I’ve written and deleted several responses to your comment. I find it frustrating that you dismiss the very real challenges of food insecurity while citing examples of “unhealthy” food that feel more like caricatures than the actual choices low-income people face.

Having lived in poverty myself, I know firsthand that when you have $10 to stretch for food, fresh produce isn’t always the priority—it’s about calories, shelf life, and filling meals. Suggesting that gardening is a solution also ignores the time, space, and financial constraints that many people in poverty face.

Eggs, once considered an affordable staple, have become increasingly expensive. And while some whole foods are relatively inexpensive, the issue isn’t just cost—it’s access, preparation time, storage, and the realities of working multiple jobs or living in food deserts.

If you have resources on how to successfully garden while managing these constraints, I’d genuinely be interested in learning more. But dismissing these struggles as a “nonsensical trope” disregards the lived experiences of many people who face food insecurity every day.