Packages FEMA Sent to Hurricane Maria Victims Are an Eye-Opener

On second thought, let's order that doomsday survival bucket of freeze dried food from Costco, because it's going to be more nutritious than this.

Here's what was in the box given to my friend Mirilyn's family in Puerto Rico, victims of Hurricane Maria. It's supposed to be food for an entire day for a family of four (see the pic below):

1 serving of Cereal
1 (1 serving) Milk Box
2 Juice boxes
1 Breakfast Bar
1 Breakfast Snack
1 Salty Snack
1 Trail Mix
2 cans of Chef Boyardee
2 spoons
4 Hot Sauce packets?

This is a typical food box distributed by The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The agency has been criticized for not sending substantial food and supplies to people needing long term nutrition. The criticism was followed by a Washington Post article titled, "Why FEMA sent ‘junk food’ to Puerto Rican hurricane survivors".

Photo Credit: Mirilyn Astachio

Snopes says people on social media have dubbed the food boxes "Skittle Meals", because they contained Skittles,Cheez-Its, sugary foods, and other questionable items like Vienna Sausages. The Washington Post referred to the boxes as being like: "the contents of a college vending machine". You could survive on the stuff, but it's not good enough. They've been living on these foods for a month, and may need to rely them for a matter of months to come.

So when I saw this picture my friend sent me, I was speechless. My friend says its beyond bad there. Cell service is awful, the lines for gas and food are really long, with price gouging all over.