The San Francisco Chronicle's food critic Michael Bauer writes on his experience going on a welfare diet for three weeks in the 70s as a school project, trying to eat a balanced meal on 98 cents a day:
Because of the tight budget I had to make every penny count. I could't afford many fresh vegetables or even milk. I found that cottage cheese was a better value in terms of nutrition and cost. To help stretch the dollar I purchased powdered milk and ate lots of Campbell's Cream of Tomato soup, using water rather than milk. I found that in terms of meat proteins, things such as bologna and hot dogs worked their way to the top of the shopping list.
Welfare costs have changed in the last 30 years, of course, but the basic problems facing people trying to feed their families on very tight budgets remain the same. During his three weeks of having limited choices, so different from the way he normally ate, Bauer found that "devising menus became oppressive and depressive. I began to understand why fast foods became so important for people with limited income and why so many fatty foods find their way into shopping carts."
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