I kind of agree...even Koolaid has a lot of vitamin C & is way cheaper than soda, alcohol or coffee. & don't most people know that dandelions are very high in vitamins? When I was poor I ate Top Ramen with boiled dandelion & chickweed greens. It tasted fine & I stayed healthy. Just don't use hairy chickweed--terrible texture.

Canned vegetables are near toxic in levels of sodium.
Aside from tomato puree type products, I have not used canned products since I left my parents' home..
Nice to be in a place with access to fresh spinach and four varieties of grapes and accuse, urban people of having a lack of discipline because they don't slurp down those cans of super nutritious cans of sugar loaded fruit cocktail..

@Carin Seriously.
How many greens of any kind are going to be available in an urban environment?

And...No.

Unless you grow up in certain rural areas with certain grandmothers with knowledge of such things that is not common knowledge to know what shoots and roots you can eat.

Canned is not as good as fresh or frozen. Education in nutrition is missing. Brown & white is not nutritious. Even the commercials show brown & white food on the table settings. It is corporate manipulation & availability & affordability subsidized by the government. Corporations deduct commercials as a business expense. Yes high salt & sugar in canned goods but it is better than the high fat fast food boxed crap being fed to the masses.

Bubonic plague is actually back in Arizona. It is treatable now, though.
Dysentery is still also common, but rarely of the severe form in areas with clean water and sanitation.

Even convenience stores have orange juice or Sunny Delight or some other vitamin enriched drink.

@Carin So if Sunny Delight was the only remotely nutrishious thing that was available to give your children you'd be OK with that?

@BufftonBeotch I'd have to be, right? & They'd probably be delighted! They think I'm "mean" for not buying that kind of stuff for them.

@BufftonBeotch , Most poor people have to go with what they can afford. A large bag of chips is what, maybe a buck, while a small can of nuts is closer to six. Fresh fruits and vegetables are out of their price range. Mac and imitation cheese is cheap and filling. A large bag of frozen broccoli is pricey for the ones on a limited income.

@freeofgod I'm good now.

But when my children were little i sometimes picked up aluminum cans from the side of the road for the ability to cash it in.
And they always had fresh fruits and vegetables.

Fresh. It was a priority. I did not serve my children sodium drenched crap in a can.

And a bag of Lays is roughly 4-5 dollars. About the same as a bag of apples. It's a choice.

@BufftonBeotch , I'm not saying people can't do better. I'm saying they have to work with what they have. I don't eat chips but I saw on an end aisle a large, generic, bag for 1.68. Ky has to import fruit after our season is over. A lb of apples is roughly 1.88 to 4.98 lb here.

@freeofgod Nearly all of them will find 8 dollars a day for cigarettes above properly feeding their children.

@BufftonBeotch , Now you sound like the government. Let's blow over three million to drug test welfare receipients. And try to kick people off food stamps. Never mind that they only had three people test dirty for a grand savings of roughly five thousand.

@BufftonBeotch I have collected aluminum cans ever since the 1980's when recycling was still a laughing matter. Today I collect them as a service to my community & people see me on the roadside & bring me their bags. I do not need the money but use the proceeds to fund my many environmental groups.....& the tax deduction. One that still is available to the middle class.

A lot of it is poor nutritional knowledge including how to read food labels. Potatoes are very cheap & filling & do have a little vitamin C. Cabbage is a cheap nutritious vegetable that keeps well. On the other hand, apples actually don't have a lot of vitamins in them. Oranges are a much better choice.

Calling people lazy is lazy.

@godef Yeah and McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, and Pizza Express are going out of business because everyone likes home cooked food better?
My grandmother used to walk 4 miles to save 2d on a cabbage. So many women now would not how to cook a cabbage let alone walk to buy one?

@273kelvin, convenience foods are cheap! Frozen pizza for four about five bucks or less.

@freeofgod A pot of black eyed peas for those that give a damn about their children's health.

Frozen pizza. Seriously?

@BufftonBeotch , I don't eat that crap and wouldn't feed it to my children. But I didn't have to. I'm just SAYING AGAIN that people often have to make do with what they can afford. Not what they would like to be able to afford.

@freeofgod Okay I am not up on US prices but here is a stew using Asda (owned by wallmart) retail prices. So no bargains or competitive shopping.
Potatoes 2.5kg - £1.15
Carrots-7p per kg £0.21
Red cabbage - £0.78
Onions - 15p per kg £0.15
Pork mince (500g) -£1.66 £3.32
Pearl barley- 500g £0.55
total £6.16 + bread £0.55
Thats for a meal for 8 not a snack which is a slice of pizza. Plus there will be stuff left over for other meals like onions and barley. If I shopped around I could get the potatoes for £0.59 or a ham shank for £2.00

@273kelvin It is true that feeding a good healthy diet on a budget is very possible in most areas and not the choice of feeding children empty calories.

In MOST places. There are, however, places in America in inner cities without regular markets or access to any fresh foods. They are called food deserts.

But the majority of time it really is a matter of immature choices.

People pick up the box of sugary Lucky Charms rather than the box of oats.

@BufftonBeotch A couple of years ago, I was walking around my local supermarket and two 20 something girls asked me. "What are oats?" They simply did not know. After several attempts, I finally managed to explain that they are whats in "Hobnob" biscuits.

@BufftonBeotch I read a post recently on here about "food deserts" and could not help but think it was a lot to do with supply and demand. If people bought good food then shops will sell them. This is what I posted as a comment. Bear in mind that Liverpool 8 is a high crime and poor neighborhood, with a large immigrant population.
Notice how cheap the food is too.

@273kelvin That is an amazing variety!

A potato makes a pretty filling lunch for me & they are very cheap.

eek

Interesting. The babies get vaccinated when they get here but obviously the adults may have a poor vaccination history.

@Denker This is only one small side of the effects om people movement. Immigration, especially at the heightened present levels have a huge downside that many want to disregard. As I said, we do so at a`ll our peril.

scurvy