooking facilities
  • Cooking skills

Not everyone can do this.
 
Can?

The Don said:
Those of you who are doing an excellent job of feeding your family cheaply are demonstrating many of the points I mentioned in my earlier post

  • The ability to plan well in advance
  • The ability to buy in bulk in advance and store food
  • Access to refrigeration and cooking facilities
  • Cooking skills

Not everyone can do this.
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I think its more a matter of Not everyone WILL do this...

planning in advance, buying bulk, etc... isnt rocket science... I think it would be Much more accurate to say that nearly everyone Can do those things, than can not.

Plus... why trouble yourself with thinking in advance or cutting coupons if the State is willing to step in and just give you the food ?
 
The Don said:
Those of you who are doing an excellent job of feeding your family cheaply are demonstrating many of the points I mentioned in my earlier post

  • The ability to plan well in advance
  • The ability to buy in bulk in advance and store food
  • Access to refrigeration and cooking facilities
  • Cooking skills

Not everyone can do this.
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And worrying about money can cost you about 10 IQ points - affecting your ability to plan and deal with complex and important tasks.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/29/poverty-mental-capacity-complex-tasks
 
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Checkmite said:
Kind of hard to celebrate when you personally know folks who don't have enough food to eat.
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Meaning you know folks that don't have enough to eat? And did you do anything to help?

kellyb said:
And when the numbers have more than doubled (as a % of the population, nevermind absolutely) in the past 15 years...
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Sources please.


DavidJames said:
For those trying hard to minimize the problem, please let me know your recent direct experience working in shelters and food banks including some details of your personal interviews with a significant amount of the partakers.
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A fair bit actually, but not near as extensive as family members who are/were social workers, weekly soup kitchen volunteers, etc.

But to some of us, the image of the welfare Cadillac mother or other meme which, while having a grain of truth, is blown out of proportion by the right wing to justify their cancerous and selfish attitude.
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Hardly. IMO the blown-out-of proportion is the poor oppressed "victim" that is willing to bust their tush to earn their way, but by golly society won't cut them a break or it's all the evil conservatives plotting against them and society owes them a living and blah etc blah.

PS that said, you do make a good point that ANY broad brushstroke is only that, be it from the "left" or "right" (and I have a great disgust for extremists on both sides). Circumstances vary.

And THAT said, I'm tired of people "maxmizing" the problem ie making it out to be more than it is. The fact that so many of the people who I've seen come in to shelters, churches etc for free meals who are not just slightly but extremely overweight, for example. And I've served many, but have yet to see a single person who appeared anywhere near starvation, who's ribs were showing etc etc.

fishbob said:
You ain't from around these parts. There is nothing here available for "a buck apiece".
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I'm very curious as to what "parts" you're talking about. I've traveled quite a bit and in most if not all parts of the U.S., there is plenty.


Pvt. Stash said:
I think its more a matter of Not everyone WILL do this...

planning in advance, buying bulk, etc... isnt rocket science... I think it would be Much more accurate to say that nearly everyone Can do those things, than can not.

Plus... why trouble yourself with thinking in advance or cutting coupons if the State is willing to step in and just give you the food ?
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BINGO :applause: All hail the welfare attitude (and pls flip off FDR next chance you get)
 
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