White House wants to deliver food to the poor, Blue Apron-style

[WNYresident]

White House wants to deliver food to the poor, Blue Apron-style

Think of it as Blue Apron for food stamp recipients.

That's how Budget Director Mick Mulvaney described the Trump administration's proposal to replace nearly half of poor Americans' monthly cash benefits with a box of food. It would affect households that receive at least $90 a month in food stamps, or roughly 38 million people.

"USDA America's Harvest Box is a bold, innovative approach to providing nutritious food to people who need assistance feeding themselves and their families -- and all of it is homegrown by American farmers and producers," said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in a statement. "It maintains the same level of food value as SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] participants currently receive, provides states flexibility in administering the program, and is responsible to the taxpayers."

http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/12/news...ron/index.html


I'm mixed on this. In the end wouldn't this sort of guarantee that healthy food is getting to a family?

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

I'm mixed on this. In the end, wouldn't this sort of guarantee that healthy food is getting to a family?

That's incorrect. Right from the link: The so-called USDA America's Harvest Box would contain items such as shelf-stable milk, juice, grains, cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans, canned meat, poultry or fish, and canned fruits and vegetables. I would bet my paycheck that this box would put better food in 75% of the homes using these funds today.

The current system does nothing to guarantee that healthy food finds its way to the home. With this system, half of the allotted funds would go to this box while the other half could be used in the store. At the very least, this system gives a better shot of good food making to a kids belly.

Added to this, poor people advocates have for years cried about food deserts and the lack of options for healthy food. This would actually solve some of that because instead of waiting for stores to open in your neighborhood that carries these items, you simply deliver them. It's the same exact blueprint that Amazon is running. Smart Business!

You could go a step further and allow local CSAs in the region to participate in the program once the infrastructure is setup. For CSAs the distribution is the difficult challenge. This program removes that and allows local farmers to tap into a MASSIVE market and bypass the big box grocery stores.

Another thing to consider is the US already pays for a shipping network (USPS) that is underused. This program could be delivered by the USPS to get more bang form that buck already spent.

Of course, there will be idiots against this.

Some will call is racist that you don't trust poor people to buy their own food. What's sad about this is it has been proven you can't. What's funny about this is Liberals have often claimed that most SNAP recipients are white. So how can a white person be racist against a mostly white group? They can't, but morons drop the racism card. Just wait.

Some will say it will hurt retailers. That's BS. This is not going to eat into Wegmans or Tops. The food retailers who are concerned are the mini-mart owners. They make a killing selling garbage food using these funds. It's why they have a massive lobby.


I don't like a lot of things the Trump administration has done or the way Trump has acted but this program here. If they implement this change, it's enough to justify his election. If he keeps making changes like this, I don't care what he says on Twitter, he should be elected a 2nd time.

[WNYresident]

How can I be incorrect when I said In the end, wouldn't this sort of guarantee that healthy food is getting to a family?

I don't think the system could be actually like Blue Apron. I can afford Blue Apron but I thought it was costly for what you received. I guess some people would add the convenience factor of not having to shop. I was given a 3 day free trial and this is what was shipped. The food was fine. I just know with coupons and smart shopping we end up with more food/left overs for less. I'm pretty sure if I ate the recommend servings that were shipped I would lose a few pounds. That's not a bad thing.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyol...57682603554463



https://www.fns.usda.gov/csfp/commod...d-program-csfp

The so-called USDA America's Harvest Box would contain items such as shelf-stable milk, juice, grains, cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans, canned meat, poultry or fish, and canned fruits and vegetables. The box would be valued at about half of the SNAP recipient's monthly benefit.

I wonder what they would supply.

If you took the box they decide to send what would the cost of items be compared to buying them locally.

Currently isn't it just a EBT card getting a credit each month?

Just think if the local "ERIE COUNTY DEMOCRATS" were in charge of this program. ( yes I said this because of an earlier comment lefty said )

A $100 dollar box of food would cost $150 before it left the door. They would have to start up a job training program on how to property place food into a box. This way they could reward the people who get petition signatures with a job. They would demand a living wage with full health coverage/pensions. Now the $100 box of food is $200. Oh wait. The only proper way to guarantee safe delivery is to have a county ran delivery program and so on

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

How can I be incorrect when I said In the end, wouldn't this sort of guarantee that healthy food is getting to a family?

HAHA. Read your post wrong. Sorry.

I don't think the system could be actually like Blue Apron. I can afford Blue Apron but I thought it was costly for what you received.

The 'like' Blue Apron is the concept of a box of food for someone based on a need. With Blue Apron, it's high-end ingredients that are often cost prohibitive to purchase to make a meal. e.g. Garam Masala is expensive to buy a bottle but is needed for indian food. Most times you need just a tablespoon of it. Blue Apron sends you a tablespoon.

For SNAP people, it's a pantry box. That's what they need. Stuff for the pantry that can feed people. The 'concept' is not providing things that are cost prohibitive to the consumer but rather providing cost benefits to the taxpayer by ensuring large amounts of good food is delivered.

[QUOTE=WNYresident;1782133]I wonder what they would supply. If you took the box they decide to send what would the cost of items be compared to buying them locally.

Basic pantry stuff. Shelf stable stuff. Liberals talk about how we need to be more like Europe...well they drink shelf stable milk.

The US govt buys these core products in bulk and from US companies. They store them and then distrobute as needed. Win. Win. Win.

Currently isn't it just a EBT card getting a credit each month?

Yes. My inference is they would get half the amount and a box delivered.

[WNYresident]

I'll get jumped on with this comment.

I think is some cases the "parents" who are on food assistance with children are basically children mentally. No fault of their own but some adults can't take of themselves more or less their children. A bag of potato chips and soda is not "dinner".

[joe d.]

GREAT...another "black market" created. The poor folks would be selling this free food heavily discounted to the corner market to get their fix...cigarettes beer etc. ...just like food stamps.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

I'll get jumped on with this comment.

I think is some cases the "parents" who are on food assistance with children are basically children mentally. No fault of their own but some adults can't take of themselves more or less their children. A bag of potato chips and soda is not "dinner".

That's racist.

[WNYresident]

I'm sure I didn't offend any potatoes.

Joe, if the products are labeled for the program I think a store owner would be caught easily. I'm not saying someone couldn't sell the box to a private person but I don't think you'd have a store display of government issued food.

[WNYresident]

Here is an issue. How "politically" correct would the food boxes be?

I personally like bacon. Lots of bacon. Not that fake crap called turkey bacon. Would bacon be banned from these boxes if certain religions banned pork products? I wouldn't expect "custom" boxes based on religion beliefs.

Or what about allergies. I could see groups saying it's too dangerous to have shipped food. What if the person has a peanut allergy and there was peanut butter in the box?

[WNYresident]

Sergio Rodriguez like to ask question on Face Book. I noticed he started this one

https://www.facebook.com/SergioRodri...suawJQ&fref=nf

I can embed the facebook entry. Scroll down his page and you'll see:

Should the government control what type of foods food stamps recipients eat?

[grump]

I'll get jumped on with this comment.

I think is some cases the "parents" who are on food assistance with children are basically children mentally. No fault of their own but some adults can't take of themselves more or less their children. A bag of potato chips and soda is not "dinner".

Get jumped on? You way understate the case! My son worked for a time as a cashier at a Wegmans market in another upstate city that was frequented by a number of SNAP recipients. Four hundred pound momma came through the line with her 4 kids, all at least 40 lbs overweight, all members of the Future Diabetics of America, cart filled with chips, cookies, ice cream and other healthful foods. If there was milk it was only there to wash down the cookies. The program should be scrapped completely. I have no problems with them eating themselves to death if the want to but I don’t think the taxpayers should fund it...especially since we’re already stuck paying for their health care through Medicaid, too.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Get jumped on? You way understate the case! My son worked for a time as a cashier at a Wegmans market in another upstate city that was frequented by a number of SNAP recipients. Four hundred pound momma came through the line with her 4 kids, all at least 40 lbs overweight, all members of the Future Diabetics of America, cart filled with chips, cookies, ice cream and other healthful foods. If there was milk it was only there to wash down the cookies. The program should be scrapped completely. I have no problems with them eating themselves to death if the want to but I don’t think the taxpayers should fund it...especially since we’re already stuck paying for their health care through Medicaid, too.

What's sad is this is true but not allowed to be discussed in public.

There is no reason at all for soft drinks, candy, cookies, snack crackers, and ice cream to belong in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. They offer no nutritional value and if parents want to give these items to their kids they can pay for them with their own money. Leave the SNAP funds for nutritional food.

[WNYresident]

In the end I don't mind food stamps for people who need them. Many times an over weight issue can be due to health issues but not across the board like we see when shopping.

I eat like a horse. I don't think I could physically eat the way I do if I had to spend a month of food stamps. I don't know what that amount would be if was disabled living on SSI.

[grump]

Nobody needs food stamps. No one had them or missed them until the Democrats created them as part of their decades long effort to create dependency in the minority community. It does however free up more of one’s food budget to buy a few 40’s.

[grump]

What's sad is this is true but not allowed to be discussed in public.

There is no reason at all for soft drinks, candy, cookies, snack crackers, and ice cream to belong in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. They offer no nutritional value and if parents want to give these items to their kids they can pay for them with their own money. Leave the SNAP funds for nutritional food.

But if there’s a SNAP program to buy nutritional foods then these slugs will use the proceeds of their drug sales etc to buy crap anyhow. Scrap the program entirely.