Anyone live in a food desert?

[Phekzhen]

A food desert is an area where fresh, healthy food is very difficult to come by. This can be because you live in a very remote area or a very urban area that has no room for a Walmart or real grocery store.

If you don't know if you live in one, or want to see where they are in your area, check out this site: http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/fooddesert/fooddesert.html

This is a big issue up in the far north in Canada, where a pack of oreos is 8 dollars and there is almost 0 fresh foods, since it takes so long to ship things up there. This also happens in cities, where your choice of food is a convience store or McDonald's. This also happens in rural areas, where getting to a store takes a lot of time to drive out there, so those without the privelage of a car are stuck.

Anyone live in one? Or have lived in one? What do you think should be done to remedy this? Any tips for surviving in one (I currently am, and I definitely miss affordable food!)?

[hyenacub]

8 bucks???  O_O  Wow...you have my sympathy.  Would ordering food online be an option?

[kaoskat]

Well......... According to that map I used to, but I'm not sure how they figure that considering we had several grocery stores (including a Walmart) and plenty of restaurants too. It's also good farmland and we could grow fresh things in our own yards if we felt like it. Most everyone had some sort of fruit tree at least.

[Eviecorn]

This article succinctly sums up the situation in my city.

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2012/jan/20/food-lion-closings-expand-food-deserts/

In my area of town I do not live in a food desert, but I live in a more affluent neighborhood.  I have one very well-stocked grocery store less than a mile where I have access to many fresh foods, and even more if I drive a mile or two.  I'm fortunate, though, that I have a vehicle and an income that sustains healthy eating for me.  There are also many fresh fruit and vegetable vendors around me.

As small of a city as Chattanooga is, it's very segmented in terms of socioeconomic status by neighborhood.  Looking at the median incomes of each neighborhood, you'll see an area of households who on average live on $50k+ a year next to neighborhoods where the average household income is less than $15k.  This is due to gentrification that started in the mid 90's.  My old neighborhood used to be on the lower spectrum, but five years later the same house I used to rent for $600 a month is now commanding $1250 a month.

[Phekzhen]

8 bucks???  O_O  Wow...you have my sympathy.  Would ordering food online be an option?

That's not what I'm going through personally, but it's still 4 bucks for a loaf of bread.

Ordering food only works for non-perishables, there's no grocery stores that deliver, and frozen foods likes Schwann's are hilariously over-priced. I'm making $8.50/hour before tax, while minimum wage here is $7.50.

Here's a fun tidbit. It takes 138 hours of minimum wage employment to afford a two-bedroom apartment in NY (where I currently am). And this is assuming no one wants to eat or go to the doctor's.

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Well......... According to that map I used to, but I'm not sure how they figure that considering we had several grocery stores (including a Walmart) and plenty of restaurants too. It's also good farmland and we could grow fresh things in our own yards if we felt like it. Most everyone had some sort of fruit tree at least.

How far away were these places? If you didn't have a car, could you rely on public transportation to get there? And restaurants!=fresh, healthy, cheap food.

Growing takes time and energy people working minimum wage (or close to it) don't have. Not to mention the start-up costs. Current farmers cannot survive on their own wages without government subsidies, unless they're raising free-range animals, and that's still very expensive to do, and not everyone has the facilities and know-how how to do that.

In my area of town I do not live in a food desert, but I live in a more affluent neighborhood.  I have one very well-stocked grocery store less than a mile where I have access to many fresh foods, and even more if I drive a mile or two.  I'm fortunate, though, that I have a vehicle and an income that sustains healthy eating for me.  There are also many fresh fruit and vegetable vendors around me.

You're quite right that income has to do with it. Back at my parents this isn't an issue, as both of them have cars and we have the money to drive to the store at least once a day to buy things. For me, I don't have a car, the bus is an arduous, timely mess and I have one choice that isn't Walmart.

There is a GORGEOUS farmer's market that I've been to, once. But it's all the way in the city, and I'd have to take multiple buses to get there, and it wouldn't be worth the time and money for me to do that if I have work to go to or homework to do.

[kaoskat]

The whole town was around 4miles long. LOL We could walk to any store we wanted.

[Phekzhen]

The whole town was around 4miles long. LOL We could walk to any store we wanted.

Not everyone has the privelage to be able to walk 4 miles. I can't even walk one mile due to my plantar's faciitis, though I used to be able to easily bike that distance before I fell ill. And it's hard to carry a lot of groceries with your hands or on a bike.

Now, I can barely bike a quarter of a mile without feeling like passing out. Being sick is pretty terrible.

[Lavender_Lace]

Plan out your meals and groceries based on the current sales fliers and loss leaders, make a lot of things from scratch.  Seriously, that's the best advice.  I know some people swear by couponing, but really, all the coupons are usually for processed crap.  You might save a few bucks, but it will be at the cost of your health in the long run.  I usually average around $1- 1.50 per meal, per person this way.

Bread might be $4 a loaf, but 5lbs. of flour usually doesn't cost more than $2-$3 and you can make about 8 loaves from it.  Cut out as much processed food as possible, it's expensive and you don't get much for what you pay.  Example, a box of rice a roni is $1 for 6 oz., a 1lb bag of rice is the same price.  Even if you buy the other things to make rice pilaf or spanish rice, it still works out way cheaper.  Use meat as a flavor addition instead of as a center piece.  Eat bean based meals.  There are some really great recipe sites out there if you get stuck.  I like allrecipes.com the best.  Even the most basic grocery stores will have the staples and you can order them online if need be.  I know that amazon offers free shipping on a lot of things, including groceries so that would be worth checking out.  Do you have any community supported agriculture farms (CSA) in your area?  That might be another way of getting affordable veggies as well.

BTW, I have plantar's fasciitis and huge heel spurs too so I totally understand not being able to really walk.  It was so bad at one point I could barely walk, especially in the morning.  (we're talking crawling to the toilet bad)  I went to a podiatrist and he was doing cortisone shots in my heels which helped temporarily, but he also gave me stretches to do.  So, I do intensive calf and heel stretching first thing almost every day now.  It took a couple months (and hurt like heck) initially, but I was able to avoid surgery that way.  I still get really sore if I walk on pavement in crappy shoes for any real distance, but for the most part it's tolerable.  Might be something to look into if you haven't tried it.

[Phekzhen]

MY plantar's faciitis isn't an issue unless I have to walk really far on concrete, which is what walking to the store or mall would entail.

I'd like to be able to make my stuff on my own, but the issue with that is it takes time, and time isn't something that I have. Try finding time to make bread when you're a full-time student working three jobs!

I'll look into CSAs.

Thanks for the advice.

[Wardah]

While my area might not be a food desert that doesn't stop me from growing some of my own veggies. I can't dig up the yard so I'm growing tomatoes and eggplants in 5 gallon buckets.

And the funny thing is I know in the two closest to me in my state there is at least public transit as well as a lot of small ethnic shops. My state is pretty small and it isn't hard to get almost anywhere within the state even if you don't have a car except for the boonies but for some reason the boonies are not showing as food deserts.

[gemini_pony]

owo how odd it ays Long Beach is one but we have lots o places to get fresh food. lots of trader Joes, fresh and easy (many grocery stores) and also several lcal farmers markets that a plentiful in fresh fruits and veggies...

[Phekzhen]

owo how odd it ays Long Beach is one but we have lots o places to get fresh food. lots of trader Joes, fresh and easy (many grocery stores) and also several lcal farmers markets that a plentiful in fresh fruits and veggies...

But Trader Joe's is quite expensive. You also have to factor in how far away those things are. So if you didn't have a car, could you still go to these stores? If you earned minimum wage, could you still afford Trader Joe's?

[Lavender_Lace]

MY plantar's faciitis isn't an issue unless I have to walk really far on concrete, which is what walking to the store or mall would entail.

I'd like to be able to make my stuff on my own, but the issue with that is it takes time, and time isn't something that I have. Try finding time to make bread when you're a full-time student working three jobs!

I'll look into CSAs.

Thanks for the advice.

I know how that is too!  There are some overnight no knead recipes, but it would still take planning.  When I was in in college and working 3 jobs I would usually eat one of my meals at the restaurant I worked at waiting tables, cereal or oatmeal for breakfast since the huge thing of plain oatmeal was pretty cheap (I'd just add cinnamon and sugar), and then I'd try to cook things like chili or soups (lentil or potato usually since they're cheap) only once or twice a week and just have that on hand in the fridge.  If I got sick of it before it was gone, I'd just freeze it and eat it later.  A slow cooker would have been nice to have, and a rice cooker, but I just had your standard college kid cookware (not much and old hand me downs lol).

Maybe doing something like picking a few different things that use similar ingredients and then doing all your cooking at once would work better.  That way you'd have stuff ready and not have to really cook that often.

[gemini_pony]

owo how odd it ays Long Beach is one but we have lots o places to get fresh food. lots of trader Joes, fresh and easy (many grocery stores) and also several lcal farmers markets that a plentiful in fresh fruits and veggies...

But Trader Joe's is quite expensive. You also have to factor in how far away those things are. So if you didn't have a car, could you still go to these stores? If you earned minimum wage, could you still afford Trader Joe's?

Actually thye are all withing easy acsess fresh and easy has great prices and so do certain things at Trader Joes. I know this cause A. I don't drive and don't own a car but the bus system here is good and you can get all around town realitivly easily...and B. I pretty much work minnium wage, I men I make a bit morebut with hour cuts i can still aford to buy food easily. Plus we Have markets like North Gate all over for low income families I sho there a lot they have awesom pices on fruits and veggies.

[princessluna11706]

Not everyone has the privelage to be able to walk 4 miles. I can't even walk one mile due to my plantar's faciitis, though I used to be able to easily bike that distance before I fell ill. And it's hard to carry a lot of groceries with your hands or on a bike.

Now, I can barely bike a quarter of a mile without feeling like passing out. Being sick is pretty terrible.

I understand your and Lavender Lace's pain, I had a broken sesamoid bone in my right foot for 2 years before anyone knew what was wrong with me (ugh don't even get me started, I went to countless doctors/podiatrists until someone finally pinpointed it) and some of those doctors made my situation worse by misdiagnosing/treating me for different problems.  One gave me a broken big toe, and the other RSD :/  It was *extremely* difficult to walk at all for the entire time, until I finally had surgery to remove it.  I still have problems, but it's better than it was before.

Anyway, I am lucky enough to live in an area that even if we didn't have our car, we could technically walk to a really big supermarket (that always discounts meat/fresh fruits/veggies at night) so we can sometimes get good things at good prices.  Gotta go late though, or you'll be paying full price, which isn't that cheap.  Anyone else's supermarket do this?