My parents were born very poor (they were both taken out of school and put to work at 11 years old - yeah let this sink in for a minute). They did work all their lives until they retired though, specially my mom that having no job formation kept picking up any jobs she could find. My father went to school at night (started studying again while he was forcibly conscripted for war) and had two jobs.

We always did eat very healthy at home. First because my parents saw that as one of the priorities (they never went to dinner out, lunch out, even coffee out in my early years, since they couldn't afford that lifestyle and keep their finances in a proper state... I guess the only luxury we had was having a dog - for which I am very grateful), second because they would take the time and effort to prepare a proper meal (yes, even after arriving home from working all day in their physically demanding jobs) and the ingredients to a healthy meal are cheap, but it takes effort to put that kind of meal together.

All this happened in what is today a somewhat rich western European country.

It really bothers me (and I guess other people like me), this culture of constantly dismissing people lack of self responsibility. In the EU (and I would go as far as saying, in the all 1st world), if you are willing to work and to watch how you spend your money (and this means closely, no 5$ latte like another article today just talks about, or ordering pizza because you don't want to prepare dinner), anyone can end up having a comfortable life.