It horrifies me that the top categories for purchases using the federal snap benefits are as follows:
Meat, Poultry, Seafood
Sweetened Beverages
Vegatables
Frozen Prepared Meals
Prepared Deserts
High Fat Cheese
Fruits
Salty Snacks
Milk
Cereal
What bothers me a lot about this list of SNAP benefits is that is not a list of healthy or even cost-effective eating habits.
Meat, Poultry, Seafood may rank high because of their relative expense – meat even basic cuts like ground beef – are expensive on a per pound basis. But also it suggests that meat is a frequent purchase of SNAP recipients, rather then one that should be only occasionally eaten as funds allows. I get animal agriculture wants to sell more of their product, and doctors want more patients with heart problems and diabetes leading to kidney problems, but especially red meats are bad and most people eat too much poultry and seafood. These things certainly should not be a core part of a healthy diet.
Sweetened beverages, namely soda, being purchased by SNAP shouldn’t be allowed. It’s like cigarettes, we shouldn’t be subsidizing human death. You have some extra personal spending cash to stick into the vending machine, fine, but it’s shouldn’t be subsidized by taxpayers at all. It’s a complete waste of taxpayer resources and it is actively shortening the lives of SNAP recipients.
Vegetables are good. Maybe they would be higher on the list if they weren’t so relatively inexpensive compared to meat, especially the flash-frozen type. But they are actually are what the program should be for. Likewise, fruti, no argument there. High-fat cheese (which is basically all cheeses as low-fat cheese taste like crap) and dairy is fine, but again, it seems like too many SNAP recipients are spending far more on it then would be part of a healthy diet, and there wasting their valuable SNAP dollars that should go to buying long-lasting, healthier staples like rice, beans, and yes fruit and vegetables.
Then you got the that wide range of big spend on frozen prepared meals and frozen deserts. Desserts are as they are described. Should taxpayers be paying for them? Most people on food stamps probably could pay out of their own pocket for such treats, every once and while. I get that their funds are tight, still I don’t think we should be encouraging as a society any more then necessary junk food. Prepared meals are convienent, but they also are pretty darn unhealthy too. People should learn basic cooking skills, not be so reliant on overpriced paper and plastic and chemical meals.
Hunger is a real thing, and it’s a problem. 30 percent of SNAP recipients are children, 10 percent are severely disabled, 21 percent are elderly and quite frail, and all are very, very poor. Many would go hungry without SNAP. But too much of the program is being spent on overpackaged, plastic wrap chemical-food like items and not on basic nutritional needs of families. I am not against helping those truly in need get the food they need, but we the taxpayers shouldn’t be filling their carts with the products that are killing both their bodies with fat, sugar and salt – and the planet with all the paper and plastic wrappings.
People say I don’t understand true poverty. But I grew up quite poor and use to eat pretty piss poor food. Food stamps would go a lot farther at feeding the hungry if the program was much more limited on what it covered and included a nutritional and home economics educational program that taught people how to do basic cooking. I am not talking about 50 ingredient restaurant or commercial style food, but instead putting together ingredients in ways that provide necessary nutrients while being reasonably palative. I don’t think we should be punishing the poor, but I do think it makes sense to guide the poor to healthy foods that not only fill their stomachs but also power their lives.