Go for it!

Honestly, just let poor people get prepared food, too.

I think the problem is that poor people are able to use government programs to get food at all. So much of these legislative maneuvers are intended to selectively punish or disenfranchise portions of the population that the state government hates and scare them out of these programs entirely.

The Walmart / Winco end runs are fine enough, until you start asking where these places are located (predominantly white neighborhoods with a surplus of upper income residents) and where they aren't (minority-majority food deserts).

We've got a public-private partnership intended to squeeze out certain segments of the population from having access to any kind of food at all.

You know, the government that's supposed to take care of you.

I think that’s where the disagreement begins: they believe the government is a tool to exercise power, a weapon to wrestle away from their enemies, not an entity that’s supposed to take care of you.

Winco does the same for their pizzas. You buy an uncooked pie with SNAP; they then offer to cook it for you gratis.

Honestly, just let poor people get prepared food, too. A ton of people on foodstamps are homeless and don't even have a way to fucking cook. At least California (and another state I can't remember) have allowed snap to be used at restaurants like McDonalds if you are homeless and/or over a certain age.

You know, the government that's supposed to take care of you.

Our grocery stores don't have the last chance shelf, unfortunately. In school, we'd raid the produce dumpster and have smoothie nights.

Legally speaking, that store could get in big trouble. That's why my local store doesn't do it. That'd be equivalent to them letting you exchange your SNAP benefits for cash, since the bottle could be redeemed for money/credit.

we could do that, and call it a first world level of healthcare or something, and ensure that everybody has access to the care that they need to live a good life

The argument 'But what if someone abuses it?' always falls flat when countered by 'What if people are unjustly denied support they need because of the restrictions?' Because the first will always happen, no matter what, and the second only happens if you deny support. One person 'unfairly' wasting money on meth would be a more than fair price to pay for one more person getting what they need to survive, and if you believe otherwise... I don't know what to tell you. Maybe go grow some human empathy.

Besides, tax money is wasted WAY more by the rich than by the poor.

IDK this whole thing about hot vs cold food just comes across as arbitrary and stupid. I get alcohol and maybe food over a certain price depending on different factors but as a whole the restrictions seem stupid.