On Halloween, neighbors in the downtown Las Vegas area of Huntridge gave out bags of nonperishable meal bags along with the usual trick-or-treat candy. The bag contained ingredients to make a quick chickpea curry: cans of garbanzo beans, coconut milk, crushed tomatoes, chicken, Thai seasoning and jasmine rice. Child-friendly bags held shelf-stable milk, cereals, cheese and crackers, cups of mac and cheese and meat sticks. A fancied-up ramen bag came with tinned BBQ pork, stir-fry vegetables and crunchy chow mein noodles. There were six different dinners in all.
The neighbors knew that shelf-stable food wouldn’t replace Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits, commonly known as food stamps, or food bank supplies.
