Martin Fisher

We all live in different circumstances and I did say 'relatively short', meaning 12 to 24 hours. I don't need condensation build-up in this small house.

Possibly something balcony style!? A rectangular floor window surrounded by a railing.

No!!!!

FWIW... The case for and objections against excluding sweetened beverages from SNAP. "Impact and Ethics of Excluding Sweetened Beverages From the SNAP Program, Anne Barnhill, PhD" "Funding SNAP participants' purchase and consumption of sweetened beverages does not further SNAP's primary aims, which are to alleviate hunger and improve the nutrition and health of low-income people. Sweetened beverages do not alleviate hunger because they do not satiate.9 Nor do sweetened beverages improve nutrition, because they have minimal nutritional value.10 The addition of sweetened beverages simply makes the diets of SNAP participants worse by adding excess calories and sugar, which contribute to overweight, obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases."

Can't you just replace the top? I know a couple parties who have. One top was pitted, the other was broken when a dummy stepped on it to do some cleaning!

No, merchandise is priced like Walmart, not a dollar or less like Dollar Tree and the like.

Quite a few items. Milk, bread, eggs, frozen ground beef, sausage, canned tuna, canned mackerel, canned sardines, dry noodles, spaghetti sauce, Alfredo sauce, all basic baking ingredients, biscuit mix, many Mexican or Tex-Mex products, canned fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, cereal, condiments, pickles, olives, coffee, tea, etc.

I eat out rarely, order in rarely and very rarely eat commercial pre-prepared foods. Most meals are made from 'scratch.' I do a lot of intermittent fasting so I often only eat about one meal per day.

FWIW, Pinetree offered free shipping around Christmas time. Next year I plan to have my order ready and hope they do the same. Fedco ships seed orders of $30 and over for free.

I'm definitely not for shaming the poor, I'm for better nutrition for the poor. I've lived it. I grew up in a rural area, I've never had a drivers license and I've always been poor mostly due to medical issues. Where I live now Dollar General is the closest store that sells 'groceries' — it's within walking distance. You're right about the fresh meat and produce but they do have plenty of other foods that aren't generally considered junk.

A hot ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken and the like can't be purchased with SNAP, but soft drinks, candy, potato chips, etc. can. What sense does that make? Seems to me the opposite should be the case if folks are in dire straits and can't cook for whatever reason.

Ordered any seeds recently? I think I'll probably only be ordering from Pinetree and Fedco this year.

The middlemen benefit the most.

I don't think anyone wants to limit SNAP folks access to the THOUSANDS of foods (many convenient) that aren't considered pure junk. You're not the only one who's passionate about the subject. I've given away thousands of pounds of food over the years — surplus produce, etc. None of it 'junk food.'

I don't think it's necessarily obsession, it's what's realistically doable — be it restrictions, education or whatever.

One of my favorite things in the whole-wide-world! I 'chicken fry' as much of the deer as possible!

I'd like to see fewer folks suffer. Defining junk food isn't difficult. "those commercial products, including candy, bakery goods, ice cream, salty snacks, and soft drinks, which have little or no nutritional value but do have plenty of calories, salt, and fats." Source: Smith, Andrew F. (5 September 2000). Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food. Greenwood Press. p. x. ISBN 978-0313335273

That would be nice. How? Realistically?

No, not at all. I ran across it while doing some research today. I didn't think it warranted the start of a new topic that would probably be combined anyway.

I understand this. There are things that CAN be done though.

I'm saying that those who need nutritional assistance would be better served if they made better decisions, and/or, if the goal of the program truly is nutritional assistance (same as WIC — which has limits) perhaps junk food should be removed from the list of eligible 'foods.'

What a shame....more money that doesn't make it to those who really need it..... “We found that 3,394 authorized SNAP retailers (retailers) used Social Security Numbers (SSN) that matched SSNs of deceased people,” the inspector general said. “Additionally, 193 retailers listed owners who were not at least 18 years of age. While FNS did have some controls to edit or verify SNAP retail owner information, these controls were not adequate to ensure owner information accuracy.” “These 3,394 retailers redeemed about $2.6 billion in SNAP benefits,” the inspector general said. The 193 businesses that reported child owners redeemed $41 million in food stamps." 01/12/2017 - Detecting Potential SNAP Trafficking Using Data Analysis (PDF), (Report No. 27901-0002-13, Issued January 2017

I know this very well — I'm poor. The goal of the program is supplemental nutrition assistance. Perhaps a nutrition class should be a requirement for SNAP eligibility. Every dollar lost to waste or fraud is a dollar that doesn't go to those who actually need it.

If they do indeed require nutritional assistance perhaps the list of eligible foods should be limited to foods that are generally considered nutritious — and not junk. There are arguments against limits — none of them very strong. There's been no problem limiting eligible WIC* foods. *The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children List of WIC eligible foods.