Are we living our dream?

[LaurenRitz]

I reached out to my daughter in TX and WBF in Tennessee to ask about SNAP recipients in both of their states. Louisiana has something in place for the elderly and families with children. So now I have DD chewing my butt a bit. She doesn’t seem to care if anyone suffers from lack of food. I don’t know how I raised her. Okay I was on food stamps twice…. Once in the 80s during the oilfield layoffs and once during nursing school so like a total of 12 months and honestly I was allowed so much food that I had food for way longer so I am hoping the current recipients all have a lot of food in their pantries and freezers. Mind you I was in support of able bodied people having to work for their Medicaid and SNAP benefits but I don’t want sick people or small children to go hungry. So for the record I only know that Louisiana’s governor put something in place for the most vulnerable people. Anyone know what is happening in other states?

It's not a matter of caring. She's probably online, seeing the hatred, entitlement and demands for ouright theft from obese women with multiple baby daddies who say that they are OWED. When your Walart goes to online ordering only because people are just taking, and stores have armed guards in the parking lot to prevent idiots from stealing from customers...

You lose patience pretty quickly. Nothing like that happened around here, thankfully, but I have friends in other areas.

And it's not about food, when you see a woman with hair extensions, 2 inch nails and 1000 dollars in designer clothes come through checkout and pay for her three cartsfull of steak with ebt, while I buy bread, pass on the butter, and maybe a few bags of pasta.

 

[Mini Horses]

Agree the abuse is enough to anger us all...

Many states are giving some funding to the major food bank distributors that supply the various smaller locations. I know LA and VA are funding a portion direct to EBT cards for their states SNAP recipients. It's a difficult situation for many.

 

[Medicine Woman]

I know a lot of people abuse the system through SNAP. BF’s little sister has the same amount of kids as me and several years ago she was complaining that she was having to give her sister money towards the last week before her benefits kicked in. She was getting over $900 a month and couldn’t figure out how to make it through the month. I sure could if it was me. It’s like she never heard of dry beans. But BF said she was buying individually wrapped chips and individual portions of ice cream and such. You pay for that convenience. I passed tips through BF that I always cook 3 pounds of beans at a time and then freeze most of it for chicken dinners and fish fries. Of course I was pretty much always baking a 10 pound bag of leg quarters in one go. Then I just needed a little bit of rice, a container of red beans and some kind of green vegetable and I called that my Popeyes. At that time I could do it for $7.20 as opposed to $32 at Popeyes, which is quite a bit more expensive now. Yeah… some people do feel entitled. I just told DD that if I was widowed and didn’t have a garden and livestock I would need SNAP myself because of being disabled. I don’t mind able bodied people getting out there and figuring out their problems.
The elderberry tree in the front of the house is full of fruit and flowers. I hope I can pick up some juice for the winter.
I have several pumpkin given to me after Halloween… some carved for the animals and some intact for cooking. I want to start cooking them down but it’s so hot. DH has one of those electric oven thingies that I can use on the back porch. I tend to start baking them to soften them up before peeling.

 

[flowerbug]

as far as i know we only had school lunches subsidized (we paid half rate) for a year, but then Mom got enough work and i was mowing lawns and that was that.

since then i've paid directly and indirectly to the state to more than compensate them for that measly amount - my pay at the university was about half the going rate for industry and i was fine with it but i also considered it a donation to the state and fellow citizens because i did (and still do) believe that education was something to be treasured, and also my minimum wage job at the library too was never close to anything going rate, but i was fine with that too since i also super support library services.

minimum $100k+ to the state vs. a few $, yep, paid my dues...

as an adult i've never collected unemployment or SSDI and i'm glad it is there for those who need it. however now that i'm getting SS as a retired person it really does help us out that i'm now making some extra each month for emergencies and whatever comes up and i'm now paying for things i wasn't paying for before so Mom has extra for food. plus she can ask anytime she wants and i'd give her any amount she wants. i'd pay off her house if she'd let me. not much left to pay anyways, plus we live ok with the car paid for and we both aren't expensive hobby or travel sorts.

that said i could easily get by for about half what Mom does as she does buy what i consider a lot of junk food and gives things away for very little if anything, plus all her baking. i'm fine with her doing it, it is what she loves to do, go Mom. i just know i'm a bit tighter than she is and while i would help people out i'd prefer to help them out by feeding them in exchange for garden help (which almost never happens these days so there ya go...)...

ok, rant over, break over, time to get back outside.

 

[LaurenRitz]

$20 per week budget, assuming an empty kitchen

Week 1, a 10 pound bag of rice and a pound of butter
Week 2, 10 pounds of pasta and a seasoning of your choice (salt is my suggestion)
Week 3, 5 pounds of hamburger. Portion out in 1/2 pound chunks and put in the freezer
Week 4, a 5 pound bag of rice, and a bag of onions. Cut onions, put in the freezer in 1 cup bags.
Week 5, 5 lbs of pasta, a pound of butter, and a treat. Look at your pantry, set up purchase list for the following month.

You now have the basics and can spread out as necessary. Maintain the basics. When you empty a basic item, it goes first on the next week's shopping list.

Any remainder can go to protein or produce, or be set aside for specific needed items.