This is about fraud and about changing the SNAP system! Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Facts: Although SNAP is a federal program, state agencies run the program through local offices. Ok, I worked at Walmart for 15 years and saw so much waste and abuse with the food benefit programs. One day, I cleaned out a cart. I picked up a grocery receipt. It was for $365.00 - paid for with an EBT card. There was NO food on it, except for 1 bunch of red grapes!..There were cases and cases of pop, chips, sweets…all JUNK!..There was also a balance left on this card. The government gives out too many food benefits. People are getting a thousand dollars or more. Here are some of the things people do with all of that. Since they can not buy alcohol or cigarettes with food benefits cards, the people will have a person buy them liquor or cigarettes…like, a $40 bottle of liquor and in turn give that person buying the liquor, $60- 100 dollars in food, paid for with their EBT bridge card! I saw this many times. My own neighbor did this! Another fraudulent thing they do is: In Michigan, we have a bottle deposit of 10 cents. People will buy cases of pop, then go outside and pour it out in the parking lot. Then the person will take the empty pop cans and bottles and put them through the bottle return machines. With the bottle return receipt, they will pick up cigarettes or liquor and pay for it with the money from the bottle return refund! The bottle/can refunds should be used only on the purchase of more bottles or cans of the same beverages! People also buy non-elegible people groceries in exchange for rides, merchandise, etc. They are wasting benefits meant to feed themselves and their children when they do these fraudulent things! This is true! Pop is not nutritious, and neither is a lot of the other things people buy on the SNAP food program! I propose this, to not only end this fraud but to make America Healthy again: Change what items can be purchased with an EBT card!!! Make the foods allowed for purchase only basic healthy food > meat, fish, dairy, bread, fruits, vegetables, eggs, juice, and basic staples like flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and herbs! If these people on the SNAP program want cookies, candy, cakes, etc, then let them get their asses off of the couch and learn how to cook! The people would bitch to high heaven. Let them! They will get used to it. Not only will these people eat healthier, but they will also no longer persuade as many people to purchase liquor or cigarettes for them in exchange for food. People in this country are addicted to junk food, not real food. I proposed this before, but people told me, “Vicki, that would be too hard. You would have to change the whole barcode system!” Bullshit! It CAN be done, even if it is a huge undertaking! If we can send people into space and take them out of space, surely we can change the food barcode system! This change will make a great impact on people’s health. Eating healthy reduces diseases like obesity, diabetes, cancer, etc. People will have more energy, have better brain skills, strengthen all of their organs, and probably live a lot longer. We live in a society where there is a spirit of entitlement. So many think they are owed everything and look for free this and that. Another thing that might occur if the food benefits system is changed…is people wanting/demanding their junk food, might actually go to work just so they can buy it!! And, it is NEVER good to make the government your “daddy” because that is when the government owns you!!! Anyway, that is my suggestion to all of you. I hope you get to read it…
God Bless You and Your Families.
I don’t think changing bar codes would be necessary. I stores should be required before ringing up item to ask if they will be paying with an EBT card. Once that is entered into the stores system it would only allow them to purchase healthy items. It would require new coding for the store systems, but it would probably be an easier fix then the other way around. Also EBT cards should not be allowed at fast food places.
I definitely agree. I believe everyone who receives government assistance should have to take UA’s as well. I mean the chronically ill have to take them to receive their medications. I guarantee that would cut down on that whole entitlement thing most have. It is just a thought.
While I agree with your premise I always asked why poor people don’t eat better. Is it because they are lazy? Can’t cook? Probably true in many cases. But overall it comes down to cost. As a chef I had a young girl try to impress me by telling me she was making a $100 pasta dish. I kept thinking What could it possibly be?? Then it hit me. She had to buy ALL the ingredients for ONE dish. Recently I decided to make a tricked up potato soup. While I had an idea I looked online for recipes until I found one similar to my thoughts. It said you could buy all the ingredients at Walmart for $46.61 for 8 cups of soup. I started with a Bear Creek mix $3.89. Swapped water for beef stock $2.58. Added 1 pt. heavy cream $2.99 and 1 stick butter $,9921. Added left over mashed potatoes, 1 grated onion, 1 large stalk of celery, 1 large grated carrot, large diced full portabellas, worchestire sauce, chopped scallions and black pepper, basil oregano. Had all. Plus half pound chopped bacon $1.75, 6 oz. shredded cheddar $1.88 and pint of sour cream $1.69. Delicious! All in $14 for about 13 cups vs. 8. That is because I had all the stuff. If the ingredients for potato soup cost $46.61 what would a real meal cost? Seniors need smaller packaging and more prepared choices. They don’t need and can’t afford 14 oz. steaks or 16 oz chicken breasts. As a catering chef we used 4 oz. breast for our chicken dishes. I agree with your point overall but this is not a one size fits all issue. There are good people out there. Food for thought. Best wishes.
The thing is, a lot of people use the self check out…There is no one to ask if they will be using EBT… You need to recode the food you can buy with the food benefit cards. A store can’t just allow healthy purchases without the products being coded as such. I agree that EBT cards should not be allowed for use in restaurants… That is not an economical way of using food benefits!
Ugh, it does come down to cost!..I am 69 years old and have been poor most of my life. And I currently live on just social security! I had “Mother Earth” type parents who were label readers when they did buy something in cans or packaged, but for the most part, everything was made from scratch, and grown from our garden. My mom also canned everything. Never assume that people are lazy or can’t cook. Have you ever noticed that the healthier something is, the more expensive it is? Organic, grass-fed, free range, non-GMO, No preservatives…etc…All the healthier types of food are way more expensive. It seems the less crap a food has, the more dollars you are going to pay for it. Then there is the conditioning…You are told something is healthy and it is not…the same goes for dog food!!! You hear a lie enough times, and it becomes the truth. Another reason people go for the cheap fast food or garbage on the shelves is because it is quicker…Everyone is in a rush. People these days haven’t learned to slow down, or enjoy making a meal, or to sit down as a family together to eat it! Many people today don’t cook because their parents didn’t teach them, or let them “experiment” in the kitchen when they were little. I was ten years old when I picked peaches in our backyard. I got down a cookbook and made a peach pie. Mom said it was the best pie ever and I became the family pie maker. My parents allowed us kids to cook, even if we made a mess! People have become entitled…They expect food - NOW! All of our advertising reinforces this thinking. No, what I had previously written is very true…Limit what you can, buy with the EBT/SNAP program to only healthy food and basic staples to bake/cook with. If people can purchase pop, candy, cookies, premade chemical-laden products, etc…they will. It’s like leaving the keys in a parked car…Some will take it. A lot of people haven’t been taught about GMOs, about additives, preservatives, nitrates, nitrites, Monosodium glutamate, corn syrup, seed oils, stabilizers, flavor enhancers, colorants, etc…So, this crap needs to be removed… Keep it out of our foods for one thing, and certainly don’t allow taxpayer-funded programs to pay for this garbage!!! With all of this so-called food causing diabetes, allergies, cancer, etc…which only makes big Pharma richer, why help the people get sick or kill themselves? As for the portions out there being too big…Geesh…SMH… I am 69 and I buy family packs of chicken, etc…I divide it all up into smaller containers, or freezer bags… It is more economical for me to buy it this way. No, I couldn’t eat a whole 14 oz steak, but I can cut it up into 3 smaller steaks!!! Ok, I’m done! Have a great day! Here is my food - all made from scratch. If I can do this, anyone can!
