Very strange assortment of items indeed, but she doesn't really have any experience doing this sort of thing.

I was in such a place once, with children, and remember purchasing a lot of canned items because they're cheap. Beans, canned beans. Oatmeal, rice, pasta and spaghetti sauce. I would make soups and get several meals out of them. The eggs were a good choice.

Her items do make a pretty picture, anyway.

it looks like she'd make a large pot of black beans with rice… and/or burritos.

#2. at least she's honest
#3. she helped get attention to the issue.

And again, except for the limes and tortillas, her choices look like what I lived on back in the day.

Except my corn would have been the shriveled up ear on the remainder cart.

It's so hard to do...I had 3 kids and used coupons like crazy, even paid less for produce that was 'old' but still edible (like your shriveled up corn!). People who have never had to live on very little really don't get it. Maybe what Gwyneth has done will give her a new awareness, and since she's a celebrity, she can do some good.

Here is a confession:

I hate food stamps.

In my ideal world, those who have food insecurity issues would qualify for actual FOOD. Like government cheese.

A bag or two full of staples every week per hungry belly.

And maybe a crockpot.

And a few free lessons in food prep.

If you don't have a refrigerator you can't keep perishables more than a day or so, in many parts of America shopping every day or every two days is completely impractical if you don't have a car. The closest food store to me is just over round trip, that's about a two and half hour walk at a brisk pace to get there and back and you will be carrying groceries on that walk on the way back. Also there aren't even any sidewalks for almost the entire trip, you either walk on the rough (and soggy right now) shoulder or you walk in the two lane road with cars buzzing mere inches away at fifty plus mph.

One thing about a lot of junk food is that at least you can keep it for a reasonable length of time without refrigeration and you can eat it without having to cook it.

Our community kitchen has done amazing 'business'. And considering how cold the winter was this year - being able to come in and make a big pot of chili or soup to heat up in the microwave over a few days was a big hit. One thing I've learned on this journey was running your gas top stove or over for a few hours can be daunting.

In an ideal world - every food bank would be able to offer this to people who are not just food insecure - but gas/electric/energy insecure.

Even at Easter / Passover - shop rite was giving away hams and chickens and lasagna . . . great at the food bank - right? Nope. Might not have a working oven.

That's where a community kitchen where folks can pull resources is critical.

And I thank you for your excellent points.

was known as 'Commodities.' Each week (or maybe it was each month?), my father would travel into town -- we lived on a small farm! -- and get stocks of the very food items you reference. I still remember the big jars of peanut butter, the government cheese (orange and wax-like in its outward appearance), the canned goods in plain labels and, most dreadful of all, the 'powdered milk' to which water had to be added. To this day, I still shudder when I remember that powdered milk, which never seemed to taste like the milk our cows gave.

I'm not sure when the Commodities program was phased out in favor of, first, food stamps and now the SNAP cards.

ETA: Of all the progressive issues I obsess on, childhood poverty and hunger arouse the most ire, as only those who have experienced hunger and poverty as children can ever really know the shame and stigma it brings and the terror of going to bed on an empty stomach. It's criminal that this country allows so many of its children to live like this even still today. There's no excuse for it, imo.

apples, cheddar, bread, lentils, peas, peanut butter…. whole foods.

I'd like to see more improvement in school breafast/lunch programs.

We should be able to do it.

Nutritious food that tastes great and is palatable for kids isn't that difficult.

Maybe there's just so much red tape in the way?

plain-labeled (black lettering on white labels) cans. To this day, I have a mild aversion to prunes because canned prunes were one of the staples provided. Probably perishables were not practical to store and distribute from the government warehouses, I'm guessing.

Your idea to give away crock pots is tremendous! Serious hat tip for that.

A couple more memories: 1)canned meat. Ugh. I still retch every time I think of it.

2) the notion that family farmers -- like our family was -- were so poor that we required food assistance still staggers my mind to this day. There's something perversely ironic about an economy that results in such a situation.

All those millions will ease her pain.

you cannot live nutritiously on $29 a week.

I find her to be pretentious and condescending. My opinion. Others are entitled to theirs.

and in this case...she is proving you wrong...terribly incorrect.

Are you a fangirl Goop subscriber or something?

and certainly not as bad as you described!

She's a true woman of the people and a saint.

I've seen the way to operate and I'm no getting into an endless, relentless pissing match with you over this...not worth my time.

The whole GOOP thing is so pretentious and airheaded it has to be seen to be believed.

Apart from that, I think her obliviously annoying 1%er comments are pretty funny. Unintentional comedy, sure, but reliable.

.... between "idiot" and "ignorant".

I'm betting Ms. Paltrow is ignorant of the things poor people have to know and do to survive. There is plenty of that ignorance floating around.

choices ... if you have a real produce stand in your area.

Is Paltrow trying to help families? What side is she on?

Her baby cribs cost more than all the furniture in my house. What does she know about poverty?

about her baby cribs.

LOL

The cost of her baby's crib could feed a family for months. But maybe you're OK with that.

a good part of the money that is generated around this area comes from people with way more money than most of us.

It's a wealthy person's attitude towards society that matters to me.

Do they try to keep others from achieving better living conditions or work to make things better?

But I have more respect for someone who cares within their life's experience. Just thinking that she could duplicate the lifestyle of poor people shows a real lack of understanding on her part. As far as her lifestyle, I have no problem with it or with her. But perhaps she learned a little humility by assuming she was some kind of expert, based on her life experiences.

I don't expect Queen Elizabeth to know much about the common person's lifestyle, but I still like her.

Furniture used to be an investment that got passed from one generation to the next. It was well-made to last a lifetime or more, and you saved up to get it. Cheap mass production certainly makes furniture acquisition more accessible for many people, and I appreciate that. At the same time, it replaces a skilled tradesperson with less skilled, lower pay positions/machines, and results in a tremendous amount of waste. There's a case to be made that those who can afford high quality products made with real craftsmanship ought to do so.

She turned that $29 challenge into the Black/Blue or Gold/White dress. Now everyone is talking about it. Except this time people are seeing something real - that people getting food stamps get only $29 to survive. Sure Gwynny made a fool of herself trying but in the process she started a media storm that got EVERYONE talking about it and seeing what it is like to spend so little for food.

She is not saying she knows what Poverty is like....she is simply saying the current limits on TANF do not let one eat nutritiously....

Gwyneth thinks taking the "food stamp challenge" is a game. She only made it 4 days. Oh well no loss for her now she can go back to her $1000 meals and cherry picked food. Sadly for tens of millions of others this is no game. She is so out of touch its sickening. And whats worse is she tries so hard to paint herself as a "common woman". The disdain for her is warranted.

How many people were talking about it before Gywneth Paltrow tried this.

Stop giving the woman grief. I've heard more people talk about what she did and had no clue that's how little money people were getting in food stamps. She started a conversation and maybe we laughed at her because of how she went about doing it but along the way we also started to think 'Gee, that really isn't enough money is it'

I for one am glad she tried. I know she meant well even if she came across a bit foolish doing so.

She actually tried and she has the world talking about $29 and how little food it actually buys. Sure she bought the type of food she would normally eat because she lives near a decent grocery store where she can select plenty of produce. For most people with food stamps they are stuck with the can crap at the local dollar store.

But here's a thought

PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT IT

$29 - That's not enough money for anyone.

I am glad she tried. People need to stop being critical about her for doing this.

That's like defending Bush for starting a war and saying at least his heart was in the right place.

Everyone will forget this. They won't forget her attempt at being just like the little people.

that isn't right.

curmudgeons...pffft!

There was a challenge out there to survive on $29 based on what people get for Food Stamps.

Her embarrassment started a dialog. Debates and discussions about her foolishness turn into talk about the reality of what a family really does have when they live on food stamps.

Why would you compare her to Bush? I mean really, how insanely silly is that - people have not died because of what she has done. But maybe peoples eyes are opened because they are now talking about it and thinking about $29 and how far that goes in food for them. Heck I could spend that out in a restaurant easily.

When people start talking about stuff like that we can start making change. Why do you think there was a challenge out there to do this in the first place.

I was way over the top with the Bush comparison. And I certainly don't dislike Paltrow, but I was just wondering why she would think she had what it takes to live poor. What possible life experience could she fall back on?

she is talking about what WE the taxpayers that can afford to feed ourselves and our families....how much WE don't understand how little we expect people to live on who can't afford to.....that it is far too little! THAT is all...she is not mocking the poor....quite the opposite! She is raising awareness to those that might never think about how to feed their kids on so little money....RAISING AWARENESS....she knows those on Foodstamps are already aware of what she is saying.....some Americans sadly are not!

Mario Batali put her up to the challenge. Before she started she has made a nice donation to the charity.

she is one horrible condescending bouigie Cruella DeVille!

I think she did something helpful by trying to survive on $29, and putting up her choices on the Internet. I hope she learned something about being poor, and also that she understands that not everyone could have bought those things (as mentioned, lack of access to stores or means to cook fresh food).

Everybody always tells me to shop at farmer's markets for fresh produce, but around here they are much more expensive than grocery stores. Not that I can afford much fresh produce anyway. I get onions, peppers, potatoes, a head of cabbage, sometimes some squash and zucchini. Very seldom any fruit, because it costs too much.

Something I noticed the last time I was at Aldi: the milk was down to $2.89, but eggs were 2.09 a dozen! Still cheaper than the other stores in the area. Makes my little chicken "farm" seem more and more like a good idea. Good eggs, and I love to interact with the birds, even the rooster is a hoot.

I need to get a picture of what we eat during the course of a week. There's four of us, and I cook from scratch as much as possible, because I am fortunate in knowing how and having a kitchen and the equipment I need to do so.

and I think this whole thing is a joke, but this comparison is off the chaarts.

It's nothing like defending Bush. Not at all. Not even close.

The rest of us would perish on her diet

Rich folks trying to relate. Their heart is in the right place and all but they'll never understand until it's really them. I'm sure she was chaffered to the store or it was delivered. She has a place to cook it with an appliance to cook it in and pots and pans and kitchenware to cook it with. And I guess you're drinking water all week with your 2 ounce servings of rice. Nice try rich person but strikes one through three and you're out.

Foodstamps...how INNUTRITIOUS that it is and we expect people to live on.....and she couldn't last past 4 days....she gave herself a terrible score.

JEEBUS on a crutch!!!

And some are just assholes.



Don't let em get you down.

it's a mental and emotional beat-down too

You'd respect the rich more if they turned away and said the poor deserved it because they did not work hard enough?

is not impacted in any way when they pretend to be poor.

In fact, it showed she cared and was doing something about it.

campaigns.

She did a good job of showing what food insecurity does and does not look like.

And maybe someone who doesn't think about every day hunger in the US will stop - look - and say -

Oh - I've never been there, but someone I can 'relate' to is showing me I should think about it.

crites running amok. maybe the critics would be happier if all she bought was chips, candy and soda.

will have a great time feeding her family of three with that food.

What is the point of being snarky?

They could talk about what it's really like without that.

And even that doesn't cut it.

$40 a month, which obviously breaks down to less than $25 a week.

Honestly, I don't think she did that bad. I mean, she skipped some cheap produce like celery and carrots. I can get 2lbs of Carrots for $1 without even going to Aldis. I also don't know why she needs so many limes and only one ear of corn, one tomato, and one onion. Whatever she is planning on making with that is too lime-y.

The dried goods are a win though, as they are a lot more economical than canned (not to mention easier to carry if you walk your groceries home like I do). I like making my own flour-products too, so the tortillas would be a bag of flour instead and I'm a vegan so the eggs would be something else, probably lentils or chickpeas.

Too many folks are hung up on the cilantro. I buy a lot of herbs and spices and they are by far the most expensive items on my grocery list. For example the cheapest bay leaves I could find today were $15.00 per ounce. I'm pretty sure there are cheaper street drugs than that.

I had a boyfriend years ago (recently relocated from LA) who'd do that.

As to the rest of her selection, I don't fault her for bringing awareness to hunger in the US, even if she did so inadvertently, but I would have made some different purchases.

lets also assume she knows how to shop

Food Network idea and they don't have to pay me.....

Gwyneth Paltrow cooks really cheap but healthy meals
i would tune in

in wisconsin we have congressional slime glenn grothman saying we should feel free to criticize what folks on food stamps buy at the food store.
I thought folks on du were better.....seems not