Food-stamp fraud: Detroit-area stores swipe millions from aid program

Associated Press ^ | March 1, 2010

[DemforBush]

"The man behind the counter provided $50 in cash, two bottles of liquor, two porn DVDs and two Viagra pills."

Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff!

[Between the Lines]

A store west of downtown Detroit is accused of selling bags of the exotic chewy drug khat in exchange for food-stamp benefits.

Khat is the Muslim drug of choice. Mostly people from Yemen.

[Clemenza]

Michigan’s problem is not with “illegals.” Detroit is the only city I can think of where Arab Muslims are an improvement over the mass of the population.

[wbill]

Since you're looking for ways to stretch a budget.... do you have a crockpot?

Mrs WBill and I use ours constantly, and more so since I took a paycut at my job. It's a good way to take cheap cuts of meat (or chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, etc that's onsale) and make something delicious. It's easy, too. Even I can make something taste good in a crock pot (pepper "steak" made with stew beef) and I'm a terrible cook.

We usually get a couple of meals out of what's fixed as well, and frankly I like the leftovers better than the original meals. I'm planning on leftover chicken and dumplings for dinner tonight. :-)

Just askin'. Of course, I'm sure it helps that my wife is a fantastic cook. But cheap food that's easy to cook, is nutritious, and tastes good....is hard to beat.

[sfimom]

Thank you and yes, I do have a crock pot. Three actually ;) I love my cast iron dutch ovens as well. I have gotten very good at hitting sales and love to cook from scratch which is healthier, cheaper and tastes better than prepackaged stuff. I'm always looking for new recipes or ideas though.

[wbill]

Ping for later....

When I get a sec at lunch tomorrow, I'll pass a couple of ideas along. Wife makes something that *I think* is just pork tenderloin (slow cooked in the crock pot) and a can of sauerkraut. I (and the kids as well) was a little dubious until I tried it. :-) And her chicken+dumplings in the crock pot are incredible. Nice to be married to a southern cook.

Keep your chin up. This too shall pass. And....you'll be surprised that when it *does* pass....you'll still be eating on the cheap. We didn't have much growing up, but I'll still take Mom's "cheap" cooking (pepper steak, as I said, or baked beans+biscuits) over any 4-star restaurant.

[Niuhuru]

So I take it the main problem isn’t that the dog at e the homework, but your son.

[sfimom]

Love pork roast and sauerkraut but would love the dumpling recipe, chicken goes on sale here for 88c a lb frequently.

[wbill]

Additionally, you’re making a smart move - we hardly ever eat pre-packaged stuff, ourselves. Except for frozen pizzas, which I developed a taste for in college, and which we can’t make for the $2.50 or so that we pay for them onsale. :-)

[tet68]

$50 in cash, two bottles of liquor, two porn DVDs and two Viagra pills...

“Say, a feller could have a pretty good time in Vegas
with this stuff....”.

[sfimom]

Very cute ;)

[sfimom]

I’ve cooked like this since before I moved out of my mothers house. There is nothing like the smell of fresh baked bread on a cold winter day.

[wbill]

Will do, will ask her.

She also makes a jerked chicken (or pork tenderloin) that is excellent. Dunno what's in it, beyond one dried jalapeno pepper (ever tried to buy just 1 at the store? They look at you funny, it doesn't even show up on the scale when they weigh it....).

I'll ask about that too, but I don't know how complex (read, bunch of expensive spices) it is. Sister-in-law is a competitive chili cook and she's always bringing over spices that aren't "fresh" enough, so I don't usually need to think too much about what's in our spice rack.

[sfimom]

Thanks! I am well stocked on spices so no worries there :)

[DuncanWaring]

I just don’t believe the human brain will let the body starve to death.

Karen Carpenter.

Bobby Sands.

[hubel458]

Granted 3/4 folks on stamps can work,
but there ain’t no jobs.Not when unemployment
in the good jobs is 10% and underemployment
is 10% more at least. Not even under the table
paying jobs. The Wall Street, financier, Acorn,
big union, bailout doesn’t reach the bottom
half of the folks in this country. And article
talks of 100 million scammed in 3 years, out of
about 200 billion given in food stamps in same
period, figures to 1/20 of a percent crookedness.
Geez, lawyers and politicians don’t have anywhere
near that good of record.Food stamps are part of
the Fed Agriculture budget about 3/4 of it.. Ed

[sergeantdave]

“My preferred solution to the “food stamp” problem can be summed up in a single word: Kibble.”

That’s available. It’s called TVP - Textured Vegetable Protein. We buy it by the case of #10 cans from Mormon supply houses. Different flavors available - chicken, beef, bacon, taco. It makes good veggie loaf and okay burgers. It’s part of our survival rations. The dried mashed potato flakes are very good.

Frozen commercial TVP sold as veggie chicken, veggie sausage, veggie burgers runs close to steak in price.

We also grind our own wheat berries to make bread - delicious.

You’re right - you can make good and nutritious food from what you call “kibbles.”

Wish they made instant kibble beer and kibble Johnnie Walker. :-)

[metmom]

Fraud in the government program that helps the poor has added up to nearly $100 million since 2007, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. It's a fraction of the more than $40 billion spent to feed people each year,

Yeah, right.

It's not even the tip of the iceberg.

[EBH]

You might find some great tips, hints, and tricks here: http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/

Another FReeper told me about it. I found the menu planning and recipes very helpful.

[sfimom]

Thanks, I’ve had that site bookmarked for quite some time.

Guys, I’m not looking for sympathy, I just hate seeing everyone that gets food stamps painted with the same borad brush. I know how it is to get riled up about fraud, just please try to remember those of us that are not out to game the system. Some of us are simply trying to raise a family in less than ideal circumstances.