I'd like a minute to talk about food .. in light of the Blue Apron thread

[customerserviceguy]

98. I will admit

not everyone will be able or inclined to do it, but for those who can find it in their abilities to undertake it, they would be incentivized to do so, and that would be a positive thing for their households.

I applied for food stamps when I was in college some forty years ago, I recall that I had to state that I had some sort of cooking facilities to be eligible for the program. Perhaps things have changed.

And, there are recipes for use in a microwave oven, which don't tend to start fires. Even incentivizing the purchase of fresh foods that can be consumed with no or very minimal preparation would be a good thing, wouldn't it?

As for taking the money away, like I said, I would leave the status of a great majority of groceries the way they are. It would be easy to find the most egregious products to de-incentivize. The biggest challenge would be to find all the foods that should be incentivized.

I did not know about the farmers' market programs you mention, which by doubling food stamp dollars goes way beyond my proposal. It gives families a reason to teach their kids how to cook, instead of just relying on prepared crap. So many people have lost the art of cooking, that is one of our impoverishments, in my opinion.