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I'm sorry, but you're really overselling how hard it is to cook while poor. A real porcelain plate with a aesthetic pattern on it is like $3 or less at a dollar general, you can get plates and bowls for 4 people for $20, which can be hand-washed in a few minutes. Pots and pans can be found secondhand, cast-iron can be found used, scoured, and re-glazed.
The cost and inconvenience of getting quality ingredients like meat and fresh vegetables is the problem, and the hapless fecklessness of the underclass who literally can't cook and who are tempted by uber-eats wackarnolds.
I live in a shite neighborhood in west-side Chicago, I'm lucky enough to have an Aldi nearby, but there's plenty of people slightly further away who really only have shitty inconvenience stores available, which carry "groceries" at absurd markup because it's meant to be bought with SNAP by people who don't want to walk further than a block.
Its a hassle and inconvenient. And you are usually talking about an extra 30 minutes of cooking/cleaning/shopping per meal, so 1.5 hours a day. For the "privilege" of less tasty meals. The cost savings feel minimal on a per meal basis, so it has to be a decision you constantly make to "save" money. I put save in quotations because your time costs money. If you enjoy cooking and dont mind cleaning up its no big deal, but for anyone that doesn't you are basically suggesting minimum wage rates. I can get a salad and a sandwich at a Wendys for less than $20. If I could make that exact same meal for 10$ in just 30 minutes (plus cooking and shopping for ingredients time) I'm basically working at a $20/hour wage.
Certainly poor people can save lots of money over time if they are basically willing to work an extra hour and a half a day, and cut out one of the main enjoyments in life. It also feels insane to me to blame them for not taking that "money-saving" option. They could also just pick up a second wage labor job to make sure they are working 70-80 hours a week. They can make sure to forego an extra hour of sleep a night for any jobs that don't require full wakefulness. They can use a crappy handme down phone and pick the cheapest data plan. They dont need a TV. Instead of a mattress they can just buy a sleeping bag. They can live in an apartment with a few dozen other people instead of paying rent on their own. Actually, they don't really need to pay rent, there are homeless shelters, and I've heard the weather in California is nice this time of year (and any time of year). Or they can always sleep in their car if they really need to even have a car. Or, even better, they can skip all the work. Just commit a crime that is serious enough for some prison time. Doesn't need to be a lot of prison time. Just enough to get in, once you are in you can do additional things to extend your time inside! In prison they provide rooms, food, toilets, showers, doctors, socialization, sunlight. Everything that someone needs to live.
Sorry for the sarcasm, but at some point people need to live. They need to be human. Food is one thing I'm not willing to hold over them and say "no you have to be a profit maximizing robot". I certainly don't follow that standard. My wife and I had our anniversary dinner last year at a really nice restaurant, the bill was around $700. We had a great time, the food was really amazing, the drinks were amazing, the service was great, we spent two and a half hours there.
I don't hold the poor free of all responsibility. I expect them to at least make half decent decisions on drugs, jobs, and location. Avoid drugs, find jobs that pay well for your abilities, and live in an area where you can survive and your children have the possibility to thrive.
If homemade sandwich and salad costs you $10, you’re doing it wrong. When I was young and early in my career I aimed at $3.00 per meal and usually got there. Today it’s more like $6.00.
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What? A pizza for "one" (10 inches) from a chain pizza joint in town is $20 before any delivery fees.
I just checked Dominos and it offered me a 14 inch supreme pizza (named something else) for $20.99, which is twice the size of a 10 inch, and that's without any of the discount offers they usually have.
14" Domino's "ultimate pepperoni" is $26 plus $6 delivery to my house.
It's like you live in the third world. Tonight, I had a 16" pepperoni from a local place that was featured by Guy Fieri for $23. 33% bigger, approximately a hundred times tastier, and $3 less.
Ironically, the pizza in the third world is much cheaper.
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