Being Poor and Eating Healthy: It might not be as easy as it seems

[kifaru]

Anybody here ever been poor? I mean really poor. I mean you got to figure out how to make $2 feed you for 7 days poor. Well even if you haven't been that poor, if you shop and are less than well to do you may have noticed something. Vegetables and fruit are expensive. Here's something else you may have noticed. Cheap food is relatively high in fat, simple carbohydrates, sodium, and high fructose corn syrup but low in vitamins. The thing is what do you do when faced with this food dilemna? Do you only eat beans, potatoes, and hot dogs to fill your belly or do you starve and get that bell pepper, spinach, and broccoli.?

Copyright K.L. Jones.

[Compound Egret]

beans and rice are hella cheap if you buy in bulk, even when compared with the 99 cent menu. They aren't as convenient; you have to plan your meals and soak your beans ahead of time. Sweet potatoes, carrots, and oranges aren't that pricey (at least where I live) either. It would definitely be challenging.

I'm fortunate to not be at 2 bucks for 7 days, but I am working on reducing my food bill and improving my diet in the same way.

[Christopher Irving]

Now considering food prices are skyrocketing,I would prefer eating veggies,beans and rice,etc...that is why I would consider changing my dietary practices(such as eating at WACKDONALD'S, LURCHES,K.F.C.(Keep Fattening Coloreds) and Slopeye's)especially after watching the documentary Super Size Me.Don't get me wrong,I'm not trying out no quack fad diets or anything ,I just want to eat more healthier at a cheaper price.

[LesYpersound]

well, i'm not too ashamed to say that i've dumpster dived (esp at fancy places because they dump perfectly good just "expired" 'best by...' food or if it's a fresh bakery kind of spot they throw away some decent semi-stale stuff too).

and yeah to beans, rice, pasta, crackers and sharp cheese...

but i'm a really light eater tbh... i've been skipping meals on the regular since i stopped working regularly. heh.

[kifaru]

My perspective on the the food situation when you're poor is that it's dismal. I'm fortunate that I'm not living in abject poverty anymore but I definitely am concerned about the health care consequences of people who cannot afford to eat enough of what's good because they have to make difficult food choices. The problem lies in the fact that food that the food dollor can buy a larger volume of starches and fats than it can buy nutient rich vegetables and fruit. For example I bought a bag of anjou pears that had 9 pears in it and it cost $10 at $2.99/lb. Now if I was poor would I pick to buy even one pear at that price? Probably not because I could get hamburger for $1.29/lb or chicken for $1.49/lb or some rice and beans at $0.49/lb. For ten bucks a person could get maybe 3 days worth of filling low nutrient meals. I'm not sure if 9 pears is going to get them there.

[lyfenlyn]

DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED.

But yes I have been that poor. I have been to foodbanks all throughout my adulthood. And yes you get lots of food that is high in fat and things that don't go together. Pasta, no sauce, canned green beans, canned yams, some flour, some stale bread, some pop tarts and a can of sardines. Ok, sardines on bread. Pop tarts for desert, and a trip to the bathroom to puke it up after it all gets mixed up in the tummy.

I went to a food bank here a few months ago. (yes I have a full time 'professional' job and go to the foodbank) they acutally will sell you items at very discounted prices. A jug of cranberry juice that is usually $4 at the grocery will be $1.50 at this place. But they have NO PRODOUCE. They sell frozen fish and pork. Whole chickens, but they are like $5. They have keebler chocolate chip cookies the big packs that are like $4+ for also $1.50. So....it can be a little hard to resist. No food that can spoil or go bad.

Damn those .99 menus! DAMN THEM! I got lucky and found a local grocery that sells only prodouce and meat/ fish items that are locally grown so they are very cheap. I can go in there with $40 and come out with decent meals. I go and buy rice as my staple and juice and that's all I eat. rice, chicken, rice noodles (from the oriental market) veggies and fruit for breakfast. SOmetimes I get crazy and buy my lunch at subway, if I do that too much I have to take it out of the grocery bill tho.

The answer is I get the good stuff on shopping day. When stuff gets low, I get the junk till I get to payday.

[jahluv]

When I was just out of the service I didn't have much money and I quickly noticed what you guys speak of - that fresh vegetables and fruit was pricey in comparison to fatty, starchy, processed foods. I found that the prices for produce was much cheaper at markets that cater to Latino and Chinese customers than at the chain markets or the janky corner stores. When I worked at the Co-op, I'd buy 25lbs bags of carrots and potatoes - they last a long time w/o refrig. if you keep them in a cool, dry place.

Nowdays, the farmers markets are pretty good - sellers will discount if you buy by the case. The .99 store around the corner from me now carries fresh produce at very cheap prices. Ditto on the beans and rice in bulk. Bulk flour, and cornmeal too for cheap biscuts and cornbread made at home.

Oh I forgot - bulk tortillas. good for breakfast wraps, tacos, etc. My son loves them and they cost pennies...

[lyfenlyn]

I eat fast food now and it tastes digusting to me. I hate that I even ate it afterward. It used to taste so good back in the day.

Christopher Irving said:

Now considering food prices are skyrocketing,I would prefer eating veggies,beans and rice,etc...that is why I would consider changing my dietary practices(such as eating at WACKDONALD'S, LURCHES,K.F.C.(Keep Fattening Coloreds) and Slopeye's)especially after watching the documentary Super Size Me.Don't get me wrong,I'm not trying out no quack fad diets or anything ,I just want to eat more healthier at a cheaper price.

[LesYpersound]

jahluv said:

When I was just out of the service I didn't have much money and I quickly noticed what you guys speak of - that fresh vegetables and fruit was pricey in comparison to fatty, starchy, processed foods. I found that the prices for produce was much cheaper at markets that cater to Latino and Chinese customers than at the chain markets or the janky corner stores. When I worked at the Co-op, I'd buy 25lbs bags of carrots and potatoes - they last a long time w/o refrig. if you keep them in a cool, dry place.
Nowdays, the farmers markets are pretty good - sellers will discount if you buy by the case. The .99 store around the corner from me now carries fresh produce at very cheap prices. Ditto on the beans and rice in bulk. Bulk flour, and cornmeal too for cheap biscuts and cornbread made at home. Oh I forgot - bulk tortillas. good for breakfast wraps, tacos, etc. My son loves them and they cost pennies...

Very good advice... especially re: latino and asian frequented/owned groceries for cheaper fruit, veggies, seafood, spices, teas etc. ...and i honestly don't think i ever bought my big bags of rice anywhere besides asian groceries.

And I wanted to make the other point that it's obv harder to access these kind of ethnic groceries if you don't live anywhere near them and they're not so close to the bus/train--so that's definitely a problem for predominantly black communities in Chicago when all you got is the corner store and fast food. Dang, and I know that if I didn't have access to a car or a bike w/ some baskets it'd be a pain in the ass to go grocery shopping period especially if it's not walking distance and it's more than just me to feed. i don't envy anyone who has to do that.

[lyfenlyn]

I can't afford fish and shrimp retail. Chicken for that matter

[Compound Egret]

Another option to consider when lowering costs is growing some of your own produce. You don't need a lot of space, just a balcony or a porch. A friend of mine grows bean sprouts in a jar in his kitchen

[jahluv]

Fish and chicken is much cheaper if you buy it whole. Cleaning and deboning fish is a drag, but you save big $ when you cut your own fillets. I remember when I worked in Venice, one of my co-workers lived on a boat and would catch his dinner a few times a week (that's pretty hardcore, but it's free if you have a pole...).

Buying a whole chicken is cheaper than a cut up fryer, and packs of drumsticks, thighs, and wings are hella cheap - usually like 10 for less than $5... There is a Latino butcher shop in Inglewood where you can pick your live bird, and they kill and dress it out for you on the spot. My grandmother swears by them and their chicken is much cheaper and fresher than the supermarket.

I don't know the hook-up for cheap shrimp, although I know it's much cheaper in Seattle and New Orleans than it is in Los Angeles... Crayfish are a good sub for shrimp, and in lots of places you can catch them. My dad used to catch them when he was a teenager where CSU Dominguez Hills is today...

lyfenlyn said:

I can't afford fish and shrimp retail. Chicken for that matter

[kifaru]

I think this all boils down to poor people being priced out of of healthy food or at least fruits and vegetables. Asian and Latino markets are the bomb for a lot of things. If there is a tortilleria you can get some really good tortillas in bulk but I usually don't because I don't eat manteca i.e lard. Real tortillas got lard in 'em. It's really hard to get enough calories and nutrients when you are poor and it is sad that a segment of our population has to choose.