"You can feed 4 people on $300 a month.
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@artemis one of my absolute pet peeves in "budget friendly cooking" is that there are *very* few I've seen that aren't coming from a perspective of privilege.
They go "oh, this meal only costs $5 if we count that you use a tablespoon of milk" ... but you can't buy a tablespoon of milk. You need to buy a whole carton.
They often assume that you have a bunch of things at home already, some decently reasonable (hopefully all have basic salt and pepper), but some that ... aren't (several different types of oil, including olive oil; onions, potatoes, carrots ...)
They go "oh, but you save so much money if you buy dried beans and then cook them yourself!" ... but don't think about the fact that boiling them for a long time takes electricity, and you can't just leave them on the stove while you go out and work to actually make a living.
And that is the final point: saving money by shopping at half a dozen different places (which takes time) and making things from scratch (which also takes time), completely ignoring that a lot of people are poor *despite working far more than full time*. So they don't have the time to do this.
@melindrea
Yes to all of this.There's also the fact that you may not have your whole food budget all at once. If you can go to the store & buy everything you need altogether, you can plan meals efficiently. If today you need food, & you only have $10, then you can't buy the staples that would let you stretch things out.
It's so idealized that it's ridiculous. That's not how people's lives actually work.
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@artemis one of my absolute pet peeves in "budget friendly cooking" is that there are *very* few I've seen that aren't coming from a perspective of privilege.
They go "oh, this meal only costs $5 if we count that you use a tablespoon of milk" ... but you can't buy a tablespoon of milk. You need to buy a whole carton.
They often assume that you have a bunch of things at home already, some decently reasonable (hopefully all have basic salt and pepper), but some that ... aren't (several different types of oil, including olive oil; onions, potatoes, carrots ...)
They go "oh, but you save so much money if you buy dried beans and then cook them yourself!" ... but don't think about the fact that boiling them for a long time takes electricity, and you can't just leave them on the stove while you go out and work to actually make a living.
And that is the final point: saving money by shopping at half a dozen different places (which takes time) and making things from scratch (which also takes time), completely ignoring that a lot of people are poor *despite working far more than full time*. So they don't have the time to do this.
My gf found out she needs a low sodium diet for her health. We've got zero chance of a functional diet for her, just the least bad option at any given moment because capitalism requires the lower classes to not have access to conveniences and staples. (all while selling the illusion of abundance)
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@melindrea
Yes to all of this.There's also the fact that you may not have your whole food budget all at once. If you can go to the store & buy everything you need altogether, you can plan meals efficiently. If today you need food, & you only have $10, then you can't buy the staples that would let you stretch things out.
It's so idealized that it's ridiculous. That's not how people's lives actually work.
@melindrea
OH. Additionally, there is zero margin for food that goes bad, meals that burn, something getting dropped on the floor, etc. Things happen sometimes! -
Telling people they should live on a diet of exclusively rice & beans or whatever is just fucking cruelty.
"You're poor? Stop complaining & just suffer already."
@artemis I grew up very poor. I actually think some people who grew up without wanting need to see these kinds of videos.
Edit: Just want to throw in here that my mom never let us go hungry.
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Telling people they should live on a diet of exclusively rice & beans or whatever is just fucking cruelty.
"You're poor? Stop complaining & just suffer already."
@artemis really smacks of feudalism.
"Nothing, Peasants, back to your turnips!"
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Telling people they should live on a diet of exclusively rice & beans or whatever is just fucking cruelty.
"You're poor? Stop complaining & just suffer already."
"No, no, really, just stop with your selfish expectation that you should enjoy anything in your life. The only thing anyone needs is the absolute bare minimum for survival."
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"No, no, really, just stop with your selfish expectation that you should enjoy anything in your life. The only thing anyone needs is the absolute bare minimum for survival."
As more & more people slip below the poverty line there seem to be a whole lot of others (still living comfortably) who are lining up to explain why the poor actually don't need even the smallest comforts in life.
"Stop whining. You haven't died yet. If you haven't died, why are you upset?"
Convenient that the people who HAVE died can't complain.
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My gf found out she needs a low sodium diet for her health. We've got zero chance of a functional diet for her, just the least bad option at any given moment because capitalism requires the lower classes to not have access to conveniences and staples. (all while selling the illusion of abundance)
@Kalshann @melindrea @artemis Diet compliance with CKD and other conditions is notoriously low because of time, costs, and limited options. The only way to contain costs is to eat basic staples constantly, and there's only so many ways you can dress up steamed rice and lean chicken. Whereas everything you buy in stores is loaded with sodium, potassium, and phosphates, often as preservatives.
Affluent people love to lecture us about how to eat better but they won't give us the money to do so.
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"No, no, really, just stop with your selfish expectation that you should enjoy anything in your life. The only thing anyone needs is the absolute bare minimum for survival."
it wasn't a fluke that the Auschwitz death camp had "Arbeit macht Frei" written above its gates. all capitalists want us to believe that lie.
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As more & more people slip below the poverty line there seem to be a whole lot of others (still living comfortably) who are lining up to explain why the poor actually don't need even the smallest comforts in life.
"Stop whining. You haven't died yet. If you haven't died, why are you upset?"
Convenient that the people who HAVE died can't complain.
We are just going to hear more & more & more about how you can theoretically survive on next to nothing, all delivered with the attitude of "you selfish, lazy person. Just eat a tiny bowl of unflavored rice & be grateful."
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@Kalshann @melindrea @artemis Diet compliance with CKD and other conditions is notoriously low because of time, costs, and limited options. The only way to contain costs is to eat basic staples constantly, and there's only so many ways you can dress up steamed rice and lean chicken. Whereas everything you buy in stores is loaded with sodium, potassium, and phosphates, often as preservatives.
Affluent people love to lecture us about how to eat better but they won't give us the money to do so.
@gwynnion @Kalshann @artemis The best I've ever felt was when I was doing a low carb/high fat diet ... but at this point, my spouse and I can't do it, because we don't have the energy it takes. Every single meal and snack needed to be made almost from scratch. You could count on not being able to get anything at restaurant or whatnots that fit that, etc, and don't even think about frozen foods >.<
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We are just going to hear more & more & more about how you can theoretically survive on next to nothing, all delivered with the attitude of "you selfish, lazy person. Just eat a tiny bowl of unflavored rice & be grateful."
@artemis It all started with articles about avocado toast.
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As more & more people slip below the poverty line there seem to be a whole lot of others (still living comfortably) who are lining up to explain why the poor actually don't need even the smallest comforts in life.
"Stop whining. You haven't died yet. If you haven't died, why are you upset?"
Convenient that the people who HAVE died can't complain.
@artemis That’s how they know you haven’t died yet. It’s like the deep thoughts and prayers after school shootings. Dead children don’t vote either.
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@gwynnion @Kalshann @artemis The best I've ever felt was when I was doing a low carb/high fat diet ... but at this point, my spouse and I can't do it, because we don't have the energy it takes. Every single meal and snack needed to be made almost from scratch. You could count on not being able to get anything at restaurant or whatnots that fit that, etc, and don't even think about frozen foods >.<
@melindrea @Kalshann @artemis Yeah, and don't even bother with canned goods! The whole thing assumes you cook everything from scratch with the cleanest and healthiest ingredients, which is a joke when CKD infamously causes severe fatigue. (Ask me how I know!)
The Mediterranean Diet is especially funny because it in no way resembles how Mediterranean people actually eat and was invented by American dieticians.
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"You can feed 4 people on $300 a month. In this video, I will show you how to make a thin rice gruel..."
(The first sentence is really from a real person. The second is what I assume came next)
@artemis
"... from rice I collect from dumpsters out back of my local Panda Express." -
Suppose you *could* through constant labor, strenuous planning, & deprivation manage to feed yourself & your family on a tiny budget, that would still be extreme poverty.
I hate that people who aren't in poverty try to explain to those who are "no, really, you can survive. You just need to find a way to suffer a little more."
The problem is not a lack of ingenuity & creativity. The problem is poverty. No one should have to struggle every moment of every day just to live.
@artemis Oscar Wilde, a fuckin rich man, got it:
"Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less. For a town or country labourer to practise thrift would be absolutely immoral. Man should not be ready to show that he can live like a badly-fed animal."
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"You can feed 4 people on $300 a month. In this video, I will show you how to make a thin rice gruel..."
(The first sentence is really from a real person. The second is what I assume came next)
@artemis "...if you can afford to be a full time coupon hunter and sales shopper."
It's never "in 15 minutes a day, you can make this work comfortably", it's always "add another full time job to your roster to make existence almost tolerable".
They hate the poor and especially the fact that the poor aren't suffering enough.
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@artemis one of my absolute pet peeves in "budget friendly cooking" is that there are *very* few I've seen that aren't coming from a perspective of privilege.
They go "oh, this meal only costs $5 if we count that you use a tablespoon of milk" ... but you can't buy a tablespoon of milk. You need to buy a whole carton.
They often assume that you have a bunch of things at home already, some decently reasonable (hopefully all have basic salt and pepper), but some that ... aren't (several different types of oil, including olive oil; onions, potatoes, carrots ...)
They go "oh, but you save so much money if you buy dried beans and then cook them yourself!" ... but don't think about the fact that boiling them for a long time takes electricity, and you can't just leave them on the stove while you go out and work to actually make a living.
And that is the final point: saving money by shopping at half a dozen different places (which takes time) and making things from scratch (which also takes time), completely ignoring that a lot of people are poor *despite working far more than full time*. So they don't have the time to do this.
@melindrea @artemis there was this BBC programme in I think the 2000s or early 2010s, about "how to save money on food/shopping" and I fucking loathed it so intensely. And that was before another decade of fascism - sorry, "austerity" - made everything even worse
It featured a "real" couple every episode, and would take them through the ways they could save money. And every episode I saw, these couples were the most bougie money pissing arseholes you've ever seen. So all the advice was this smug, patronising shit that everyone who was poor even briefly already knows, and even a lot of people WITH money are smart enough to know too.
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@melindrea @artemis there was this BBC programme in I think the 2000s or early 2010s, about "how to save money on food/shopping" and I fucking loathed it so intensely. And that was before another decade of fascism - sorry, "austerity" - made everything even worse
It featured a "real" couple every episode, and would take them through the ways they could save money. And every episode I saw, these couples were the most bougie money pissing arseholes you've ever seen. So all the advice was this smug, patronising shit that everyone who was poor even briefly already knows, and even a lot of people WITH money are smart enough to know too.
@melindrea @artemis it was invariably stuff like "you can save lots of money by buying cheaper brands, or even supermarket versions!!!"
"don't buy four times as much as you need and then throw most of it away!!"
"try cooking in batches!"
and at the end was always the big reveal of WOOOOW look how much you saved per month, and the "savings" were double what I have ever spent in my life, because they were having twelve takeaways a month and falling for shit like £6.40 for 200g of premium individually bagged moravian oats
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We are just going to hear more & more & more about how you can theoretically survive on next to nothing, all delivered with the attitude of "you selfish, lazy person. Just eat a tiny bowl of unflavored rice & be grateful."
@artemis Despite what I said earlier, you are 100% right.
