@longpostbot's comment on ':marseypoor: downundercel explains how he can't remember the last time he ate 3 meals. I cannot comprehend this level of poverty in a supposed first world country :marseydisagree:'

downundercel explains how he can't remember the last time he ate 3 meals. I cannot comprehend this level of poverty in a supposed first world country :marseydisagree:

https://old.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/13kjwzn/i_just_dont_eat_surge_in_australians_sinking_into/jkl2l6n

OP in case he deletes it

Thought I'd share my experiences with this (embarrassing as it is) in case anyone is interested.

For those who haven't experienced hunger it can be difficult to imagine.

I don't remember the last time I ate 3 meals a day. I'm lucky to even eat 1. But regularly go days without eating.

Then usually have to eat something I hate like tinned spaghetti (I've eaten so much of it I struggle to stomach it these days). But have to because it's all that's available.

Or I eat plain pasta without any sauce, or plain rice.

Ive had to eat really odd things too just to not pass out - like just eating Vegemite straight out of jar. Or when I spent a week eating just a packet of sprinkles (2 yrs past expired).

Recently I bought a packet of mints ($1.50) and ate only that for days straight. Thought I could fool the hunger pains for a bit. Backfired badly though in form of diarrhoea for days, so I learnt my lesson and won't do that again lol.

People say 'call salvos' or 'go to Foodbank'. Like they just give out baskets of free food to all in need. The reality is that's not the case (at least in my area).

Where I am:

St Vinnie's don't give supermarket vouchers anymore

Salvos never answer the phones and just have a pre-recorded message saying they 'have no vouchers available in my area' no matter how often or when I call.

my local food pantry closed down

Nearest foodbank is like 3 busses, 3 hour round trip at least away. With physical disability this is tough.

Foodbank - most people don't realise you have to pay for food here in most cases (unless lucky enough to get a once off 'agency pay' voucher). It is not hugely cheap either - tinned fruit is $3.50 per can, tinned soup meal $3/can, margarine $3.50. Not a big saving and no good if you have no money to pay anyway. Extremely limited range, just a few shelves, 1 type fruit if lucky (none last visit, and just rotting plums times before that), most of the food is past used by or lines that didn't sell. But you still pay those prices to buy it. And only have limited amount can get ($30 in my case which was 10 items). Certainly not enough for 3 meals/day.

And all these places have limits like 3 visits per year.

Because in Australia hunger and poverty is seen as something very rare. A once-off caused by an extreme event like flood or bushfire. Not something routine which people deal with on a daily basis.

So there's no real help available.

And we suffer in silence - embarrassed and ashamed.

Because it's treated like it's something wrong with the individual, rather than the system.

The rest of the comments are equally baffling. Isn't Australia like bongland lite with their ridiculous taxes and welfare state?

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horsefuneral it/that @ ultimateredditor 's best friend 1yr ago #4174774

I'm Australian (unfortunately).

24 days ago, based on his posts, OP says he lives in Adelaide - fourth/fifth biggest city in the country, population 1,000,000+, capitol city of its state. There is simply no way that OP Is not able to make contacts in a capitol city with a charity, NGO, food service, poverty service, or even a generous stranger on a local community page once a week to get a free grocery shop. There is simply NO way - even when I lived in small regional cities, there were ways to get a week's worth (for one person) of basic but plentiful groceries if you're willing to reach out to the right places. There is context missing here, or OP absolutely refuses to make any effort beyond calling the Salvation Army. Literally no one who is able to afford housing (OP says he pays rent in another post) is going to to starve to death in Australia unless they're making some choice not to seek food. There is such an embedded welfare state in this country, and food is so plentiful that charities find it exceptionally easy to gather enough to feed anyone who claims it. (There's also at least two of those hare Krishna restaurants in Adelaide which gives you free/very cheap hearty vegan meals, no questions asked).

My suburban GP in a small city hands out loaves of bread for free to patients who claim bulk billing, which OP appears to (as an example). He is simply too stupid, too lazy, too fat, or otherwise is so incredibly unlikeable that everyone around him wants him to starve.

This is bullshit to feed the doomer narrative. And the thing is, there ARE things that are impossible to purchase if you're poor here - food is never it.