Posted on 09/23/2013 1:20:00 PM PDT by wbill
As the government ruling class eat like kings, retiring on lottery style government pensions, the rest of you better get used to eating on 5 bucks a day...And like it.
Spoilage is money out the window. I don’t throw money out the window.
Friday, I had a roasted chicken carcass left over from chicken and dressing (!) so threw it in a pot of water and let it cook down. Picked the meat off and put it back into the pot of stock. Threw in leftover veggies from the fridge, added a handful of pasta and the little bit of Velveta cheese in the box. Viola! A nice cheap pot of chicken soup and no spoilage that had to be thrown out.
I rotate canned goods. This weekend, I cleaned out the deep freeze and the refrigerator freezer and arranged everything by date. It’s rare that something gets freezer burned but then the dogs get a treat. Tonight, we had mushrooms (2 x $1 lb) stuffed with the oldest 2012 package of sausage from the freezer ($1.50) and cream cheese ($1.40), a pea salad (75 cents = 50 cent can of peas, a bit of onion, mayo and cheese) and mashed cauliflower (giant $1.48). That makes 6 plates at about $1 each and hubby can have a midnight snack on the leftover sausage stuffing.
I bought a ten pound bag of chicken hind quarters for $7.50. IIRC, it was 18 pieces thighs and legs,
A ten pound pork loin for $1.67/pound, .42 cents for a four oz. slice. That is 40 slices of pork. Cooks to 3oz. but keeps you in meat protein.
50# bag of rice for $27
50# bag of pinto beans at $28
People have no idea how long a person can eat off that. Add $10 worth of spice and $20 worth of canned tomato paste, etc. and there are maybe 20 recipes that you can eat for 2 to three months. Add a box of oats and $20 worth of eggs and you can eat good. Add a $10 box of instant mashed and $10 box of freeze dried hash browns and a $10 gallon jar of freeze dried onions and you eat like a king.
$3 lb. boneless beef ribs cooked carefully like steak is close enough to ribeye for this household.
I so happy help pay for that family's government perks especially when we bring in less than they do.
I was referring to the kind of diet recommended by most doctors during the ‘60s, of course, but I know what you mean. Meals cooked in many homes were often much more austere and less nutritious. I don’t remember Hamburger Helper having been around in the ‘60s, although great dishes like potato soup and breaded tomatoes were there, for sure. ;-)
what is it missing?
Ding~! Ding~! Ding~! I believe we have a winner
With growing, cooking and canning food, you’re doing great, by the way. People like you give our nation more resilience when needed.
What I posted should get you nearly three months for about $155 and shout feed two or three.
I am pointing out that there is a class of people in this country completely incapable of planning or allocating. Money comes in from an entitlement check and they spend it. When it is gone, they have nothing to eat until the next check.
A former gf went home to visit family on a Mississippi farm and brought back a mason jar of the most uberdelicious pulled pork BBQ...that I found later was made by cooking the hog's head until everything fell off of it...everything down to an empty skull. BUT it was so good, I didn't care what was in it. Scarf scarf munch munch...eyeball! I win a prize- lol
5 bucks buys a heck of a lot of rice, you could by rice for all week for 5 dollars, chicken another day veggies another.
I more than understand. They are the Zombies we will face the a EBT card buys one day’s worth of LIL Debbie Cakes...
We had great, nutritious meals when I was a kid - as long as my dad or grandmother were doing the cooking. My mother did make great meatballs and spaghetti sauce, but it wasn’t often. Some people just don’t latch onto it, I guess. Her sister always was and remains a fabulous cook - she did however ask me to teach her how to make crepes, which I did last summer when she was 78 years old! It was her mother who taught me how to make them!
Since my mother passed Dad doesn’t cook as much as he used to, but he and my aunt do dinner together a couple times a week, so he still has it!
Potato soup? Breaded tomatoes? Unheard of until I was in my mid twenties. As to the Hamburger Helper, that was late ‘60s. Before I was in 7th grade (72) my dad no longer worked rotating shifts and I haven’t had HH ever since. :-)
Thanks! And my 15yo daughter is following in my footsteps! In the past month she has learned blanching and peeling tomatoes is far easier than doing the same with peaches!
Agree with you if you’re just making a loaf of plain white bread. Cheap store brand is 88 cents here and that’s what we buy. However, if we want something a bit different, then homemade is cheaper. I don’t go to the store but once every 3 weeks and it’s a drive into town so that’s more expense added into the trip. On #171, I posted a link to a Schlotsky’s bun which doesn’t take any time and sure beats driving 40 miles round trip to the nearest restaurant and paying $5 for one sandwich. Same if I want a sausage kolache, homemade (although more difficult due to kneading) is much easier on the wallet.
I’m guessing that mustard is powdered mustard instead of prepared mustard?
A quart of mayo? Snort. Today, those “quarts” are 28 oz or less and the jars are plastic. Canning jar prices have gone up like everything else. The other day, I bought a box of jars that had a “bonus” package of pectin. I was going to use the pectin for jelly making and thought they’d made a new formula that didn’t weigh as much until I looked at it closely (thankfully before I dumped it into the jelly) and it was only enough for 2 jars. Excuse me, 2 jars?!? Who makes anything for just 2 jars??? No thanks, Ball. What a rip off.
I’m not too sure about your comment that markets throw away food that didn’t sell at the end of the day. It may happen elsewhere, but not where I live.
Last year I managed a farmers market in our town. At the end of the day, volunteers from a church group came to collect unsold food that was brought to a Lazarus House and made into meals for homeless. Similarly, a local church collects unsold breads and food from our Panera bakery. It seems everyone who is in a position to help those in need tries to do so in whatever way they can.
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