Food Bloggers Against Hunger: What You Can Do to Help

I'm a goofy guy, and I like to keep things light on this blog - but when it comes to issues of hunger and health, there's nothing to be goofy about.

Food insecurity - the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food - exists in 17.2 million households in American,
3.9 million of them with children.

Food bloggers across the country today are launching a "Food Bloggers Against Hunger" initiative promoting ways that you can take action to ease the problem of hunger in America, and help make it easier for struggling Americans find ways to obtain inexpensive, healthy, non-processed food for their families.  The initiative coincides with the premiere of A Place At The Table, a new documentary from the makers of Food, Inc that explores the US' hunger problems, the consequences, and how we, as individuals and as a nation, can take action to fix it.  The full film is available in theaters AND through Amazon and iTunes.

As I'm sure you already realize, and is noted in the A Place at the Table trailer above, it's cheaper to buy a cheeseburger at McDonald's than it is to buy a pair of peaches- and, in my humble opinion, there's something seriously wrong with that.  It leads to obesity, disease and just generally unhealthy living for lower income families - not due to a lack of effort, but because that's all that's available to them.  You can learn more about the issue at The Giving Table's Website - they are a note-worthy organization I hope you'll check out.

How You Can Help - with Just a Few Clicks of Your Mouse

Charity is great, but it won't solve the problem. The only way for hunger to be eliminated in America is if policies change, so it’s important we make our voices heard. If you are living in the US, I encourage you to take just a few moments to contact your local rep using this form, and promote changes in the system that will encourage our government to focus on keeping our country well-fed on food that's both nourishing and affordable.

I'm sorry to say I found out about this late last night, so I don't have many inexpensive recipes to offer. However, I would like to offer the following blogs, plus a few of my own recipes previously posted that are at least relatively cheap, and made with little-to-no processed foods.  If you have other blogs or recipes you'd like to suggest, please post them in the comments, or on the The Giving Table's Pinterest and Facebook pages.

Blogs:
Frugal Recipes
Cheap Healthy Good

Recipes:
Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread
Crispy Chickpeas with Spinach and Sausage
Vegan Chickpea Spinach Burgers
Stuffed Mushrooms with Homemade Stuffing
Garlic-Honey Eggplant
Veggie and Potato Frittata
BBQ Flavored Chickpeas

Thanks so much for taking the time to read, learn and educate.

 - Jeremy

Food-Insecure Families Statistics (learn more here)

Rates of food insecurity are substantially higher than the national average among households with incomes near or below the federal poverty line, among households with children headed by single parents (35.1% of female-headed households with children are food-insecure) and among Black and Hispanic households.

Food insecurity is most common in large cities but still exists in rural areas, suburbs and other outlying areas around large cities − 25 % of households with children living in large cities are food-insecure.

The typical (median) food-secure household spent 27 percent more for food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and composition.

59% of food-insecure households reported that in the previous month they had participated in one or more of the three largest federal food and nutrition assistance programs: SNAP (formerly food stamps), School Lunch and WIC.