[Dean's World] Dave Schuler: A Buck a Meal

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Posted by Dave Schuler:
A Buck a Meal
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1179672132.shtml


   Inspired by the recent publicity stunt [1]engaged in by several
   Congressmen to live on $21 per week in groceries (the allotment of a
   typical food stamp recipient), I engaged in a little thought
   experiment of my own. At [2]The Glittering Eye I've posted a shopping
   list and menus for a week's worth of food for a single person that
   comes in at less than $21.

   There's all sorts of things wrong with the legislators' experiment.
   Food stamps were never intended to be the sole sustenance for anyone
   nor should it be. It's hard to say it but if life on the dole becomes
   too comfortable many people will elect to stay on it for life.

   And I think it also suggests that the Congressmen don't know how to be
   poor.

   I remember all too well how to be poor and they needn't both trying to
   shame me--I lived on a lot less than that in my starving graduate
   student days.

   So, check out my choices. They may not be yours but they're plenty
   nutritious and you certainly won't go hungry following my buck a meal
   selections. They aren't filet mignon and pate de foies gras (now
   banned in restaurant in Chicago).

   Nor will they be lobster. Lobster is only on a poor person's menu if
   you live in Nova Scotia. When my sister and brother-in-law lived in
   Halifax during his internship, they ate a lot of lobster because it's
   all they could afford.

References

   1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501957.html?nav=hcmodule
   2. http://theglitteringeye.com/?p=2910