Poor people can't afford fruits and vegatbles?

Question

My 44 year old sister is hitting me over the head with this moronic idea that poor people can't eat a healthy diet because they can't afford fresh fruits and vegetables at the store.

Has anyone else heard of this idea?

Where is she getting this crap from?

Answer 1

I think that would depend on the individual person and the situation. You can buy fresh vegetables and fruit with assistance money, but the problem is that fresh food doesn't stay good as long as the sodium and preservative laden canned or boxed goods. You can end up with more month than money to feed your family.

And this is not a slam against anybody, but if you've never had the chance to learn the basics of good nutrition, you're apt to make poor food choices. Making a good, healthy vegetarian meal takes some skill and knowledge. Some people just haven't had the time or access to that kind of training.

Also, there's the problem of prep time. It takes time and a fair amount of prep work to fix fresh vegetables, and if you're struggling to take care of your family, you may not have the time that's required.

Please understand -- I am a vegetarian who believes strongly in the health benefits of the lifestyle. Vegetarianism is also a more economical and efficient use of resources, both personal and planetary. But not everyone understands, has time for, or feels capable of living the vegetarian life.

Answer 2

I don't know and more over, I don't care a fig, How the peasants afford servants has always been a mystery to me that occupied at least 2 seconds of my life. I must say that my man Cuthbertson, doesn't have a servant that I know of, but then again, his paltry pittance is just about insufficient to keep him, let alone anyone else. He had to try and place his 113 year old mother into the local workhouse or something, because I refused (and quite rightly so in my opinion) to advance him the 15 pence bus fare to take her to the hospital. He spent 3 hours (of my time may I add) carrying the wretched baggage on his back through the snow. Waste of time really as she succumbed to hypothermia after 40 minutes. I naturally deducted the time from his pay. He has whined about his wretched mother laying out in the snow now for the last 2 weeks while he goes around the local villages begging money to bury her. Damned fool made the mistake of knocking on Rotters and De Cats' doors, a quick slap at the side of his cranium with a riding crop had him scurrying away and no mistake. As far as I know (or care) she is still outside propped up against the wood shed. By all accounts she has diminished in size somewhat as the local foxes and other critters have been having a snack off her.

Answer 3

As a divorced mother raising 2 young children and working 40 plus hours a week, i can assure you that it is TRUE! My ex-husband & bio father to my children has not paid a dime of support in over 3 years and every single penny that i earn has to be used as frugally as possible. Unfortunately, my job requires me to work until 9pm 2 or 3 nights a week and so "preparation" time isn't available when i take a 30 minute break from work to run home and make supper for my children. Now, some of you may be thinking, "Why doesn't she just make casseroles or meals in advance and freeze them?". Well, that is a lovely idea and when i have finished working a 10 hour day, doing laundry, changing bed linens, vacumming, dusting, washing dishes, paying bills, assisting the children with their homework, clipping coupons then actually shopping for the food i am sure that i can afford to give up 2 of the 6 hours of sleep i get each night to do some cooking too!! :-) No offense intended but until you have experienced something like this, it is difficult to understand....i know because until 3 years ago i never understood...

Answer 4

you would have to be very poor indeed not to be able to afford fruits and veggies. I suppose there are people that poor.
Junk food is cheaper to buy though, when you do the math. If you don't believe me go through a store and compare price per ounce.
Junk food is cheaper per ounce than healthy food, and will last longer too.
In my highschool hom economics class they actually let us do this experiment and healthy food was quite a bit more expensive

Answer 5

Not true,I don't know where she is getting it from.