I had a conversation the other day with a friend that immigrated here from the UK. He made a comment that most American poor are stereotypically obese. He didn't understand how, if these people were so poor, they could get enough food to be obese. The key word there is stereotypically, but I did explain my thoughts on the subject. Every time I go to the grocery store, I spend at least $50, and there are only two of us. This is when I plan a weekly menu, although I usually find I'd forgotten something throughout the week. I buy store-brand anything if possible. I check the ads before I write my list. We eat well, pretty balanced, at least. I would say that when I or Sean cook, it costs between $5-12 per person. We may or may not have leftovers for lunch the next day. I could go to a fast food restaurant and order off the dollar menu. We could both get full with $3 each. That's quite a financial jump when you add up all of the money saved over time. Of course, there is very little nutritional value in this food. It's almost all empty calories, excess fat, and loaded with sodium. It's so convenient though! No dishes to wash. No clean up, or very little even if you do take the food home. Let's put this in perspective with a working poor family with, say 2 kids. Most families, if there are two parents, they both have to work. They do in this scenario. They get home from work to greet their two latch-key kids zoned out in front of the tv. It's dinner time. Both parents are exhausted, and they don't really have much time to spend with their kids once they check homework. The parents are just over the poverty level, so they can't get government assistance for food stamps or health insurance for the kids. What do you think they'll do for dinner most of the time during the week? Even if they don't go by a fast food place with a dollar menu, the options are limited. They have the inexpensive packaged frozen family sized dinners, but have you read the nutrition label on them? Consistent consumption of empty calories could easily develop into obesity and diabetes, and when you figure in all of the other junk in meals like that, high cholesterol, high risk of heart disease, deficiencies, and several other possibilities. The best part is, most of the working poor can't afford health insurance or to go for check ups even if they have insurance.