NBC: Gov. Abbott asks USDA to approve waiver banning junk food purchases with SNAP benefits

Oompa Loompa · May 20, 2025

ThatRobGuy said:
Honestly, the Target by me is pretty chill

Unless you're there on a Saturday morning, you pretty much have the entire aisle to yourself no wait at the checkout.

As opposed to the local Walmart, where there's congestion in every aisle, an ever-present hint of BO, and people in sweatpants yelling at their children.

The one that's in the city about 12 miles away is even worse...supposedly (I wasn't personally there to see it), one of the infamous pictures on that "PeopleOfWalmart" website was taken at that one... it was the pic of the guy who was in the checkout line wearing a t-shirt tucked into his tiger print speedo.

Perhaps it just my location. Lululemon all over the place.

Fantine · May 20, 2025

I know that most of the qualified people in the Food and Drug Administration have probably been furloughed to make room for Fox News hosts, but hopefully there are a few dietitians left who could figure out sample healthy menus based on products that would be allowed in the new system and determine how much that would cost. They could get them to compare that cost with the amount of SNAP benefits people qualify for and see whether it was possible for that amount of money.

Oompa Loompa · May 20, 2025

Fantine said:
I know that most of the qualified people in the Food and Drug Administration have probably been furloughed to make room for Fox News hosts,

How do you know?

Fantine · May 20, 2025

Oompa Loompa said:
How do you know?

I said "probably." That leaves room for doubt.

Oompa Loompa · May 21, 2025

Fantine said:
I said "probably." That leaves room for doubt.

"I know he probably" = You don't know. What does the pope say about slandering?

Hank77 · Wednesday at 2:46 PM

ThatRobGuy said:
I don't think it necessarily has to be restricted to just whole foods. (although obviously that's the preferable option if possible)

For instance, when considering these products:
View attachment 365253

View attachment 365254

The ones on the left-hand side are clearly less unhealthy than the ones on the right-hand side, and price differences are negligible.

For the same price, you can get grilled chicken strips instead of chicken fries

And for 20 cents more, you can get real chicken over the processed chicken nuggets they made from chicken paste and caulking gun.

The price per oz. is the actual cost. I love unit pricing; it saves both time and money.

In both examples, the more processed foods cost less per oz.

RDKirk · Wednesday at 4:27 PM

iluvatar5150 said:
T Cooking fast, though, is a lot harder to pull off. It's possible, but it narrows your options significantly. Even eggs, which is about as cheap, easy, and fast a meal as possible, can still run you 10-20 minutes if you have an electric stove and need to wait for the pan to heat up. Now think of something like a sandwich and how long that would take to make the bread, cook the meat, and make any condiments. Oh hey - on top of all the work requirements we want to put on this stuff, you also have to make your own mayonnaise. Or peanut butter and jelly, looool. Drag your three kids to the pick-your-own-berry farm so you can spend all the next day in the kitchen over a giant pot of boiling water.

The work involved is certainly a factor, especially if the mother has a job (which conservatives want to happen). She works all day, takes a bus to the child care center to pick up the kids, hauls the kids with her to a market which has healthy foods (not in her neighborhood), picks up what she can carry on the bus with kids, spend an hour on the bus getting home.

It's past 6 pm. The kids are yowling in hunger. She's got a two-burner apartment range with 3 feet of counter space to make dinner.

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN · Wednesday at 5:40 PM

How do people expect the homeless to eat wholefood? I have knowledge on how to grow some foods . I know how to persevere food. Most people , that I know don't know how to how to bake from scratch, grow vegetables and fruit . Or to persevere food. These things should be taught in school.

ThatRobGuy · Wednesday at 6:59 PM

Hank77 said:
The price per oz. is the actual cost. I love unit pricing; it saves both time and money.

In both examples, the more processed foods cost less per oz.

But barely...

Is someone really noticing a fraction of an ounce difference per serving?

Hank77 · Friday at 3:42 PM

ThatRobGuy said:
But barely...

Is someone really noticing a fraction of an ounce difference per serving?

I think you'll find that there are 9 more ounces of meat in the nuggets than in the fresh chicken. That will feed at least one more child, if not two, depending on their age.

Doing the math, I found that the package of nuggets was $3.48 less than the same 29 ozs of fresh chicken. That's a huge difference in most families, and for a single parent, it's the difference between a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread.

Maybe my math is wrong....

RDKirk · Saturday at 3:27 PM

iluvatar5150 said:
You didn't start with only "a skillet and a sauce pan". You also started with a reliable heat source, a place to store and refrigerate your ingredients, (as noted) a way to transport them, and at least a knife or two to cut them.

That may not be a ton, but it's not nothing. The transportation in particular can be huge. The cheapest cuts of protein where I shop are family packs of chicken breasts, pork loin, and pork shoulder, all of which are around $2.50-3/lb (unfrozen). How are you going to manage a 4 lb pack of raw chicken breasts when you have a 2 hour bus ride home? You have to throw them in the trash as soon as you get home. Depending on how it's packaged, the pork might withstand the trip better, but you'd still better cook it that day.

My wife had developed an "in" with the butcher at the local Tom Thumb just four blocks away from us. He saved meat for her until its "sell by" date and sold it to her at severely slashed prices. The trick was that she's able to discern very keenly just how close meat is to going bad, plus she knew to get it cooked and frozen immediately upon getting home.

Can't do even that anymore, though. That Tom Thumb closed a few weeks ago, so we're officially in a food desert. Fortunately we own good transportation.

The next closest grocery store is a Whole Foods five miles away...and not cheap. But I'm an Amazon Prime member, so we get a little discount on Whole Foods groceries.

But Amazon Prime membership isn't cheap, either.

Bottom line: It's expensive being poor in the US.

FireDragon76 · 2025-11-16T19:02:59-0600

Hank77 said:
I think you'll find that there are 9 more ounces of meat in the nuggets than in the fresh chicken. That will feed at least one more child, if not two, depending on their age.

Doing the math, I found that the package of nuggets was $3.48 less than the same 29 ozs of fresh chicken. That's a huge difference in most families, and for a single parent, it's the difference between a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread.

Maybe my math is wrong....

I'm a vegan now, but that's pretty much how I remember it working out.

I try to eat healthier but I'm under no illusions how hard that is for most people who aren't born with a silver spoon in their mouth, or how much food gets class coded.

NBC: Gov. Abbott asks USDA to approve waiver banning junk food purchases with SNAP benefits

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