Trump Administration Wants To Decide What Food SNAP Recipients Will Get

a reply to: joeraynor

In many cases, someone should.

I used to work in the grocery business, and virtually everything, other than deli/prepared food, is eligible for EBT/Snap. ...and, well, you'd think that bulk things like rice, or dried beans, or frozen veggies and things would feature prominently...but in many, won't say most, but many that simply isn't the case. Soda. Ice Cream. ...and junk food are the featured items.

You have people who make that card scream, they work it so well. Sale meat items, like pork, chicken, stew meat, etc... Bulk rice, beans, and other grains. Fresh veggies that are on sale, or frozen ones, if not. Oh, many will get a 2 liter bottle of soda, or a quart of ice cream for a treat... But those people seem to be in the minority much of the time.

I see no problem with having certain rules about what kinds of food may be purchased. WIC does. Why not Snap/EBT?

a reply to: vonclod

Facts speak for themselves.

Nobody is jumping fences, tunneling under walls, or crossing oceans on a raft to get OUT of America.

originally posted by: abe froman
a reply to: burgerbuddy

Your dog has the perfect liberal life.

No job, free food, free housing, free healthcare...

and a conservative with a job pays for it all.

Yeah, looks that way. lol!!

My wife spoils them, glad we don't have real kids.

a reply to: Somethingsamiss

I wonder how much Joel of hunger free America gets paid.
Delivery should not be a problem. Blue Apron does a pretty good job. SNAP should ad o the a simaler model.
If you are young and healthy being on assistance should be unplesant. Maybe if it were they would get off of it as soon as they could.

originally posted by: matafuchs
a reply to: tribal

If the people abuse it then so be it.

Bull#..it was not about comedy it was about how people got by. They just did it. They did not get 800 in SNAP and live outside their means. Now, LOTS of people do. But allowing abuse because you had it hard as a kid...creates a cycle of welfare.

I had it hard as a kid, govt cheese by the block. Slice yer own.

Spam. eggs, oatmeal.

Milk powder. Peanut Butter! Butter by the kilo.

Been there done that. Govt issue.

I'm still here. Became a chef, won awards and opened resto's in the US and HK. Retired now. Taaa Daaa!

There was comfort that I wouldn't starve but that's about it.

I know that the food stamps now can be traded or used to get cigs and booze. "Sold" for 1/2 face value.

Food stamp books came later, in the 70's. Got a book of them, $200-250 a month and up.

The program has been scammed from the git go.

I believe in feeding the kids, I had to eat in school too.

Good old govt surplus.

Look at me now, I'm fine, fine, fine, fine...wut? who's there?!

Not a quinoa in sight.

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

originally posted by: matafuchs
a reply to: Xtrozero

You are right. It is all but gone away in many places. The church, even if not for forgiveness, was always there for the people of any town. Now many of them cannot afford to help. Lower congregations...

Yet they can afford automatic watering systems for the churches to wash away any unwanted homeless people.

Yeah but open outdoor urinals at bus stops are better?

It's ok to piss in the street in NY now.

Can't wait to visit.

originally posted by: tribal
the mocking tone and derisive attitude among some posters here is offensive and lacking in compassion. Either none of you have kids or you are just totally out of touch with reality.

I and my kids are on SNAP right now. Its the first time in my life ive been on welfare, and by god im damn thankful for it. And ill take it a step further: im glad my growing children dont have to subsist on crappy food boxes with crappier "food" inside of them. Canned food? For growing kids....what country is this again?

Some of you laugh at blocks of cheese and peanut butter like its a right of passage. I wonder what other kinds of human suffering you find entertaining. Yeah, i remember being a poor ass kid on welfare in the 80s. I put water on off brand cold cereal because we ran out of the dry milk. Oh yeah, gooooood times. I wonder if you had a child and watched them do that if you would find it funny....and would you justify it by saying idiotic crap like "well you COULD be starving to death in africa".

Yeah, or i could have just been killed before i was born to spare myself the nonsensical clanging noise coming from something that calls itself a human being.


we are in America. The best country in the world.....right? I'm fresh from Germany where they dont have homeless people because they made it a priority as a first world nation to make sure vulnerable people are taken care of, no matter what it takes. I'm not even a democrat or an SJW but somehow i just dont feel good about myself or my country if we can allow people to not be taken care of. Its not a human right, but it IS the right thing to do. For all the money our country has spent on unjust wars and the untold suffering it has inflicted on millions of innocents around the world i think we can handle doling out some money to our own people to make sure the gov at least made an attempt to do the right thing. If the people abuse it then so be it. When you give a present or help you dont get to choose how its used, otherwise dont even bother, youll just look like a jerk.

Yeah Germany is SO great because it can rely on the US for military protection and not have to spend but a couple % GDP on its military.

One question though. If people abuse it (so be it right?) what's their motivation to do better? At some point you just give free license to abuse the system.

originally posted by: Wardaddy454

originally posted by: tribal
the mocking tone and derisive attitude among some posters here is offensive and lacking in compassion. Either none of you have kids or you are just totally out of touch with reality.

I and my kids are on SNAP right now. Its the first time in my life ive been on welfare, and by god im damn thankful for it. And ill take it a step further: im glad my growing children dont have to subsist on crappy food boxes with crappier "food" inside of them. Canned food? For growing kids....what country is this again?

Some of you laugh at blocks of cheese and peanut butter like its a right of passage. I wonder what other kinds of human suffering you find entertaining. Yeah, i remember being a poor ass kid on welfare in the 80s. I put water on off brand cold cereal because we ran out of the dry milk. Oh yeah, gooooood times. I wonder if you had a child and watched them do that if you would find it funny....and would you justify it by saying idiotic crap like "well you COULD be starving to death in africa".

Yeah, or i could have just been killed before i was born to spare myself the nonsensical clanging noise coming from something that calls itself a human being.


we are in America. The best country in the world.....right? I'm fresh from Germany where they dont have homeless people because they made it a priority as a first world nation to make sure vulnerable people are taken care of, no matter what it takes. I'm not even a democrat or an SJW but somehow i just dont feel good about myself or my country if we can allow people to not be taken care of. Its not a human right, but it IS the right thing to do. For all the money our country has spent on unjust wars and the untold suffering it has inflicted on millions of innocents around the world i think we can handle doling out some money to our own people to make sure the gov at least made an attempt to do the right thing. If the people abuse it then so be it. When you give a present or help you dont get to choose how its used, otherwise dont even bother, youll just look like a jerk.

Yeah Germany is SO great because it can rely on the US for military protection and not have to spend but a couple % GDP on its military.

One question though. If people abuse it (so be it right?) what's their motivation to do better? At some point you just give free license to abuse the system.

That's was a giant leap of logic wasn't it.... ...

So you're arguing the U. S can't afford to help homeless people because of the military budget....

a reply to: seagull


most of the time its cost that influences the stuff bought. you try stretching 190. a month buying healthy stuff. you would be hard pressed.

originally posted by: burgerbuddy

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

originally posted by: matafuchs
a reply to: Xtrozero

You are right. It is all but gone away in many places. The church, even if not for forgiveness, was always there for the people of any town. Now many of them cannot afford to help. Lower congregations...

Yet they can afford automatic watering systems for the churches to wash away any unwanted homeless people.

Yeah but open outdoor urinals at bus stops are better?

It's ok to piss in the street in NY now.

Can't wait to visit.

I'm might be missing your point ?

This is not a political party bashing thread. Knock it off please.

Mods please remove thread.

a reply to: NthOther

Well, its pretty interesting to me that no fresh fruit or vegetables are part of this package.

Anyone who has any idea about nutrition, will tell you that canned fruit and vegetables are no where near as rich in nutrition as vegetables are, and I think its important to make the following distinction.

Good food:

Something that the body requires, regardless of ones financial status.

Fast food:

No one needs McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, or Pizza Hut for nutritional purposes.

Regardless of ones employment or level of pay however, ones body will require fresh produce, especially in the fruit and vegetable department. More to the point, many types of canned fruit will have been packed in a sugary syrup, which means that consuming the product will slam ones glucose levels into orbit, which is not recommended. Obviously, this does not apply to vegetables, but frozen fruit and vegetables would be better for the person in question.

Relying on those canned products for ones RDA of fruit and vegetables therefore, has the potential to create an even more serious diabetes problem, than is currently the case in the USA. One would almost, ALMOST be better off with Scurvy, than to only be able to eat canned fruit and vegetables.

The trick with improving nutrition is getting fresh produce back into diets which have become increasingly artificial, and for that reason, there is no good excuse as to why no provision for fresh produce has been made in these packages... unless of course the packages are about control, rather than quality.

a reply to: yuppa

I see/saw it done all the time.

It can take some doing, yes...but it's very doable. Instead of steaks, you buy roasts and cut them, or have them cut, most stores with a butcher block will happily do so. You make stew, or soup, using stretchers such as rice or barley, along with vegetables.

You think SNAP recipients are the only ones with small incomes/fixed incomes?

I have no issues with the program, it serves a decidedly needed function, and helps many people who might otherwise be in desperate straights. But...it can be run better, and part of that is the misuse that is rampant.

Ever seen kids walk up to a checkstand in a store and buy 40-50 dollars worth of junk food? I have. Or worse, with the EBT cash function, get 50 dollars of cash then plunk it into the lotto ticket machine? I have.

There is a need to tighten the rules. This is what you can buy, nothing else. I'm not in favor of making it harder to qualify, or to lessen the amount of money, but a limit on what can be purchased isn't a bad idea so far as I'm concerned.

a reply to: Somethingsamiss

If they're going to do this, DO IT RIGHT. I've been saying for years that they should limit it to fresh meats, veggies, fruits, dairy and grain staples only. NOTHING ELSE. I was on EBT once and I know full well how beneficial it would be to limit it to just the healthy stuff. If people are going to use the excuse of "But too many don't know how to cook healthy foods at all, Nyiah" I call bull-f#ing-s# on that excuse. Look, I'm a crap cook, my husband calls me a "kitchen hazard". I end up with more burned meals even a desperate dog wouldn't eat than I care to admit. I've given the whole fam damily food poisoning. But I can still give it a worthwhile shot and still TRY to make a healthy meal (thank god my husband has actual 5-star kitchen experience or I'd be up poo crick here) The most simple stuff I can make that doesn't come out burned to a crisp or make everyone sick is the healthiest -- basic soups, veggie-loaded salads, baked meat mains, grilled stuff. Ok, not so much that, I tend to have an unintended bonfire going on the grill in short order. The point is, the basics aren't that hard to do healthfully even for the kitchen-retarded like me, so it's no excuse to keep allowing garbage foods to be bought with EBT.

As far as the "it's too expensive to eat healthy" line goes, that really depends on where you live. Where I am now, we eat like kings dirt cheap. That is a benefit of an agricultural state (MI ain't just cars, people) Speaking of MI, here they do this thing called Double Up Food Bucks. Now, we hadn't been on EBT for some time, and it seemed quite odd to see done when we first got in the state, but it's worth it. Double the fresh food for the same price, better options to pick from to eat. If they can do this here, it can be done anywhere. No excuse not to.

They could easy combat the lack of kitchen skills by fricking partnering with supermarkets that do cooking classes, like Publix in the south does, or at least did -- not sure if they do that anymore or not.

Get what is EBT-eligible cleaned up. It results in a healthier poor population, which over time, drains much less from the public health system if poor health is staved off with better EBT limitations. This should be an obvious no-brainer.

a reply to: Xtrozero

Yes I fully support there being rules what can be purchased. There already are rules, and they can probably get a fair bit more stringent. People should not be purchasing food without nutrional value, and should not be purchasing luxury items. But a person being given the government benefits should have the right to choose to purchase spinach, or cheese, or bread, or cream, or some oranges, etc, and to plan their meals around their own cultural context, and what foods they know how to prepare and use.

The question of whether they this or that person should have access to a certain government program is separate from whether the people benefiting from it should receive quality aid.

I fully agree that using public money in the form of government aid to buy wasteful products should be a shameful thing. The purpose of the program is to maintain the wellbeing of people selected to be supported, so choices should be made to further that goal.

Evil republicans telling people what they have to eat through the snap program.

Evil democrats telling people what they have to eat through school lunch programs and taxes.

Pick a side people, pick a side.

When a nation that calls every citizen a member of that nation, yet cannot find the means to help them live to a certain standard, that nation, ANY nation mine included, is nothing more than a machine that only wants the oiled parts.

The rest can rust in a gutter.

It's not the wild west. politicians are the criminals, they sit back feasting on obscene amounts of food at your expense, but it's only the ones who need it, that are the targets for ire.

can't catch rainwater, federal crime.
can't camp by a river, federal land.
can't go off the grid, can't grow produce in your own front garden, can't this or that.. for the majority.

Takes someone with a huge bank account to make a liveable home out of 5 shipping containers, and go off the grid.

this world, and you all know it, is meant to keep your chains held fast. If you're a good slave, and do enough slave work, you get just enough to survive. Let the plebs who cannot, suffer. as you look down on them, a better slave over a lesser slave.

The same people that support that government taxing large sodas and junk food... have a problem with the government limiting people on the dole to more healthful foods.

Work that out in your mind.

a reply to: Somethingsamiss

You can understand where they are coming from?
Maybe you can explain to the rest of us why some people should get sub standard food?

One less tank, one less ship, one less plane and everybody eats.

We feed our animals better for Christ's sake.

But this man is a total scumbag so I'm not surprised.

Maybe because he thinks eating at McDonald's is eating well. The jerk.