"You can just"

[firecat]

About providing food for your family when you don't have a lot of money, and the thoughtless advice that people sometimes give if they don't know much about a difficult problem you have, especially if they give the advice using the adverb "just" (with the "it's so simple" connotation).

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2011/08/31/you-can-just/

Comments

[jenk]

It helps if lentil soup doesn't only appear when parents are stressed. If it frequently appears with lunch or dinner the kids are going to see it as normal.

[mama-hogswatch.livejournal.com]

Well, we eat a lot of bean soups and beans and rice, yes.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on one's POV, we always had an "Eat what's served or starve" policy. Not as harsh as it sounds. If I KNOW a kid doesn't like something, it shows up less often in the rotation than foods I know they DO like.

But beans and rice is GOOD.

[auntysocial.livejournal.com]

I actually don't have children and don't get food stamps. I am on a budget though, and I cook for myself and my husband. I have room in the budget for some of what I call luxury items. I think of potato chips as a luxury. Although they don't cost that much, the the ratio of price to nutritional value is too high. I'm saying I understand their allure! You see them on TV, and they have that wonderful crunch.

It would be easy to look at all the very nutritious foods in the market, like legumes, cabbages and other low-cost vegetables and think it might not be so difficult to eat on a low budget, but there are a lot of things that can make it difficult! One is the amount of time it takes to prepare unprocessed food and make it attractive. Another is the allure of the potato chip and other manufactured foods that are widely available and made attractive through advertising, and I think children are particularly susceptible to advertising.

[jenk]

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on one's POV, we always had an "Eat what's served or starve" policy. Not as harsh as it sounds. If I KNOW a kid doesn't like something, it shows up less often in the rotation than foods I know they DO like.

I don't have a quibble with that, especially if it's combined with variety. I think a lot of whining parents experience with sudden, major menu changes is the kids reacting normally to change. A parent might have similar issues trying to turn their kids into vegetarians or moving to a Kosher diet. And if you combine it with complaining that the food's not expensive enough (as one friend's now-ex-husband would) well then what DO you expect? *rolls eyes*