Supreme court overturns Roe v. Wade

The Sandbox Political Topics
1719

Do the Dollar Stores create food deserts or do they move in where food deserts exist?

Because I see this argument for Wal-Mart, surely, but my interpretation is that Dollar Stores thrive on underserved markets. One is trying to build in my sleepy community and the town is revolting against it, but if I’m being honest the only 2 “food stores” inside of 8 miles are 2x the normal price on regular goods, and have more “premium foods” than a normal store.

Thereafter, they discourage any local independents from opening, as I see their customers as “sticky” and likely to stay loyal rather than pay 15% more at Friendly Jim’s.

1720

As I understand it, a bit of both. They do often open stores where no grocery store existed. Now, people in those towns were getting their groceries somewhere before Dollar General showed up, in a neighboring town. So even though they are opening stores in food deserts, it puts some pressure on local grocers in adjacent towns. And, of course, they are opening stores in places that aren’t food deserts and putting a lot of pressure on local grocers. Even if they’re just buying soda and TP and what not at dollar stores, that puts strain on grocery stores that weren’t exactly making a mint before.

But it’s not all bad, because people living in towns that didn’t have a grocery store but now have a dollar store now have more convenience. So now they don’t need to spend 20 minutes driving for a gallon of milk.

The north end of Tulsa was an interesting story. Walmart moved into the area and the local grocers started closing, and I think the 2008 recession took out the last grocery store in the area, people would drive the 15 or so minutes to Walmart to save money. So the area was ripe for dollar stores, which moved in, and that pretty much put the nail in the coffin of any new grocery stores popping up. So now the are has loads of dollar stores, it’s ~15 minutes to Walmart, and that’s how it will be for a while. The govt has halted or tried to halt (can’t recall) new dollar stores from being added.

Dollar General stores do sell produce - not many, but some. In the areas where these stores thrive though, we’re talking pretty low income. I’m honestly not sure there’s a huge demand for produce. I grew up fairly poor, in what was at the time the poorest county in the state of Kansas. Nobody I knew was eating a lot of veggies, and when we did they came from a can. It’s weird to not eat produce when you live in the bread basket of America, but shelf stable food is cheap and convenient. Now for the portion of people living in these towns that does want to eat healthy, they are kind of boned, and that sucks.

And if you’re a single mom, or the bread winner of a family of four making $40k in the midwest, maybe saving money by shopping at a dollar store isn’t all bad. Sure, your diet sucks, but you have a tiny bit of wiggle room in the budget now. I’d love to live in an ideal world where everyone eats five servings of fresh produce, but in the real world I think dollar stores are kind of a blessing and a curse.

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1721

Good Lord :woman_facepalming:

The Democrat was spot on that it passed with support from a sizable minority of Republicans… 20% of whom voted “yes” and without that 20% the measure would not have passed.

The problem is that in the state legislature the real election is often the primary. And 80% of Republicans is plenty to win a Republican primary.

1722

Fresh veggies are expensive. Expensive for a store to stock a product that doesn’t keep. Expensive for the purchaser who also needs to prep and cook the veggie.

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1723

Fresh yes, but depending on the dish frozen can be no difference and has all the benefits. It’s unfortunately driven by the market which these Dollar Stores stock. Recognizing that maintaining freezers isn’t free, but I doubt the cost is dramatic overall.

1724

They can be cheap if you have some flexibility. In the past few weeks I snagged a 3lb bag of potatoes for $0.88, asparagus (maybe 6-8oz?) for $0.88, corn was 3/$1, got a veggie tray for $1.50. But then:

That’s a problem. Even if you buy cheap veggies, it’s more work buying fresh corn vs microwaving canned corn, and canned corn isn’t super expensive either. What’s even easier is Hamburger Helper, $6 for a pound of beef and a box of that, and in 20 minutes you can feed 3-4 people and only dirty one skillet. And I know lots of folks think or assume poor people are lazy, in my experience that’s not been the case. Many work multiple jobs, have kids, and are dealing with a lot of ‘poor people problems’ like car trouble because they drive a beater.

1725

I wonder if it’s a) the initial cost of installing them plus b) once they are there, you can really only use them for frozen things. With shelves, the sky’s the limit. Install an extra freezer for $10k and then you find out you didn’t need it, bit of a problem.

1726

It’s all about the turnover, 'bout that turnover, 'bout that turnover…
Something stays in that freezer too long, it will be replaced with something that turns over faster. Consider the cost per cubic foot per month to operate the freezer section.

1727

I think the problem with the standard American diet is the preponderance of sugar in everything, and of fat where it’s not needed (oil is not by itself a bad thing, but if you eat french fries where the oil is soaked through the potato, instead of just having some potatoes with a moderate amount of oil, then it’s bad). Also, probably too much red meat. I personally think veggies and fruit are less of an issue.

If you have a car, you can always buy potatoes, carrots, oranges, and apples once a month, get some frozen veggies and orange juice, and you’re done. So improving the American diet would have more success if we subsidized sugar free foods, whole grain foods, and other foods like that. You could probably also subsidize fish. But I don’t think subsidizing an expensive grocery store so people could eat kale, lettuce, and grapes will make much of a difference. I’m sure people will enjoy it, but it probably isn’t the best use of tax money.

Also, I doubt canned vegetables are that much worse for people than regular ones.

1728

Canned veggies are high in sodium, which Americans get plenty of.

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1729
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1730

Yeah salt is probably a problem too, but probably much less than sugar. Anyway, people add salt if salt’s not added already. I doubt that makes canned vegetables a bad choice for people when the substitute is probably something made of white flour.

1731

IFYP. High-fructose corn syrup is a predominant sweetener that’s found in an extremely large number of food stuffs.

Netflix had a very good (and short!) documentary on the stuff–it’s general history and current knowledge on its health impact.

It might vary, but most table salt also has iodine added (something that we need but don’t find naturally in most foods Americans eat).

And what’s added by a few shakes is far less than what’s usually found in most canned products (salt is a natural preservative).

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1732

Canned vegetables are certainly better than no vegetables, but they’re less healthy than fresh or frozen.

1733

Fresh > Frozen > Canned

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1734

Donuts > Cheese > Fruit > Vegetables

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1736

True if you were ranking what I like best but not true from a health perspective!

1737

Most of what I’ve read is you get the same nutritional value out of all three but I haven’t looked into actual studies or who funded them.

Canned probably does have a few more additives, already mentioned in the thread, that likely make them slightly less healthy, but I don’t know by how much.

Most of the difference is is texture and flavor.

Though I have no idea what any of this has to do with Roe v Wade.

1738

Pregnant women with no choice at least need to know the choices in what is healthy, food-wise, for their coming child.

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1739

Cheese >>> donuts, and I’ll die on that hill. Likely from heart failure.

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