Eating like that, no, you can’t live like this. At least, not for long.
That’s not food.
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People make fun of this. But if you are on a poverty budget, you have to buy cheap calorically rich food as you would starve on expensive healthy options. Not to mention, most poor people live in grocery food deserts where the closest food market is a dollar general that doesn’t carry fresh/healthy food.
Edit: Since people seem to think they’ve solved the food insecurity for 34 million Americans. I’ll continue to go with organization international and domestic that actually studied this.
No, you wouldn’t. The same amount of money going to dry beans and grains, some dairy and eggs, and some cheap protein goes much further. You’d even have enough left for fresh veggies and seasonings.
The intersection of poor and can’t cook is just depressingly shitty and too common.
So I live in the US. I have 2 friends that got scurvy in 2017. How did they get scurvy you might ask? Let me tell you. They live about 30 mins from the grocery store in a car. Which they don’t have. The closest person that can take them grocery shopping lives about 2 hours away. Plus they’re poor as shit.
To save money they spent 3 months eating nothing but homemade biscuits (scones for non Americans). The lack of vitamin c gave them scurvy.
They live on a fixed income. My state tightened requirements for food stamps. They were fucked.
I will say that the UN came to my state several years ago. They literally called it the 3rd world and said it was the most impoverished place in the developed world. So, there’s that.
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Username checks out
Granted they were headed to West Virginia next. So they may have changed their tune. Heh
Rice and beans, baby! It’s a world wide staple for a reason.
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What is wrong with you?
I’m not sure what you wanted to say with the first link, but
Households with children headed by a single woman (24.3 percent) or a single man (16.2 percent).
man that’s a big difference. I wonder what’s up with that, are single woman household much poorer or something?
Yeah if it were that simple, world wide hunger would have been solved.
Some places just don’t have anything to eat. The person in the photo used their money foolishly. It’s not the same problem…
I tried chicken and rice for a few weeks as a diet and it was beyond miserable. Only thing that kept me on it was using sauces I shouldn’t have. Yes, cookies and sweets are a little more money than rice and beans but anyone who has been subjected to the latter can testify it’s akin to eating condensed sadness. High fructose corn syrup makes this garbage dirt cheap but that’s a whole other issue.
Try using spices and vegetables. When people say rice and beans they don’t mean literally only those two ingredients
The cart is all cookies and unnecessary shit like that. Comparing that and how eating the same food for a long time is “miserable” to places that are starving because they don’t have food is amazing. Peak America energy lol
Because that’s the same as the intersection of poor and “working more than one job, has no time to cook, and can’t afford lots of kitchen gadgets”
You clearly are one of those who don’t know how to cook if you think it takes forever and needs lots of gadgets.
A rice cooker. Everyone should have one. A pot, pan or wok.
Start the rice cooker before work. Come home to cold cooked rice, crack an egg chop some veg and have delicious nutritious fried rice in minutes. Cook enough for 4 meals and pack lunches.
Tortillas are another cheap nutritious item I forgot. Bean and egg tacos are cheap and delicious.
EatCheapAndHealthy was one of my favorite subreddits, we should get that going again here.
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Are you illiterate?
Until you realize that some people are soon poor, they may be lucky to have a microwave, let alone a stovetop/cooking pots, pans.
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None of those say that getting Oreos instead of beans and rice is the right choice when you’re in poverty.
Maybe if they post those links a few more times…
Also cooking takes time. I make dinner every night and even with previously prepped things it’s usually 20-30min every evening. If I worked 2 jobs (12-16hr) I wouldn’t have the time nor energy, either.
Now throw in a being a single parent!
I honestly don’t know how people do it. When my wife’s out of town for a week, nothing gets done beyond basic survival. I don’t have time to do any other chores, and I only work 1 job.
Child labour
I live alone and everything gets done. I cook meals that have 1/2 days of leftovers and leapfrog through them so I’m not eating the same thing all week. I grocery shop after work on Friday and clean house on weekends. It’s not that difficult to manage. I guess kids would throw some complications on that though but I do have working out and hobby stuff after work that could be swapped with child care time.
I never had more time than living alone. Having a spouse and 2 kids is mayhem.
The kids make the things you mentioned impossible. I’m up an hour before them to get the day going. Then it’s getting everyone together to get to work and daycare. Pick up kids from daycare after work, cook/have dinner, a little down time (like 30-60 minutes tops) which is spent with my kids, then it’s baths and bed time routine for both of them. At this point, it is somewhere between 8 and 9, depending on how bedtime went and you haven’t even cleaned up dinner or their lunch stuff. Now you can’t leave your kids alone in the house, so you can’t run any errands.
If you have practice or activities after daycare, push everything back another hour or 2.
It’s a lot to do, which is how I dont understand how single parents do it every single day. I can handle it for a week, but a lot of routine chores don’t happen. Things like a load of laundry goes in at 10p and I pass out and it sits wet until the next day.
What is your spouse doing during all this?
This was in reply to “when my wife’s out of town for a week.” And me talking about how i have no idea how single parents do it… So… not there. When she’s home, the duties are split and it’s manageable
I never had more time than living alone. Having a spouse and 2 kids is mayhem.
Sorry I got confused by this line.
I do not have children but that is a dramatically out of touch perception of parenthood
I also live alone, and my kids are grown up and gone.
I came to feel that “It’s not worth it to cook for just one person” was a pretty lame excuse to eat frozen food and other garbage.
I’m trying to cook more stuff I can freeze or at least store for a few days.
Still pretty lazy though.
I believe in you. There’s lots of easy stuff you can make that’s good for you too. Just have to look up recipes. I’m gonna be staying with someone for a few weeks soon and I’m dreading it because they eat like shit.
It’s kind of hard right now, because food prices have gone up so much .
But you don’t have to poison yourself
Rice would be a choice, but I got type 2 diabetes a couple years ago after having pneumonia.
What’s really bad is bread, which is annoying because it is relatively cheap.
I don’t know much about diabetes diets so can’t speak to that but I haven’t really found junk food to be any cheaper than any other ingredients. Steak is more expensive but my grocery store usually has sales on particular cuts or older stuff you just need to use right away.
Seriously, do one big dinner every Sunday and freeze enough portions for the rest of the week. Healthy, delicious, cheap and saves time on weekdays.
I’ve mentioned that a few times and people went “eugh, I don’t want to eat the same food two(!) days in a row”.
:/
If that’s a big issue you can always save some from last week and alternate.
This week I’ve had my eyes opened to batch cooking. We were a bit skint (not poverty line skint) and working opposite shifts to each other, so for time and money we bought in ingredients for lasagne and chilli and made a massive batch of each on Sunday.
All week I’ve been taking the chilli to work and the family have been microwaving the batches when Wifey finishes work.
Cost me 50% of my usual food budget this week, and we still got in all the usual stuff for lunches with fruit and such.
Downside was Wifey overcooked the lasagne, so it can be a gamble I guess, but I will certainly be making a massive batch of Chilli in the future
Now that I work 12 hour shifts 5 days a week… I only cook on the weekends. I try to make a bigger meal that saves well though. Chili, etc. after that’s gone just easier things like sandwiches until the next weekend.
… rice, beans, and a $15 rice cooker?
I’m as lazy as they get in the kitchen. If I can’t throw it in a pot, walk away, and walk back to food then it’s too much effort.
Rice and beans is cheap, quick, and easy.
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That’s all part of the problem though, isn’t it?
I live in central Europe and veggies and fruit are one of the first things, you see when you enter a store. They’re also really affordable and you can get them in pretty much every corner store all over the town as well. There isn’t a place where basic fruit and veggies are more than 15 minutes walking/public transit distance from you within the city. Never had to drive to a grocery store in my life. Some places are even open at night.
Let’s not blame the people for eating like this, when that’s exactly what the system is set up for.
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Dude please don’t spam the same links a dozen times
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Lol this is complete bullshit. What a clown.
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I see you watched the Wendover Productions video.
Yes, but I lived it long before watching the video. Growing up my neighborhood was literally isolated for all the surrounding grocery stores. The poor side of town was on the west side of a major highway and all the grocery stores were on the east side. But strangly enough the west side has less on ramps to the highway and even fewer bridges to get to the other side. So you had to drive an extra 20 min just to cross from west to east. But east to west was literally 2 min. A lawsuit eventually got that “fixed” but it shows malicious intent by those in power.
I can’t believe that’s the best option, snacks and some weird pre made stuff
If anyone is actually on the struggle bus don’t get ramen. Get rice. Buy the biggest fucking bag of rice from the local Asian store you can find. You can make enough rice to last multiple days in one sitting and the bag will last you several months to a year depending on if you have family or not
If you can spring for it buy some high protein beans or lentils or some other legume and mix them, almost every society on the planet no matter the geography invented rice and beans because it’s so damn easy to store for long periods of time and will get you the protein and calories you need to survive.
Is it fun? No. But it will get you fed and it’s an excellent base to throw in other things to spice it up. Get a little extra money and can afford a bit of meat and veggies? Sauteed them up and you get a full blown meal with a side dish and a porkchop/fish filet/chicken breast with your rice.
Wait, rice and beans isn’t fun? It requires some extra seasonings but Carrib style rice and peas are my jam. Though it does have a Lotta aromatics.
Well… personally I think rice and beans can be delicious but it’s not most people’s idea of comfort food I suppose. At least where I’m from.
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Lentilles-saucisse is a French staple and I’d definitely consider it comfort food. Lentils, sausages, with some carrots and little bacon bits (lardons) cooked into the lentils, heaven.
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Half way into it I was like… “yeah yeah yeah that’s our staple food! It’s very ni…”
“Is it fun? No.” Had me question everything in life thus far. 🤣
No I genuinely enjoy rice and beans, but I feel like people I know have really high expectations for food being good.
The price of rice is pretty high right now. It’s still a good value, especially in bulk, but it’s not as cheap as it used to be.
Only gonna get higher, so buy now.
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Make sure to put the rice in a freezer if you’re going to store it for a long time. This is important to prevent bugs, especially in hot and damp weather. If that’s not possible, sprinkle some dried chilis or peppers.
As in the cooked rice or the dry stuff?
Dry stuff probably. You have to do the same with flour.
All that produce fresh from the factory!
You see more green plants in the desert
Cactus
Plant made into flavour
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This is upbringing and education. If you grow up in a household that eats well and values food and cooking at home surely it’ll make a difference. I wouldn’t solely blame this on the individual. America sells junk food way too aggressively and way too much. I reckon there needs to be restrictions on that and even heavier taxes on junk food.
That’s 70% horse shit.
With everyone in the house being over worked and under paid, everyone is too exhausted to spend the time to actually cook.
To me that’s like saying everyone’s too exhausted to brush their teeth or have a shower. Simple cooking isn’t hard when it’s ingrained in your life. That comes from finding enjoyment in it and upbringing plays a big part in that.
Cooking for one sucks balls. I like cooking for a larger group but cooking for one is only worth it if you do a big batch and eat it for a while
Then do batches!
I actually enjoy cooking for myself. I do always make a batch. I feel more relaxed and free to experiment knowing I won’t disappoint anyone if I make a mistake.
Ok, so I wasn’t brought up that way. Well, I kinda was, but my mom made a lot of undesirable shit. I only recently learned that vegetables can actually be delicious. Still, it feels like a lot of work. I cook good meals as a treat. The rest is like oven/microwave crap from Trader Joe’s and cooking simple ass stuff.
Cooking simple ass stuff is still cooking and that’s a win. I love cooking one pot dishes. Everything in a rice cooker and press start. There are days I don’t feel like cooking for sure. I guess it’s about finding a style that doesn’t feel like a chore for everyday cooking. And go all out when you have the energy.
People are just making excuses for not doing for themselves, that’s all.
If you don’t know the basics you have a moral responsibility to learn the basics. It’s part of being an adult. But American culture discourages people from pursuing maturity and enables them to do dumb shit like live solely off of processed foods. And it’s able to do that because most Americans don’t want responsibility. They want their lives lived for them and corporations exploit that.
Issa joke 🤦♂️
Upbringing, education and availability. There are towns in the US where the only grocery store within 20 miles is a Dollar General, creating food deserts.
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That’s for the Hamburger Helper
I should add that to my food repertoire 
Because $200 worth of real food would be about a quarter of that in America.
Have you tried buying food instead of whatever the fuck this garbage is?
That’s my thought as well. They NEED to buy the name brand items as well?
There are PLENTY of corners that can be cut, as well as buying items that can be made into larger meals (soups, pastas, etc.) that reheat well.
Whoever this person was needs to rethink their wants and needs, then shop accordingly to their budget.
It’s a joke.
If you’re on a budget this is such a horrible cart… not to mention so unhealthy. I guess most of it doesn’t go bad quickly at least… only positive.
That was the point of the picture …
guys, this is a joke post
Yet it is still bringing out all the bots and trolls.
My stomach hurts just looking at it.
You are weak and your bloodline is weak, instead of sugary sweet like God intended when he invented high fructose corn syrup
Average moderator shopping cart.
I would bet most of the weight in that cart is sugar, salt and plastic.
And corn
Plastic is way too light to hit the top 3, it’s probably water or some form of fat.
I would’ve guessed metal
Could be twice the amount when getting store brands instead of luxury brands.
While your point is well taken, luxury brands?
luxury brands?
When the product isn’t really that good but you pay a lot more just because there’s “Oreo’s” written on the product for example.
That’s normally called Name Brand, what you are referring to is store brand, which is usually cheaper.
Oreos are not a “luxury”.
They are if you eat them with your pinky up
Yes they are lol. What planet u live on?
There’s only 2 options luxury and staple.
Oreos sure AF aren’t a staple
Yes, cookies are not a staple, but oreos are not a “luxury” brand. Eating desserts may be a luxury, however.
Any brand name is luxury
Sure. But luxury and luxury brand are too different things. Like ice and ice cream.
They also aren’t a necessity.
If those were luxury brands the ramen would be shin black
Americans are scared to touch a bean.
I heard they bite
Beans and rice go a long way to help the food budget.
No love for potatoes??
And that’s exactly where the billionaires and ruling class want you.
Diabeetus be like: Don’t worry, it won’t be long to wait.
