Take Your Health Seriously

[abefroman329]

Imagine my relief that snowc wasn't posting about seeing someone paying to eat at GC with government assistance.

Even if my stomach wasn't reduced to the size of a banana, the only chain buffet I would ever eat at is Fogo de Chao, and honestly, I can count the number of non-chain buffets I would eat at on one hand. Gargantuan portions of mediocre food, no thanks.

[Max Rockatansky]

Imagine my relief that snowc wasn't posting about seeing someone paying to eat at GC with government assistance.

Even if my stomach wasn't reduced to the size of a banana, the only chain buffet I would ever eat at is Fogo de Chao, and honestly, I can count the number of non-chain buffets I would eat at on one hand. Gargantuan portions of mediocre food, no thanks.

I did used to really enjoy the bag of 50 wings from Ponderosa Steakhouse.  My Dad and I used to eat there all the time when I was in High School.  The 50 count and 100 count bags of wings were really nice to have for sports parties back in the 1990s.

[J N Winkler]

At the checkout line in Sprouts, she grabbed an energy drink because she was feeling a little groggy.  It was not covered by EBT.

Question:  what happens when not all of the goods that have been rung up are SNAP-eligible?  Does one just swipe a credit or debit card to cover the non-eligible items?

I used to have a less varied diet as well:  the same thing for both breakfast and lunch every day, and only supper changing from day to day.  But, when I started to eat healthier lunches a year ago or so, I also added some variety.  I now have four lunch meals that I cycle through–two each week.  I do believe in the efficacy of a varied diet, and I'd like to encourage you to throw some more variety in each week.  Even if you don't get quite the same nutrient load from whatever other meal you put on the calendar, you at least give your body the opportunity to get some nutrients you might not have realized were lacking in your current plan.

My diet does incorporate some provision for variety.  The key is that the fiber and vegetable diversity requirements still have to be met.  Sometimes this happens when I substitute vegetable soup for bean soup (e.g., turnip soup gives me turnip, carrot, celery, and onion), or add different vegetables to salad (e.g. avocado instead of tomato:  a regular summer salad gives me green leaf lettuce and spring onion at minimum).

[abefroman329]

One of my pandemic regrets is I didn't start to cook, which with me working at home would've been very convenient to do.

Yeah, I went through a bread-baking phase at the beginning of the stay-at-home period, and later cured and smoked bacon, but I didn't do much that was useful. Nearly all of the dishes we "cook"  are either (a) pre-assembled fresh meals from Trader Joe's that just need to be heated up in the oven or (b) cooked in a slow cooker or Instant Pot. The only time I have an urge to make something more complicated than that is on the weekends or a day when I don't work.

[abefroman329]

Imagine my relief that snowc wasn't posting about seeing someone paying to eat at GC with government assistance.

Even if my stomach wasn't reduced to the size of a banana, the only chain buffet I would ever eat at is Fogo de Chao, and honestly, I can count the number of non-chain buffets I would eat at on one hand. Gargantuan portions of mediocre food, no thanks.

I did used to really enjoy the bag of 50 wings from Ponderosa Steakhouse.  My Dad and I used to eat there all the time when I was in High School.  The 50 count and 100 count bags of wings were really nice to have for sports parties back in the 1990s.

I do not envy the poor bastard who had to count out 100 wings one by one.

And I do have happy memories of Ponderosa, Sizzler, and Old Country Buffet, but.

[Rothman]

Ok folks, take Golden Corral for a good example, including Rothman
So, we have a GC in Smithfield (and yes we saw a taxi too, A NYC one!)
My family visited it today, bypassing I95 because of the bridgework due to a truck  it!
We paid $12 each for the meal, and my father got it for free (his birthday is next saturday)
Upon arrival, the lady gave us our utensils and told us the breakdown.
I headed to the buffet, and they had mostly comfort food.
They didnt have chicken tenders, but had the BEST hamburgers ever.
I had some cottage cheese (LOVE IT), shredded cheese, hard boiled egg, and some rolls.
Those burgers are what I call steakburgers. They tasted like home! 
We had a family of four in back of us, and they apologized for their autistic daughter (yes i am autistic as well)
So, it was a good meal, but crowded.
Rothman, is the GC in Erie Blvd still open? The last time i visited in December 2021, they were closed.

I have no idea.

[SD Mapman]

One of my pandemic regrets is I didn't start to cook, which with me working at home would've been very convenient to do.

Yeah, I went through a bread-baking phase at the beginning of the stay-at-home period...

I feel like a lot of people did, even in western SD. It was a pain trying to buy flour at Safeway or Lueders (the local grocery) and Walmart wasn't even worth going for.

[snowc]

We have something similar in my area called Western Sizzlin
THEY HAVE GOOD CHICKEN TENDERS AND STEAK! 

[snowc]

Ok folks, take Golden Corral for a good example, including Rothman
So, we have a GC in Smithfield (and yes we saw a taxi too, A NYC one!)
My family visited it today, bypassing I95 because of the bridgework due to a truck  it!
We paid $12 each for the meal, and my father got it for free (his birthday is next saturday)
Upon arrival, the lady gave us our utensils and told us the breakdown.
I headed to the buffet, and they had mostly comfort food.
They didnt have chicken tenders, but had the BEST hamburgers ever.
I had some cottage cheese (LOVE IT), shredded cheese, hard boiled egg, and some rolls.
Those burgers are what I call steakburgers. They tasted like home! 
We had a family of four in back of us, and they apologized for their autistic daughter (yes i am autistic as well)
So, it was a good meal, but crowded.
Rothman, is the GC in Erie Blvd still open? The last time i visited in December 2021, they were closed.

I have no idea.

Im a bonehead.
I just realized I visited there on a WEDNESDAY! And they DO NOT open till 10:30am! 

[abefroman329]

One of my pandemic regrets is I didn't start to cook, which with me working at home would've been very convenient to do.

Yeah, I went through a bread-baking phase at the beginning of the stay-at-home period...

I feel like a lot of people did, even in western SD. It was a pain trying to buy flour at Safeway or Lueders (the local grocery) and Walmart wasn't even worth going for.

Oh yeah, flour and yeast were really hard to find at the beginning of the pandemic.

[andrepoiy]

I was around 170 lbs (I'm 5'9) when the pandemic began. I went up to like 185 lbs because online school and not doing anything sucks. For some reason even though I did go on daily bike rides, that didn't help.

When I started university, where I had control of my own food intake, I quickly stopped eating lunch and I dropped to 170 lbs again in a months. For some reason, didn't continue dropping after that. Probably because the body got used to the smaller caloric intake and adapted.

I'd still love to drop more but I'm quite sure how to continue haha

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Adding on to that list, I'd just ban food stamps from soda, energy drinks, and candy/other high sugar foods.

My wife and I just got back from our big biweekly grocery shopping trip.

At the checkout line in Sprouts, she grabbed an energy drink because she was feeling a little groggy.  It was not covered by EBT.

Then, at Dillon's (Kroger), one of the items we bought was a bottle of A&W root beer.  It was covered by EBT.  How does that make you feel?  If you think it shouldn't have been covered, then consider that we bought it because it's an ingredient in some barbecue pulled pork we're cooking later in the week and serving with tortillas and cole slaw.  That is to say, we're using the root beer as a food item as part of a home-cooked family dinner.

99% of people who buy root beer are planning on drinking the root beer. You can't account for every little possible use.

This is what people have been trying to tel you. You're trying to make gray into black and white to fit your own beliefs. That's not how life works. Learn to live with it.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

My problems with meal planning have always been:

1. I don't know what I want to eat until I'm hungry. I'm not going to want to make something I may or may not be in the mood to eat or it might just go to waste. This ends with me eating a lot of fast food and quick grocery trips for stuff I decide I do want.

2. I struggle with eating leftovers. It's unlikely I will want to eat what I made again soon. That results in waste.

[Max Rockatansky]

Imagine my relief that snowc wasn't posting about seeing someone paying to eat at GC with government assistance.

Even if my stomach wasn't reduced to the size of a banana, the only chain buffet I would ever eat at is Fogo de Chao, and honestly, I can count the number of non-chain buffets I would eat at on one hand. Gargantuan portions of mediocre food, no thanks.

I did used to really enjoy the bag of 50 wings from Ponderosa Steakhouse.  My Dad and I used to eat there all the time when I was in High School.  The 50 count and 100 count bags of wings were really nice to have for sports parties back in the 1990s.

I do not envy the poor bastard who had to count out 100 wings one by one.

And I do have happy memories of Ponderosa, Sizzler, and Old Country Buffet, but.

I usually found it was closer to 110 wings in the bag.  I don't think a lot of care went into counting them out and it was more about stuffing a bag of a certain size.

[Scott5114]

My problems with meal planning have always been:

1. I don't know what I want to eat until I'm hungry. I'm not going to want to make something I may or may not be in the mood to eat or it might just go to waste. This ends with me eating a lot of fast food and quick grocery trips for stuff I decide I do want.

2. I struggle with eating leftovers. It's unlikely I will want to eat what I made again soon. That results in waste.

I have the same problems. With leftovers it's the dual problem of both not really wanting to eat the same dish again for like a week, and the flavor and texture of leftovers usually being a pale shadow of the freshly-cooked version.

[kphoger]

Question:  what happens when not all of the goods that have been rung up are SNAP-eligible?  Does one just swipe a credit or debit card to cover the non-eligible items?

Yes.  I didn't look to see if she paid for the energy drink with cash or a debit card, but it was one of those.



Home cooking is no problem with a family of five.  Cooking for "just the two of you" is challenging but doable.  Cooking while single is understandably frustrating.

[J N Winkler]

Some foods make better leftovers than others.  Pot roast, bean soup, etc. all reheat well, while broccoli pasta really doesn't.

One way to work around the problem of not knowing what you want to eat until you are hungry is to have a set of candidate dishes for each meal.  This tends to be more convenient if the ingredients are dry or frozen, but it can be made to work with fresh food too.

[thspfc]

Adding on to that list, I'd just ban food stamps from soda, energy drinks, and candy/other high sugar foods.

My wife and I just got back from our big biweekly grocery shopping trip.

At the checkout line in Sprouts, she grabbed an energy drink because she was feeling a little groggy.  It was not covered by EBT.

Then, at Dillon's (Kroger), one of the items we bought was a bottle of A&W root beer.  It was covered by EBT.  How does that make you feel?  If you think it shouldn't have been covered, then consider that we bought it because it's an ingredient in some barbecue pulled pork we're cooking later in the week and serving with tortillas and cole slaw.  That is to say, we're using the root beer as a food item as part of a home-cooked family dinner.

99% of people who buy root beer are planning on drinking the root beer. You can't account for every little possible use.

This is what people have been trying to tel you. You're trying to make gray into black and white to fit your own beliefs. That's not how life works. Learn to live with it.

99% is essentially black. Or white.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Adding on to that list, I'd just ban food stamps from soda, energy drinks, and candy/other high sugar foods.

My wife and I just got back from our big biweekly grocery shopping trip.

At the checkout line in Sprouts, she grabbed an energy drink because she was feeling a little groggy.  It was not covered by EBT.

Then, at Dillon's (Kroger), one of the items we bought was a bottle of A&W root beer.  It was covered by EBT.  How does that make you feel?  If you think it shouldn't have been covered, then consider that we bought it because it's an ingredient in some barbecue pulled pork we're cooking later in the week and serving with tortillas and cole slaw.  That is to say, we're using the root beer as a food item as part of a home-cooked family dinner.

99% of people who buy root beer are planning on drinking the root beer. You can't account for every little possible use.

This is what people have been trying to tel you. You're trying to make gray into black and white to fit your own beliefs. That's not how life works. Learn to live with it.

99% is essentially black. Or white.

And yet you yourself said "you can't account for every possible use" .

[thspfc]

Adding on to that list, I'd just ban food stamps from soda, energy drinks, and candy/other high sugar foods.

My wife and I just got back from our big biweekly grocery shopping trip.

At the checkout line in Sprouts, she grabbed an energy drink because she was feeling a little groggy.  It was not covered by EBT.

Then, at Dillon's (Kroger), one of the items we bought was a bottle of A&W root beer.  It was covered by EBT.  How does that make you feel?  If you think it shouldn't have been covered, then consider that we bought it because it's an ingredient in some barbecue pulled pork we're cooking later in the week and serving with tortillas and cole slaw.  That is to say, we're using the root beer as a food item as part of a home-cooked family dinner.

99% of people who buy root beer are planning on drinking the root beer. You can't account for every little possible use.

This is what people have been trying to tel you. You're trying to make gray into black and white to fit your own beliefs. That's not how life works. Learn to live with it.

99% is essentially black. Or white.

And yet you yourself said "you can't account for every possible use" .

How does that relate?

99% of people who buy root beer drink it. There are other uses for root beer; that doesn't matter because almost everyone who buys it drinks it.

[Scott5114]

"Your Honor, I intend to prove that, because there are legitimate culinary uses of root beer, the State of Wisconsin acted arbitrarily and capriciously in banning my client's product, A&W Root Beer, from the EBT system, and that due to lost sales stemming from that arbitrary and capricious decision, we are entitled to damages in the amount of..."

[thspfc]

"Your Honor, I intend to prove that, because there are legitimate culinary uses of root beer, the State of Wisconsin acted arbitrarily and capriciously in banning my client's product, A&W Root Beer, from the EBT system, and that due to lost sales stemming from that arbitrary and capricious decision, we are entitled to damages in the amount of..."

Are you a lawyer? Because I'm reluctant to consider the ideas of a non-lawyer speaking as if he's a lawyer.

You want me to list all of the items banned from food stamps that have "legitimate culinary uses" ?

You really think "legitimate culinary uses"  are going to stop anything?

[TheHighwayMan3561]

"Your Honor, I intend to prove that, because there are legitimate culinary uses of root beer, the State of Wisconsin acted arbitrarily and capriciously in banning my client's product, A&W Root Beer, from the EBT system, and that due to lost sales stemming from that arbitrary and capricious decision, we are entitled to damages in the amount of..."

Are you a lawyer? Because I'm reluctant to consider the ideas of a non-lawyer speaking as if he's a lawyer.

You want me to list all of the items banned from food stamps that have "legitimate culinary uses" ?

You really think "legitimate culinary uses"  are going to stop anything?

We're just people on an internet board. What makes your arguments any more or less legal-proof than Scott's? Other than your belief that your arguments are correct and beyond reproach.

[Scott5114]

"Your Honor, I intend to prove that, because there are legitimate culinary uses of root beer, the State of Wisconsin acted arbitrarily and capriciously in banning my client's product, A&W Root Beer, from the EBT system, and that due to lost sales stemming from that arbitrary and capricious decision, we are entitled to damages in the amount of..."

Are you a lawyer? Because I'm reluctant to consider the ideas of a non-lawyer speaking as if he's a lawyer.

You want me to list all of the items banned from food stamps that have "legitimate culinary uses" ?

You really think "legitimate culinary uses"  are going to stop anything?

Doesn't really matter whether it actually stops anything or not. The state would still have to spend a tremendous amount of money defending its right to block the products from the EBT system, even if the court eventually sides in favor of the state.

[HighwayStar]

My problems with meal planning have always been:

2. I struggle with eating leftovers. It's unlikely I will want to eat what I made again soon. That results in waste.

I have the same problems. With leftovers it's the dual problem of both not really wanting to eat the same dish again for like a week, and the flavor and texture of leftovers usually being a pale shadow of the freshly-cooked version.

Those fortunate enough to have always lived in prosperity can eat that way. Those that lived through true times of want, such as my grandfather did in the depression and during the Guadalcanal campaign, have an innate aversion to wasting food in any such manner. 20 year old frozen hamburger meat? Yep, still good.