crock pots for the poor! May 14, 2009
Dear Stacy,
I know how tempting it is to look over other people’s purchases at the grocery store and judge them harshly for their choices. I’ve done it myself. Many is the time I’ve thought, “why on earth is this particular person buying all this fattening food?” and “Jesus, how long can a family survive on frozen dinners alone?”
When one doesn’t live on food stamps, it’s hard not to wish the poor would follow a stricter food regimen and stretch their public dollars further. After all, is it really that much trouble to soak your own beans and switch to brown rice? And chicken livers are only $1.49 a pound, you know. Bread pudding is easy to make and it goes much further than a bag of snickers.
It’s so easy to decide what others should do. Particularly when the sight of a Louisiana Purchase card automatically makes you think the bearer is a chronically unemployed welfare cheat.
I’ve had a few eye-opening experiences in my life, however, which have made me curb my appetite for judging others. One is a kind of Emily Post realization that what others eat, whether at your table, in a restaurant, or in their own homes, is no more my business than, say, your personal e-mails.
Another, of course, was the experience of having the state of Texas generously give me food stamps during my 4-month Katrina evacuation. Except for law school books donated by the publishers, food was the only thing I received for free during my evacuation. I quickly ran out of money renting an apartment and renting or buying furnishings and items that I already had plenty of at home, but could not get to. I was happy to take the hand out and I did not think I was obligated to change my eating habits. In fact, we pooled our “Lone Star” cards and splurged at Whole Foods for our Thanksgiving dinner. I shudder to think of what any angry Stacy Heads in line behind us might have thought. At the time, I remember thinking it was no one else’s business if I do.
And, of course, it’s always a huge eye-opener to actually talk to actual poor people and see what their lives are like. For instance, would it surprise you to know that many poor people actually have jobs? Many poor women actually work all day and then go home and provide dinner for their families. The limited time makes it hard to do things like making your own Rice Krispy treats for dessert.
To tell you the truth, Stacy, I, a 60-minute gourmet if ever there was one, once tried to make Rice Krispy treats for my kids. I was going to add dried cranberries to make it somewhat nutritious. It turned into a sweet, sticky mess. Let’s just say it did not resemble the picture. They must cut those things with a table saw for the commercials.
Another thing about poor people is that they want their kids to have what the other kids have. When the others are proudly pulling a pre-made Rice Krispy treat from their back-packs at lunch time, you don’t want your kid pulling out a plastic bag full of soggy bread pudding. Kids know, Stacy. They know.
Another thing about being temporarily poor during Hurricane Katrina was that it reminded me that many people are in the same shape. They are temporarily poor and they need a little help, not macrobiotic cooking lessons. If you grew up poor, you are probably going to be a little more familiar with cheap cuts of meat and cooking from scratch than if you have been recently thrown from the middle class into poverty. That lady in front of you may have been recently laid off with no idea how to make her children’s favorite treat from scratch, let alone dress a squirrel and make the home-made sauce piquante.
Believe me, I would like nothing more than for everyone, including me and my family, to learn how to cook more healthily and economically. Until we do, I would just like to say to the lady in back of me at the grocery store, “Please don’t think I drink this much all the time. I’m having some people over. Really.”
Sincerely yours, Dangerblond
- Posted in : main
- Author : dangerblond
Comments»
DB, you rock.
Beautiful!
Oh, hell, I’d revel in drinking a LITTLE. There’s way too much crapola out there in the universe for us NOT to drink a little…
I agree, though. Very much.
Beautifully done. Thanks.
Came here in search of a Geek Dinner 4 writeup (because I miss y’all so) and found this. Nice.
Perhaps Stacy Head would be better off looking at the per serving cost of a private FREE email account. Still hackable, as our almost “trash bag” vp found out, but a lot more private and keeps your bitching at your tax-paying constituents off work, in this case public, email servers.
Great post, I’ve missed reading you.
[...] The iron fist in the velvet glove. [...]
50 points for DB.
Game. Set. Match.
Dangerblond, you are the best. Keep on posting.
Great post. One of my hardworking friends, a husband and father employed at the same public service job for 15 years, called me from his evacuation spot in Lafayette during Katrina, extremely bothered by the fact that he was in the waiting room to be called in to receive food stamps. He sounded so demoralized, like he was some kind of bum that doesn’t want to work and can’t feed his family. He was about ready to walk out and forget the whole thing, and I told him to get his [butt] in there and get what you need for your family. Who do you thnk pays for this? Me, that’s who. And, oh, by the way, YOU pay for it, too. I’m all for not creating a welfare state, but the whole point of these public programs is to be there when people need a temporary fix. There should be no stigma attached to receiving public assistance for a short time as needed. And we all know, the ones who should feel guilty, the ones who are knowingly scamming the system to get all they can, don’t care. The only ones who feel guilty are those who are honestly trying to do the right thing.