- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.dbzer0.com
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Summary
House Republicans are considering a 20% cut to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, impacting over 22 million households, as part of a $5 trillion deficit reduction plan.
The proposed changes to SNAP would save $247 billion over a decade by rolling back a Biden-era increase tied to the USDA’s “thrifty food plan.”
Critics argue the cuts could harm vulnerable populations and reduce demand for food production, while Republicans view the changes as a way to curb spending and encourage employment.
SNAP pays out almost nothing already. You can’t eat on $292 per month, especially if you’re poor enough that you actually qualify for SNAP.
Is that amount for a family, cause I can definitely eat on $292 a month in a very expensive city. I’d need to make adjustments, but it’d easily be doable.
It’s for a household of 1, in Milwaukee. I could do it here if I cooked every meal and ate meat at most twice a week.
A person poor enough to qualify for this probably doesn’t have time to shop properly and cook for every meal, and probably doesn’t have a full kitchen.
Ya, it’d be a lot of vegetarian meals. If you can get to something like a Sams Club or Costco (although that has it’s own cost) you could get things like eggs, rice, oats, and even some spices over a few months to get you going, really cheap compared to other places.
Even being able to get something like a bulk frozen blueberries to be your fruit for the month that you can put in the oatmeal for example would go a long way, but is probably too pricey if you’re buying it in small quantities.
Trying to do that at an expensive grocery store and no access to cheaper bulk pricing would make that less comfortable.
You appear to assume everyone has a chest freezer or even a fridge with enough freezer space accommodate these suggestions.
You note the cost of club memberships but ignore the cost of transportation.
I challenge you to live on these suggested diets for a year without going over budget.
You don’t need a chest freezer for a 2-3kg bag of frozen veggies and berries. Any standard fridge will fit that with plenty of additional space.
Nor do you need a membership to even get these things at all places, but it can make it cheaper (and likely pay for itself)
I would expect a person this poor to likely have a bus pass, they probably wouldn’t be driving. So transportation costs are probably already covered, so the real issue is, is there a place they can buy frozen/bulk food within a reasonable bus distance.
Edit: E.g Krogers in Milwaukee where OP referenced has frozen peas 60oz for $5.29 (NOT on sale), as well as other vegetables. Ideally find a mixed bag. That’s your veggies for the week, and it’s only $0.75 of you’re $9.41 day for eating, and no paid membership. I’m not saying this is good, it’s poverty, but it’s doable.
Edit: In Log Angeles at Food4Less you can get 80z mixed veggies for $6.99 on sale ($1 off), that’s $0.699 a day for 10 days, even cheaper, in LA an even more expensive city! You can even get that down to $0.54 a day at Walmart.
I have a Costco membership. I don’t buy things like this or frozen vegetables there because they cost more per unit than they do at Kroger (let alone Lidl or Aldi).
Really? That’s interesting, even rice and oats?
Edit: where I’m at for spices, you can get 3-4x the amount at Costco vs the grocery store, but on a budget like this you’d probably only get 1 a month while you built up the kitchen. I’ll check rice again next time I’m out but I swear it’s cheaper as well. Haven’t bought oats in awhile, but used to have them for breakfast daily (the basic quaker oats kind, not the expensive flavored sachets)
Edit: Also I’m annoyed that you can’t see Costco warehouse food prices online. You get the online/delivery prices which are raised making price shopping more difficult.
Costco online is run completely separately.
In Los Angeles I’m paying like $50 for a barebones, mostly produce and raw ingredients shopping trip 1-2 times per week. I’m vegan so I’m not buying milk, eggs, meat, etc. but sometimes I’ll buy processed fake meat (but those prices are insane right now too).
Not that I suggest you do this, but in the context of eating cheap, you can get that cheaper by finding a place that sells larger bags of frozen vegetables, such as the carrot, pea, green bean, corn mixes. Go for the store brand to get that cheapest. They’re just as nutritious as they get flash frozen when their nutrients are at their peak. It won’t be very exiting though.
You won’t have a lot of variety trying to eat on $292 a month.
Good point. I do that to an extent for the reasons you’ve listed. I thought of produce because lately I’ve been into salads and wraps.
I have no clue why others are downvoting you for this.
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