I lost a lot in the crash of 2008, and have gone months at a time without going to the grocery store. Part of that was having preps, and a lot of that was poverty cooking.
/johnny
Old Sicilian peasant food from my grandmother:
Escarole, beans & ditalini:
Steam escarole (you can boil it, too, but use the same water to boil the ditalini, so the vitamins absorb back into the pasta).
Cook from scratch or heat a can of beans (cannelini, pinto, kidney -red or black).
Strain pasta, toss with escarole and beans. A little parmesan on top.
Cheap- you can make a big pot of it for under $5
I couldn't find any that weren't hugely overpriced. So I knew the market would be coming down, and went ahead and liquidated 1/2 of the funds in my IRAs and parked them in Treasuries in the fall of 2007. Otherwise, we would be in a lot worse shape.
We had a lot of poverty years when we first got married, but during the Reagan years we did pretty well and put some money back, but we are still paying on our house, so that's a worry to me.
Some meals we used to make do with. We used to take 1 hot dog sliced in thin rounds, and add it to a pot of mac and cheese, or a can of beans with ketchup.
I used to bake all our bread because we couldn't afford to buy it, and used powdered milk, and milnot as it was cheaper than fresh milk. Sometimes we had ketchup or Mayo sandwiches. Red eye gravy -Fat, Flour, Water and spices.
Washed the laundry and diapers by hand to avoid spending money at the laundromat. As long as I have my family, bible, and faith, I am good with whatever happens. I am prepping now more for my kids and grand-kids, cause they don't understand the need. Really enjoy reading your posts.
My dad was born in Oklahoma in 1930. They left there and went to Colorado when he was little and then on to Oregon. Working different jobs along the way. So it was not quite a Grapes of Wrath story but pretty close. His mother was a fantastic cook. She could cook simple ingredients and make a meal fit for a king. Every meal I ate at her house was memorable even today. She baked bread every day. It makes me hungry just thinking about it.