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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Rising Prices Hit Home For Food Stamp Recipients

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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Rising Prices Hit Home For Food Stamp Recipients
  • Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 23:22:03 -0600


Good point about the vicious circle, and not much we can do about it. I'd
argue tho that one reason for some people being too tired or stressed to make
real food is the lack of real food in the diet. Or rather the systemic
poisons in all the "foodlike" junk. Not that we're fanatics about how we
eat, but like you we can eat on very little money if it should come to that
because we know how.

And anyway as you say, the whole system is on the verge of change. And change
will be unbearably hard for the majority, even if it's gradual with plenty of
advance warning. People are creatures of habit, and in some cases it's just
plain laziness.

Which reminds me, my son came up with a new wrinkle:
Before you criticize someone,
walk a mile in their shoes.
Then when you criticize them,
... you'll be a mile away and you'll have their shoes ;-)

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 5/27/2008 at 7:23 PM Liz wrote:

>At 01:04 PM 5/27/2008, you wrote:
>
>>This woman is obviously trying to do what she can with her
>>disability, but it's not enough. Maybe more cash-strapped people
>>would be hitting the farmers market if they knew how to cook from
>>scratch and bake - and realized how much cheaper they could feed the
>>family. Shredded cheese? Bagels? Yogurt? Crackers? Salad dressing?
>>Potato chips? People think these things are cheap but they're all
>>processed and packaged, and they pay for the processing and
>>packaging. And get plenty of empty calories and little nutrition.
>
>Yes, I noticed that too. But I have to point out that it is sometimes
>very difficult to balance a job, raising children, figuring out a
>budget on an ever decreasing amount of money, and dealing with a
>medical condition, and still make all the meals from scratch, or even
>nearly so. There's a reason that "convenience" foods were so
>enthusiastically received, and it's not because people are too lazy
>to use anything else. In many cases, it's because there just isn't
>the mental energy to take on one more task.
>
>Speaking from personal experience, I have a stressful and strenuous
>job, plus I'm the only caretaker for this property, responsible for
>everything that must be done, and the sole caregiver for a disabled
>relative. I feel sometimes as though I'm living two people's lives,
>because I have to do everything I would do for myself, and everything
>he would do for himself if he were able. It's like having an adult
>toddler that has to be bathed, dressed, fed and led. And medicated.
>There are times when I yearn for my dryer, when I've come home with a
>week's worth of two people's laundry, exhausted from a week on the
>road, with a huge pile of paperwork to do before the work is actually
>finished, and it's raining so I can't hang the laundry outside.
>That's one reason I just gave the dryer away, because I know there
>are times when I'd say the hell with the energy usage and run it all
>through the dryer.
>
>Same thing for some of the other things that I usually do the "hard"
>way, making bread, pasta, mayonnaise, cheese and yoghurt, etc. There
>are times when I don't have the mental energy to take it on, much
>less the physical energy. So I know how this woman feels, and I don't
>even really have money problems. I have to work hard for what I get,
>but it's a relatively secure job, and my housemate has a good pension.
>
>Convenience foods and today's stress are a vicious circle. One just
>reinforces the other. You come home from work too tired to make a
>nutritious meal, so you grab whatever can be prepared in the
>microwave (I gave that away too), and the next day you're even more
>tired and stressed out. The whole system has to change.
>
>Sorry, didn't mean to carry on about myself. Just wanted to point out
>that it can be really difficult for a person who grew up with
>processed junk food to break away from that, especially if their
>lives are stressful in other ways. I grew up with good, home-prepared
>real food, and I know how to make it myself, and I'll admit that
>there are times when I just stop and get my housemate a burger so I
>won't have to cook a meal when we get home.
>
>But the whole system is on the verge of change, anyway.
>
>Liz in SW VA
>http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com
>
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