fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2537 ]

[ SECRET POST #2537 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2537 ⌋

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01.

[MLP]

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[NiGHTS into Dreams]

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[MLP]

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[Sleepy Hollow]

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[Mabinogi]

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06.

[the hollows/rachel morgan]

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[MLP/fallout: equestria]

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08.

[Collar 6]

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[ ----- SPOILERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

09. [SPOILERS for Catching Fire]

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10. [SPOILERS for Ludo's Broken Bride CD]

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11. [SPOILERS for Monster Girl Quest]

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[ ----- TRIGGERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

12. [WARNING for sexual assault]

[Glee]

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[MLP]

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14. [WARNING for non-con]

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Notes:

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I am in America for the first time and at the shop today the person in front of us used welfare to buy crisps and chocolate covered snack cakes. The price on the crisp packet said it was $4.75. My host bought a roasted chicken for $4.50 and when I asked about why the welfare people don't just buy real food he said that the roasted chicken doesn't count as food because it's warm. My question is: why doesn't the chicken count when it is obviously food but the crisps and snack cakes do count when they aren't real food? Why is junk food allowed at all and real foods aren't? Also my host said welfare cannot buy milk and I don't believe him. Is that true? Is it the same in all of America?

Has your host had personal experience with welfare? As far as I know, asking anything about how welfare works to someone who's never been on welfare will get you a wrong answer because misinformation is widely spread.

Snacks ARE food, you CAN buy milk, and yeah, it's dumb that what you can buy is temperature-dependent. You could get the exact same chicken with EBT if it had been refrigerated.

I will admit that I'm currently on food stamps. The situation with the chicken happened to me. I got a rotisserie chicken one day and it was the only thing not covered. Basically, any pre-prepared food is not covered but everything else that's food is. Milk is definitely covered.

I'm on food stamps, too, and if you want a rotisserie chicken, you can totally get one if whatever store you go to sells them cold. Basically any prepared in-store food is available cold in my experience, and cold food qualifies for EBT. And is still an easy/quick meal, because all you have to do is heat it up.

It's the same in every state.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligible-food-items

Oookay, yes you can buy milk on welfare. No, you can't buy hot food on welfare. It's considered takeout, basically. There is WiC, which gives vouchers for certain milks, breads, etc, for mothers, though.

If had to guess (I'm a fellow brit so I don't know (also I assume you're a brit because you called them crisps, and I've never heard any one else online do that. every non-American I've interacted with has called them chips)) I'd say that since healthcare isn't free, the government agency responsible for welfare is hoping diabetes, obesity, or food poisoning will kill off the people on welfare if they are allowed to consume cheap shit and not allowed to consume well prepared food.

You'd like that, wouldn't you. Why don't you tell us all about your compassionate nonclassist government and the top-notch quality of the free hospitals it funds.

DA - I'm an American and I actually think it's a valid point though it might not be such a clear-cut thing, I'd have to research it.

How much does becoming unconscious cost over there? You pass out in public, some inconsiderate jerk calls for an ambulance, and then someone starts gouging money out of you, right?

some inconsiderate jerk calls for an ambulance

...are you sober enough for an argument.

That line was a jokey comment about how calling an ambulance should not be considered an inconsiderate act, but can often do more harm than good in a nation with over the top medical costs for people who really can't afford it.

Yes better to not call an ambulance.

I don't know how accurate this is but currently I've been coached to tell irate customers that SNAP doesn't pay for the tax on hot food items that can be eaten in-store. Previously we were told to state it was an FDA regulation.

But SNAP pays for redbull, gum, and stuffed teddy bears with candy canes attached so I'm not all that sure they've completely locked down the definition of food over there. Not to mention those items also incur taxes that somehow don't show up once foodstamps are run.

*I'm not saying SNAP should go all WIC style and restrict foods (dear god am I not saying that, as someone who works a lot as a cashier that sounds like a fucking nightmare) just that if they're going to let people buy gum and teddy bears they can let them have a bbq chicken sandwich.

Edited 2013-12-14 06:28 (UTC)

You know, I don't care what people buy with food stamps, or what the program allows, but I kind of always wonder who the hell decided that gum counts as food.

Red Bull is a beverage, you could argue that the bear is part of the packaging on the candy cane, but... Gum? You don't even eat it! You spit it! Well, okay, you can eat it, but I don't think many people do. If you're going to cover gum, why not toilet paper? Or soap? Especially since you can already buy baking soda, the bulk of which seems to get used for non-food purposes.

Oh, and the bear thing made me curious... Can you buy a Pez dispenser with SNAP?

The Red Bull mostly confuses me because food stamps doesn't cover at least one other energy drink brand (I can't recall which) and none of those energy shots. And I mean, technically beer is a beverage... Better lobbyists?

My store doesn't carry any pez dispensers so I don't know. I do know they cover those little candy fans so probably.

The closest thing I have to explaining the gum is that you can pick up two or three calories from a piece of gum but none from toilet paper. Of course you can say that and more about multivitamins which aren't covered?

OT cool fact that basically saved my family when we were on food stamps - you can buy food producing plants and seeds!

Edited 2013-12-14 07:00 (UTC)

...That explains a lot! I once watched my boyfriend's sister and her friend get in to an argument about whether energy drinks are covered, and they came to a conclusion that fell somewhere between "depends on the store" and "dunno lol." I always just put it down to them not being the sharpest knives, so it's interesting to know that it's on a brand-by-brand basis!

Beer and vitamins are both more like food than gum will ever be! And I knew about the seeds. I think that's really nifty. :)

The .gov page explains energy drinks this way:

When considering the eligibility of energy drinks, and other branded products, the primary determinant is the type of product label chosen by the manufacturer to conform to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines:

Energy drinks that have a nutrition facts label are eligible foods

Energy drinks that have a supplement facts label are classified by the FDA as supplements, and are therefore not eligible

The program was meant to provide food and at the time that went hand in hand with nutrition. Junk food is allowed simply because it's too expensive and time-consuming to basically re-write the system to take it all out. It's the number one complaint of critics of the SNAP program and it can only be changed by Congress. Every few years a politician or a small group of them starts the process to remove junk food from the program and then just gives up.

Basically this.

To put it another way, the reason it's like this is because the American political system is deeply dysfunctional.

Actually, as someone who has been on welfare, and is currently on food stamps, there is a difference between the two.

Welfare is a cash benefit that one receives monthly. It can be used on anything. It's supposed to be used on necessities like clothing and paper products, but, well.. yeah.

Food stamps (or SNAP aka Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) can only be used on food, though what they consider to be food can be very arbitrary, as you found. Like that chicken can't be bought in your example because it's warm, BUT I've found that cold prepared food like sushi is covered (made me go wtf). You can definitely buy milk with food stamps. Ironically, you can also buy pre-prepared protein shakes with food stamps, but trying to just buy protein powder by itself gets you a big, fat DENIED.

Some of us do use food stamps to buy "real food". It's just that junk is cheaper overall in my area, and most people don't care enough to find the cheaper stuff that is actually good for them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #2537 ]

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