Food Stamps and Healthy Food

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asflatasapancake
asflatasapancake Posts: 4,341 Member
in Chit-Chat
I heard something on the news about the unavailability of healthy food for people on foods stamps. As a result, they are trying to create a "Food Stamps Healthy Program" that would make "healthy" foods more available to people using food stamps. I admit, I am somewhat ignorant about food stamps. I see people at WalMart using them. Are food stamps restricted to only certain items? Then I come back to, what is this program going to consider "healthy"? Are they going to make sure to restrict the proper quantities for individuals to eat too? It made me curious.
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  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,543 Member
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    I have seen people using food stamp debit cards to purchase an entire cart full of groceries and non-groceries. I may be wrong, but I'm thinking that although it is supposed to be used for food, food stamps still get used for other things.

    I've seen one used in an Indian gas station to buy cigarettes too. I don't know if that's allowed or not either, but I saw it happen.

    Wish I had more to offer though, sorry.
  • BABetter1
    BABetter1 Posts: 618 Member
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    I'm not experienced in the use of food stamps. But, I've seen people using them, and I don't understand that statement. They are able to buy fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, fresh meat, whole grain foods, etc with them. A lot of people simply choose to buy nutritionally inferior foods.

    Maybe this is more about the availability of fresh produce in the stores in the inner city or urban low income areas? I've seen that story on the news a lot lately.
  • 2BaNewMe2
    2BaNewMe2 Posts: 102 Member
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    I have used food stamps (about 25 years ago) and yes they can buy any edible item aside from alcohol with them. No cigarettes are not allowed. One reason a lot of people on food stamps may not buy "healthy" is that they only receive so much to last the whole month, and if they have no other income to purchase food with, the unhealthy foods cost much less, so this will stretch the allowance they have for the month. Also, there are probably a lot of people on food stamps that are not educated in healthy eating. I know I wasn't.
  • CleanUpWhatIMessedUp
    CleanUpWhatIMessedUp Posts: 206 Member
    edited May 2015
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    _incogNEATo_ wrote: »
    I have seen people using food stamp debit cards to purchase an entire cart full of groceries and non-groceries. I may be wrong, but I'm thinking that although it is supposed to be used for food, food stamps still get used for other things.

    I've seen one used in an Indian gas station to buy cigarettes too. I don't know if that's allowed or not either, but I saw it happen.

    Wish I had more to offer though, sorry.

    Food stamps are restricted and can only be used for certain things, mainly food. You cannot buy cigarettes with food stamps. However, there is such a thing as TANF (temporary assistance needy families), and that assistance can probably be used for anything, so that is probably what you saw.
    http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligible-food-items

    As for the original question, the problem with food stamps and healthy eating is often times a matter of price. A lot of people on food stamps have an entire family to feed. That means they tend to go with whatever option is cheapest. Usually, junk food is cheaper than healthier food. That is pretty much where the problem lies.

    Also, there is somewhat of a problem with availability. There is a concept called "food desert"
    http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/usda-defines-food-deserts
    Basically, a lot of poor people don't have cars and they live in areas where the grocery store is far away, so instead of going all the way out to the grocery store for fresh fruits and vegetables, they may go somewhere closer that has more unhealthy food.

    Also, there is the matter of some people not really knowing what healthy eating entails. A lot of people are set up for failure because they grew up on food stamps themselves (and were not given healthy food), then they became adults and use food stamps and still don't know about healthy eating. It's a cycle.
  • TheRoadDog
    TheRoadDog Posts: 11,793 Member
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    I've never been on Food Stamps, but my daughter was when she first started college. I don't remember any restrictions for healthy food. Milk was the only one I recall.
  • mikeshockley
    mikeshockley Posts: 684 Member
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    _incogNEATo_ wrote: »
    I have seen people using food stamp debit cards to purchase an entire cart full of groceries and non-groceries. I may be wrong, but I'm thinking that although it is supposed to be used for food, food stamps still get used for other things.

    I've seen one used in an Indian gas station to buy cigarettes too. I don't know if that's allowed or not either, but I saw it happen.

    Wish I had more to offer though, sorry.

    They are most definitly not supposed to be used for cigarettes! Non-food items are not allowed at all. I worked in retail a few years back at a convenience store adn ppl would try to use them for illegitimate items all the time, and I just would not allow it.

    What you saw as a cart of food and non-food items...could be the they're paying for the food stuff with the stamps, and cash for the rest. At least that's what it should be.

    Very few restrictions on what can be bought as 'food' though. I saw a ton of junk food in carts, when there are perfectably able to buy fruits/veggies with them as well.

    It was very frustrating to watch....
  • kinkyslinky16
    kinkyslinky16 Posts: 1,470 Member
    edited May 2015
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    My grandma is on food stamps and only gets $21 a month. Yeah, there's no healthy food that's gonna last a month, other than frozen foods but even a frozen bag of peas still cost $1 and last 1 meal. I called to scream about the $21 and was told that we are lucky because the uncle of the person we were talking to only gets $15 per month. Yep. Food stamps arent the excessive amount of free money everyone thinks they are and planning several meals around small amounts of money is probably incredibly difficult.
  • Supermom883
    Supermom883 Posts: 84 Member
    edited May 2015
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    debate about to start
  • mandy_bird
    mandy_bird Posts: 20 Member
    edited May 2015
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    You may also be seeing people use other types of assistance, not just food stamps. Just like @CleanUpWhatIMessedUp said, there's TANF. There's also a program called WIC for pregnant women and mothers with young children in lower income brackets. But it looks like on their website, they are only given $10/month for women, and $6/month for children ages 1-6 years old allowance for fresh fruits and vegetables, which is about $0.33 a day/person for fruit and veggies...definitely not enough to provide for your 5 fruits and veggies a day. Although, WIC is more of a supplemental income. Basically what I'm getting at is people may have a combination of food stamps, TANF, WIC and/or other programs that help with groceries.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    kinkyslinky16 wrote: »
    My grandma is on food stamps and only gets $21 a month. Yeah, there's no healthy food that's gonna last a month, other than frozen foods but even a frozen bag of peas still cost $1 and last 1 meal. I called to scream about the $21 and was told that we are lucky because the uncle of the person we were talking to only gets $15 per month. Yep. Food stamps arent the excessive amount of free money everyone thinks they are and planning several meals around small amounts of money is probably incredibly difficult.

    I agree with this! When it comes to single individuals even those with SEVERE disabilities (developmentally disabled, paraplegic, disabled senior citizens, etc), they often get a very tiny monthly sum. I worked with severely disabled adults and it was average for them to get between $10-35 per month in food stamps.

    So many misconceptions abound when it comes to this topic. I'm glad to see quite a few people in this thread are acknowledging them.

  • fallenoaks4
    fallenoaks4 Posts: 63 Member
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    kinkyslinky16 wrote: »
    My grandma is on food stamps and only gets $21 a month. Yeah, there's no healthy food that's gonna last a month, other than frozen foods but even a frozen bag of peas still cost $1 and last 1 meal. I called to scream about the $21 and was told that we are lucky because the uncle of the person we were talking to only gets $15 per month. Yep. Food stamps arent the excessive amount of free money everyone thinks they are and planning several meals around small amounts of money is probably incredibly difficult.

    Interesting. It doesn't seem like that would be worth the administrative costs.
  • mistikal13
    mistikal13 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    I don't really know a lot about food stamps, but I have seen signs that they are accepted at BJ's wholesale club as well as several farmers markets I have been to.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I don't think it's availability in RE to what is allowed to be purchased. To my knowledge, any food item can be purchased with food stamps...what I can tell you is that I often see food stamps being used at convenience stores and the like for which there obviously is no produce or otherwise "healthy" food choices really.

    I have a couple theories on this...first and foremost, convenience stores are not only convenient in RE to just picking up something quick...but they also tend to be conveniently located. I have 4 gas station convenience stores within about 10-15 minutes walking distance from my house...conversely, the nearest grocery is 1 mile away and it's one of those trendy, pricier stores...the closest "normal" grocery store is about 3 miles away...so maybe if I'm on food stamps, I may or may not have a vehicle...I'm probably going to opt for the convenience store that is a couple minutes walk away vs walking my *kitten* 3 miles each way to go the actual grocery store. In this RE, I could see "availability" being an issue.

    Beyond that, I think education is a huge factor...let's face it...there's lot of people not on food stamps who know almost nothing of actual nutrition. After that you have to take into account that these are generally very small stipends to supplement whatever income they may have coming in...I'm pretty well versed in nutrition and how to eat pretty well on the cheap (there was a time when eggs, beans, rice, and cabbage were not just dietary staples but very close to all I ate) but a lot of people are going to look at a case of Ramen and a bag of chips for a couple bucks and go with that.

  • Supermom883
    Supermom883 Posts: 84 Member
    edited May 2015
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    :)
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,543 Member
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    CleanUpWhatIMessedUp wrote: »
    _incogNEATo_ wrote: »
    I have seen people using food stamp debit cards to purchase an entire cart full of groceries and non-groceries. I may be wrong, but I'm thinking that although it is supposed to be used for food, food stamps still get used for other things.

    I've seen one used in an Indian gas station to buy cigarettes too. I don't know if that's allowed or not either, but I saw it happen.

    Wish I had more to offer though, sorry.

    Food stamps are restricted and can only be used for certain things, mainly food. You cannot buy cigarettes with food stamps. However, there is such a thing as TANF (temporary assistance needy families), and that assistance can probably be used for anything, so that is probably what you saw.
    http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligible-food-items

    Cannot and should not are two different things. The food stamp card where I live is very distinguishable, and that's what I saw. So yes, cigarettes can be bought with food stamps.
  • kinkyslinky16
    kinkyslinky16 Posts: 1,470 Member
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    focusedmom07 wrote: »
    food stamps are a supplemental program its not meant to provide a full month of food for a family...as far as healthy stuff well there is cheap healthy food as well.....I am all for it bring on the NO JUNK law!!!!

    Yeah.. it's supplemental but do you understand just how poor you have to be to even qualify for that? After rent, health care, electricity, water,trash, etc, she's actually negative every single month. My grandma is fortunate enough to have me, my brother, and my mom giving her money every month to supplement. There are others that aren't so fortunate.

    I think education about healthier options on a small budget would be beneficial but then that requires more funding, which may be better spent giving them more funds for food.
  • Supermom883
    Supermom883 Posts: 84 Member
    edited May 2015
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    true
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    I was on food stamps for a while and no, you cannot buy non food items with them. You also cannot buy "prepared foods" which is a weird designation but it prevents them from being used at restaurants like McDonalds, etc. (but you can buy a Papa Murphy's take and bake pizza because it is something that gets prepared at home). The odd thing is that I could not use them to purchase a hot rotisserie chicken at the grocery because it was a "prepared food" but deli meats, salads, etc. were OK.

    Some of the proposed changes make sense, like eliminating candy, but others will be a nightmare for the grocery stores. How do you determine what snack foods are and are not "healthy"? Some states are trying to change the rules so you cannot buy steak or seafood. What?

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