Posted on 09/22/2011 7:36:30 AM PDT by Abathar
(CNN) -- That is the reality for the more than 40 million Americans who rely on food stamps. According to the Food Research and Action Center the average food stamp allotment is just $30 per week.
I began thinking about taking a food stamp challenge earlier this month when I met several women who we profiled on hunger for two CNN stories airing this week. These women had to make tough choices between paying bills and buying food. Often they skipped meals so their children could eat. Often the amount of food stamps they received was not enough.
Living on a food stamp budget for just one week won't begin to put me in these women's shoes or come close to the struggles that millions of low-income families face every day; week in and week out, month after month. But I do expect to gain a new perspective and a better understanding.
(Excerpt) Read more at theindychannel.com ...
I'll tell you what, try this recipe ONE TIME. It's really easy, some of my other single friends call it "bachelor's babe bread" because it is SO easy to make, nearly impossible to screw up, and when you bring a lady over for a date, and she finds you popping a loaf of bread in the oven - you're gonna have a VERY good night!
Women LOVE a man who can cook - and this recipe (especially if you let it proof at least 18 hours - start it the night before your date) is delicious tasting, simple, and turns our a gorgeous looking loaf. She'll overlook the reheated TJ's lasagna for sure!
Not gonna happen. I’m sure if you at all like to cook it’s easy. But I hate to cook, my specialty is making something fair tasty in under 15 minutes. And I’ve got a wife, who’s been around long enough to not be impressed anymore.
darn it told me three were no matches
Where do you live? Eggs around here are around $3 per dozen. Box of the oatmeal is around $3.
I’m in California where everything is expensive.
Today was more low key. Just scored some free salami, fruit drinks, and a box of pancake mix.
Thank you for the recipe! That seems really easy, so I definitely want to try making it. I do have a couple of questions though.
Don’t you have to combine the yeast with warm water first?
Do you use a cast iron Dutch oven?
ok whatever kemosabe
Back in her home village, she learned the same techniques that I think the Hong Kong tailors use. It is a system of 27 measurements and 9 ratios (IIRC) of the body to draft a pattern that fits the individual.
She came here with one of those manual sewing machines with a hand wheel driver and would sit outside the garment factories taking piecework. She was barely 18. Years later, she owned a tailor shop.
Sewing is pretty easy, really, although I detest doing it. I have done it for a living. I have made men’s jackets and slacks, back in hippie days, but it wasn’t tailoring, although I did finally learn to do those slashed pockets. My husband makes sails and so, he has an industrial machine, which is scary because it lacks a guard for the needle and has a lot of power. He can do drafting, so if push came to shove, I think he could manage a pattern from scratch. Not that I think there will be any huge demand for tailored suits in a major modern depression.
Back in the Ukrainian village, I think everyone learned a trade and several other craft skills. They were just expected to provide for themselves by trading necessary labor with each other. By the time my mother was a teenager, she says she was so used to grandma doing everything so well, she didn’t bother to learn as much herself, although she did learn highly accomplished technical knitting. I mean skinny wool boucle yarns and metallic intarsia on steel circular needles. She made knit dresses that were popular (and expensive) back in the 1950s. Literally awesome work.
I have major tension problems knitting on needles. I was a weaver and I have been playing with loom knitting, but I am thinking of trying needle knitting again this winter. On the loom, I can spot a dropped or twisted stitch relatively quickly and the tension seems to stay even, but it is a real challenge for me on needles.
I keep hoping it isn’t going to get so bad that I _need_ all of these skills, but I am less hopeful as time goes on.
As our FReeper Diana In Wisconsin says: “...a robust post-apocalyptic skill set”. I’ve stolen that in conversation a few times, Diana, and it takes people aback, after they laugh, nervously.
Oh, well, it will keep us busy and we won’t get bored, right?
Nope - toss it all in together. I add the salt and yeast to the flour, give it a quick stir, then just pour all the water in. The key is the LONG proof time - that replaces then need for mixing and kneading. Let it sit for at least 8 hours - I usually start a batch at 10 PM the night before, and then cook at 4-5 PM the next day when I get home and it’s great.
Be lazy with this recipe and it WILL reward you! It is literally 3 minutes from start of grabbing ingredients to time it’s wrapped and sitting on the counter to proof overnight; I don’t level off or sift anything, just straight Gold Label flour, a quick shake of the measuring cup to make sure it’s “level”, and in it goes. A quick sprinkle of yeast, a couple good pinches of salt, and then 1.5 cups of water and another couple tablespoons for good measure... Cover and let it sit.
The next day, it is literally just 2-3 minutes of work. Flour the cheese cloth, turn out the dough - don’t punch it down, just turn it out - on to the cloth, toss some more flour on top, then wrap the sides of the cheesecloth over it. Let it sit on the counter for an hour. And then when the oven is hot, just roll the dough off the towel right into the dutch oven - it’ll form a nice looking loaf on its own!
It is really less than 10 minutes total “hands on” time to make. Just wait a long time on the proof, and let it cook in the oven for a good amount of time. I once let a dough sit for 48 hours and it had a distinctive sour flavor, almost like a sourdough - you could definitely taste a bit of sourness and slight alcohol flavor as well - it aged nicely as a raw dough!
Sometimes I’ll replace 1 of the cups of white flour with wheat flour - a bit denser loaf, but with a different texture and taste as well. Still rises nicely, still nice and airy, and it still gets a great crust.
I use a cast iron dutch oven - nothing fancy, a Lodge brand unit. About an 8 quart oven, with lid. I have two such ovens - one I use for only baking bread that has really seasoned well with raw flour - no oil ever used in it, just the bread. Never washed - just a quick blow-out of toasted flour dust after each loaf. Some people wonder about germs - well, 450 degrees F for 1.5 hours kills just about everything! :)
I make 3-4 loaves a week and use them for everything from breakfast (great French toast) to lunch and dinner, croutons, and wickedly good bread pudding.
I’ve never asked this before, but do you work a full-time job outside the house?
“As our FReeper Diana In Wisconsin says: ‘...a robust post-apocalyptic skill set.’ I’ve stolen that in conversation a few times, Diana, and it takes people aback, after they laugh, nervously. Oh, well, it will keep us busy and we won’t get bored, right?”
D@mn, Skippy! I love that line. Stole it off a T-Shirt, LOL! But, it’s true. Those of us that have basic survival skills will be revered as Gods/Goddesses when TSHTF. To be able to sew on a button, or stitch up a wound? To know how to find food in the wild, hunt or fish? To know how to start a fire? To know where to find fresh water? Oh, they will be kissing our feet - until they kill us in our sleep...so sleep with one eye open, LOL!
I, for one, plan on being on TOP of the dog pile when that happens, LOL! :)
Made soup from scratch today, and popovers. I have a broken foot, so Mom helped me harvest winter squashes from the garden, plus I have a TON (literally!) of it down at the other farm; just waiting to heal up enough so I can get at that. I baked all week for my beau’s Bear Camp, and am looking forward to bear steaks and stews this coming winter - not to mention the bear claw necklace he’s fashioning for me, LOL! He’s gotten two small-ish bear so far (150-200 lbs. each) but this weekend they’re going after Monster Bear. They culled one today that was 255 lbs.
Life. Is. Good...but it might get ugly if things keep sliding downhill. :)
I’m in Oregon and live in one of the suburbs around Portland.
I usually buy my eggs in bulk at Cash and Carry (5 dozen at a time for $5.99) or when I can get them on sale as a loss leader at a regular grocery store. Sometimes they also sell eggs at Cash and Carry for 95 or 99 cents a dozen on sale. During the holidays I usually buy the larger box of 15 dozen eggs there(usually about 8 cents an egg) since we do a lot of baking then because we usually give lots of homemade goodies as Christmas presents to family and friends.
Eggs go on sale here at the regular grocery stores as loss leaders a lot for 99 cents a dozen or $1.79 for an 18 count. I watch the weekly ads like a hawk! We also had two nearby Target stores that recently remodeled and they mailed out coupons for a free dozen eggs to encourage people to visit the store soon, so we picked those up as well. With a family of 5 we can easily go through 5 dozen eggs in a month with two hungry guys in the family, especially since I usually make cookies from scratch about once a week for the familys’sack lunches or some kind of healthy muffins for quick breakfasts that can be taken with you out the door in the morning. Even my nearby Grocery Outlet sells 5 dozen eggs for $6.99 which is still significantly less than the normal price at the regular grocery store.
The Instant Oatmeal and Quaker Oats I buy at a Grocery Outlet store. When I buy oatmeal in bulk I pick it up at Winco where bulk foods are much cheaper than regular grocery stores. The bulk oatmeal there is always less than $1.00 per pound.
Since we are on such a tight food budget and we all eat breakfast at different times due to our diverse schedules, I fix breakfast for dinner once or twice each week, and include eggs in the meal in some form or another then.
I alternate between our family favorites; a breakfast casserole served with toast and fruit or home made freezer jam on the side; French toast, German pancakes, regular pancakes, or waffles with bacon or sausage and some kind of fruit; biscuits and sausage gravy with fried eggs and a side of fruit; scrambled eggs or a fritata with some veggies and cheese thrown in served with kielbasa and grilled onions and toast with fruit or home made jam the side; or fried eggs with grits, bacon or sausage and toast with home made freezer jam.
About once a month or so I make up some egg salad for lunch sandwiches and I always hard boil some eggs for an add on if we have a salad night, and every once in a while I make up a tray of deviled eggs.
You can see how easily my family of 5 can go through 5 dozen eggs in a month. A dozen eggs per person each month really isn’t that many eggs per week since it only works out to 3-4 eggs per person each week.
Of course you can if you have to. Heck, if you eat nothing but Ramen noodles, rice and fruit you can probably have enough left over for a beer or two.
That looks incredible. I don’t have a dutch oven, I wonder if a pizza stone would work? I make drop biscuits on it all the time and they tend to come off w/o a problem.
I only like Kendall Jackson. I’m not on a 30.00 a week budget thank the lord my husband and I are employed.
It might work... Get it HOT, I’d probably set the over to 475 or so. And you’re going to want to either trap the steam or add a bit to the oven, to simulate the “dutch oven” affect.
Hmmm... I wonder if you could use an overturned mixing bowl to seal in the moisture for the first 20-30 minutes? That’s part of the key - keeping the moisture trapped so the crust doesn’t form too early, so the bread can rise before it sets. It’s what the dutch oven does VERY well.
You should break down and buy an oven. I use one for bread, but that was just recently (1 year ago) bought. I used my single oven for bread and other cooking for years; spice rub the cheapest chunk of beef or pork you can find, add 1/4 cup water, a half a diced onion, a clove of minced garlic, and toss it all in the dutch oven for 3-4 hours at 200 deg F. It’ll come out so tender and flavorful, and the juices left make a GREAT gravy/sauce.
Think of the dutch oven as a mini, semi-air-tight, temperature and flavor intensifier for your cooking needs. I can’t remember the last time I made a “traditional” type stew in my dutch ovens, they mainly pull duty doing breads and roasts (they do a wicked fall-apart, ultra-moist chicken or turkey as well). You can usually pick them up at camping supply stores for $30-$40 - that’s where I got mine.
Owie on the foot!
I just cracked a lateral metatarsal years ago and it was 18 months before I could walk (hobble) over rough ground w/o pain. Can’t believe you are doing much of anything , if it was recent.
Tip: get yourself some wide soft-sided shoes, like these from SAS http://www.sasshoes.com/main/view_styles.php?catid=2&prodid=47 for the first few months. If you broke the instep, a pair of their loafers might be better. I found mine at Shoe Box. They are great for finding wide widths.
And congrats on the beau, girl! Sounds like you got a winner! Of course, we know that _he_ did!
So sorry to hear about your father in law. Sounds like he was a wonderful man.
I also have done a lot of weaving through the years. My high school had 10 floor looms and about 25 table looms and we had a wonderful art teacher who taught weaving as an art elective. She taught us all kinds of weaving (even under water basket weaving and rafia coil baskets) in her class. She also would include units on cleaning, carding and spinning your own yarn, using natural dyes to dye your own yarns and threads, embroidery, needlepoint and pettipoint, quilting, and sewing using a pattern you made yourself, since her class was so popular that there weren’t enough looms to go around for each student to have one to use exclusively.
Only her second year students and her student teachers got to actually use the large floor looms for a project and you had to be one of her student teachers to earn the privledge of the use of one of the large floor looms for large projects like blankets that would take most of the school year to complete. Her class created such beautiful masterpieces that after seeing them I had to take her class. I ended up enjoying it so much I took both the first and second levels of her class, and then was her student teacher my senior year which gave me the right to exclusive use for the year of one of the floor looms.
Who would have thought two weavers would run into eachother on FR, since there really are not that many people in the US that do weaving these days? I don’t have a floor loom myself, but I have used them a lot before. I also do finger weaving and have two table top Inca looms, but they are only wide enough to do something as wide as a larger table runner.
I am a decent seamstress and sew more than most people do these days, however, like you I hate sewing too. I stick mainly to hemming new clothes for my family, and mending for the most part, but I could make my own clothes if I had to do so and they would look nice.
I can knit quite well, but I prefer to crochet. I make mostly afghans and baby blankets, these days, since I like to be able to practically do it in my sleep with out having to do a lot of counting.
I hope we won’t need these skills either, but I am still teaching them to my children anyway. The are just hobbies at the moment, but they are skills that sure could come in handy if the economy keep getting worse.
I have a set of older books that an older lady gave me several years ago when my daughters were small that explain how to do all sorts of things that were once common place, but no one does any more. At the time my young daughters and I had just finished reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder set of books together and they had wanted to try making their own cheese, soap, maple syrup candy, etc. just like the Ingalls girls did. When this lady heard that we had made our own cheese and churned our own butter, she said she knew that she had found the right person to pass the books on to since her own children didn’t want them.
Since we are getting ready to move in the next few months I have them packed up at the moment but the books are really great fun. They tell how to do just about anything that the pioneers did, and even give instructions for making many home remedies for various ailments. I told my husband as I was packing them up that if things get much worse we may find those books very helpful.
I love the quote you mentioned too!
Great, I have yeast and a cast iron Dutch Oven so I am definitely going to try this soon. Thank you so much for the recipe. That picture looks so wonderful, I can almost taste it already!
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