News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier. Parent comment

Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by outworlder on Thursday December 05, 2019 @02:41PM (#21715689)
> 40% of American adults, including the woman featured here, are obese

This is severely lacking in empathy.

You know WHY they are obese, especially including the woman featured here? Junk food is dirt cheap. When you work your ass off for two weeks and have all of $200 dollars to show for it, you are not going to be cooking healthy foods and free range Chicken eggs. You are going to get the cheap stuff, the highly caloric, highly processed stuff. And guess what, she works at McDonalds, which gives employees some food every 5 hours worked.

Or if you don't work there, you can hit a Taco Bell and fullfill your hunger with $5. $5 may be enough to get ingredients to cook a better meal, but again, this person works her ass off in multiple jobs and has a long commute by bus.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by threatofrain on Thursday December 05, 2019 @02:56PM (#21715831)
I don't disagree with empathy, but I definitely push back on the idea that McDonalds is cheap. People will always go to the grocery store and it's very hard to beat rice, beans, eggs, and ethnic veggies. That makes the cost and time proposition of McDonalds only okay at the right time of day.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by outworlder on Thursday December 05, 2019 @02:59PM (#21715863)
> I definitely push back on the idea that McDonalds is cheap

If you work there, it is. But I was talking about Taco Bell for non McDonalds workers, which IS cheap.

Your groceries list again is assuming there is enough time(and energy) to prepare the food.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by bradley_taunt on Thursday December 05, 2019 @03:08PM (#21715948)
I absolutely understand where you're trying to come from, but I think it seems like a bit of a stretch. Saying lack of time to prepare a healthy meal is a valid reason for poor eating habits is a weak excuse. Pan frying an egg and some veggies (using food item examples above) takes less than 5 minutes.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by SolaceQuantum on Thursday December 05, 2019 @03:18PM (#21716048)
"Pan frying an egg and some veggies (using food item examples above) takes less than 5 minutes."

Which includes: 1) Owning a pan 2) Owning a cooking surface 3) Selecting, cleaning, and cutting vegetables 4) Dishes, or owning a dishwasher

vs 1) access to food 2) access to disposal of wrapping material

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by CharlesColeman on Thursday December 05, 2019 @03:30PM (#21716152)
>> "Pan frying an egg and some veggies (using food item examples above) takes less than 5 minutes."

> Which includes: 1) Owning a pan 2) Owning a cooking surface 3) Selecting, cleaning, and cutting vegetables 4) Dishes, or owning a dishwasher

It's also worth noting that food deserts are a thing, and they make it much more difficult to eat healthily.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by bradley_taunt on Thursday December 05, 2019 @04:13PM (#21716593)
So we are going under the impression that this person is homeless? Renters/home owners would have ovens, simple cooking equipment. If the person doesn't have access to ANY of those things - there are bigger issues than food.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by stevenwoo on Thursday December 05, 2019 @06:58PM (#21718014)
From the article she had an apartment years ago, but due to rising rents and stagnant wages over the years in the same area now she lives with in her boyfriend's parents' home and she and the boyfriend contribute rent back to the parents. I imagine part of it is her schedule is not the same as anyone else in the home, also due to her dietary needs, so possibly if she cooked it would be a lot of single serving meals/cooking.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by SolaceQuantum on Thursday December 05, 2019 @04:22PM (#21716691)
It’s really common in some places to have underserved shelters. In nyc I was considered super lucky to have a stovetop with an oven. Also, subsidized housing has been historically undercared for.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by Scoundreller on Thursday December 05, 2019 @05:24PM (#21717320)
Depends who you share it with. Some people think that a communal fridge means that everything inside it is communal.

Not everyone has the same boundaries for that situation.

Can you use the cracked pepper that someone else bought? People have different opinions on that.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by stevenwoo on Thursday December 05, 2019 @06:54PM (#21717989)
also, covered under 3(selecting -> fresh produce lasts from 1-28 days, so one has to shop often for some items, constantly manage, plan and cook and note inventory and refresh, her struggles to just make ends meet and stay awake just makes this sound impossible. If I were working full time, there's very little chance I would be eating/cooking as well as I know I should without using money to just buy meals, the work/commute part of the day would wear me out and I'm in a much better position than her.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier by hateful on Thursday December 05, 2019 @04:17PM (#21716640)
A big part of why this isn't viable for most is that not only don't they have the time to cook, a lot of the food you buy is perishable. Meaning that you'll throw it out before you use it.
[ Parent | on HN ]