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Food For Thought:
You are a pensioner. You have paid the rent/mortgage, hydro, heating, phone, insurances, property taxes if you own and all your other bills but there is very, very little leftover for food and your pensions have run out. You gather up all your change and find you have 7 dollars, which will buy you very little food, maybe a single meal but pension day is a week away. You go shopping at the grocery store and find cans of dog food on sale for 0.99. Would you buy and eat them? You could get 5 for your 7 dollars.
PS. I just got a notice to raise funds for a cause...I considered it but saw nothing for elderly people in financial need.

DonaldHRoberts 7 July 21
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12 comments

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0

I hear you! Where I live, it's not uncommon to see seniors dumpster-diving! We need LIVABLE retirement incomes!

0

baked beans, butter and bread is cheaper

0

no, i might consider cat food but only with tabasco sauce.

0

Happened here in the 60s

bobwjr Level 10 July 21, 2019
0

Dried beans are cheaper than canned & go further. Rice is cheaper at the "international" market than a regular market. You'd be amazed at how many edibles can be grown in a flower bed & in garden pots. Foraging is a lost art. Now is a good time for wild berries, broad leaf plantain, & wild garlic/onion. Poke weed & dandelion can be had but you have to get it young & tender. Churches & food pantries can help out & there is many a person w/a garden that is overrun with something & dying to give it away. In my life I have had to be creative to keep body & soul together & make sure my kids were sheltered, safe, & fed. If you keep in mind to be smart & savvy when food is abundant, you tend to get by when money is short & the grocery budget is on the chopping block. Pride is great but it isn't filling.

1

I am sure that there are people who do buy dog/cat food and eat it. Not everyone has imagination that you can buy and cook something for very little money, unfortunately. When some people are in that predicament they sometimes cannot think rationally, all that stress and despair takes over.

1

Call your town clerk and ask for the Senior Lunch Program, also any food distribution program.
Buy day old bread
Buy rice, beans, canned tomatoes.
Call Food Link - they are everywhere.

@DonaldHRoberts
I live in upstate New York where we have the best safety net in all of the US.

@DonaldHRoberts My guess is that there are programs run by not for peofits that fill some of the needs. I worked for 15 years for a Rural; Health Network, so lknowing about these programs was part of my job. that includes Patient Assistance programs for expensive drugs and which public agencies provide what kind of services. It was a most satisfying job.

1

Do not eat dog food. Seven dollars for a single meal? If you blow it on fast food maybe...

  • Buy beans and rice
  • Buy macaroni and cheese
  • Get a part time job where they serve food
  • Live by your wits and raise more money

@DonaldHRoberts Then someone should move! This should have been thought about prior to going onto 100% pension I would think. There are usually ways to raise funds if one uses their head.

2

I live in the UK so that is around £6....with that I could by enough carrots, onions and potatoes along with some canned tomatoes and beans to make a large pot of soup which would have most of the nutrition I need. Our supermarkets here often sell fruit and vegetables at considerably reduced prices in the late evening when the date on them is about to expire, bread too can be purchased at a fraction of the normal price and I would scoop up as much as I could if I found myself in that dire situation. I would not consider eating dog food unless there was absolutely no alternative,

0

I’d go to a feed store and buy a sack of wheat.

I’d cut costs—move into a tent if necessary.

1

No I would not purchase dog food and eat it. $7 coin one can still be quite creative and eat for 7 days. At least in the Cleveland area. Being I cook for myself I find I get by on not a whole lot more than that anyhow.

1

A tin of tomato paste, water, a package of frozen vegetables, a little pasta, some cheap protein, seasoning, & its soup for several days.

@Allamanda Much of this is already on hand in the house. I am also within walking distance of town, & Canadian prices are a lot higher than US prices.

@Allamanda Yeah, that is an issue. What do you pay for a dozen eggs, or a loaf of whole wheat bread?

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