Food insecurity, a personal story.
Yes, I’m poor. But I’m also pretty lucky. I have a network of friends and family that have managed to make sure I never live without food for more than a day. When my cabinets are truly empty and there is no cash to buy food, I have people I can turn to.
So, the technical definition of “food insecure” or even “very low food security” doesn’t fit my situation. While there are days where I get one meal, instead of three, I never really go hungry.
A better definition of my situation would be food worry. I’m often concerned about food running out. And I’ve had to make strategic decisions in buying what’s cheap, instead of healthy, in order to make sure we have enough food to last through the month.
There have been times when my husband and I live off of a diet of tater tots, hot dogs and Kool-Aid. Those foods are cheap, easy and calorie dense. I’ve also had to make a backup plan in case my poverty and the poverty of my friends and family happen to coincide. I’ve done my research on the local food banks so I know what my options are.
And, slowly, I’ve come to accept that I simply can’t turn down charity. Hard as it is on my pride, if someone in my extended network offers me money or food I do not feel I have the luxury of refusing that offer.
Part of my food worry is undoubtedly the product of my food allergies. I can’t turn to bread, noodles, milk or cheese as a route to cheap food. We eat a lot of rice, beans, potatoes and meat because those are things I can have. Our diet has a very Old West or Mexican influence.
The one thing I really wish I could afford more of? Frozen veggies.
Fresh fruit and veggies quickly rot, but I can count on a bag of frozen veggies to stay good in my freezer for a while. And I’ll eat a bowl of warmed-up veggie blend with a pad of margarine as lunch or a snack. But there’s a cost benefit ratio that comes into play when making the decision about what I buy for the week or month.
| Product | Calories Oz | Cost Oz |
| Safeway Frozen Broccoli (32oz) | 9 | .09 |
| Safeway Frozen California Style Vegetables (16oz) | 9 | .14 |
| Safeway Tater Tots (32oz) | 55 | .11 |
| Safeway Tater Tots (80 oz) - max pack | 55 | .08 |
It’s not like I do this kind of math every time I go to the store. I just know, from experience, that the big bag of tatters tots will last longer and satisfy more than either kind of frozen veggie. My preference would be to buy the Safeway California Style Vegetables. But the practical choice is to buy the max pack of Safeway Tater Tots.
Does my food worry and related food purchases affect how FAT I am? Possibly. Could these things affect my health, either now or in the long run? Undoubtedly. And I’m someone who WOULD make healthy food choices if I had the option. Growing up in California has given me a taste for whole foods.
This is my personal experience. And my situation has its own unique twists. So I won’t say that all fat, poor people experience the same thing I do. But there is some research that suggests “Food Insecurity Is Positively Related to Overweight in Women.”
I know that the day after I’m able to refill our empty pantry, there is a strong urge to eat everything. It’s the one time I really have to restrain myself from overeating. And having to think about what I’m eating now because it will affect what I’ll be able to eat in a couple of days is definitely stressful.
The theory that poverty puts people in a constant state of near famine and the body reacts to that stress by packing on the pounds make sense to me. On a very personal level, I understand the ways that poverty and food insecurity could possibly relate to fat.
Yeah, when you change that cost per OZ breakdown to a cost per CALORIE breakdown, it’s a no brainer on the one you want to buy in order to get the most nutritional bang for your buck. If you have limited funds that you have to stretch out over a long period of time, and you don’t want to go hungry, there’s no math in the world that makes the broccoli a better purchase than the tots.
I have been that poor also, and even worse, to the point that we raised about 50%-70% of our food, including animals for meat. I totally understand where you are coming from, I too, stockpile food, because you can do w/o other things, but shelter, food and water are the staples of life.
Possibly because of those times, I also have the urge to overeat when I come home from the store. This is actually a biological thing, as a species we are feast/famine driven. Eat all you can when food is plentiful, to stock up on fat to see us through the lean times. Food spoils, body fat doesn’t.
The “eat healthy, you lazy fat pig” ppl have NEVER been without. They have no concept of what it is like not eating for days, wondering where the next meal will come from. Therefor they do not understnd that tater tots and .69/pack hotdogs are all we can afford, especially if you are like me and don’t care for beans enough to eat them every day. I have, wasn’t pleasant, but I did it. To this day I can not stand the smell of ranch beans.
Also due to food insecurity, I’m now on a crusade for urban agriculture. I still grow some veggies, will be doing more once we get the beds rebuilt, and we have 4 chickens, so we always have eggs and veggies, even if we have no money.
I am privileged not to be in a situation of food insecurity or worry. I am, though, aware of an agency designed to help - Angel Food Ministries. This ministry is operated all over the US and there may be a location that is nearby. I believe it operates by getting food wholesale, sorting into different “packages”. It is not free, but looks like a few of the these packages are sold at cost as part of the ministry. The main one is a $31 package that feeds a family of 4 for a week. Many other options are offered. (Anyone can participate and food stamps are accepted)
Sun: Urban agriculture is a great idea for all and I’d like to see more families growing vegetables when possible. What a great example you are setting for your family and neighbors.
Thank you for this, Elizabeth. My friends and family make sure there’s always food in the fridge and freezer but damn, do I ever know where and when my local food banks are open, just in case.
Karen, I would love to be setting an example, however, even in the ‘green’ city of Austin, the neighborhood I live in is stuck in the 60′s. If you don’t have a grass lawn, there must be something wrong with you. My neighbor 2 doors down has turned me me in to the city for ‘overgrown yard’ more times than I can count. The city inspector comes out, looks at the CITY RECOMMENDED XERISCAPING, tells the guy to get a life and leaves. I constantly have ppl knocking on the door asking to mow the yard. (The only grass is a 4×8 ft strip that doesn’t need mowing) It has finally gotten so bad that I am putting up a sign this week to educate the ignorant neighbors on what exactly urban agriculture/wildlife xeriscaping really is. I hate closed minds, they are such a waste of time and energy!
I have been poor in so many ways over the span of my life, that I know exactly where you are coming from. I remember that worry very well, and I pray I never go back there. I also pray you move from that place sometime real soon.
I have to say though, in Australia we are very, very lucky when it comes to fresh produce. Until recent years, it was always affordable for even lower income families to afford fruit and vegetables, and there was plenty of cheap meat on offer too. It’s only in the past 5 to 10 years that there has become a kind of food snobbery that has seen fresh food get expensive. But compared to the rest of the world, it’s still way cheaper here than it is elsewhere, because we can grow almost everything locally and have almost no need to import.
When I was growing up, seasonal, fresh fruit and vegetables were very, very cheap. Everyone was encouraged to grow something themselves (we always had orange trees, potatoes, carrots, beans, a mulberry tree, mangoes and macadamia nuts - the latter two being very expensive nowdays!) and share with your family and neighbours. Most households had chickens, and if not, excess eggs from your neighbours were cheap if not free. Milk was cheap.
Nowdays the word “fresh” imposes a %150 markup on almost all produce. It’s offensive and restrictive. And there is so much policing of what people can do with their own back yards (just as Sun describes above) people are very discouraged to grow their own food.
Has anyone tried foraging? It not really a year-round solution but it can contribute considerably to your diet for 6-8 months of the year even in temperate climates. You’d be amazed how many edible (and easy-to-identify) plants grown all over the place (even in more urban areas) and can be collected just around towns and neighborhoods. Things like dandelion, purslane, and several others are essentially weeds and grow all over the place (I’ve been able to collect enough for several meals in the 30 yard radius around my apartment in under 5 minutes). It’s a great way to get some greens in your diet for free (which allows you to get both some veggies AND buy calorie dense foods to ensure you have enough to eat). It won’t work in the winter but some free greens in spring, summer, and fall is better than no free greens