Title and wording in the 2018 Farm Bill

Before firing people or putting them in jail for using the wrong pronoun for a guy who's feeling girlish today, or maybe “theyish” tomorrow, I suggest renaming the Farm Bill. 80% of the Farm Bill is food assistance, and it's just silly to call it anything else. The 2 issues aren't related at all--but sloppy language increases confusion during partisan debates. The 2018 Farm Bill (Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, HR2) is $867 Billion over 10 years. It dwarfs the budgets of the NIH, CDC and FDA, probably because good nutrition does contribute to good health. 42% of low income women are obese, with a higher figure if they use government assistance.

Depending on which expert you read, and how much you hate Trump/Republicans the various cuts are either a savings or a disaster for the poor. Farm Journal reported it was budget neutral, with a possible savings of $7 million over the 10 years.

And speaking of language, it did clean up some unpronounceable acronyms into simply, FOTO. The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) and Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program ( OASDVFRP or Section 2501) are now the Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach (FOTO) program. That should save some money in printing right there. At least no one should be fired if they mispronounce it.

Note: In reading through the Section 2501 (now called FOTO) previous year's budget and accomplishments I noticed all the money for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers went to minority farmers and ranchers, even though about 40% of those on government assistance are white. I wonder if this is another example of the government picking winners and losers on the basis of ethnicity and skin color.

Another lie you often hear about our assistance programs (with the intent to increase the Farm Bill) is that you can't feed a family on food stamps (SNAP). Maybe that's because it was never intended for that. But actually, a resourceful Canadian has shown otherwise with her cookbook, "Good and cheap," using a SNAP budget for a healthy diet. And it's free on line, or you can order a paper copy. https://cookbooks.leannebrown.com/good-and-cheap.pdf

What’s wrong with this paragraph?

“It is no longer controversial to say that the United States food system does not support a healthy diet. Junk food is extraordinarily palatable and virtually omnipresent; its advertising is pervasive; many Americans do not live within convenient distance of a grocery store stocking healthy alternatives; and healthier foods are typically perceived as costlier. In this environment, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides 42 million low-income people with financial assistance to purchase food. Most SNAP recipients, because they tend to live in lower-income communities, are exposed to the worst of the US food system: more unhealthy food marketing through traditional and social media, more unhealthy foods in the stores where they regularly shop, and fewer healthy foods that are financially within reach. Although SNAP benefits are intended to provide low-income families with sufficient food-purchasing power to obtain a nutritious diet, there is broad consensus that current benefits are insufficient [1]. The US food system is in urgent need of policies and programs that support and facilitate better dietary habits.”

1.  There is no United States food system.

2.  There is no agreement on what is a healthy diet.

3.  There is no agreement on what is junk food.

4.  What’s the number in a statement like “many Americans?”

5.  What is a healthy alternative?

6.  Are healthy foods really more costly per ounce or per pound?

7.  How many are “most SNAP recipients?”

8.  What broad consensus and who are they?

9.  “Policies and programs” is code for more government.

10. When was it ever controversial to say we Americans didn’t have a healthy diet?  I’ve heard it all my life and I’m 79!

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002662

Who determines that healthcare is too high?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American family earned $74,664 (before taxes) and spent $57,311 across various expense categories in 2016.  [not sure what is “family”—probably means household—doesn’t give number of people] 

1. Taxes 2. housing 3. transportation 4. food 5. pensions and insurance 6. Entertainment and contributions 7.  health care

Taxes are the biggest chunk. $18,900 each year, and then housing, $18,886. “Following housing costs, transportation ($9,049), food ($7,203), and pensions and personal insurance ($6,831) topped the list for the biggest ticketed items on most Americans' budgets. For the majority of people who prefer not to cook, the cost of dining out could add up big. The occasional luxury experience may not seem like a big drain on the average budget, but entertainment, cash contributions, and apparel and services accounted for nearly $7,000 (over 10 percent) of most Americans' annual expenses.”  Health care was $4,612. That said, health care increased almost 67% between 2006 and 2016, 8 years of which Obama was taking over our health insurance choices.

https://www.creditloan.com/blog/how-the-average-us-consumer-spends-their-paycheck/

$422 SNAP allotment for mother and 2 children—food bill; eat your heart out Gwyneth Paltrow

This is a wild estimate using this week’s flyer for Marc’s in Columbus, OH. It’s a lower price, discount store.  I haven’t included taxables in this list—just food.  The USDA allows $89 contribution from cash for this family of 3—so I would use that for the taxables of soap, cleaning supplies, pop, etc. I’ve got a balance of about $40 which I can use for what I’ve forgotten, or for a treat at McDonald’s (love those sausage biscuits).

School age children receive breakfast, lunch and after school snack at school.

 

Vegetables

10 lb. potatoes $3.00; 2 lb. onions $7.00; 5 sweet corn ears, $2.00; Broccoli heads (2) $3.00; cauliflower (2) $3.00; Red pepper (1) $.70; Green beans 2 lb. $3.00; Frozen peas (2-1 lb) $2.00; Frozen mixed veg. (2-1 lb) $2.00; canned black or red beans 16 oz (4) $3.60; Canned vegetables 6-23.5 oz  $18.00; mixed greens for salad $3.00; baby spinach $4.00; lettuce (3) $3.00

Fruit

Strawberries 4 lb.  $6.00; Apples Jazz 8 lb.  $7.00; Oranges (10) 8 lb. $4.00; Pears 5 lb. $5.00; Canned fruit 6-23.5 oz  $18.00; juice 59 oz (3) $10.00; tomato sauce (pasta) 66 oz. $4.00; Canned tomatoes (8) $10.00; golden raisins 16 oz. (2) $5.20; bananas 18  $6.00

Meat

Chicken leg quarters 10 lb. $4.90; Chicken thighs, bone in  $14.00; Lean ground turkey 2 lb. $4.60; Bacon 2 lb. $5.00; Tuna 5 oz. (4) $3.00; Chicken sausage, 1 lb $3.30; Lunch meat 8 oz (2) $7.00; Ground  sirloin, 2 lb. $10.00; Ground beef, 2 lb. $8.00; Cheese-franks, bun size $1.35; pork sausage 1 lb $4.00; Bratwurst $6.00; Ham, shank in $10.00; Beef roast $12.00;

Dairy

Sour cream 16 oz. $1.50; eggs, grade A large, 18, $3.30; Milk 4 gal. $12.00; block cheddar 24 oz. $5.00; yogurt, plain 16 oz. $3.00; butter 2 lb $6.00; Pepper Jack cheese 1 lb $5.00;

Miscellaneous

Peanut Butter, 2 lb. natural, $5.80; jelly 12 oz (2) $5.60; Coffee 33 oz. $6.70; tea bags $2.00; salad dressing (2) $3.00; soup 4 cans $5.00; walnuts $6.00; Almonds $7.00;  condiments and spices $15.00; Sugar 4 lb $5.00; Flour 5 lb $4.00; Bisquick  $3.60

Grain based  

egg noodles, other wheat pasta 16 oz. (4) $5.00; rice 2 lb.$2.00; bread 20 oz. (4)  $4.00; English muffins (2) $4.00; Crackers 16 oz (3) $9.00; frozen pizza  12 in. (2) $9.00; frozen pierogi  $2.50; oatmeal $4.00

Dessert

cake mixes 3, $3.60 (used to make cookies); ice cream 1.5 gal. (2) $6.00; pudding mix (4) $3.60

Oops. Forgot carrots and cabbage. $5.00
----------------------

$384

Brit claims she’s obese because the government doesn’t give her enough money

If you read any article by the poverty pimps or academics in the USA, the same case is made. We don't give enough money to the poor to buy healthy food so therefore they buy high calorie, high fat, highly processed food with SNAP. That's just silly. Ounce for ounce, healthy food is much cheaper than processed. You can buy 10 lbs of potatoes for the cost of 16 oz. of potato chips. Oranges, apples, bananas, etc. are far cheaper than bags of fruit flavored snacks. She’s also never heard of walking—the greatest exercise ever.

I googled a comparison cost of living site, and although UK is socialist, almost everything is higher than in the U.S. (food is about 11% higher), except renting a tennis court for an hour and disposable income--those are lower. But even so, she could do better by contributing some of her own labor and preparing real food.

“It would be good if the government offered a cash incentive for me to lose weight. I’d like to get £1  for every pound I lose,” 25-year-old Christina Briggs said.

Briggs said losing weight is currently impossible because she doesn’t have enough money to buy healthy food or join a gym.

http://www.nationalreview.com//article/388887/350-pound-woman-im-obese-because-i-dont-get-enough-taxpayer-money-katherine-timpf

 

And tattoos are expensive, too.  What’s a poor girl to do?

What can you buy with SNAP? A lot.

I saw a discussion of food stamps (aka SNAP) at NPR where the liberals were arguing that cheap processed food was cheaper than healthier items like meat and fruits and vegetables, so the poor were not being well fed and needed more allocations.  No so fast, declared an alert woman. And she laid out the numbers.

Breakfast - banana, eggs, and grits
Lunch - bread, peanut butter or cheese, carrots and apple sauce
Dinner – 1 lb. meat ($3), starch (i.e. pasta or rice) and canned vegetables
Snack - homemade popcorn on the stove $1 (actually I make mine for about 15 cents, njb).
Every item ~$1 or $13 a day and many items would last 3 meals
Times 7 days is $91. And most families of 4 on food stamps get ~$525. 

I bought a box of sugar cereal for my kids yesterday that was ON SALE for $2. I was excited because a box of cereal can be $3-$5. So I thought it would be a cheap option (which it is), but it is only 11 oz. That's now $3/pound or the price of chicken. So it may SEEM CHEAP when really it is not a good deal.

Same with a frozen cheap pizza. I got one on sale for $5 (on sale from $8). Thought it is cheap and cheaper than Pizza Hut - yes, but it is 20 oz or $4/pound (regularly $6/pound - the price of a good steak).

Most fruits and vegetables are less than $2/pound. So you can't tell me that frozen pizzas are cheaper than apples and bananas and chicken. THEY JUST SEEM that way.

What's in your frig today?

Food prices are going up and up, but food is still a good buy. You don't need a farmer's market to eat well, although that's wonderful in the summer.

What's in your refrigerator today in fresh fruits and vegetables? Here's my list.

Sweet potatoes, 2 varieties white and orange (yams)
onion white (cut and wrapped for storage),
broccoli
cauliflower
3 kinds of sweet bell peppers, red, yellow, green
carrots
baby spinach
turnip greens
head lettuce
celery

apples
cranberries
Tomatoes
orange juice
tomato juice
apple cider
dried prunes

In the freezer I have corn, beans and peas.

Potatoes, dried things that don't need refrigeration like raisins, are in the cupboard, not the frig, and bananas are on the counter top.

But I read every label. I try to buy only from the USA or Canada. I like to keep white grapes on hand, but haven't found the right label lately. Occasionally Philippines and Costa Rica, which I'm hoping come under some sort of scrutiny through their political relationship with the USA. Yesterday, the peppers sign said "Canadian grown" but at least one batch had Mexico labels.

Did the muffins really cost $16 a piece?

Apparently not. A review of costs of workshops, conferences and meetings sponsored by the Department of Justice issued a correction of its September audit in October, 2011. It just didn't give the revised figure for a muffin.

However, the DOJ did spend about $73 million to host conferences during FY 2009, which is $25.5 million (53 percent) more than what was reported spent on conferences in FY 2008. One of them I looked at (actually it was several) was for Native American nations for sex offender training and was held in a plush Palm Springs Resort. Although that's much cheaper than the multi-million dollar one held in Turkey about drugs.

The audit I was reading found that one DOJ event in Los Angeles, California, featured a 2-entrée lunch for 120 attendees that cost $53 per person. In another instance, a DOJ component spent $60,000 on a reception that featured chef-carved roast beef and turkey, a penne pasta station, and platters of Swedish meatballs at a cost of nearly $5 per meatball.

You eat very well at DOJ events.

"AUDIT OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CONFERENCE PLANNING AND FOOD AND BEVERAGE COSTS" Rev. October 2011, U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Audit Division, Audit Report 11-43

Food insecurity is not hunger

"According to the USDA's annual poll, 17 million U.S. households reported some degree of food insecurity in 2008, up from 13 million households in 2007," writes Scott Kilman in yesterday's WSJ. I'm not sure when "food insecurity" became the term du jour, but it means at some point during 2008 someone in the family worried about not having enough food or their "normal eating patterns were disrupted." So that's what hunger has become to the USDA--worrying about food while HHS is wringing is bureaucratic hands over obesity. Even when unemployment was at 4.5%, journalists were writing food pantry and food insecurity stories, especially during the holiday season when many charities are making appeals. Now because of unemployment at 10.2%, people who used to contribute or volunteer at food pantries now are recipients, so the stories have expanded. In 2009 they are not directed at the president's policies, as they were four or five years ago. Even in food insecurity, Obama is untouchable.

And really, no modern day president can be blamed for hunger in the U.S., because it has been the policy of the government for the last 60 years to expand its largest welfare program to . . . farmers. And what used to be using up post-war surplus by giving it to the poor (blocks of cheese, butter, and boxes of dry milk back in the 60s and 70s) is now growing subsidized food to be given to the poor through schools (breakfast, lunch, afterschool and summertime snacks), churches (they usually run the summer programs), non-profits (they provide grants from donors and the government to buy the food), and federal and state "partnerships (redistribution of USDA money to many programs, rural and metropolitan)."

This at a time when there are entire households of adults and children where no one knows how to purchase or prepare food. I needed to buy 2 large containers of applesauce to donate to Faith Mission this week, so while I was going through the store, I jotted down some basic, non-prepared food items with prices.

Fresh items: 3 lb bananas, 8 lb. potatoes, 1 lb. carrots, 3 lb. apples, 8 lb oranges, 2 lb cabbage (total $11.18); main meal items: l lb pinto beans, l lb. black beans, 2 lb rice, 2 lb macaroni, 15 oz spaghetti, 26 oz spaghetti sauce (total $8.56); refrigerator case: 1 doz eggs, 1 gal milk, 1 lb butter, 2 lb cheddar cheese (total $7.45); beverage: 11.5 oz coffee to brew ($2.50). That came to $29.69, and for another $5.00 I could have had 2 loaves of bread and 16 oz. of natural peanut butter. For another $5.00 I could buy a 16 lb. turkey because they are on special right now. So for $40, that's a lot of food on the shelves, but someone has to buy it and someone has to prepare it who knows that beans with rice and potatoes combined with milk are almost nutritionally perfect.

But you can blow your way through $40 pretty fast buying soft drinks, potato chips, prepared individual meals at $3.00 each, crackers, cookies, etc. And it's not just poor people. On my afternoon walk yesterday I walked in a neighborhood that has a Tuesday trash pick up and at one home which I would estimate at $800,000, there were 6 plastic containers at the curb, all filled with flattened boxes and containers for processed food, many for the single server type. Her children probably don't qualify for school lunches, but they might be better off if they did.

See also my blog from April 2009 on What ever happened to food stamps.

Alternative to coupons

I found the article--it was in the September 2, 1981, Upper Arlington News--about 28 years ago. Here's the points I made.

• I did the research after a conversation with co-workers who felt guilty that they didn't clip coupons, or didn't like it.
  
  
• At the time I was a librarian in the OSU Agriculture Library and had access to little known publications that provided the answers.
  
  
• If homemakers would use their time in preparation instead of coupon clipping and sorting and parties, they would save much more and serve their families better food.
  
  
• Coupons were most often available for highly prepackaged food which are the most expensive.
  
  
• I attributed women's (housewives) need to do this to being convinced they needed a paycheck to feel valuable (remember, we were only 10 years into the rush to go back to work as a result of the women's movement). "Clipping, filing, storing, redeeming--why it is just like office work, and you sometimes even get a check in the mail for your efforts. At last there is tangible reward for all your efforts," I said.
  
  
• Homemakers are given a false sense of contributing to her family's economic well-being by being convinced that she's saving money.
  
  
• The writer found my food budget very interesting--"she feeds her family of 4 (including a teenage son and daughter) for $50 or less a week. That's less than the government figures a family of four using food stamps must spend."
  
  
• I'd gradually changed my shopping habits to include more fresh items and I "shopped the walls" for produce, dairy and meat avoiding the sea of prepackaged foods found in the center aisles.
  
  
• I didn't drive around looking for bargains, read labels, bought generic brands.
  
  
• Our children thought "real cheese" tasted funny when I made the change, so I recommended making changes gradually and ease the family into healthier, lower cost eating.
  
  
• And of course, because I was a librarian, I recommended some books, "The supermarket Handbook" by the Goldbecks, and "Diet for a small Planet" by Frances Moore Lappe, and More with Less Cookbook by Doris Longacre. I still use the Longacre book occasionally.

I get a chuckle out of today's greenies who think they invented this.

Really bad advice for saving on food

The Extension Office at the University of Illinois has a special web page on financial advice, which includes saving on your food dollar. The worst possible advice is to suggest clipping coupons (or using a loyalty card). Here’s my e-mail to them:

Dear Debra,

I see on the web site for financial advice that clipping coupons is suggested as a way to save on food costs. Coupons are a marketing scheme--in the long run it is very deceptive. Coupons, now often shaped like credit cards, are the size of a dollar. They most often are used for promoting 1) processed food, 2) to cover price increases, and 3) to introduce a new product, which is probably a variation of one already on the shelf, like a Ritz cracker in a different shape. Coupons help the printing companies, the ad designers, and the workers in 3rd world economies who count them, but they don't help the American consumer. The smart consumer should plan menus, stick to a list, shop the walls, stay out of the snack and soft drink aisles and contribute her own labor to reduce food costs. Loyalty cards also increase food costs as do games and sweepstakes. The first coupon was a wooden nickel, and you know what we say about those.

Another media myth

It's expensive to lose weight. And usually, if you read the entire article, someone explains that it is processed food that is expensive, not fresh or frozen.

It's January so newspapers are promoting their diet plans which probably have tie-ins with processed food companies, TV reality shows, and pharmaceuticals. News articles will also encourage coupon use, because they print them (they are ads that exercise your scissor muscles). Coupons cover up price increases and introduce the 15th type of Ritz cracker.

It's not expensive to eat fresh food, or even food labeled "organic," although that probably doesn't make a lot of difference, except to increase the cost slightly. The advantage to your health of not buying food fertilized or contaminated by sewage is probably huge, but by the time you get down to the minuscule, unmeasurable amounts of herbicide and pesticides on commercially grown food, which is where we are today with our health gate keepers who want to return American women to long food queues like Europe, the cost and health benefit is pretty small. You have a much better chance of getting Grandma's genetic links to cancer and heart disease than developing problems from eating too much fish or chicken on hormones. News flash. If you live long enough, everyone gets cancer or their heart gives out.

Anyway, today for lunch I took out about 5 spears of tender, fresh asparagus, rinsed them, and arranged a few "baby" (peeled) carrots from a bag, (always, always rinse) on a glass plate and zapped in the microwave uncovered for 1 minute. Add a dollop of low fat sour cream, a little salt and pepper, and enjoy. Then I had my sliced apple and 1/2 cup of walnuts, because I missed breakfast due to exercise class. The entire lunch/breakfast probably didn't top $2. You couldn't make and eat a bagel sandwich with potato chips for less than $4.

One thing mentioned in the USAToday article on dieting that I agree with is that half of all food dollars are spent eating out or take out. Combined with my morning coffee and our Friday date night, that's certainly true for us. However, I count about half of that as "leisure and entertainment."

Real food is cheaper

Cheating the poor with inaccurate information

Another alarmist article about how the poor can’t afford decent food--need to buy cheaper junk--in USAToday. Really? Tara Parker Pope even said so in NYT last December--comparing only the cost of calories! Nonsense. I just had a wonderful lunch. I had steamed beet tops (we’ll eat the beets for dinner tonight) and a delicious tomato salad of two garden tomatoes (farmer’s market), coarsely shredded carrots (from WalMart), a few sliced green olives (been around for awhile in the frig), and the left over salsa from last night’s restaurant doggie bag. No, it wasn’t “calorie dense” like donuts or cookies, but after I sneak a piece of real cheddar cheese for dessert, I’ll have a pretty good balance, for under $2.00, and it will hold until dinner. After all, how many calories do I need for blogging and napping?

The following article is from 2005, but things haven’t changed that much, unless you’ve been buying corn based products like pop (corn is being grown to burn in cars instead of feeding people and animals which in turn is raising the cost of rice and causing riots in 3rd world countries--thank you, Al Gore).

“In January of this year [2005] alternative health practitioner and self-style “health nut” Colleen Huber made an attempt to do just such a worked-out analysis of processed vs. whole organic food costs.

Colleen made two complete weekly menus, one using processed food and one using fresh foods. She did all her shopping at a single, standard supermarket, and chose mid-priced brands of processed foods (not generics). She followed some reasonable ground rules, and we couldn’t detect any particular bias in the menus she constructed. In addition to the menus, Colleen’s article lists detailed “register tapes” with prices and weights for all the foods she purchased for each set of menus.

At the end of the day, the processed food menu cost USD $123.64, while the fresh, organic menu cost USD $122.42.” Real food cheaper

I make no attempt to buy organic, but do buy a lot of fresh. So my food bill would probably be even lower. Don't let the economic scare mongers tell you what to eat.

Thanks to Janeen who's eating good for the wonderful tomatoes photo.

How do they find these financial wizards?

WaPo, in alerting us all to higher prices, lists the dire circumstances of people who must have flunked high school consumer ed.

Tracy and her partner also stopped buying the cereals they like in favor of whatever was on sale; stopped picking up convenient single-size packs of juice, water or crackers; and, in order to save gas, stopped going to multiple stores. "I find the whole thing a huge hassle, but I've reached a tipping point," said Tracy, a government human resources specialist who is pregnant with her second child. "Clearly, I'm not unable to feed my family. But I just can't feed my family the way I'd like to feed them." via Taranto who quoted WaPo

1. She's pregnant with her second child, but has a "partner" not a husband. Statistically, children raised by women who haven't married the child's father have a much greater chance of being poor.

2. She's been driving around to multiple stores rather than shopping in one place. Shopping was something to do rather than having a purpose.

3. She's been purchasing single serving items rather than managing her time and resources and doing some of the labor herself.

And Tracy, this government worker--who supposedly is high enough up to be called a "specialist," whines that this is the way she really wants to feed her family--by providing them the most expensive, empty calories she can find. Her preferred methods have never been good ways to shop--pick up any magazine sold at the check out and they explain it.

Food in the United States is still a tremendous bargain--it's been artificially low due to welfare--welfare for farmers. You don't need 23 types of crackers--maybe you don't need crackers at all. You don't need a strawberry latte--you can probably make it through the day with a plain, old cup of coffee at a fraction the cost and calories. You certainly don't save money in the long run by clipping coupons! You can get 10 lbs of potatoes for under $5 instead of buying 6 oz. of desiccated, dried and cheesed potatoes for $2.50 + a 50 cents off coupon. Shop the walls; buy fresh and add your own labor. Buying organic is nice, but considering all the really bad stuff your kid will eat when he can make his own choices, it's a bit over the top when prices are high. Eat out just once a week instead of 3 or 4, which is the average for working women.

I've served people at the Food Pantry that seem to know more about nutrition and how to feed a family than Tracy, interviewed for WaPo's clipping and scrimping story.