Sometime in the early to mid 70s, there was a spike in food prices. I didn't really notice at the time. We no longer lived in NYC, where mothers regularly sent children to the store to pick up a missing ingredient. I was a teenager, newly moved to the suburbs and not yet old enough to drive. I didn't shop.
One day, a classmate passed around information about a meat boycott. I told my mother, who said she had stopped buying red meat already, because the price was so high. She was a great cook. I hadn't missed it at all.
During that same period, there was an article in the paper telling readers how to get their grocery bills down to some amount per week, I don't remember what. My mom thought that sounded high so she kept track. She couldn't get our weekly bill UP to the amount that these people were trying to get down to. Our family of four included two teenagers, me and my brother.
We weren't poor. This is just how we eat. I should add that my mother did not grow up in the US.
Which brings us to SNAP, the current incarnation of food stamps. A few legislators have taken on the challenge of trying to live for a week on the equivalent of the average food stamp allotment, which is 31$ and change per person, about 1.50 per meal.
One of the legislators said he ate a lot of canned tuna and hard boiled eggs. He went to bed hungry every night. Another ate lots of peanutbutter and crackers before throwing in the towel.
Tuna? Peanutbutter? Those are rather expensive sources of protein. And while eggs are reasonable, boiled eggs are the least filling way to prepare them. Want to fill up? Fry them. Make an omelette. Saute it with vegetables and rice. Higher fat? Well yes, and that is a problem among people with limited incomes. But fatty foods fill you up.
Hopefully, they learned from their challenge. What I learned is that that people who are supposed to represent us are even more out of touch than I thought, people who apparently don't cook and eat lots of expensive foods. They are people who have never eaten rice and beans unless it was part of a fundraiser involving Latinos, people who don't cook and don't need to.
While I don't plan to do the challenge, I'm betting I have lots of meals in my repertoire that fit the bill, meals which are nutritious and taste good. I intend to post them after I do the pricing.
Like my mom, this isn't really a challenge at all.
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