But eating healthy is just so EASY! Not.
Jul 20th, 2010 by heidi
This NPR story, or rather, the comments on it, are driving me nuts.
For the link-phobic, it’s an article on a low-income family. The mother explains that she struggles to feed her three children, husband, and herself on the $600 in food stamps they receive per month. Comments include the typical “fresh food is cheaper than junk!” nonsense coming from people who, clearly, don’t realize that I can buy a giant bag of Cheetos for the same price as a bell pepper out of season (that’s for non-organic. Don’t ask me how much an organic pepper costs, because I look at the price and my eyes glaze over), and I can tell you which would provide more calories and last longer for my four-year-old if I were on an even more limited budget.
I choose the bell pepper most of the time but, as a result, our groceries aren’t cheap. If my parents didn’t split the grocery bills with me, I suspect we’d probably spend nearly $600/month on groceries too (produce is hugely expensive in Seattle), and that’s for three of us. Also, my four-year-old has grown up on fresh vegetables and fruit, which means that he’s acquired a taste for them. I also know how to turn that bell pepper into a meal with crushed tomatoes, Italian sausage, and pasta. Not only do I have the income to afford fresh foods, I also have the skills to create meals from them. I may look at $600 and think it’s a lot of money to spend on groceries in a month but I know nothing about the mother in the story and her education regarding food, cooking, and nutrition. How presumptuous to judge her based on what my skills are…and most of those commenting on the NPR article are doing just that.
Others tell her to just get rid of her car, which she uses to drive around to try to find the best deals for her family, and walk, assuming that there’s a real grocery store within reasonable walking distance, or that her family doesn’t need the car to, you know, get to work. Cars in this country are, in many areas, NOT a luxury. Bus service is nonexistent or so bad that you spend so many extra hours trying to get places on the bus that you give up. The Seattle area is blessed in its bus service and even we may lose that as budget cuts continue.
There are, of course, the inevitable comments on how she and her son would be thinner if they ate healthier food (natch!) and the comments entirely ignore the words of the food bank administrator who, quite rightly, points out that a gallon of milk is a lot more expensive than the equivalent volume in soda. I wince at the price of eggs, or milk, when I go shopping. When I try to do the right thing and buy free-range eggs, they cost me a LOT more than a giant Costco-sized tray of battery-farmed eggs where the chickens are kept in terrible conditions. Organic produce is insanely expensive, even at our local farmers’ market, which I think actually costs MORE than the equivalent organic produce in a local grocery store.
There is no “just do this” answer to the issue of feeding a family, especially when one is surviving on very little money, relatively speaking. People who live in co-ops on quinoa and organic kale (one of the commentators on Facebook mentioned these food products multiple times in his description of his own diet/lifestyle) are more privileged than they realize. Education can go both ways, not just in teaching people how to cook and put together balanced meals on a budget, but in teaching people who’ve never faced those challenges about not judging everyone by their (ridiculous and frequently unattainable) standards.
Her in Florida, it is VERY expensive to live off of fresh food. We do it, but spend well over $800 per month for three people. Of course, I do cook quite a bit and am trying, at this point, to eliminate white carbs from our diet as blood sugar issues run rampant in both sides of our family. I would love to include fresh fish 2-3 times per week, but who can afford it? It’s tough to make it out there if you want to eat a healthy diet. I go to 2-3 different stores. Wal-mart for canned goods, cleaning products, toiletries, etc. – but, have you seen their produce department? It is absolutely gross – bugs on everything! So, I pay more for produce at a nicer grocery store. Unfortunately, in Tallahassee, we have no farmer’s markets to speak of, so we have to use the grocery store.
As far as cooking goes, I am a fresh food person. I never have really liked processed foods – even when we ate it as children, it wasn’t my favorite. I haven’t used very much of it for my son (except he loves Hot Pockets!). It’s expensive to feed a family these days!
This this this. I’m pretty sure you read Fat Nutritionist, right? Anyway, this reminded me of this post:
http://www.fatnutritionist.com/index.php/if-only-poor-people-understood-nutrition/
It irritates me to no end when people think they know the whole story and apply judgments based on their own privilege (not having to work full time AND prepare food, having fresh fruits and veggies available nearby, etc etc).
We spend a lot of money on food. I’m constantly trying to make things cheaper, so that it’s a more sustainable amount of money on one income. Most of that is because when we were on a 2 income family, I bought more convenient foods (canned beans instead of dry, prepared pizza dough, boxes of cookies instead of home made, etc), and also bought things out of season. Coupled with my migraines brought on by pesticides, we have to eat (mostly) organic, which adds to the prices. (And can you imagine, if I didn’t have the privilege that allowed me to a) figure out that’s what was causing my migraines and b) buy organic fruits/veggies to avoid them?). So yeah, even though we’re vegan (and it has been said but I haven’t verified that meat and cheese and milk cost more than fruits/veggies/grains), we spend quite a bit on food (I am proud to say that it’s decreasing now that I’m at home, since I’m working at it, and cooking more things from scratch, BUT… still way more than the $600 she has available to her)
UGH. Anyway.
Yeah, it’s all fine and dandy when you are making big money with no competing obligations. People don’t understand why I am so dismissive of most people I work with in academia, and the bell paper versus cheetos is a perfect example. People don’t get it. And higher ed in particular is populated with folks who think they should their their enlightened values. And those are the people that don’t really get lack of education or privilege or opportunity.
I’d love 600 bucks a month in food stamps, incidentally, but have chosen to be working poor with my diabetic kid whose supplies are massively expensive even with healthcare. But I’m always just a thread away from total ruin.
I really can’t believe how cheap bad foods are compared to good ones. Something has to be done. Then, when it’s all the same price, people can open their mouths.
My two cents,
Heather