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a stopped clock is right twice a day
How much of the average food stamp budget goes to soda and candy?
If you can't answer this, then it would be foolish of you to think it's a problem.
Is it foolish of you?
According to the USDA, soda represents the most purchased item on food stamps. Candy represents the 11th most purchased item. Very few of the items on the top 20 list are very healthy. Vegetables and fruits are missing from the most altogether, even though these require no prep work before eating.
Thanks for sharing this. I decided to do a bit of my own research and came across some interesting information.
Your source: https://epicforamerica.org/social-programs/here-is-what-food-stamp-recipients-buy/
I'm not sure what 'epicforamerica' is, but it sounds like a propaganda outlet. They claim their source is the USDA, and the PDF they provided has a weird link to it: https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/ops/SNAPFoodsTypicallyPurchased.pdf
It says it's from 2016, which could be true but I can't find it with a quick search.
What I did find though was this official USDA website with a similar study from 2011: https://www.fns.usda.gov/research/snap/foods-typically-purchased-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap-households
Here are charts from the primary sources, the official USDA 2011 then the 2016 study 'epicforamerica' linked to:
Sweetened beverages actually comes out at #2 in 'total expenditures' when meat is grouped into a single category. 'Epicforamerica' decided to split them up for their own reasons.
Both charts show that soda expenditures are ~9.3% of what EBT users spend their food stamps on. That's pretty reasonable if you ask me, and I think it owes more to the fact that a 2-liter of Coke is $2.74 at Walmart than anything else. That means if one person buys a 2-liter of Coke as part of a $27 grocery bill, then that's immediately over the average amount.
Prepared desserts is at 7%, salty snacks at 3.4%, and candy at 2%.
So all in all, we're looking at a little under 25% of expenditures being spent on junk food. That's also reasonable to me. Soda is so high is because it's actually just a scam. I'd be in favor of restricting food stamp recipients to only buying generic brands of soda, but that's about it.
Heck, I'd be in favor of forcing most brands to sell their food at a lower price to food stamp recipients. The main reason they don't have enough is because others have too much.
Also, it looks like 'epicforamerica' successfully manipulated you into thinking a certain way by withholding, distorting, or just straight up lying about information.
Vegetables are actually #3 in expenditures, and fruits are #8.
You're saying that spending 10% of your grocery bill on soda is reasonable?
People on food stamps aren't buying these things because it's fun, but because it's cheap, easy calories because they're homeless or working three jobs and don't have the time to cook real food. The clock is not right here.
Having grown up in poor areas, people tend to buy things because those are the things they're used to buying. They are generally not making rational choices about optimal calories per dollar spent or best nutritional value per hour of labor expended in cooking. My neighbors almost all drank, a large percentage did drugs, they were often quite impulsive about purchases, and few of them planned ahead very effectively. My mother got some neighbor ladies together to do monthly bulk shopping at a nearby big-city farmer's market, saved us a ton of money, but nobody would have done it if she hadn't talked them into it.
Real human beings are often not rational utility-maximizers. Explanations that assume that they are, are going to be deficient.
No, they are buying them because they want to. I used to buy milk and cereal. It has sugar, but it's 3 grams per serving instead of like 15.
Don't tell me you don't have time to pour a bowl of milk
The milk went bad three days ago and I haven't had time to hike to the store because my car died and I don't have the money to get it fixed.
I paid only $5 for grocery delivery. The time and money savings compared to going to fast food were worth it
Yeah I absolutely hate this guy, but agree with this. I don't know it just seems so logical. Others arguments replying to you aren't convincing at all.
Those things are unhealthy, but restricting them is policing what poor people eat. It's stigmatizing. Also, people will still buy these things because they're addictive. So they'll be paying out of pocket for it rather than using their SNAP benefits. It's a lose-lose.
Yeah, if the goal was actually to make people eat healthier, he'd be trying to limit the availability of those items to everyone, not just poor people.
If the goal was to make people heathier, he'd resign his job and stop promoting the scams of crackpots and quacks.
Or he'd be increasing the availability of healthy food instead of taking things away
No matter how available it is, people just eat what they like. If society is paying for it, might as well make it healthy
Change SNAP from money to a system that says "X gets _lbs of raw meat, _pieces of fresh vegetables, _pieces of raw fruit etc". The inventory systems in stores know what is being rung up so I don't see why it couldn't work. It also means SNAP automatically adjusts for inflation and regional pricing. Probably won't stop people selling their SNAP for cash though.
So what happens when a store is out of raw meat, or raw vegetables, or raw fruit? What if someone is a vegetarian, or has allergies or other dietary requirements that prohibit certain items? Who's monitoring and enforcing this (and how much is that monitoring and enforcing costing?)
Rather than spending the time and effort policing what food people buy, why don't we instead spend that time and money addressing the poverty problem that makes SNAP necessary in the first place?
Addressing poverty instead of putting Band-Aids on the effects would be great. I was just addressing the line of thought of getting people to eat healthier.
Because poverty will always exist, not every place will have a fully employed population, there will always be people that are almost unemployable because few jobs want to hire sex offenders or even just felons. The snap program already has significant issues regarding vendor requirements preventing farmers from qualifying without adding meat or bread. Candy and soda are almost never the only option for food, especially since most convenience stors don't meet the requirements to accept snap.
I dont get your argument. How's it stigmatizing? Why should someone be able to spend it all on energy drinks and starburst? Just doesn't make sense.
I support aggressively increasing food stamps for anyone in need. But I'd also support aggressive regulation, like no candy and shit. It just makes sense to me but maybe I'm missing something.
100% agree i cant fucking stand it when poor people enjoy anything
Yikes. Straw man much?
The purpose of food stamps isn't the pleasure someone gets out of eating a candybar and redbull. The purpose is nutrition and food for those who can't afford it.
Implying that I think poor people shouldn't enjoy anything is ridiculous. Dumb comments are dumb.
I mean shit, I'm as left progressive as it gets. Id support and additional "pleasure joy" food stamp specifically earmarked for fun candy and treats and shit. Just supplemental to the real food nutritious one. I dunno. While we're at it, make the billionaires pay for it.
Your way is "here's money for food because you cant afford it, you can spend it all on skittles if that makes you happy".
Lmao, you're clearly not
I honestly don't see how this is much different than Michelle Obama trying to get junk food out of schools. Nobody here seems to want to cut benefits from people in need but some of us don't see an issue with some restrictions. Candy and soda is poison. We have never let people buy alcohol with food stamps either.
Does anyone seriously think Michelle Obama is "as left progressive as it gets"?? Is the overton window so fucked that neoliberal ideas are now considered progressive?
When Michelle Obama did that shit, I ended up underweight and had to start spending more money on food
You sound like the kind of person who doesn't give homeless people cash so they can't spend it on drugs. Just let people find a little joy and make their own choices
Food assistance programs aren't about helping people find joy in harmful behaviors. Again, there's a reason why we don't let people buy alcohol with this assistance and candy and soda is just as nutritionally empty.
I don't care what they're supposedly "about;" dignity and self-determination are important principles to me
I’m okay with these particular restrictions and my tax dollars not contributing to the obesity and diabetes epidemic. I don’t think that affects my status as a progressive any either.
Gonna have to agree to disagree on this one, and that’s okay. One thing I really like about Lemmy is how we’re able to have this disagreement without childish downvotes and insults. Refreshing.
im made out of meat im not sure what youre implying
the purpose of food stamps is to steal money from hard working americans and give it to minorities
i didnt imply anything i dont know where you got that from
sorry i thought you were a patriot but i guess a broken clock is right twice a day
please dont put quotes in my mouth
These people literally think we're broke when in reality, if we cut our defense budget by like, 25%, we could probably give candy to the entire fucking nation (I did not do the math).
But it's absurd. Let people enjoy their fucking rations, Jesus Christ. Nobody wants to be on food stamps.
Why does their joy have to be in guzzling cola? States are already taxing high sugar items on the rest of us ffs, how is this any different?
If they want to buy these items they still can, just have to use their own coin, not ours.
Ok buddy, first off you're not the one who's paying a substantial amount of this. Second, prices are only high so people richer than you can be even richer.
Third, you are displaying front-and-center how easily manipulated you are by imagining food stamp users who only get soda and candy.
These conmen are literally controlling your mind, and you're too ignorant to do anything about it. Sad.
fucking moochers is what they are i mean they should really only be allowed to have plain rice and water heck maybe even make them eat dog food im glad theres people like you and yawweee who agree with me
Dude, it's even dumber than that.
Has anyone here ever been on food stamps? You get a couple hundred dollars per person per month. That's more than my food budget off of food stamps. I don't buy soda and candy already, why would I get it when I have more resources to buy better food?
This is just a distraction for useful idiots like wildncrazyguy138.