US Food Policy: If you could change one thing...

shutyourpieholeandsquat

most of that food is NOT fresh cooked, but rather warmed up from its frozen state. She has said about the only things that are actually cooked are steaks, burgers and some chicken. Its not cooked from scratch in the kitchens of those restaurants.

I would never have known this if you hadn't told me.

Next you're going to tell me Olive Garden doesn't make its desserts fresh on-site or that some restaurants buy their desserts from bakeries instead of making them in their own kitchens.

The horror!

If I am paying money to someone else to cook the dinner I am going to eat, I want it cooked. Not re-heated stuff from a freezer to the microwave or deep fryer to my plate.

If I wanted to eat like that I wouldn't go to a restaurant, but would go the grocery store and buy that crap and microwave or throw it in the oven myself.

I want food that was prepared from start to finish in the kitchen. Not pre-made in a factory some where and then shipped to a warehouse until the restaurant decides to place an order for that crap.

then go to a restaurant where entrees cost more than $6.99.

I do. I don't eat chain restaurants at all. We frequent only LOCAL restaurants for casual or upscale dining. However, there are many people in this country that aren't aware that the MAJORITY (I have never said all) of the restaurants serve them food that is no where near being cooked. It's merely reheated.

That is safe to say because the MAJORITY of all restaurants in this country are all chain restaurants of some sort.

You seriously think the vast majority of the population thinks that there's a culinary chef in the back of their Chili's hand rolling their southwestern eggrolls?

80sFanatic88

You can go to any library and use the internet for free on their computers. You only need to get a library card, which is like 50 cents, so anyone can afford that. If you go to the library, you'll see all the homeless people hoarding the computers. So, yes, the internet is free for us all to use if we are near a library.

Greytfish

I actually just mentioned this on Twitter, I would love it if ALL bottled drinks were required to print the amount of ounces for like, 1/4 of a bottle, 1/2 a bottle, etc on the side so that people could properly distinguish 1 serving. Most bottles are 2 or 2.5 servings, so knowing when to stop drinking it would be nice!

Even the much maligned American knack for mathematics still seems capable of some basic fractions....

WendyTerry420

You can go to any library and use the internet for free on their computers. You only need to get a library card, which is like 50 cents, so anyone can afford that. If you go to the library, you'll see all the homeless people hoarding the computers. So, yes, the internet is free for us all to use if we are near a library.

Good point. But you don't even have to go to the library. Dial-up is still free. It's been free for nearly 20 years.

We used to use NetZero, but there are other ISPs as well:
http://www.netzero.net/start/landing.do?page=www/free/index

Greytfish

You can go to any library and use the internet for free on their computers. You only need to get a library card, which is like 50 cents, so anyone can afford that. If you go to the library, you'll see all the homeless people hoarding the computers. So, yes, the internet is free for us all to use if we are near a library.

Good point. But you don't even have to go to the library. Dial-up is still free. It's been free for nearly 20 years.

We used to use NetZero, but there are other ISPs as well:
http://www.netzero.net/start/landing.do?page=www/free/index

You still need the phone line. Oddly, there are places where there is no landline phone service offered in new developments. If they've run the fiber optic cables, they actually will not put in traditional phone lines. Among the many problems this has in addition to leaving people without phone service in severe weather, is that it costs quite a bit just for phone service.

WendyTerry420

I actually just mentioned this on Twitter, I would love it if ALL bottled drinks were required to print the amount of ounces for like, 1/4 of a bottle, 1/2 a bottle, etc on the side so that people could properly distinguish 1 serving. Most bottles are 2 or 2.5 servings, so knowing when to stop drinking it would be nice!

You need someone to tell you how much water to drink?

Fitnin6280

I actually just mentioned this on Twitter, I would love it if ALL bottled drinks were required to print the amount of ounces for like, 1/4 of a bottle, 1/2 a bottle, etc on the side so that people could properly distinguish 1 serving. Most bottles are 2 or 2.5 servings, so knowing when to stop drinking it would be nice!

Well that seems pretty easy to me... If a bottle is 2 (16 oz) servings and you only want to drink 1(8 oz) then just drink half and that would be 8 oz... Yay Math!!

WendyTerry420

You can go to any library and use the internet for free on their computers. You only need to get a library card, which is like 50 cents, so anyone can afford that. If you go to the library, you'll see all the homeless people hoarding the computers. So, yes, the internet is free for us all to use if we are near a library.

Good point. But you don't even have to go to the library. Dial-up is still free. It's been free for nearly 20 years.

We used to use NetZero, but there are other ISPs as well:
http://www.netzero.net/start/landing.do?page=www/free/index

You still need the phone line. Oddly, there are places where there is no landline phone service offered in new developments. If they've run the fiber optic cables, they actually will not put in traditional phone lines. Among the many problems this has in addition to leaving people without phone service in severe weather, is that it costs quite a bit just for phone service.

The only people who do not have landlines are people who have mobile services instead. Poor people do not live in "new" homes. We can't afford that luxury. We live in ghettos, in old drafty houses, in subsidized apartments, Section 8/HUD, etc. Phone service is $9.95 a year through Walmart.

lmhbuss

I would be totally happy with a truth in labeling mandate. I will make my choices and take responsibility for them....but please give me honest info to work with, eh?

No_Finish_Line

let the needy have some protein

You think the needy aren't getting meat? Go work as a grocery store cashier in an area with high food stamp usage. The needy are getting plenty of protein without eating horses.

not to mention cigarettes, beer, lotto tickets, illegal drugs and anything else you can buy with cash from your EBT card that works in any ATM

They still had the paper when I worked there. It was in NY, so they'd buy a lot of soda. There's a 5 cent deposit on the cans and bottles that they didn't have to pay when they used food stamps, but they could bring the bottles back and redeem them for the deposit they didn't pay. People would redeem hundreds of dollars worth to get the cash.

thats cool.

i don't necessairly knock the EBT cards either (theres about a million forms of welfare in NYS, if you are on public assistance, you are entitled to cash from an EBT card), its just frustrating when they go to things that probably arent doing the beneficiary any good.

Greytfish

The only people who do not have landlines are people who have mobile services instead. Poor people do not live in "new" homes. We can't afford that luxury. We live in ghettos, in old drafty houses, in subsidized apartments, Section 8/HUD, etc. Phone service is $9.95 a year through Walmart.

You're lucky if you don't know people who can't have landlines. I helped get 3 families into Habitat for Humanity homes just in time for budget cuts to slash library usage (they did preserve funding for the libraries in the school computer lab so at least while at school the kids could do research) and then found out that there were going to be no landlines run. All of the other customers in the new and rebuilt housing wouldn't be getting landlines, so the phone company wasn't going to run them.

Same thing happened to my good friend when he and his wife bought a very modest newly constructed home that was $20k less than the old drafty houses simply because the investor had paid too much for the land in the housing bubble and dumped it to recoup his money before his business went under. They found out that no landlines were run within a 3 mile radius of their home. They went next door to use the neighbors phone to discover those people (who were renters) didn't have a phone at all because they couldn't afford it even with their rent partially subsidized.

It's odd to think that phone lines have gone the way of the Do-do but in some areas they have.

WendyTerry420

The only people who do not have landlines are people who have mobile services instead. Poor people do not live in "new" homes. We can't afford that luxury. We live in ghettos, in old drafty houses, in subsidized apartments, Section 8/HUD, etc. Phone service is $9.95 a year through Walmart.

You're lucky if you don't know people who can't have landlines. I helped get 3 families into Habitat for Humanity homes just in time for budget cuts to slash library usage (they did preserve funding for the libraries in the school computer lab so at least while at school the kids could do research) and then found out that there were going to be no landlines run. All of the other customers in the new and rebuilt housing wouldn't be getting landlines, so the phone company wasn't going to run them.

Same thing happened to my good friend when he and his wife bought a very modest newly constructed home that was $20k less than the old drafty houses simply because the investor had paid too much for the land in the housing bubble and dumped it to recoup his money before his business went under. They found out that no landlines were run within a 3 mile radius of their home. They went next door to use the neighbors phone to discover those people (who were renters) didn't have a phone at all because they couldn't afford it even with their rent partially subsidized.

It's odd to think that phone lines have gone the way of the Do-do but in some areas they have.

You are getting into one-off type of situations now. Where there is a will, there's a way. If someone is lucky enough to get hooked up in a Habitat house, the last thing on my mind would be a phone line. There are lots of options for cheap/free phones and internet. I merely mentioned one that we used to use. Since I got a promotion last year, we have since signed up for cable and have broadband now with a VoIP phone. But there are tons of resources.

The whole point of this line of discussion is that the resources to learn about nutrition exist without banning certain foods. Somehow we got way off track.

Greytfish

People who get Habitat homes aren't lucky. They work their behinds off to get a house after going thoguh a pretty tough process. And, 3 of the families I worked with recently volunteered with HH even after getting their homes.

None of the situations are one-offs, just because you're fortunate to be unaffected where you live. I know 32 working class families with no internet, no TV, and phone service only by prepaid phones.

I don't think most of them need the internet for their food education, though. Most of them (70% or so) are making all of their meals from scratch. That probably explains why they don't have the time to surf the 'net and watch TV, so don't really miss it.

Greytfish

i don't necessairly knock the EBT cards either (theres about a million forms of welfare in NYS, if you are on public assistance, you are entitled to cash from an EBT card), its just frustrating when they go to things that probably arent doing the beneficiary any good.

Sure, but they don't get a say in what the rest of us purchase, either and plenty of us get tax breaks and other nice luxuries and spend money on things that others would consider a luxury. A lot of the riteousness in thinking we should have absolute say in how someone spends welfare dollars comes from the persistent belief that being on welfare makes one lazy and not living up to expectations. We forget that lots of physically and mentally handicapped people fall into that category and many of them are where they even with putting forth maximum effort.

If you're working as hard as you can and still can't feed and clothe yourself and so need assistance, I really don't care if you have a few luxuries out of your allottment and I count myself fortunate not to be permanently limited in that way.

Carnivor0us

corn subsidies

Carnivor0us

give all the current subsidies to organic farmers / outlaw GMOs, (even russia's doing it)

That's silly and Russia just rounded up stray dogs in sochi and killed them, should we do that as well?

The way this country puts down animals because of irresponsible human beings, this country is no better. The US has no right to say a word about what other countries do as this country does things worse than most other countries.

A lot of Americans are pitiful human beings.

Actually, the US puts down 4 million animals a year. 25 years ago, it was 16 million.

Russia doesn't even have a public animal shelter system. Their solution is either limited TNR or just round up every stray animal and kill them.

We are actually quite ahead of them on that front.

Greytfish

give all the current subsidies to organic farmers / outlaw GMOs, (even russia's doing it)

That's silly and Russia just rounded up stray dogs in sochi and killed them, should we do that as well?

The way this country puts down animals because of irresponsible human beings, this country is no better. The US has no right to say a word about what other countries do as this country does things worse than most other countries.

A lot of Americans are pitiful human beings.

Actually, the US puts down 4 million animals a year. 25 years ago, it was 16 million.

Russia doesn't even have a public animal shelter system. Their solution is either limited TNR or just round up every stray animal and kill them.

We are actually quite ahead of them on that front.

No, not really, if you consider the available resources. We have immense wealth and an extensive network of private rescue groups that handly much of the placement of dogfs and puppies - because we have the immense wealth to do it. Proportionate to the resources at hand, we aren't very impressive at all.

To say nothing of the damage cause by spay/neuter madness and the villification of quality breeders.

bio_fit

give all the current subsidies to organic farmers / outlaw GMOs, (even russia's doing it)

Why outlaw? Surely better to label, so people have the choice.

Helloitsdan

Get rid of the FDA & subsidies for corn &soy

Took the words right out of my mouth

Get the FDA out of my cabinets!!!!

eldamiano

US Food Policy - stop eating so much, and then you wont put on so much weight...