When I was a single mom, I was in college during the day and worked as a cocktail waitress at night 4 days per week-my aunt who lived in SA provided daycare in return for me babysitting her 2 kids on the weekends when she worked. My pay and tips paid for books and tuition (you could not do that now), as well as a cheap, closet-sized apartment in a semi-rural neighborhood and food for me and the cub, if I was careful. Most of the people there were Hispanic-I am, too so I fit right in fortunately.
There were stores in the area where I lived that catered to the residents-working/lower class people, most with kids-those stores had day-old bread and pan dulce from local small bakeries, plain packaged generic rice, beans, lentils, fideo, etc, produce from surrounding farms that might be a few days old, bruised/not perfect fruit, bulk priced ground beef and chicken, etc.
Those places were a major benefit for single moms, and other hard-pressed working class folks in the early 70’s-I haven’t seen one in 30+ years, though-I wonder why? It appears that everyone just gets an EBT card now and goes to the big box stores. I even see big ol’ heifers waddling down the aisles in the nearest grocery store to me-a small-chain store in the nearest town-less than 900 people- 18 miles away. Their carts are full of loaves of white bread, pre-cooked dishes and sandwiches from the deli counter (at $6.35 and up each) frozen pizzas, boxes of sugary cereal, frozen, precooked meat, boxed mashed potatoes, hot dogs, bags of candy, chips, etc-and at least one case of soda. Not a veggie or piece of fresh meat in sight. And at the checkout, they swipe their Lonestar card. It pisses me off every time I see that...
If margarine had 2-3 more ingredients, it would be soft, flavored plastic-anything like that can’t be good for humans-Velveeta “cheese” is about the same-my 1st husband called it industrial strength cheese whiz, referring to the bottled stuff some people use for nachos or fondue...
If I had 6 kids, I don’t know what I’d do either in this economy-it is hard enough to make ends meet just for me-but the guy in the article could learn to cook-maybe ask a woman who has a bunch of kids for some recipes-and as you say-stop shopping at Trader Joes...
I don’t know how I missed your last reply to me on this thread a week ago, but I just now scrolled down and saw it. I would’ve replied right away if I’d read it earlier. Now, the news cycle has moved on, but I have to say: Kudos to you for making everything work as a single mom in those days.
You posted that the stores in your neighborhood back then sold good food for low prices. I was still a child in the early 70’s, but I still remember our neighborhood shops and stores at that time. We could buy everything we needed right there on our street - fresh meat from the butcher, clothing, books, everything. All of those places were family-owned. When the shopping malls opened, most of those small businesses closed down. In my 20’s, I moved to the city, and that neighborhood had little shops and corner stores.
Then, I married and raised my children in a rural/suburban area - mostly woods at that time - and we needed a car to go buy food. There were farmer’s markets and produce stands, but prices were lower at the supermarkets. I carefully checked ingredients and bought the “good bread,” but I wasn’t perfect - sometimes we picked up fast food, but not soda. When I was divorced, I found the good bread at a little store that sold it day-old, but I stopped when a few loaves were moldy. I’ve never used food stamps. Instead, I kept a careful budget.
Now, my circumstances have changed again (worsened), and prices are so high that, usually, the processed food is cheaper. I need to make some changes again. Thanks again for your post.