The "food stamp fridge"

[utter solitude]

Oddly, I haven't taken advantage of free meat in ages because, due to dating a vegetarian, I'm used to going meatless.

But yeah, I bet the folks who are ragging on you for spending "that much" money on food probably aren't tracking what they spend monthly... or if they are, they are only counting what they spend at the grocery store and not what they actually spend on food.

My best friend and I actually had this conversation when she discovered I had foodstamps. She asked me if the 200 i got at the time wasn't "a shit ton" and what did I spend it on. I don't think she was coming from a place of judgement, but she did say she felt like that would put a ton of food in her fridge.

So I had her track, for a month, what she spent on food at Kroger, the store she almost always shops at. It ended up being a lil over $300 per month. She went to the store nearly every day, buying mostly prepackaged food and a lot of candy and stuff like that. Nothing wrong with any of that, of course, but it was a stark difference from what I buy in a month, and it shocked her a bit lol. She also tends to overbuy, expecting herself or her brother or boyfriend to eat more than they actually do, and it was influenced by her shopping at Kroger primarily rather than, say, Walmart. But I do believe people grossly underestimate how much they actually spend on food.

I applied last fall when the husband was out of work and we got $15 a month. Try that. Pissed me off so much, and then they cut me off when I missed a question on the questionnaire. By then he was back to work. I was so disgusted with them. :evil-eye:

Yeah, they can be pretty fucking awful. The first time I ever applied was when I was still married, and had lost my job (husband had one) and we were seriously struggling to feed ourselves. We were told flat out that we didn't qualify (based on simple gross income alone), she didn't even bother to look over our expenses to see if we qualified for an exception, and the woman seriously overtly suggested we have a kid, because THEN we would.

I've been cut off in the past because they sent my interim paperwork to a different address and had to reapply. This most recent time, they had my exhusband on my case, and I had to fax a copy of our divorce decree. I had to go downtown to get it, and it was fucking humiliating. And when I dropped it off at the welfare office, in tears over having to go get a copy of the thing in the first place, the girl was quite a bitch about it. "You live with your exhusband? Are you sure you're not, you know, a household? That's a nice car you have..." Fuck you. No, we're not a household. I sleep on the floor and pay him rent. That car is my friend's car, because mine wouldn't start. You'd think people working for the system would have a shred of sympathy.

Ugh.

People also tend to forget that not all food-stamp users are the same. In my area we have a lot of 'rent by the month' hotels where whole families can be crowded into one smallish hotel room. Since these aren't apartments, these hotel rooms usually do NOT have kitchens (or kitchenettes) and may not even have a mini-fridge. Maybe they have a microwave and/or a hotplate. They simply don't have any real place to store perishables, or a means to cook the cheaper, more nutritious foods that take time and/or equipment and/or space. That adds a whole extra level of suck to the whole business of poverty and food.

But you hear lots of people whining if they see someone using EBT to purchase a deli rotisserie chicken, never contemplating that it may be the only meat these folks get because someone ELSE was able to cook it in a grocery's kitchen since they have none, and they can parcel it out to feed a whole family.

^^^^THIS. So much this! There's so much judgement involved and it's ridiculous.

People don't typically notice I have a foodstamp card. You'd have to know what it looks like or be seriously up on me to see it (and I tend to hold it a certain way so people won't see it) Once, I was buying groceries at Walmart. I think I had bread, eggs, store brand cereal, and packs of ground beef. I also a cupcake from the bakery and a two liter of pop. The register had some kind of error and the cashier had to hand key my foodstamp card information, and the middle-aged lady behind me heard me say it was EBT food benefits. Oh my, was she upset! "Really, you're buying a cupcake and pop with my tax dollars? You should be ashamed and put that shit back!" I whipped around and calmly informed her that the cupcake and soda wouldn't even amount to two dollars, and would be the only treat I would have for my birthday. I finished by asking her if she had any comments about the tampons and aspirin I was also buying, and she practically ran out of the store.

[Firiel]

So I had her track, for a month, what she spent on food at Kroger, the store she almost always shops at. It ended up being a lil over $300 per month. She went to the store nearly every day, buying mostly prepackaged food and a lot of candy and stuff like that. Nothing wrong with any of that, of course, but it was a stark difference from what I buy in a month, and it shocked her a bit lol. She also tends to overbuy, expecting herself or her brother or boyfriend to eat more than they actually do, and it was influenced by her shopping at Kroger primarily rather than, say, Walmart. But I do believe people grossly underestimate how much they actually spend on food.

Yeah, this type of misunderstanding is probably the ultimate genesis for my own self-imposed $100/month budget. In grad school, I was making a budget and had to fill in "Food." So I threw down $75 dollars because, well, that sounded about right. I'm a stubborn little fuck, so I stuck to it, but it was really hard, even with all the advantages I posted above. When I was first getting started, I would sometimes not have enough to eat which was a totally new experience to me. Once I graduated, I celebrated by upping the budget to $100. Ha.

People don't typically notice I have a foodstamp card. You'd have to know what it looks like or be seriously up on me to see it (and I tend to hold it a certain way so people won't see it) Once, I was buying groceries at Walmart. I think I had bread, eggs, store brand cereal, and packs of ground beef. I also a cupcake from the bakery and a two liter of pop. The register had some kind of error and the cashier had to hand key my foodstamp card information, and the middle-aged lady behind me heard me say it was EBT food benefits. Oh my, was she upset! "Really, you're buying a cupcake and pop with my tax dollars? You should be ashamed and put that shit back!" I whipped around and calmly informed her that the cupcake and soda wouldn't even amount to two dollars, and would be the only treat I would have for my birthday. I finished by asking her if she had any comments about the tampons and aspirin I was also buying, and she practically ran out of the store.

Like being poor obligates you to live a life with no pleasures at all. You must be properly ashamed of and punished for your income level.

[JMarie]

Don't forget this little number that Fox News trots out every so often:

foxnewsinsider.com/2014/03/13/welfare-surfers-saga-continues-lobster-eating-food-stamps-recipient-refuses-hannitys-help

[Black Aliss]

But yeah, I bet the folks who are ragging on you for spending "that much" money on food probably aren't tracking what they spend monthly... or if they are, they are only counting what they spend at the grocery store and not what they actually spend on food.

It's also easier to spend only $100/month on groceries if you eat most of your meals in restaurants.

[salsa]

To avoid the judgment, I used the self-checkout. I admit to buying store-brand diet soda, coffee, and once, a quiche Lorraine because my younger salsette promised to bring one to her French class and I didn't have time to make it. I did have a crock-pot chicken pie recipe that called for white wine, so I bought a 4-pack (and older salsette and I shared the other 3) - but that, of course, I paid for myself, not from snap.

I did feel guilty about the $7 pre-made deli quiche, but not for store-brand soda(amounting to $4/month) and using a recipe with a little wine in it. I saved in lots of other ways. I don't buy lunch meat or anything individually packaged, or baby carrots. I even stopped using fabric softener and hung clothes out to dry (we have to use a Laundromat).

[utter solitude]

To avoid the judgment, I used the self-checkout. I admit to buying store-brand diet soda, coffee, and once, a quiche Lorraine because my younger salsette promised to bring one to her French class and I didn't have time to make it. I did have a crock-pot chicken pie recipe that called for white wine, so I bought a 4-pack (and older salsette and I shared the other 3) - but that, of course, I paid for myself, not from snap.

I did feel guilty about the $7 pre-made deli quiche, but not for store-brand soda(amounting to $4/month) and using a recipe with a little wine in it. I saved in lots of other ways. I don't buy lunch meat or anything individually packaged, or baby carrots. I even stopped using fabric softener and hung clothes out to dry (we have to use a Laundromat).

Nor should you. I don't believe anyone should feel guilty over what they use their foodstamps on, unless you are truly gaming the system. You want to buy candy bars, soda, and brownies? Go right ahead. I'm not going to tell you what you should or shouldn't buy, just like I wouldn't tell you what you should or shouldn't eat. I buy with my foodstamps basically the same shit I've always bought. Yeah, i'll buy more junk when it's with my own money (simply because it will be easier to do so), but I would do that if there was more money available regardless, ya know? I might end up with $150 a month for food when the benefits stop, and I will make that work... eventually that amount will go up and i'll buy more "luxury" food. (What I consider luxury, that is)

The judging is what I can't stand. When people notice I'm paying with foodstamps (which isn't that often, I use the self checkout whenever possible and will tell people to get out of my bubble when they're too close at a manned check lane) there's always some huge judgement in their face when they look over my purchase. Usually it seems to be "poor girl" or "she can afford to have her hair colored like that but needs foodstamps? mooching bitch!" and I've learned to not care.

[browncoatslytherin]

can i also just interject how boring food can get on a strict budget? i haven't earned my nickname of "condiment queen" for no reason. i've put anything and everything into mac n cheese and ramen, just to taste something different. i used to follow a livejournal called "trashy eats", and some of the things i saw i had already eaten, but not because i was craving the trashiness, but because, goddamnit, i couldn't stand plain mac n cheese or ramen or instant potatoes anymore.

one benefit, i spose, is on the other side, i'm very creative when it comes to cooking, as it somewhat forcibly opened my mind to a plethora of taste combinations i might not have thought of before. i still can't eat plain ramen or mac n cheese, though, i'm that sick of it.

[utter solitude]

can i also just interject how boring food can get on a strict budget? i haven't earned my nickname of "condiment queen" for no reason. i've put anything and everything into mac n cheese and ramen, just to taste something different. i used to follow a livejournal called "trashy eats", and some of the things i saw i had already eaten, but not because i was craving the trashiness, but because, goddamnit, i couldn't stand plain mac n cheese or ramen or instant potatoes anymore.

one benefit, i spose, is on the other side, i'm very creative when it comes to cooking, as it somewhat forcibly opened my mind to a plethora of taste combinations i might not have thought of before. i still can't eat plain ramen or mac n cheese, though, i'm that sick of it.

I live mostly on fish/chicken with rice and some vegetable. It's long been old.

I was recently part of a facebook exchange over foodstamps in Alaska... :

A friend of mine up there has a cousin who lives out in the middle of nothing. Seriously, going into the nearest town is a full day event. He's a full time online student and has a part time, from home job... he earns just barely enough to put gas in his vehicle and pay his living expenses. He gets slightly more foodstamps per month because he lives out in nowhere. He uses some of his foodstamps benefits to buy, besides food, arrows and shit for hunting and seeds for planting in the warmer months and protein powder. That was the rub people were arguing over on FB, as many ignorant Ohio people were theorizing that one could just sell off the hunting supplies/any kills and get actual cash that way and cheat the system, and that buying protein powder was "wrong". Horse shit! My friend's cousin absolutely needs the meat he's able to get from hunting. He can't afford to go into town often enough to keep a constant supply of good meat, so he makes protein shakes to supplement his diet so he doesn't pass out. But of course, nobody considers any of that, they just assume someone is "cheating".

[Geechee Girl]

Those hateful memes are why I gave up FB years ago. When I received assistance after fleeing my ex, I got <$250/mo for the girl & myself. I didn't have a car, and I could only stock up when given a ride. I learned which stores were more hospitable to EBT clientele. Sprouts & Whole Foods are definitely not with their huge monitors at the checkout visible to all which show payment tendered: Food Stamps or EBT. I really feel for those families with members on special diets because special food is astronomically pricey. I learned the hard way with the girl's wheat allergy.

[naatashamaru]

when i was on foodstamps, i personally never got over $200. i think the most i got was $196. for an unmarried, childless person. that was in pa. in ohio, i couldn't even get any, under the same circumstances as i was in pa. it's ridiculous. i was actually told, point-blank, that i couldn't get any food stamps unless i was pregnant. uh, yeah, no, i'm not going to go get pregnant just to get food stamps and assistance.

yes! my friend was told she needed to pregnant to get food stamps here in Georgia....my guy friend told me he wanted to get food stamps and i was like good luck...i need to be pregnant to get some and he was shocked. I was like that's just how the way the world works.

[ViolaSebastian]

I live mostly on fish/chicken with rice and some vegetable. It's long been old.

I was recently part of a facebook exchange over foodstamps in Alaska... :

A friend of mine up there has a cousin who lives out in the middle of nothing. Seriously, going into the nearest town is a full day event. He's a full time online student and has a part time, from home job... he earns just barely enough to put gas in his vehicle and pay his living expenses. He gets slightly more foodstamps per month because he lives out in nowhere. He uses some of his foodstamps benefits to buy, besides food, arrows and shit for hunting and seeds for planting in the warmer months and protein powder. That was the rub people were arguing over on FB, as many ignorant Ohio people were theorizing that one could just sell off the hunting supplies/any kills and get actual cash that way and cheat the system, and that buying protein powder was "wrong". Horse shit! My friend's cousin absolutely needs the meat he's able to get from hunting. He can't afford to go into town often enough to keep a constant supply of good meat, so he makes protein shakes to supplement his diet so he doesn't pass out. But of course, nobody considers any of that, they just assume someone is "cheating".

Sheesh, I'm always hearing about how people on food stamps should just buy seeds and plant a garden. Never mind that most on food stamps are renters who aren't allowed to garden on their property. Oh, and that a garden will only produce food for a limited amount of time each year, and canning comes with expenses as well. So you just can't win with some people, can you?

[Trynn]

You know what? Good. If my tax dollars cause people to have full fridges, I'm glad. Too bad that's not always the case :(

[utter solitude]

Sheesh, I'm always hearing about how people on food stamps should just buy seeds and plant a garden. Never mind that most on food stamps are renters who aren't allowed to garden on their property. Oh, and that a garden will only produce food for a limited amount of time each year, and canning comes with expenses as well. So you just can't win with some people, can you?

You can't please everyone. If I started a garden with seeds bought with my foodstamps, I would likely get shit from the same people about how I could "grow extra and sell it to make a living". People just suck, and they always will.

Then there's always the "I saw this girl with foodstamps buying cigarettes!" ......so the fuck what? foodstamps don't buy cigarettes, and if she has cash assistance (which is on the same card) and uses it to get her nicotine fix, good for her. She probably needs it so she doesn't smack ignorant people in the face. The fact that she needs assistance or I need assistance does not and should not mean we can't have small luxuries. I should be able to buy a two liter of pop or cake mix without assholes judging.

[SamE]

The kiddos and I got foodstamps for about a year. My ex had decided to stop paying child support and I moved to an area with few job prospects.

The 3 of us got $500 a month. It was more than I have ever spent on groceries. Plus the kids were then eligible for free lunches at school and medicaid.

Also, the state went after him for child support since I needed help.

[blackkatya]

I will say that I would probably feel like I had a full fridge with FS...but that is because we are one of those "just over the line" households and have a limited food budget.

We do get WIC, though, since we have a 5 week old, and that is an awesome program. It's hard to avoid judgey stares, though, when using it. In our state, WIC comes in check form and has to be rung separately in a long, drawn-out process.

[utter solitude]

I will say that I would probably feel like I had a full fridge with FS...but that is because we are one of those "just over the line" households and have a limited food budget.

We do get WIC, though, since we have a 5 week old, and that is an awesome program. It's hard to avoid judgey stares, though, when using it. In our state, WIC comes in check form and has to be rung separately in a long, drawn-out process.

They really need a better method of using WIC. The tickets just breed humiliation.

[Mandysue]

I'm going to ask a question-

Earlier this week I was listening to Rush Limbaugh (I hate, loathe him I listen to him so I can yell at him for being stupid)

One of his listeners was talking about food stamps and how the government made it easier for people to be on assistance than to work blah blah blah... Of course it's Obama's fault so many people are on assistance cause ya know they get free phones. (I really hate Rush)

The listener thinks that after six months on assistance if the person isn't doing anything to make their life better ( applying for jobs, attend school) they should be forced to shop at a store that has just the basic nessecities, he said like a commissary. Make it not so fun to get assistance.

This goes back to the sterotypical lobster and steak food stamp person doesn't it? From reading here most people do not get enough to buy steak or lobster., maybe hamburger steak and imatation crab meat.

(My confession- behind a couple at Wal-Mart. Cart loaded down. Paid with SNAP. A lollipop that turns when a button is pushed wasn't covered. I was going to pay for it. It was close to a holiday. Woman yelled at the cashier, the front line manager and the store manager over the $2.00 lollipop. After they told her it would have to wait until tomorrow she paid for her cigarettes and left. I think that is what most people remember. I remember her and it has been several years ago. I now see her in a different light. Please accept my apologizes on the behalf of judgy people like me. My eyes have been opened and I will look at people differently now)

[ViolaSebastian]

I'm going to ask a question-

Earlier this week I was listening to Rush Limbaugh (I hate, loathe him I listen to him so I can yell at him for being stupid)

One of his listeners was talking about food stamps and how the government made it easier for people to be on assistance than to work blah blah blah... Of course it's Obama's fault so many people are on assistance cause ya know they get free phones. (I really hate Rush)

The listener thinks that after six months on assistance if the person isn't doing anything to make their life better ( applying for jobs, attend school) they should be forced to shop at a store that has just the basic nessecities, he said like a commissary. Make it not so fun to get assistance.

This goes back to the sterotypical lobster and steak food stamp person doesn't it? From reading here most people do not get enough to buy steak or lobster., maybe hamburger steak and imatation crab meat.

(My confession- behind a couple at Wal-Mart. Cart loaded down. Paid with SNAP. A lollipop that turns when a button is pushed wasn't covered. I was going to pay for it. It was close to a holiday. Woman yelled at the cashier, the front line manager and the store manager over the $2.00 lollipop. After they told her it would have to wait until tomorrow she paid for her cigarettes and left. I think that is what most people remember. I remember her and it has been several years ago. I now see her in a different light. Please accept my apologizes on the behalf of judgy people like me. My eyes have been opened and I will look at people differently now)

Yes, it most certainly does. The era of 'easy' welfare went out with the Clinton administration--the program now could more accurately be called 'workfare.' You have to be working or receiving an education/training to be considered. (There are some exceptions to this rule--for instance, if you are a single parent to a child under 12 months, are actively in a substance abuse treatment program, or temporarily or permanently disabled). And those phones? Having phone service was a a mandate put in place by Ronald Reagan. It's just cheaper now to give them a cell phone instead of a land line.

[utter solitude]

Lol, less fun to get assistance. What's really fun is when I'm given other people's money to pick up liquor for them, and I do so while getting my own groceries (Because I ain't makin two trips) and the cashier tries to give me shit.

What's fun is the humiliating process involved in even getting foodstamps in the first place, all the waiting on hold for an hour only to find out that the fax I sent was not received and they need ____ by the end of the same day or they'll cut me off.

There is not a work requirement in my state, but if you are not working or a full time student, you must look for work. And you must prove it, by sending in paperwork every month that you did some kind of job seeking activities (filling out applications, taking classes they offer, etc) and they want details. And they check this shit.

It's all so much fun!

[ViolaSebastian]

Lol, less fun to get assistance. What's really fun is when I'm given other people's money to pick up liquor for them, and I do so while getting my own groceries (Because I ain't makin two trips) and the cashier tries to give me shit.

What's fun is the humiliating process involved in even getting foodstamps in the first place, all the waiting on hold for an hour only to find out that the fax I sent was not received and they need ____ by the end of the same day or they'll cut me off.

There is not a work requirement in my state, but if you are not working or a full time student, you must look for work. And you must prove it, by sending in paperwork every month that you did some kind of job seeking activities (filling out applications, taking classes they offer, etc) and they want details. And they check this shit.

It's all so much fun!

Unfortunately, the system tries to humiliate you and make you feel that stigma when one applies for help to try to dissuade one from applying. It's awful and I wish it were different. At least you haven't been drug tested, that's the latest and 'greatest' thing amongst states.

[August]

Is it not true that unless you're disabled food stamps are the only assistance which a childless adult gets, and the only untimed assistance a parent gets? And they're STILL complaining about it?

I used to listen to Rush and that other really crazy one and the one that had the TV show, too, then we got recruited for the ratings, so I can't listen any more, I wiped them from my car presets just in case. I avoid even walking past a TV showing Faux news. Like, for reals. This one time I was having my oil changed and the TV was on Faux news. It was snowing outside, so I... changed the channel. I'd rather annoy five old folks than give that crud a single rating point.

[blackkatya]

Is it not true that unless you're disabled food stamps are the only assistance which a childless adult gets, and the only untimed assistance a parent gets? And they're STILL complaining about it?

I used to listen to Rush and that other really crazy one and the one that had the TV show, too, then we got recruited for the ratings, so I can't listen any more, I wiped them from my car presets just in case. I avoid even walking past a TV showing Faux news. Like, for reals. This one time I was having my oil changed and the TV was on Faux news. It was snowing outside, so I... changed the channel. I'd rather annoy five old folks than give that crud a single rating point.

I think, and I could be wrong, my state will allow childless adults to get TANF and Medicaid, but the income threshold is very, very low, and the benefit amount so small that I doubt one could live off of it.

[utter solitude]

Is it not true that unless you're disabled food stamps are the only assistance which a childless adult gets, and the only untimed assistance a parent gets? And they're STILL complaining about it?

I used to listen to Rush and that other really crazy one and the one that had the TV show, too, then we got recruited for the ratings, so I can't listen any more, I wiped them from my car presets just in case. I avoid even walking past a TV showing Faux news. Like, for reals. This one time I was having my oil changed and the TV was on Faux news. It was snowing outside, so I... changed the channel. I'd rather annoy five old folks than give that crud a single rating point.

In my state, as an "able bodied", childless adult not taking care of an elderly or disabled person, I qualify for medicaid (which has the slowest enrollment process in the universe) and foodstamps only. One must have a child to qualify for cash assistance, and there is a time limit on that. There is no time limit on medicaid and foodstamps.

People just won't let go of the idea that people on assistance are lazy moochers.

[August]

I think, and I could be wrong, my state will allow childless adults to get TANF and Medicaid, but the income threshold is very, very low, and the benefit amount so small that I doubt one could live off of it.

I tried searching, got CT's rules, and quite seriously feel ike I'm going to vomit. Just reading it is giving me an anxiety attack and I know I have parents and inlaws who would never let us be homeless. This is not civilization.

[Phoenix]

I don't know where these attitudes come from because the people I have encountered on food stamps are in dire situations.

The wife of an MS patient who got bitched at in the checkout line because she had kept her nice wedding ring from many years earlier before her husband got sick. She called it, a relic from a previous life. This woman was doing shift factory work at night and still needed food stamps to feed herself and her never going to get better husband.

A good friend of mine looses all her food stamp benefits when she starts to draw Social Security income next month. Worked since she was 16 years old, not working now due to health issues including repeated surgeries on both eyes to retain her sight. So she now has to pay for her and her abusive boyfriend's food out of her social security, and not having those few hundred bucks each month means she cannot afford to move out and leave him. They drive his car which is no longer made and blew a tire few weeks ago. They are making do on a patched used tire they bought for $40, the cheapest they could find in their area.

The disabled vet I dated for awhile had repeated head trauma that had utterly messed him up and left him severe daily pain for the rest of his life. He couldn't drive, lived with a grown child who used him as rent support to fund same's drinking and partying. Teeth rotting out of his head due to no health care... he didn't qualify for full VA disability, so I used to drive him to the only free dental clinic in my city, the VA hospital and other places he needed to go. His food stamps didn't even come close. He still used a local food bank three times a week, which fortunately was in walking distance.

When I had to use food banks I was so ashamed to this day my family doesn't know about it. I will never tell them because I would never hear the end of it. The intake process was utterly humiliating. I want to note most of the people I waited in line with were very kind.

Bottom line most people being critical of those on food stamps have no IDEA what other issues are in play in the recipients lives. :pull-hair: