Food insecure?

I saw an article about "food insecurity" yesterday That means that in the last 4 weeks the cook/mother/grandmother/oldest daughter once or twice or 10 times went to the cupboard and couldn't find enough to make a meal for the family/residents/siblings. Really? A gallon of milk is $2.65 and 10 pounds of potatoes are $4 in Columbus, Ohio.

 
A pack of cigarettes is $9 in Columbus--and a big chunk of that is federal and state taxes. The food in Ohio has no tax. You can fix a very nutritious meal for less than a pack of cigarettes, but you'll believe the stories on TV about hungry people in America. Potato combined with dairy is almost a perfect food. That's why smart mothers make potato soup and scalloped potatoes.

What's insecure is the cook. S/he has a 12 can pack of Coke for $4.00 and 13 oz. bag of Lays potato chips for $5 in the cupboard. And she may be smoking a cigarette. If she admires her $40 manicure when opening the cupboard, well, it's not the food costs but the values.

The survey (of a child or youth) to determine "food insecurity" is really vague and uses words like a lot, sometimes, enough, cheap food, run out, and asks the person to recall the past month (Self-Administered Food Security Survey Module for Children Ages 12 Years and Older, September 2006)