Someone in Trump’s Dept. of Agriculture has suggested issuing food boxes to SNAP (food stamp) recipients, while seriously reducing the amount issued which can be spent at local grocers. If the goal is to make being on food stamps less attractive and perhaps reduce the number drawing them, this should do it.
A surprising number of people have no idea how to cook a meal. Standing in the market checkout line I see them buy frozen, pre-processed food they can nuke in the microwave and eat out of the package it arrives in. It wouldn’t surprise me if some use plastic utensils and throw them out instead of washing dishes. Trump’s food box plan would seriously interfere with the zap-it lifestyle, no bad thing to do.
The calculation is that much money can be saved by issuing shelf-stable staples - rice, pasta, canned goods, cooking oil, dried beans, etc. Much of the savings would come from people not bothering to pick up the boxes, as they have no idea how to use the items therein. See a Politico article about the proposal.
Later ... this plan could give do-gooders a new “good” to “do” - teaching basic cooking skills, like how to cook dried beans into something edible.
