****Rant Warning ****
It is a MYTH that financially challenged people can't afford to eat healthy.
Omg, seriously ? Intelligent people still believe this crap ! When otherwise smart people say this in conversation to me watch out , my soapbox just slides out automatically on that one.
Where do I start ?
My own experience as a single mother raising 3 children in Southern Appalachian poverty, how's that.
First understand I wasn't raised in poverty myself, it's just something that evolved along the way. Poverty can mean different things but here I'm simply referring to the condition of NOT ENOUGH MONEY. Ten to seventeen thousand a year , is that poverty enough ? I remember a social worker looking over her glasses at me questioning me how we got by.
Back to the subject. Food. Not going to give you horrid details , or the number of times I debated between a gallon of milk or a gallon of gas.
We didn't have soda or cheetos around unless it was a birthday party or something like that.
Tried to buy juice once a week but have to admit there were a few real troughs where I did buy kool aid packets that you add sugar to, hope there's sugar at home, lol.
My kids drank milk, when juice ran out it was gone til I could get more and omg , miracle of miracles, my kids drank water. Water. (we have access to clean water) My kids drank water at home. Sure they loved all the crap stuff, it wasn't in their home.
Some one said to me once because they knew I live rurally that sure it's easy to eat healthy when you can grow your own food..... Lmao !!!! Single mother of 3 , working full time when lucky and sometimes when not lucky 3 jobs at a time? Who has time for a garden? Lmao. Who has time to cut the grass or even fold the laundry? Ok point made there.
Choices. Every thing in life boils down to choices.
Typically for us brown rice is an excellent staple, no not white rice, right? Beans are always cheap, the whole country of Mexico can't be wrong on that ! Jesus isn't this obvious ? Pasta weekly cause they loved it & it was quick & easy.
Oh, oh oh !!! That brings me to another point. Single mother don't have time or energy to cook real food. ............... Are you crazy? ......, Its not like I had to start a fire to cook with or anything. ........... I have now, and always have had a stove.
Some one said to me once because they knew I live rurally that sure it's easy to eat healthy when you can grow your own food..... Lmao !!!! Single mother of 3 , working full time when lucky and sometimes when not lucky 3 jobs at a time? Who has time for a garden? Lmao. Who has time to cut the grass or even fold the laundry? Ok point made there.
Choices. Every thing in life boils down to choices.
Typically for us brown rice is an excellent staple, no not white rice, right? Beans are always cheap, the whole country of Mexico can't be wrong on that ! Jesus isn't this obvious ? Pasta weekly cause they loved it & it was quick & easy.
Oh, oh oh !!! That brings me to another point. Single mother don't have time or energy to cook real food. ............... Are you crazy? ......, Its not like I had to start a fire to cook with or anything. ........... I have now, and always have had a stove.
Do make food for yourself ? Every day ? Do you eat every day ? Fast food culture , need I say more ? (yes my kids were american and liked happy meals when I would get them).
....... Yeah I cooked,
it's part of what you do , you learn to streamline things.
Put the rice on , take the laundry out of he washer (yes we usually had one) , hang it on the line. Throw a couple veggies and a protein in a pan saute it up and there's supper tonight, and for a couple more nights.
Time? Let me tell you about time, ha ! I would pick them up from school 30 minutes away from home ( we live rurally) get them home , get them on their homework while I was there to supervise , get the food on , eat a few bites and rush out of he house usually late for work at 5:00. Ok? Does that sound like an ordinary american schedule? Yes. And I cooked in there because it was IMPORTANT.
it's part of what you do , you learn to streamline things.
Put the rice on , take the laundry out of he washer (yes we usually had one) , hang it on the line. Throw a couple veggies and a protein in a pan saute it up and there's supper tonight, and for a couple more nights.
Time? Let me tell you about time, ha ! I would pick them up from school 30 minutes away from home ( we live rurally) get them home , get them on their homework while I was there to supervise , get the food on , eat a few bites and rush out of he house usually late for work at 5:00. Ok? Does that sound like an ordinary american schedule? Yes. And I cooked in there because it was IMPORTANT.
You prepare food because that's a basic prerequisite to eating , and eating is a basic survival thing of life.
This world has made it easy to prepare REAL FOOD simply and quickly. So why not?
Oh back to shopping , fresh veggies are so expensive..... Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. If you think you can't eat fresh vegetables on a budget maybe you are stupid.
First check the mark down shelf, then for example an onion and a bunch of broccoli can stretch out a week.(4 people , 3 kids one adult) Usually we have carrots, ya buy a bunch and they're always there some how. Any one have a problem with onion broccoli carrots? I would buy a chicken each week if I could , hell one chicken can go a long way and taste different every night and then make soup. Sheesh it's not rocket science, this is what we do as humans , idk wtf people who eat crap are thinking. Oh yeah , they're not. Well wake up.
Snacks. Kids need snacks. Yes they do. Here again choices. Bananas and apples are cheap. My kids knew how to make cookies if they wanted them, and it was fun to mess up the kitchen & leave it that way for when I got home at 1:00 a.m. Did I say oh my and clean it? Ummm, no, I went to bed cause I had to get up at 6 to get them to school. (All that and still managed 8 hours sleep ... Another topic.) ...... The youngest got so good at this that he could make a delicious perfectly textured cake from scratch no box mix !
What about picky eaters ? My kids were american, they tried that shit. I accommodated as best I could but they ate or didn't. Sorry not sorry. Faced with those choices a being usually eats at least something as we are biologically programmed for survival.
Oh oh oh ! And don't forget vegetarians !!!! My middle son realized he was a vegetarian in second grade and that's all there was to that. You accommodate , duh , don't cook the meat and veggies together. He is still vegetarian at 21 years old. He won't wear leather, even fake leather.
So that's my rant.
Pretty ranty wasn't it.
Food is a tender topic these days with industrialized farming, toxic oceans and glyphosate or glyphosine or however the derivative is spelled , another topic, Google it , sprayed even on "organic" food. Shoot, just do the best you can and love your neighbor.
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