If the government gives a person far more in food stamps than the household could possibly eat in a month, why shouldn't they buy crab legs and good steaks?

If the government gives you money to spend, you would be an idiot to throw it away. Especially if you pay taxes. But even if you don’t. It’s what the legislature has decided, and there you go.

The question is should they give it to you in the first place, and/or how much.

That’s a different discussion. And it goes precisely nowhere. ;)

If I beg my CO for more resources, and I don’t use them, I won’t get them next time. Lots of rounds have been fired at nothing at all, and bombs dropped onto an empty desert in order to justify their purchase in the first place.

It kind of bothers me that you would look at it as begging. After paying rent, utilities, gas, etc., I literally couldn’t have afforded to feed the kids on the money I made. I was substitute teaching full time, trying to get my own classroom so I could use the degree I paid through the nose for. Subbing worked out to about $10,000 a year.
I eventually got a job outside of teaching and the financial bad times ended.

@Dutchess_III

Respectfully, you misunderstood. I did not say you were begging. I was acknowledging your argument that if you don’t use it, you will lose it. Probably should have left out the example.

It’s OK. I didn’t like it either, but it was certainly a relief and I was grateful for at least one thing in my life I didn’t have to stress over. But thanks, @Josie. ((( Hugs )))

It’s always possible to find neighbors, relatives and friends who would love a gift of food. We used to buy tons of canned tuna, canned ham, canned ravioli and so on at the end of the month to give for presents.

I think the question really is why the government should be giving you that much money in the first place. A lot of the problems with TANF or SNAP come from the government itself. If I tell the government I lost my job and have no income and I have a family of 4, I have a pretty good idea of what I would need to feed them. If the government gives me twice that much, it isn’t my fault, but it is something that should be addressed to avoid waste.
But it is my understanding that, today, if you don’t use your monthly allotment of SNAP benefits, they roll over to the next month. they are good for a full 365 days.

It’s 90 days now @seawulf575.

@YARNLADY….I did buy “sugar cereal” for the kids as a treat at Christmas. They were wrapped and under what ever passed for a tree that year. The rest of the year it was pretty strictly Cheerios.
And we had pretty good Easters too.
But that didn’t really answer the question. Would it have been wrong for me to buy more expensive foods?

No, buying the more expensive food is not wrong. For instance, SNAP does not expect people to use coupons or cheaper generic products. They do want you to support brand names and organic vegetables and fruits.

Snap is supposed to be of some benefit to the farmers. I don’t think it matters if it’s generic or not. They never said anything about encouraging us to buy brand name. However, from habit I still mostly bought generic foods. I wouldn’t get a roast unless it was buy one get one free.