Food Banks
Mar. 9th, 2010 08:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captain_slinkyA lot of this I've said before, but since so many are incredulous that I could even ATTEMPT to live on a food budget of $20 a month I figure a lot of this should be re-stated.
It should also be noted that most of this stuff, I learned from my old buddy Alex Weller... I owe him at least that :)
Using a Food Bank is NOT something to be ashamed of; it's the perfect solution for those of us that earn just a smidge too much to qualify for Food Stamps (we are literally somewhere around $150 PER YEAR above the Food Stamp level for a family of 3). I've worked at plenty of food banks very the years and know how it works. Going to the food bank in order to get FRESH ITEMS on a semi-weekly basis is one of the best things you can do because SO MUCH of the fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and other perishables end up getting thrown out every week! If you sign up for your local food bank it helps them because they get funding based on how many families they service, it helps you because you don't have to spend money on fresh produce, and it helps The Environment (kinda) by you not being a part of the wasteful cycle (Grocery stores end up tossing most produce way before it's actually *bad* in any way in order to keep up the appearance of "Freshest Produce In Town").
The Food Bank is also an excellent place to get baked goods. Bread, cake, muffins, cookies... all those things have a very limited shelf life and it costs the grocery store a TON to dispose of it on a daily basis. You can either spend $4 for a loaf of FRESH awesome whole-grain bread and let it sit in your kitchen for a week or two, or you can have a three-day-old loaf of the same bread for FREE, and nobody goes hungry.
That's just one of the many things that's so awesome about living in America; as long as you pay taxes, you don't have to go hungry unless you let your pride get in the way. Food Banks aren't a hand-out; they're a "Hey here's a lot of food that nobody else is eating! You want some?"
Why not take advantage of that? If I ordered 4 pizzas and only ate one of them, offered you the rest of them to take home... would you take them?
It should also be noted that most of this stuff, I learned from my old buddy Alex Weller... I owe him at least that :)
Using a Food Bank is NOT something to be ashamed of; it's the perfect solution for those of us that earn just a smidge too much to qualify for Food Stamps (we are literally somewhere around $150 PER YEAR above the Food Stamp level for a family of 3). I've worked at plenty of food banks very the years and know how it works. Going to the food bank in order to get FRESH ITEMS on a semi-weekly basis is one of the best things you can do because SO MUCH of the fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and other perishables end up getting thrown out every week! If you sign up for your local food bank it helps them because they get funding based on how many families they service, it helps you because you don't have to spend money on fresh produce, and it helps The Environment (kinda) by you not being a part of the wasteful cycle (Grocery stores end up tossing most produce way before it's actually *bad* in any way in order to keep up the appearance of "Freshest Produce In Town").
The Food Bank is also an excellent place to get baked goods. Bread, cake, muffins, cookies... all those things have a very limited shelf life and it costs the grocery store a TON to dispose of it on a daily basis. You can either spend $4 for a loaf of FRESH awesome whole-grain bread and let it sit in your kitchen for a week or two, or you can have a three-day-old loaf of the same bread for FREE, and nobody goes hungry.
That's just one of the many things that's so awesome about living in America; as long as you pay taxes, you don't have to go hungry unless you let your pride get in the way. Food Banks aren't a hand-out; they're a "Hey here's a lot of food that nobody else is eating! You want some?"
Why not take advantage of that? If I ordered 4 pizzas and only ate one of them, offered you the rest of them to take home... would you take them?
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Date: 2010-03-09 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-03-09 10:52 pm (UTC)Oh Yeah
Date: 2010-03-09 10:53 pm (UTC)