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

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  • From: "Dean" <andeanfx@midrivers.com>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Rising Prices Hit Home For Food Stamp Recipients
  • Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 08:58:08 -0600

Liz, your point is well taken. Due to a health crisis I had a few years ago and the years in themselves, I don't get as much done as I would like or need to get done including learning how to do more things should the need arise. Consequently, I have taken the approach of learning how to do some things the hard way but not necessarily doing them yet as it would take too much time and energy away from learning more. Much like you stopping by to grab a burger rather than cook. There are some of the modern conveniences that I rather like and intend to keep on using them as long as possible but will continue to relearn the old ways in the mean time.

This is a bit of a side bar but since it really does not justify a thread of its own I would like to mention it here. My dad passed away about 6 years ago and about that same time we started getting back into gardening. We had a problem with a garden pest which I mentioned to mom who immediately told me what chemical dad would have used to take care of it. We of course did not use the chemical but now when I remember the hours and hours we spent fighting weeds in the garden as I grew up I can't help but think of the relief it must have been to dad when chemical means of weed control came about. We now know how horribly wrong it was but things really do look different when looking back through the other end of the pipe. Dean

Keeping Your Memories Alive while
Creating Family Keepsakes
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----- Original Message ----- From: "Liz" <liz@allslash.org>
To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Rising Prices Hit Home For Food Stamp Recipients


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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