Screw that catfood meme. How about tips for actually eating well on no money to speak of?

[Hekate]

"Reduced to eating cat food" is a meme to get the attention of politicians, but not a recipe for living. Having a plan for yourself is better, because it reduces the feelings of helplessness. We have enough of that in this world; we need to be strong inside to fight the bastards.

At various times there have been productive conversations here at DU about how to get along on little money and in an alternate economy. DUers are full of ideas and a lot of DUers endorse the alternate economy notion already.

Unless a DUer is living on the streets, said DUer has access to ways to produce food for personal use at home (even in an apartment) and to develop ways to purchase food cheaply. Being a DUer means ipso facto having access to the internet, which is just chock-full of do-it-yourself ideas for living on the cheap.

For instance: My mom was so broke and so thrifty that she could (as a good-ol'-boy boss of mine would say) squeeze a nickel till the buffalo crapped. I grew up knowing full well that a pound of hamburger was designed to feed six people. I grew up mixing liquid milk with equal parts reconstituted powdered milk -- doesn't taste half bad and is nutritious for all ages (except the lactose intolerant).

Homemade yogurt is unbelievably easy, and costs exactly what you spent for the milk to make it, minus the added chemicals and sugars.

Dried beans, peas, and lentils are inexpensive. Add corn or cheese to the meal and you have complimentary proteins. Canned tomatoes are full of vitamin A, and make a tasty addition to bean dishes.

Greens at the store too expensive? Whatever happened to making alfalfa and other sprouts in the windowsill of your apartment? There are also online plans for how to grow an amazing amount of veggies in recycled soda bottles in an apartment. If you live in a temperate climate, you can grow a small citrus tree on your balcony, and your vitamin C will be right there.

Several years ago my hubby and I were gifted with some hens. They are now elderly but to this day they give us 1 to 4 eggs every day except in winter, which is more than we can use. They live peaceably in a side yard and take almost no care except fetching them a new bag of chicken kibble every so often; they eat kitchen scraps; make manure that can go in the garden, scratch through the compost looking for tasty bugs. For someone on a limited budget, eggs are wonderful packets of protein.

More than one of my neighbors makes edible gardening an all-in hobby: one couple has their entire back yard farmed, and another couple has farmed the front yard (probably the back, too). Yes, I live in suburbia and have a bit of a yard; but before I moved here I lived in apartments and did what I have suggested above.

I hope to hear from some of my old friends and make some new ones. Unfortunately I won't be able to hang around very long after the initial post as I will be away from the keyboard for several hours. I'll check back later tonight.

Hekate

[robinlynne]

1. kicking so I can read this again later. Thank-you.

[madville]

2. I love beans and rice

Bulk rice and dried beans are super cheap and a complete protein. A little seasoning and a little fat like margarine or oil to dress it up. Last time I worked it out a few years ago it was about $0.10-$0.15 per 500 calorie serving depending whats in it. Wholesale on 50 lbs of rice and 40lbs of beans was around $30 last time I bought some, that is around 160,000 calories.

[Hekate]

3. Complimentary proteins are important. Two old but valuable books in paperback...

Diet for a Small Planet
Recipes for a Small Planet

[modestybl]

75. "complimentary proteins" is a mistaken concept...

http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/debunking-diet-myths-complementary-protein-myth-wont-go-away.html

Frances Moore Lappe retracted her statement about "complementary proteins" years after her first two books..

[Hekate]

77. I'll have to go look that up

Never became a vegetarian, so it was not 100% important to me. However I got some good recipes anyway.

[magical thyme]

160. complementary proteins is unnecessary and Americans consume *way* more protein than is healthy

Dr.Joel Furhman is a medical doctor and nutritionist who has been working with seriously ill people for a couple decades now.

His "Eat to live" outlines a general approach to food that is extremely healthy and doesn't have to be expensive. He has reworked the food pyramid. You can get plenty of protein on large amounts of green veggies, with kale and spinach as the top two. Complement that with 1/2-1 cup of cooked legumes, a smaller amount of whole grains and a 1-2 tbsp of seeds or nuts and you have all the protein you need.

Focus on nutrition, not calories or protein. Phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals enable your body to eliminate disease before it can really take hold. That, in turn, reduces your medical expenses.

You don't have to go vegan, but limit animal protein to very small amounts for flavor and texture only.

When I stick to the approach at 80%+ of what I eat, I lose cravings for sweets and salty junk and my allergies are reduced.

[trof]

4. Here ya' go:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022650301

[Hekate]

6. Thank you trof!

[bunnies]

21. Seniors aren't the only ones with "no money to speak of".

I get by doing most of the things Hekate mentioned.

[Hekate]

38. I wasn't a senior, either, when I was drinking powdered milk

It's a way of life for a lot of people. My Mom raised 4 kids on very little. We were never hungry and we were healthy. Desserts were "extras," eating out was so rare it was amazing when it happened.

School lunches were so cheap that Mom didn't pack our lunches after she did the math. School lunches were subsidized by the government for all schools, were prepared on site, and were designed to provide at least 1/3 of a growing kid's daily nutritional needs. Hungry boys who wanted an extra scoop of rice got that thrown in too. All students did cafeteria duty on a rotating basis throughout the year, and on that day you got a free lunch. A few kids volunteered to serve every day, for the free lunch.

One thing that really distresses me is that our children in this country are no longer taught nutrition and cooking in school, and that in school and out they are fed so poorly. Junk food is cheap, moms are tired from working, and moms didn't get taught nutrition either. God bless Michelle Obama, but this is an uphill battle. The country has to stop looking at kids as an "expense" and start valuing them and their needs -- and clearly the country has bought in to this every family for itself crap, because otherwise we would not be in the shape we are in.

Sorry -- rant off.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

5. Bulk.

Beans, lentils, rice. That's how I get by.

I cook a few pounds of lentils, chickpeas or black beans and eat them through the week. Much cheaper than canned beans.

[smirkymonkey]

9. That's what I would eat.

And probably will end up eating in retirement. God, I would go into the park and eat grass and leaves before I would ever eat cat food. I can't think of anything more disgusting.

[arcane1]

45. Hell, I'm 45, work for a bank, and that's what I eat for 1 or 2 weeks per month!

I'll be freakin' sick of beans and rice by retirement

[onpatrol98]

89. True...ate beans tonight. Tomorrow is definitely rice.

[kestrel91316]

47. There are some very high quality cat foods that smell yummy to me and don't look repulsive.

Unfortunately, they aren't cheap.

I am leaning vegetarian to keep grocery costs down, and am eternally grateful that the 99c Store across the street from my office has some very good produce.

[marybourg]

56. The cat food people were eating in the 70's

is now our "light meat" tuna.

[sendero]

170. You...

.... noticed that too huh

[ohheckyeah]

107. My parents recently

found frozen fruits at the Dollar Tree. I haven't been there to check it out but they thought they were a good quality for a very low price. It might be worth checking out.

[femmocrat]

7. Growing some of one's own food is really fun and easy.

You can get seeds at the dollar store very inexpensively. I save seeds every year, so those are free. You can start small. For instance, you can grow tomatoes, peppers, and many other veggies in containers. Freeze (or can) the extra to have good meals all winter.

I didn't know that chickens were so low-maintenance. We are out in the country but I worry about predators. Any advice? Thanks.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

10. True. I suck at it though.

I'm trying a salad table this year. Cabbage, spinach, lettuce, etc. Hopefully something turns out.

[KittyWampus]

134. Try chives. Chives are brown-thumb proof. And Rosemary.

[Hekate]

142. You can get chive-equivalents by planting a store-bought onion in a pot

If you have a sack of onions and one has started to sprout, consider it a volunteer. You can clip the green shoots off indefinitely. I love volunteers.

Rosemary is forever. If your climate is harsh in the winter, plant it in a pot and bring it inside. Where I live we have a Mediterranean climate and people make whole hedges out of rosemary.

Another thing is Bay. I bought a little seedling at the farmer's market one year. The vendor told me it could grow to 15 feet, but my yard is small, so I potted it and have rather neglected it on purpose. It is a fine little stunted bush that gives me all the fresh bay leaves I could ever want.

I like plants that are hard to kill. They are my favorites. Some herbs have seeded and volunteered all over my yard.

I am still trying to find out what kind of yams give edible green leaves. They are much in use in other countries, but there seems to be some question about the variety of yams most popularly sold in markets here. I'd love to try them out because as any child knows a yam half in a jar of water will grow an outrageously abundant vine.

[MissB]

22. I've lost some to coyotes.

But that is because I let them fly out and range across the property (and street and neighbors yard. I have tolerant neighbors.)

They have half of a huge dog run that has a three foot tall fence. Their house is solid. We are constantly remodeling this old house, so the hen house is built from scraps and sided with the same siding as the house. Dh built their two doors (one chick size and one human size, both with locks).

They go out in their run in the morning and back in their house at dusk. The kids let them out and put them up. They no longer fly over the fence, but if they did I'd go back to clipping their wings which is only intimidating the first time you do it (need to do it each time they regrow feathers). I let them out in the lawn each afternoon. One of them eats slugs. I love her. I hate slugs.

The raccoons come by now and then but the hen house is solid. They usually get chased off by the dog or cat. Or me.

[Cleita]

28. Our hen house is coyote proof and hawk proof, another predator we have

to keep an eye out for who would like chicken on their menus.

[Hekate]

25. Fencing is very important for chickens

Where we are, I just made sure to have a secure wooden coop for nighttime, as we have a variety of critters walking the streets at night, raccoons and the occasional coyote. Hawks don't seem to be a problem for me because the layout of the side yard would make it hard for them to take off again after landing, but I notice when the hens all decide to huddle under the same bush there is usually a hawk flying high above. My daughter lives in a really rural area and lost a lot of free-range chickens to raccoons and coyotes (both day and night) until she took my suggestion and started fencing them in. They have a large area to roam in during the day, but the chicken-wire fencing is now double -- one inside the other, separated by maybe a foot of air, because raccoons can reach their paws inside chicken wire and literally pull -- oh never mind. I haven't looked at the "roof", but I think the whole thing is built under a very high-standing deck. My neighbor and my SIL both use a smaller area as a chicken yard, but put chicken-wire or netting over it to keep the hawks off. The coop itself gets secured after the hens take themselves to bed.

There's a bunch of info online, and a good group at DU on rural living, too. It's where I learned a lot about chickens after we got them.

[arcane1]

48. I've been thinking about growing on my balcony, it certainly gets enough sunlight!

But I would need detailed care instructions for whatever plants they are. I haven't made up my mind yet, but I would at least like to grow a spice or two. Something to connect me with my food, and feel proud of.

[Cleita]

67. Start small with a planter. Put a few herbs in it. Either seeds or you

can get seedlings at a nursery for instant satisfaction. The main thing is to keep them watered. The plants will let you know what they want and what they will grow up to be. Also radishes are easy to grow from seed. When you gain a little confidence add another planter with different veggies.

ENJOY! Growing things is really satisfying.

[arcane1]

70. Last year's catnip experiment failed, I suspect from over-watering

And also because I had no idea what those plants needed I'm hoping to do better this year, and I better get started!

[Cleita]

71. Make sure you have good drainage and some mints usually like part shade.

So if you have a sunny balcony you may have to hide the catnip behind a taller sun loving plant so it gets some shade during the day and some sun. You will learn as you go along. I find the nursery people can be helpful if it's a local nursery. K-Mart and Home Depot, not so much.

[nolabear]

88. Mr. Bear is an awesome deck gardener! We have one on the top of our townhouse.

I jokingly call it "The North Four" because it's four floors up and about four by four feet. He's got lettuces on the rails, herbs and pole beans for fun (not a lot of yield) and some outrageous cherry tomatoes. He grows bell peppers and some red peppers that will cause your nose hairs to burst into flame. For cool Seattle, he does pretty well with those tomatoes and peppers by the ingenious method of wrapping the plants, roots and all, in sheathed Christmas lights that generate enough heat so he can start them early.

Yes, it's a hobby garden but it's fun and keeps him off the streets.

[Lifelong Protester]

126. Did you know that Burpee has a container sweet corn now?

Check it out; new this year; I'm thinking perfect for urban dwellers or anyone without garden space.

[KittyWampus]

135. chives and rosemary. I am an ex-gardner and still have my own massive veggie garden.

Chives and Arp rosemary are incredibly easy even for those with a bona fide brown thumb.

[maindawg]

84. easy

get a couple turkey chicks and they will guard your entire estate.

[patrice]

8. K&R for BEANS that my large poor family grew up on. I bet they're way cheaper than catfood even now.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

11. i grow micro greens in seed flats and potting soil

3 flats a week and color crunch and nutrients to every meal. Grow quickly right in a windowsill, harvest with scissors in ONE WEEK. I start 3 flats on Saturday, 3 on Wednesday. 2 quart jars of alfalfa and radish sprouts (mixed together) every week.

Add to soup, salads, stir-fries, sandwiches.

My favorite sandwich is hummus, sprouts, avocado and micro greens, rolled up in a whole wheat tortilla. Buy dried chick peas and cook them up and make your own hummus-you are in control of the fat and sodium and it takes less than 10 minutes.

Don't say you can't cook, learn to cook! Free yourself from overpriced, chemical laden crap and eat real food.

[Hekate]

73. Wow, does that ever sound yummy

I feel the old spring rush stirring....

[freshwest]

145. Much more nutrition than most things from the store. Good work there.

[Win-the-fight]

12. 50 lb bag of whole wheat flour- $25

From there you can make your own bread, pancakes, cookies, muffins, tortillas, cinnamon rolls, pizza etc.

A french baguette has three ingredients....flour, salt and yeast. I could live on those....

[angstlessk]

15. BUT gotta have a bread machine..cause I could knead till the cows come home

and my bread would look more like a book than a loaf of bread....but I CAN make bread in a bread machine

[ForgoTheConsequence]

19. Thats why I bought a food processor.

Got it at the Goodwill for 5 bucks, it kneads the bread well.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

20. i bought a bread machine at goodwill

$5.00. I only use it for mixing, kneading, and first rise, then I form free-form round loaves.

[enough]

31. No need for a bread machine. Just use the no-knead method!

I've been making bread by hand for almost 40 years (since I was 20), and I have totally STOPPED KNEADING bread. The no-knead bread turns out loaves as delicious as anything I ever had in Italy or France. Best bread I ever made.

Flour, salt, water and a tiny bit of yeast. Let time do the work. Also works great for pizza dough.
White bread, whole wheat bread, WHATEVER!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

[angstlessk]

34. How come no one ever told me this?

I always thought if you don't knead bread it will turn out tough...tuff in case I spelled it wrong.

[kestrel91316]

53. If you OVERknead it, it gets tough. If you underknead, it can be a bit crumbly.

[riderinthestorm]

128. Its the only kind of bread I make now. But you have to follow the directions specifically

or something in the "chemistry" doesn't work.

I make variations with garlic and cheese, or rosemary and walnuts - whatever creative combos you like.

Its so delicious I almost never buy store brand bread - even my picky eaters will eat it.

[CountAllVotes]

81. bread machine

and after about 6 mos. of heavy use, the bowl needs to be replaced and costs ~$100.00.

This was a Zojirushi Home Baker Mini Breadmakermaker btw, not the large size machine, the "economy" model which cost about $200.00. You can buy a lot of bread for this amount = $300.00/6 mos.

[csziggy]

129. There are a lot of bread machines at thrift stores

People on a budget can't fork out $100 at one time, no matter how much it might save them in the long run. $5 or $10 for a bread machine at a thrift store is doable for most budgets.

I got an Oster bread machine for $10 at the Women's Shelter Thrift Shop here. Pretty much brand new - it still had the stickers on the machine. No manual, but I downloaded it from the Oster site. It sucks at baking the bread, but it's great at mixing.

I'd made a lot of bread from scratch totally by hand in the past until I wrecked my shoulder and couldn't stir or knead the dough. The bread machine got me back into making my own bread, letting it do the heavy work and all I had to do was shape the loaves.

After a while I found a vintage KitchenAid mixer for $40 on CraigsList and bought a dough hook for $50. It's great for mixing and kneading and I still just have to shape the loaves for the last rise.

[sammytko]

167. You might be using too much flour

If the recipe calls for 4 to 4.5 cups of flour, stick to the lower end.

My bread always came out tough until I watched a video on how to make English muffins. His dough was very moist, almost stringy. I then realized I was using too much flour in my other bread making attempts.

[eridani]

116. Excellent deal

An 80 year old with osteoporosis and arthritis would have no trouble at all schlepping that home on a bus.

[angstlessk]

13. Three bean salad is my fav...we use the large pickle jars to make it

and it is so much better than the one you buy

[MissB]

14. I'm slowly adding edible food around the yard.

The five blueberry bushes I planted a few years ago are getting quite big; ditto on the plum tree. The raspberries are great, though I'm trying to add a golden variety in the next few years. I only grow strawberries for fun, not for jam (still go to the farmers market for that). I want hazelnuts and apples to.

I have chickens. Currently only three and two lay eggs each day. The other one is more sporadic. I may add a couple of new ones in a few years depending on the production. We love the eggs and the shells are great for the compost. And the poop. Oh, the poop. Good stuff for the compost.

I grow two types of sorrel and this year I'm adding purslane. Yes, I realize purslane is considered an invasive, but it has surprising amounts of omega3 and vitamins (C and E I think). I'm adding New Zealand spinach to my spring crops as it will deal with the summer heat. Also trying some Malabar spinach. I started lots of garden veggies from seed this year- so many that I will be bringing extra starts to work to share. Seed starting is a work in progress for me. I'm trying to do it cheaper each year, but that takes time and effort.

I'm doing some mini potato towers this week - basically potato cages that are partially underground. I have an awful mole problem and have to use hardware cloth under my veggie garden. Deer too.

Anyway, we wouldn't starve immediately.

I have plans for a backyard rocket stove and a solar dryer. Would like to grow mushrooms as I have a section of forest in my half acre. Need to do rain barrels to feed some parts of the property. I have a bit of "grass" aka a weed patch and I'd like to slowly convert that to beds. But the deer need to be fenced out (ours are remarkable lazy and won't jump even low fences) and that's a lot of fencing.

[MadHound]

16. I have one, but not some folks won't like it,

Hunting.

A deer can provide high quality, low fat meat for a person for a year. And a bullet is a hell of a lot cheaper than a pound of hamburger.

Other than that, garden, garden, garden. If you have no yard, then pocket pots on a balcony can provide an incredible amount of food. Heck, even setting up a basic hydroponic system isn't that expensive.

[we can do it]

26. No problem with hunting to feed people. Only when they kill for "sport" .

Some sport for the unarmed animal.

[Hekate]

39. I have no problem with hunting for food

Bon appetit.

[arcane1]

50. Any advice on what high-yield plants are best for balconies?

And by that I means plants one would not consider smoking. I get those at the farmer's market

[KittyWampus]

137. Kale. Incredibly easy, you pick off leaves and it keeps growing. Even though winter.

[brer cat]

17. All of the above plus...

Calculate price per unit yourself...the store label may not be accurate.

Shop for meat early in the morning. Meat that will go past its sell by date in 24 hours will probably be marked down. Stash it in the freezer or cook it up and freeze in portions that are right for your family. We almost never pay full price for meat and keep a ready supply in the freezer for those lean weeks we can't afford to buy meat.

Cook from scratch.
\
Hope this thread keeps going!

[Win-the-fight]

18. A soyajoy soymilk maker cost $100 initially

but you can buy non GMO soybeans cheap
http://fairviewfarms.com/

then make soymilk for .25
also make your own tofu, yogurt, soy cheese...

[Cleita]

23. K&R

[freshwest]

24. Rice and beans have filled me up for years, the cat food diet is a myth.

It's a good thing to remind us of how much power we have to take care of ourselves. I do most of what you say, have been for years, although all I can grow now are the sprouts. We're not helpless and shouldn't let anyone make us feel that way. We're strong. All good ideas, thanks, Hekate.

[CountAllVotes]

51. still eating the rice and beans

and it becomes a very tiresome diet after awhile.

No meat allowed, that is for sure!

[freshwest]

60. There are many kinds of beans, lots of spices, and meat isn't that great, IMO. Eggs will do.

I've been without food, shelter, etc. several times in my life and can't afford to eat out if I'm paying. I have had to go food banks, although I can't eat a lot of their food.

I know we adapt to different diets, I've had many changes, not all of them were my idea. Just have to think of what we really need to have, not what we want, be happy with it. It's a choice we can make to get by.

I know people who have never had meat except as a treat. Others have lived on tortillas, rice, beans, eggs with whatever they could add to it.

As far as food being tiresome, love makes the poorest meal taste great. Longing for what we could have in the past is not productive, it hurts us. Feeling fearful or deprived won't allow one to enjoy even costly food.

It will be okay. No matter what we fear about the future, it only has half a chance to turn out good or bad. So we have to get rid of what doesn't work and keep what does.

[formercia]

127. I use a lot of seasonings on mine to keep it interesting

Having spicy Black Beans and Rice for Lunch Today.

See, now i just made myself hungry...off to Lunch.

[bhikkhu]

27. White rice is a great staple, and easy as pie if you have a cheap rice cooker

We get a 20lb bag every three weeks or so ($13 here), and have rice as the substantial ingredient for dinner about 4 times a week. You can pair it with anything else, meats or vegetables, and just season it with soy sauce, or butter if so inclined.

I've had big gardens and done all sorts of things like that, but unless you're on unmetered water you're probably better off financially to just shop for deals at the grocery store. There's no way we could grow onions or potatoes as cheap as we could buy them, and even lettuce and tomatoes (in season) are cheaper at the store than the water we'd use growing them. We still grow some things, but because we like to, not because it helps with the budget.

[Hekate]

76. Ooo, water. Can you use your gray water?

Where I live on the Central Coast (Santa Barbara County) looks green right now (it's spring; by June the hills will be crispy), but we are in another drought and will soon start being reminded to conserve. The reservoirs are down quite a bit -- again.

You can save gray water for your garden in a number of ways; the easiest of course is to hook up the kitchen sink and the washing machine so they drain into a cistern or trash can, but that can take a permit. Otherwise you can simply haul it out a bucket at a time. When I was a kid we were on a septic system and my dad actually fixed the washing machine so the water drained into the garden, where the sandy soil sopped it up. It would take a different system where I am now, as the soil is clay here, but some folks do use at least their rinse water for their gardens.

[Trajan]

29. This is all very practical, but it has little rhetorical benefit

The cat food is a rhetorical device for those who are trying to make a point ... I think that most of us already know how to stretch a buck ....

Let them have their cat food .... they have an argument to make ...

[Hekate]

40. The "rhetoric" has declined a great deal

You want to hit a politician over the head with it, be my guest. But what's been going on here has been the most disempowering #@$% I've seen in a long time.

[freshwest]

146. Yes, we must remember we made this country, we are the producers. People forgot that somewhere.

[arcane1]

52. The "Cat Food" rhetoric is a plot by cats to get more tuna and chicken

[pamela]

30. k&r

I love these threads. Thanks!

[babylonsister]

32. Thanks for this post, Hekate.

"Food" for thought, and sensible.

I'll add my tiny little bit here; I eat a lot of peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwiches. Those ingredients last a long time, they are very filling, and I'm thinking healthy.

[sheshe2]

33. Homemade soup during the winter.

Nothing better for you, far lower in sodium than canned. I never buy soup off the shelf, 2 or 3 dollars a can and Ha they are mostly water.

I like to make split pea, lentil and Portuguese soups, all bean based. Throw in some frozen spinach or kale, canned tomatoes. You can get about 10-12 lunches or dinners, for under 10 dollars. I make big batches and freeze them.

Hekate, you are a gem, great Op!



she

[arcane1]

55. Mostly water and salt! You could swallow a gallon of ocean-water every day, and digest the plankton

and it would be the same as buying canned soup.

My beans and lentils experience comes from those bags of dry beans at the corner store, that need 24 hours of soaking. Fortunately, I have a few markets nearby, and can go fresh, but they are more expensive than the dry-bean bags

[sheshe2]

66. I buy them packaged too, arcane.

I never presoak them, I bring them to a boil then just let it simmer on the stove for a few hours. Nice on a winter day. You are correct the bags are far less expensive 99 cents a bag.

[sammytko]

169. You can also bring them to a boil and then turn off the heat source

Let them soak up the liquid and plump up as fat as they usually get when you cook them the normal way.

Then add more water if needed, turn the heat back on and they will be ready rather quickly. Save time and energy costs. I stopped doing the low heat thing. Cooking them on high will not make them tough.

[freshwest]

147. I make a lot of soup and have expanded my varieties. Healthy and satisfying.

[sheshe2]

156. I have one that I make,

Creamy Broccoli Soup

And no cream in it. So you can freeze it.
I buy fresh broccoli when its on sale, I am sure frozen would work too.
onion
nutmeg
chicken broth (low sodium) or vegetable broth
rolled oats
salt pepper

you do need a blender to puree it.

it's great hot or cold....Yum!

[freshwest]

158. I would never have thought of oatmeal. That's a great idea there. Saving...

[sheshe2]

159. You can find the recipe at Martha Stewart's website, freshwest.

LOL, when I told one person about the oatmeal, he poo pooed it, said it sounded gross.

Never tried it, mind you, just said eeeewww. Not that he eats healthy anyway!

[Jamastiene]

35. Bookmarked for good tips and tricks to read again later.

[southernyankeebelle]

36. Here is a good place to go to website to go to: Great Depression Cooking. Or

google Great Depression Cooking and you get some good how to videos. Short and sweet how to. The lady that does them on Youtube is an old lady in her 90s. She is Italian-america and while she give you the how to she gives you a story about the depression. She is such a sweet little ole lady and the stories are really nice to listen to. Hope it will help.


But here is a cheap meal.

One whole white onion
Carrots and Celery sticks
Stew Meat (1 Lb)
1 cn of Tomatoe Paste
2 Tlbspoons of Veg oil or Olive Oil

Chop and clean up Carrots and Celery put aside for the moment. If you want you can also chop the onion up. (I prefer to leave it whole just for the flavor).

In a pot put stew meat in first then put the chopped carrots,celery and onion to follow. Fill with cold water to make sure its all covered. Then open the Tomatoe Paste and put in the water and it will give you color and then add the veg oil or olive oil. Let it cook very slow til meat is cooked and carrots and celery is tender.

Then take some elbow macroni and cook to the receipe on the box. Drain the water after it is cooked. Now put your pasta in individual bowls to serve. Add the liquid to the indivdual bowl and serve to your husband or yourself. The topper is Parmesan Cheese.

That's it, very easy to make. My momma said they use to make it during WWII because it was a meal you could have leftovers. Honestly it really is delicious.

[Zoeisright]

37. Food waste is the biggest part of most America's food budgets.

We waste up to 40% of the food we buy. Getting a good big freezer would be a sound investment - go to scratch and dent stores or look at garage sales.

[allan01]

41. re:Screw that catfood meme. How about tips for actually eating well on no money to speak of?

Last edited Thu Apr 11, 2013, 12:36 PM - Edit history (2)

on edit : here is the link AW 9184.22N 19320.46E 0.17a 354
apperantly this was a poster as like on a wall poster . i am about to become a decline to state on my ballot again.was one after the 2000 election. still feel strongly about the progressive ideals . feel duped . please type in the http before the adress. it would be nice to have this in paragraph form

[arcane1]

58. I would love to read that in paragraph form, I can't handle the red and white squares n/t

[pinto]

61. +1 Great graphic. Sure to spur other ideas along the way. What's the source?

[Number23]

63. Great graphic! I like that there are meat and veggie options

Although anything with coconut or onions gets an immediate from me.

Would you be able to post the link so that I could print that out? Especially the shopping list, though I think I've got pretty much everything on the list.

[silverweb]

112. Love the chart!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Saved and shared.

[Paul E Ester]

133. Here is a collection of food cooking infographics

http://pinterest.com/kmankins/food-cooking-infographics/

Thanks for posting that.

[freshwest]

148. Thanks, I like those combinations there. I wish it was in paragraph form, but saved it as a pdf.

[kestrel91316]

42. Read The Tightwad Gazette for starters. That's all I am gonna say, because I have

previously been attacked on DU for my suggestion that people with money struggles do like I do and cook mostly from scratch rather than buying convenience foods and that, if they have a patch of dirt, they grow some of their own veggies.

[LeftInTX]

46. I used to have that book!!! It's really a good read.

I was a tightwad until I became disabled. (About 25 years ago)
Now I can't stand long enough to cook from scratch.

Anyway, a blast from the past

[Hekate]

80. Thanks Kestrel

Yah, I know things have been a bit tense around here lately, to put it mildly.

[LeftInTX]

43. In the south west? Grow prickly pear cactus

It needs no water or fertilizer
Has no pests
Grows like a fracking weed
Makes a great security hedge
Get a blow torch to burn off the spines
(I actually have a spineless variety)

If you see a plant nearby all you gotta do is break a piece off and stick it in the ground and it grows.

It is actually very good for you and tastes pretty good.
I eat the pads raw.

This info is for real lazy gardeners.

[KittyWampus]

139. they grow in the NorthEast too! By the beach. We had some here and they proliferated. Sweet fruit,

sort of like a juicy fig.

[LeftInTX]

140. They're so easy to grow! USDA shows they grow in Canada too.

[freshwest]

150. Yup. Used to make nopalitos with them, and jam from the pears.

[Rosco T.]

44. You speak with common sense and wisdom..

.. prepare to be beaten down for not wallowing in the doom and gloom.

Seriously tho, good points and good information

[SoCalDem]

49. And remember that everything you buy in a box (prepared ) started as a simple recipe

that can be made at home for pennies on the dollar...and can be modified for personal preferences..

The issue here is TIME.. Many people think they don't have time to cook, and two generations now have been exposed to fast foods and may have never learned to cook..

Something as simple as a pie that costs $6+ frozen (and tastes so-so) can be made in no time at all and from about any fruit you can get on sale..

I have always cooked cheap & easy...and in amounts that lend themselves to freezable leftovers

A package of sale chicken breasts (with bones) can feed 2 people at least 10 meals..

5 chicken breasts,4 potatoes.,6 stalks of celery , 4 or 5 carrots, 2 onions, 2 eggs & a handful of flour, can feed my husband and myself 10 meals..

....one with baked chicken... and 5 more with the best chicken salad ever..

I save the bones (freeze them until I have several) to make soup with homemade dumplings (at least 4 more meals from that, since I add

[Cleita]

57. I never understood why people buy pancake mix.

All you need is an egg, flour, milk and baking powder. You can mix other stuff in but this is basically it.

[Warpy]

59. If you do yeasted pancakes, you don't need the egg.

I'd start it in a cold kitchen before I went to bed. It was nice and bubbly by morning. The yeast gives them a really nice flavor.

If only I could have afforded a few berries or something!

[Cleita]

62. I must try that sometimes. Thanks! n/t

[hopemountain]

94. excellent

you can also make whole wheat or unbleached flour tortillas with a bit of yeast instead of baking powder and they turn out real nice. thanks, warpy!

[Warpy]

102. My yeasted tortillas always turned into pita bread

and that was just peachy to me.

[Warpy]

54. That's a nice diet. I wish I could have afforded it during my latest

three year stretch of real poverty. Instead, my diet went like this:

Whole grains bought in bulk from the food co op.

Dried beans, ditto.

Buckwheat for sprouting. Buckwheat sprouts are great on sandwiches instead of lettuce.

Cheap root veggies, winter squash and cabbage. Yes, even turnips are nice when you roast them instead of boiling and mashing them.

Flours and yeast for breads and pastas.

And that's it. No milk, eggs, salad greens, fresh fruit. Every 4 months or so I'd get a small jar of applesauce and stretch it out by using it on toast. Fruit is what I missed most.

I started off with spices and dried herbs, a quart of maple syrup from Costco (my big luxury), and a quart of tamari and I was running out of all of it by the time the poverty period ended.

That's the poor folks' diet. It kept me well. It was just very, very boring after the first few weeks.

[pinto]

64. I think monotony is a real challenge for living on a shoe string food budget.

Gets old...I've had some lean times and found "re-fashioning" inexpensive food basics helped a lot.

[Warpy]

69. Thinking outside the bean is essential

beans combined with onion, garlic, herbs and spices can be turned into some perfectly acceptable sandwich spreads, burgers (especially with leftover cooked grains) and loaves.

[hopemountain]

95. and dips!

thin them with a bit of whatever you liquid you like, a touch of olive or other healthy oil, a bit of lemon juice, a drop of vinegar, sea salt, etc...

[Warpy]

68. Depression Coffee

The flavor is very like the real thing but no caffeine. It can help, though, if you're a coffee hound. I discovered it by accident when I was trying to make a snack food.

Soak dried chickpeas at least overnight. Rub the skins off, rinse and drain. Spread on a cookie sheet and roast in a very slow oven until they're as brown as you want them to be. Cool, grind, and use like regular coffee.

My ex said it was better than any of the commercial stuff out there.

[jazzimov]

65. My step-mother used to mix powdered milk with real milk,

I thought it tasted horrible and couldn't believe that she would ruin milk that way. She told me "you'll get used to it" but I never did. The first thing I did when I moved out was buy real milk. Not that 2% crap - real milk. It was awesome!

The first thing I would suggest is to buy things that you will actually eat and not end up throwing away.

For instance, you can get some great deals buying in bulk. But if it goes bad and you end up throwing away half of it, it wasn't such a great deal.

If you can afford to buy a freezer, then buying in bulk can be a good thing. But you have to include the cost of the freezer. As well as the replacements.

My parents had a 1/4 acre garden. They ended up buying 2 freezers, and still ended up giving away most of the stuff they grew. The garden was a hobby, so by the time you included the cost of the seeds, the high-end tiller (that had to be replaced), etc. etc. I didn't see real cost savings as much as I saw the pride of my parents when they gave away some of the fruits of their labor. And a lot of labor was involved - most of it done by their only son's (me) slave labor.

We also raised rabbits for meat. But we had to buy the material to make their pens, plus the rabbit feed, plus the Lysol to disinfect their "droppings" tray daily. and guess who got the privilege of cleaning those trays? Their only (slave labor) son.

So, be careful. Many of the "cost saving" measures may actually cost you more. Plus, you will end up spending more of your time (time is money) performing them. Unless, of course, you have children that use can use as slave labor.

[noamnety]

72. In my poorest years

we did a lot of scavenging. Wild apple trees, wild berries, wild nuts, purslane which a lot of americans know as weeds but it's eaten regularly in other countries.

Purslane:


and garlic mustard, which can be cooked as greens with beans or in soup or scrambled eggs:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--_I2jSNmqqQ/T1ox4oSe7mI/AAAAAAAAAlY/73NHhputnf0/s1600/Garlic+Mustard+Year+1.jpg

When I lived near water, we fished - using line and hooks we found tangled and embedded in a local dock, we didn't have money for fishing poles or fishing line.

Now I can afford to eat but old habits die hard. I've been swapping my lawn for edible plants over the years, and putting in fruit trees. There's also a local park with pawpaw trees. A park ranger there told me where a stand of the trees is in a secluded spot, he said if I went in with a backpack, nobody would know or care if I filled it when the fruit is ripe.

If you don't have land but live near some abandoned space or near a park, guerilla gardening is a good option. Herbs are really hardy and don't need much care, so they're a great choice to start in a secret area. Sage, oregano, parsley, thyme all seem impossible to kill, at least in a northern climate.

[Mariana]

105. There are a LOT of edible "weeds" growing everywhere

and some of them are very good - good enough that I'd continue to seek them out and eat them even if I were rich, just because I like them.

I started when I was in college, and lived next to a vacant lot that had a huge old pecan tree on it. The nuts were small but they were very tasty. I collected bushels of them and ate them all winter long.

[Hekate]

125. I discovered that arugula is a weed when a potted one went to seed--everywhere

It's prolific and hardy. As it gets older it gets bitterer, but I found a Tuscan bean soup recipe online that will take cups of it and seems to steam the bitter out.

I envy you your college pecan tree!

[CountAllVotes]

74. Go to Costco

and buy and 18 lb. bag of basmati rice from India. Cost is ~$20.00. Will last a very long time.

If you have a WINCO, shop there.

Might as well forget the health food stores, too damned expense.

[Warpy]

78. Supermarkets in this part of the country carry pinto beans and white rice

in bulk and they're cheaper than dirt. An onion, some garlic and a bag of red chile and you're all set.

[CountAllVotes]

83. Onions where I live

were running close to $2.00 a lb. That is NOT cheap!

[Warpy]

86. Yes, I learned how to tolerate part of an onion in things.

They vary widely here. There was a produce stand here at that time that had very cheap produce and red chile.

[freshwest]

149. I do that and get beans, too, also their BP-free bulk canned tomatoes.

They've got a lot of produce at mine.

[supernova]

79. Bone Broth

Bone broth is an extra nutrition-dense stock that can be drunk on its own or as a base for soups and stews. It is a time commitment, but the extra nutrition is worth it. If you drink it regularly, you can cut meat consumption buy as much as 1/2.

Just use the bones left from a roast or chicken or get bones from the store or farmers market. Any meat seller at the farmers market will have soup bones. My guy sells them for about $1/lb. I got 6 lbs recently and got about 1.5 gallons of bone stock out of it. Yum!

You don't have to roast them first but it can enhance the flavor you eventually drink. Any way in a large stock pot add:

Bones
few stalks of celery
A carrot
Onion - All veggies just roughly chopped to fit in the pan.
A few black pepper corns
Add fresh cold water to cover. No salt at this time.
Add a couple of ounces of raw apple cider vinegar. It will help the mineral leech out of the bones.

Bring the bones to a boil, then turn down to simmer, about 2 hours for fish stock, about five or six for chicken and other poultry, and for about 24-30 hours for beef bones. That's about a day and a half. You can put it covered in the med-low oven if you don't want to tie up the stovetop. Check it every so often and top up the water when you need to. You get collagen, amino acids, minerals like calcium, magnesium, and trace metals. The proteins are easily digestible even if the person is ill. It aids and heals GI distress.

Great way to add mega nutrition to your diet for pennies.

http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/broth-is-beautiful

[Hekate]

82. Yum, and so easy, easy. No bird leaves my kitchen before giving up its stock!

I recently defrosted a couple of quarts of chicken stock I made in January. That stuff from the store is for desperation only.

[nikto]

85. Shop at ethnic markets (Latino, Asian, etc), plus...

Prices for some basic food items may be surprisingly lower in lower-income ethnic markets.

Also, exotic spices found in those stores make the same old stuff taste different, or better.

Some produce there may be decent & cheap, but must be consumed the same day or next at most,
in most cases (doesn't stay fresh as long as from pricier stores).

If you have a little growing space (or sunny place for large containers, say 10-15 gallon range), try growing some
flavoring ingredients like onions, garlic, rosemary and bay leaf---4 of the easiest items to grow in ANY garden.
The rosemary and bay leaf are actually permanent plants. You can leave grown onion/garlic in the ground for months until needed,
and the greens are always easily available foir use as flavoring without actually picking
any onions or garlic (or having to buy them at store).




I also heard that very wealthy people taste DELICIOUS!

[Fawke Em]

87. Old people and/or working people

can't think about his and/or don't have time to do this.

I realize you're trying to help, but when I'm behind two old people in the line at Arby's order TWO chicken nuggets and water because they were obviously to frail to till a garden and that's all they could afford, I have to wonder what in the hell we're thinking.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

90. Cook like a peasant

I remember years ago reading in The New Yorker re some guy who came to the US to study from Yugoslavia. He said that during WWII in his house they of course had very little to eat. Said there was some dish that was the staple of his country, a typical peasant dish, as he put it, where you threw whatever was at hand into a big pot, stirred, and ate. Said the upper classes made it with a lot of veggies, while the lower classes made it with lots of animal fat.
His aunt promised him and his uncle that as soon as the war was over and they had enough food again she'd make that dish.
So a while after the war she did. Quoting from memory, he said "My aunt, Oxford-educated, spoke fluent English, made it like a ditchdigger's wife." He and his uncle wound up asleep under the porch for hours after chowing down on it.

So, in that spirit, the Puerto Rican version of the peasant dish where everything gets thrown in a pot and stirred. It's a complete meal all by itself, but of course you can have other stuff with it if you like. It's also completely vegetarian by itself, so this is good food for anyone.

Get out one can of gandules (pigeon peas) and one can of tomato sauce (Goya or Contadina, don't use Hunt's, it's watered down). Drain the fluid from the gandules and save for later.
Put two cups of rice in a measuring cup.
Slice & dice one big yellow onion and one green pepper, put in the big pot.
Ditto for as many cloves of diced garlic as you prefer. I like to throw in as many as I can stand, usually three or four. Alternatively, a couple of generous teaspoons of diced garlic from the prepared stuff they sell in the supermarket will do.
Over the mixture of these three pour a generous heap of olive oil. Don't ask me how much, basically I just throw in as much as will cover the stuff and then some.
If you prefer (this is optional, but I like to do this) pour some vinegar in as well.
Put on the flame, on high. Start stirring.
After a minute or so throw in lots & lots of oregano. If it doesn't smell delicious at this point, you haven't thrown in enough.
Once the onions are almost at the point of being translucent (means they're done) throw in some alcaparrado. This is a pickled mixture of capers, peppers, and olives they sell in the ethnic foods section of your supermarket. You can order it online from Goya if they don't have it. One or two tablespoons will do, more if you like lots of olives. DO NOT use the one where the label says the olives are pitted, unless for some reason you have to. Pitted olives in alcaparrado are just evil.
Once the onions are translucent (five minutes after turning on the flame usually does it) throw in tomato sauce Throw in the gandules immediately after. Stir away for a couple of minutes.
Fill the can of tomato sauce with water and throw it in. Repeat. That gets you two cups of water in the pot. Put in the liquid you drained at the start from the gandules as well. Throw in the rice immediately after. Into this shake up a generous amount of pepper, and (assuming you can use it) salt. I use kosher salt, I think it tastes better. I also throw in some tabasco, but that's optional. If you like some spice in your rice, use it.
Stir as you would usually until the rice absorbs all the liquid, cover, lower the heat to minimal, set the timer to twenty minutes.
Have a shot of rum saying "A Chango" as you do (optional but trust me; the food tastes better).
Stir it once after this, at around the ten minute mark. Another shot of rum at this point would not be out of line. Once the twenty minutes are up, test the rice to see if it's done, and if not stir it once more, let it go for a couple of more minutes, and that should be it.
Serves an army. Really. If you don't live with one, save the leftovers in the refrigerator. Stays good for about a week.

[Demo_Chris]

91. Leningrad Stew

Hit a local animal processing plant and get glue grade hoofs. You can buy a crate -- that's 40 lbs -- for about eight bucks. Throw a pair in your dutch oven along with one whole onion, some old wallpaper (leave the glue remnants) and a handfull of pennies or wire. Bring to a low boil by heating it over a fire in a 55 gallon chemical drum, and let it cook until the wallpaper has turned gray and sludgy and the vapor burns your eyes. For flavor add some chicken beaks (or heads if you can get em) and one of those urinal cakes you find in many restaurant bathrooms (rinse it off first). For extra protein, hit up your local animal shelter after a pet purge, or you can just start hopping fences with hammer in hand -- remember the golden rule "Small and yappy makes yer tummy happy!"

Serves a multitude plus leftovers. Good eats.





(Note: the above recipe, as delicious as it undoubtedly sounds, it entirely ficticious and will probably kill you. So don't do it)

[kenny blankenship]

96. Hey, now you're talking!

People have been tightening their belts for a long time now already. There is a limit, and the limit has fucking passed. Instead of counseling people to adjust their diets to the inedible and reconciling them to betrayal and destitution, we should be rallying them to put the fear of an angry God into our corrupt political leadership.

[bvar22]

92. You can't grow too many MEALS on a balcony,

...or in an apartment. That endeavor WILL feed the soul, but won't put very much food on the table. For Apartment, Condo, and Urban Dwellers,
a Community Garden is the best resource.
Tenant Farming, making deals with people who have nearby land, is on the rise around urban areas.

It is also possible (easy) to LOSE money by growing your own food.
Nothing is FREE, and buying partially grown Starter Plants, fad fertilizers, fad mulches, and sacks Top Soil can frequently cost MORE than the usable harvest from that particular plant.

Skills, knowledge, and tools are essential to grow enough healthy food
to make it a deal economically, especially if Time & Labor are factored into the equation. For most people, it would be a better deal to hold a part time job and buy food off the Supermarket shelves.


Buying in Bulk and cooking from scratch is the best Dollar Saving avenue.
Groups can Co-Operate by pooling money,
buying even LARGER quantities for better discounts.
We are working to build such a Co-Op in our area.

In 2006, my Wife & I made the decision to sell everything,
move to The Woods,
and start growing our own food.

We have an 1/2 acre veggie garden, 12 chickens, fruit trees, and a variety of cultivated Berries (Blue, Straw, Boysen, Elder) in addition to wild Blackberries,
and maxed out can produce about 50% of our food.
We can & freeze for the Winter.
We Eat Well on a very low taxable income.


...but it is not for everyone.
My Wife and I are Healthy and Strong,
but we work harder than when we held regular jobs.
Even in Winter time, cutting, hauling, and splitting wood for the wood stove
can wear out the best.

We avoid buying anything "NEW".
We buy 2nd hand or salvage (junk) directly from the previous owner if possible,
and make-it-work, or do without.
We build, fix, or make everything ourselves,
preferring to buy tools instead of paying someone else.

We drive old vehicles, and fix them when they break.
We don't drive ANYWHERE unless it is necessary,
and keep detailed lists for our weekly trip to town for supplies.
We haven't been to a Movie
or spent a night away from our cabin since arriving here in 2006.
(AND we haven't killed each other..... yet).

We currently have Sat TV,
and were recently able to add unlimited broadband Sat Internet (Excede) for $45/month for life under:
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
The Sat TV and Sat Internet help us to deal with the isolation of rural living,
but Sat TV is first on the list-of-things-to-go if things get tighter.



We are doing OK, and enjoying the independent, sustainable lifestyle,
but our mornings are accompanied by ever more frequent moans, groans, and crackling joints. We have acknowledged to each other that we can't do this forever.
When we talk about that, my Wife always smiles at me and says, "Honey, we can live on Possums and Poke Weed forever if we have to."

[KoKo]

93. nice post..always good to hear your updates e

on your garden and lifestyle there in Arkansas.

[riderinthestorm]

131. +1. And time is money. You have to assess whether the time you spend gardening IS paying off

by reducing your grocery bill.

Unfortunately there's a reason most young people leave the farming lifestyle - its very, very hard work with looooonnnggg hours for a very small return.

It truly may be "cheaper" to work a second job and buy produce from the farmer's market than it is to grow your own. You must consider the labor costs when evaluating the value you are getting out of that produce.

I totally hear you bvar22 about the physical labor aspect of this lifestyle. Once you pass 50 it becomes very hard to do every day and I'm acclimated to the work. I think for older people or seniors, it would be damn difficult to begin a large sustainable veggie garden - it can be backbreaking labor.

[sendero]

171. I agree with you somewhat..

... this year we are trying something new to us called "square foot gardening".

Anyone interested can google it and see what I'm talking about.

Getting the beds set up is not trivial, but maintaining them is. Virtually every action needed to tend a garden is reduced/minimized using this technique. We're getting on in years ourselves and this has been a godsend to us.

The only negative is that there is a high initial cost to set one of these gardens up, although the resourceful can no doubt find ways to reduce those costs.

If it weren't such a pain to do I'd post a picture of my asparagus/onion bed, it is beautiful

[kenny blankenship]

97. It was just the beginning

Little did they guess, no matter how they tried to cope or make do, and no matter who they turned to to save them, things got worse and worse, until they finally took matters into their own hands...

[Harmony Blue]

98. I tend to be very creative on a tight budget

Green onions are loaded with vitamins so combine them with eggs and you have a tasty omelette. One bundle of green onions can last me a week.

Bread that is dried out is re-baked and stored in baggies to be consumed later by soaking in water (basically a rusk) or by crumbling it to make bread crumbs.

My favorite meal to make is Onions +Tomatoes + oregano + baked potatoes +olive oil. The key is to buy all these items in bulk and they can make multiple meals suitable for lunch or dinner. Buy fresh oregano potted plant (or even better grow it) and dry it out and save it in a jar. Most herbs like basil, chives, rosemary, etc are easy to grow and require little water.

I use onions also to treat any sting wounds from bees or wasps.

White/Red vineager/lemon juice are good to have if you are on a budget as well because they are important for cooking but also for cleaning.

Even though there aren't mountains around in Florida I have found wild Asparagus and other greens most don't realize you can actually eat.

Baking soda is a must because it is so multi purpose.

I look for reduced bananas because they tend to be the sweetest and combined with yogurt makes for delicious multiple snacks.

Spinach and rice dish with tomato juice can make a huge batch that lasts three meals.

Breads tends to be expensive, so I tend to buy pita breads or flat breads. Combined with honey it is a light but satisfying breakfast.

Soups are easy to make as you can do anything you want. If I have a lot of leftover vegetable I put them all together to make a supreme vegetable soup.

Hollowing out tomatoes, dicing up the hallow portion and mixing with rice, and then putting this stuffing back into the hallowed tomatoe and baking is easy and delicious.

[hopemountain]

99. living on greens, beans and rice

some good spice & herbs is not hard or boring for us. about once a week we add a bit of bacon or some chicken or beef to the rice as a condiment. i only tolerate tuna about once a year - and it has to be solid white meat. we do not hunt but it seems every winter we are blessed with some venison in the freezer and a couple of salmon.

this summer i am planting lettuce, basil, cucumbers, green beans, chives and garlic - all in pots to keep things easy.

[dkf]

100. Forget rice...I'm in love with Quinoa!

I make a salad that has become my dinner of choice and one bag from Costco lasts me a pretty long time. Add various veggies, especially red cabbage, kale and onions, and beans and its quite nutritious. With a mayo, lemon, olive oil, agave dressing its tasty with low sugar and salt.

[daleanime]

101. bookmarked

[RainDog]

103. thanks for the positivity :)

great thread.

[aquart]

104. But cat food is READY TO EAT.

Yes, you can eat very well by doing it yourself and avoiding the high prices for preparation and packaging.

If you have the energy, the strength, the pissy determination.

And there are shitloads of seniors just like that.

But then we have the millions who can prepare a meal OR eat the meal. They don't have the energy for both. What do you propse for them?

[Hekate]

106. Great post! What do YOU propose?

So many of the ideas and recipes involve making something that will last several days or even a week. It's what I used to do when I worked full time and the kids were small: make things on Sunday that we could eat for several days. Did all the vegetable prep on Sunday, too, as it is the most labor-intensive part of cooking. Then I could reach into the fridge on Thursday and still get out more of the cut-up veggies to cook. Crock pots are also a good way for people living alone to make several meals at once.

But perhaps you didn't read that part and/or are addressing another concern. Again, what do YOU propose?

[aquart]

109. I did Sunday food prep, too.

Until I wasn't strong enough to do that. Discovered the joys of Greek yoghurt and peanut or almond butter.

My mother, on a better income, became an Ensure junkie which I suggested out of pure desperation. (When she needed me to do HER Sunday prep, I was busy becoming unable to do my own during a period when my medical insurance was in a bureaucratic black hole.)

I suspect many Americans whose families have died or live too far away are being lost because of this difficulty which can begin small and become critical before anyone notices.

[Hekate]

111. >sigh< You're right about the distance of family...

... affecting seniors. I strongly believe that it takes a village for all stages of life, not just childhood. And in some ways we are failing badly at that. I don't understand us anymore -- how we got so hooked on the "freedom" argument coming from the GOP and their plutocrat owners.

I'm sure you know why I started this thread. I felt we needed a different point of view for awhile, and that some might take some benefit from it.

I don't do farming/gardening myself, and don't plan to. Currently am comfortable at 65, but remember the days when my skills at meal planning really meant something, and hope to be able to recall them at need. Most are capable of it, if they only are taught how. Those who cannot, through failing strength and health, need the "village" that our government should be able to provide, and is not providing...

Best of luck, aquart, I pray that things get better soon,

Hekate

[riderinthestorm]

138. I still believe there are SOME cheap ready to eat meals that can be managed

Oatmeal just takes boiling water. Cold cereal with milk is another. Peanut butter is good on a lot of things from apples, celery and sandwiches. Tuna is virtually "ready to eat" with very little prep. Or hardboil a dozen eggs and you are ready to go with them an instant protein hit when you need it. Store brand yogurts are cheap and tasty. Hell even cheese and crackers, bagels and/or toast can be a meal in themselves with a bit of applesauce.

So many foods can now be made in the microwave with little to no prep. Bacon and eggs can be done in a microwave without any prep except scrambling the eggs. Rice, pasta, heating up a can of refried beans... easy to do in the micro. Don't discount frozen veggies, fish or fruit. They are very cheap and again, easily done in the microwave without any prep other than dumping them in a bowl with a little water.

My 94 year old grandmother lived on her own and was very, very frugal her whole life. As her mobility decreased, she simply kept simplifying what she made. A lot of the suggestions above are from observing her.

I realize that for some who are completely unable to do anything anymore then these are even too much. I just think that for some people they think that food prep has to be pretty extensive. It doesn't have to be - it can be quite simple.

[freshwest]

152. I am finding that I am having to simplify my meals for the same reason. Thnx for story of grandma.

[riderinthestorm]

162. I'll never forget when I stopped over one day and she had 3 tbs of rice and 6 tbs of water in a bowl

Popped it into the micro and within minutes she had a perfect single portion serving of rice!

The microwave seems to have transformed cooking for a lot of people who can't stand for very long or who have arthritis in their hands and can't hold and maneuver heavy pots.

Good luck!

[ohheckyeah]

108. Anybody else had

dandelion green salad?

My mom used to make it with a bit of bacon crumbled up in it. She fried a few pieces of bacon and added some vinegar to the bacon grease as a dressing. You, of course, can't use a lot of bacon grease but just enough for flavor.

[pamela]

110. My Mom makes something similar

It has flour and vinegar and a little sugar in it in addition to the grease. Kind of a roux. It's great with hard-boiled eggs.

[Kalidurga]

114. I never liked the greens, but...

harvest the tops soak em in salt water rinse well pat dry then batter and fry, I hope I can find me some of those yummy yellow flowers this spring, but I probably won't cuz people around here think they are weeds.

[freshwest]

151. I love dandelion salad, and also the tea. Really good stuff.

[Behind the Aegis]

113. I am surprised no has mentioned it: COUPONS!

Since I have started using coupons, I have cut our food bill by about 43%. On good days, I have have saved as much as 75%. I usually average between 35% and 65%. It takes a bit of work, but once you get a groove going, it is amazing how easy it can be. If you have questions, let me know!

[eridani]

117. No one has mentioned it because the thread is about scratch cooking

I've never yet seen a coupon offered for any ingredients that would be useful for that. I actually do look through the coupons that come with the Sunday paper, and find one I can use about once every three months. However, this may vary a lot by where people live, so things could be different elsewhere.

[Behind the Aegis]

119. Gee, I am sorry! I thought it was about trying to cook on a budget.

And yes, there are a number of coupons for a variety of things, including flour, eggs, milk, bread, mixes, fruit, spices, and even meat and vegetables. So I apologize for my intrusion.

[eridani]

121. Cooking on a budget IS scratch cooking, for the most part

I don't use mixes and buy milk by the pint, or use bulk dry milk. Coupons for bread? Yes, but the store brand is always cheaper without the coupon. Spices and flour--cheaper in bulk at the food co-op. Costco usually has coupons only for clothing, electronics and appliances. We go through six eggs every two months, and I buy them from a friend. Local sales on meat, fruit or veggies rely on non-coupon advertised discounts. Occasionally I find a coupon for deodorant or some other personal care product that I can use.

Like I say, regional variation--I'm sure there are parts of the country that have coupons instead of non-coupon advertised sales. And if you have a really high budget for food and other groceries, I can see where coupons might cut that down.

[noamnety]

122. I coupon and have a different view.

I don't see couponing and cooking from scratch as opposing ideas. You don't have to buy frozen or prepared foods just because there's a coupon for them. I'll generally pass on coupons for yogurt for instance because I don't want the ones with HFCS. But I did recently splurge and use a coupon to get a free plain greek yogurt for starter because my yogurt starter had inexplicably begun making carbonated yogurt.

I stocked up on balsamic vinegar one or two years ago when it was 10 cents a bottle with coupons. I've just this month finished the last of those (sad!). I had a bunch of free olive oil from the same time frame - I'd still have some left but I passed some onto my daughter.

This spring I got 15 pounds of grapefruits and several bottles of 100% grapefruit juice completely free with coupons.

If I can get something cheaper buying bulk or generic I will do that, but it's pretty common to find basic from scratch ingredients free or super cheap with coupons. Even eggs often have a printable 55 cents off two dozen coupon - and it doesn't matter which brand of eggs you buy, it can be store brand.

My coffee's been almost free for the last several months. I keep getting offers for $3 off any coffee. It could be a cup of coffee at starbucks, it could be a bag of whole beans of your favorite brand, or store brand. So I keep getting 12 oz bags of beans at the store for 3.99 (sometimes less if I combine it with another coupon), and getting $3 back for it in paypal.

I have a super low budget for groceries - about $10 a week for two adults for food, toilet paper, toothpaste, etc. Most of it I spend at the local fruit and vegetable market. And most of it I earn back doing store surveys, so my real expense last month was actually zero - I had a $2.70 profit.

[eridani]

165. I've never, ever seen coupons for free items that didn't require spending $50 or more

--in a single shopping trip. I get regular mailings from local stores, and it has been three months since I've seen one for anything that I would ever use. If it rots before you use it, you haven't saved anything. In my area, coupons for items that I need just don't exist.

[noamnety]

168. I don't rely on store coupons.

The grapefruit deal was in Feb at Meijer. At first the 5lb bags of grapefruit, or grapefruit juice, were $2 each and there was a $2 coupon on the ocean spray website making it free.

Then the next week it got better with a store sale - if you bought 2 half gallons of ocean spray grapefruit juice, you got a free bag of grapefruit, making all three items free.

None of my grapefruits rotted - I was sectioning them and throwing them in salads every night with bell peppers, pears and avocados that I got super cheap. I do pretty well at avoiding food waste unless it's planned. By that I mean doing things like buying a markdown case (12 pints) of blueberries for $2 in a managers special, with the understanding that I need to sort them as soon as I get home and pull the bad ones. I have a shameful amount of blueberries in my freezer now! But I have about a cup of them each morning in my oatmeal.

[pamela]

115. Frozen vegetables and fruit can be relatively cheap.

People often turn their noses up at frozen foods but with the freezing techniques these days, frozen fruits and vegetables are as nutritious as fresh and there is very little risk of spoilage. I always keep large bags of the store brand of frozen spinach and a red, yellow and green pepper mixture in my freezer.

I buy turkey sausage and take it out of the casing and brown it like hamburger and add onions, garlic, spinach, mushrooms and peppers to it. Sometimes a little squash and/or zucchini, too. This makes a huge amount of an extremely nutritious substance that can be used for multiple meals. I use it in spaghetti sauce, as an omelet filler, a pizza topping and a filling for strombolis. (The latter I make with the 99 cent whole wheat pizza dough they sell at Trader Joe's but more talented cooks could make the dough from scratch.) I can actually make all of those meals with one batch of the mixture but then, I'm only cooking for two.

I also use it to make omelette "muffins." Take about a cup of the mixture and add it to 3 or 4 eggs beaten with a little water. Toss in a handful of shredded cheese if you like and pour it into muffin tins. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. These can be refrigerated for days or frozen and then quickly reheated in a microwave.

This isn't as cheap as beans and rice but it honestly stretches so far, and is so nutritious and tasty, that it works out to be fairly cheap per serving.

I also always keep a bag of frozen raspberries on hand for smoothies. I'll toss a little spinach or romaine in the blender with water and raspberries and whatever else I have on hand (a little bit of apple or even carrot or cucumber) and blend it good. The raspberries are such a strong flavor that it masks the green stuff and makes for a super healthy drink. You don't need to use many raspberries, making this fairly inexpensive.

One more smoothie trick...I add a little oatmeal to my milk/yogurt based smoothies. When our bananas start to get too ripe, I freeze them and use that to make a banana, oatmeal, yogurt smoothie. Tastes like a banana milkshake and the oatmeal makes it nice and thick. I sometimes add a little peanut butter or chocolate syrup or both. Mmmmmmm. My husband loves those and they are really healthy and not terribly expensive, especially since the main ingredient (the frozen bananas) are something that might otherwise have gone to waste.

[eridani]

118. My mom used to do most of that, but she quit

--when she tried to move a big pot of soup from the stove to the table and dropped it on her foot, breaking it. It was Meals on Wheels from then on. My 2 brothers and I might have helped her out had we not moved a couple of thousand miles away to get family wage jobs.

I actually like reading threads like this in the Frugal Living group, or Cooking and Baking. It's more than a bit insulting to link them to a discussion about ageing.

[ErikJ]

120. Keep a 50 lb. bag of dog food just in case it comes to the worst

It can keep forever and is actually fairly good nutrition ..and with LOTS of fiber.

[LWolf]

123. I don't need to be lectured on how to make a food dollar stretch.

I'm well aware of all those "strategies" you mention, and more. So is my mother on SS. So are my grown sons. We've all used them.

We know how to survive. The point is that senior citizens shouldn't have to spend their last years squeezing the buffalo crap out of a nickel, living with the stress that living from nickel to nickel causes.

[myrna minx]

124. Well said. Thank you.

[Hekate]

136. You personally are not being lectured in any manner. Most hang out in GD...

Most people hang out in GD, which is where most of the angst is. I get the angst --- been there, done that, know the transient nature of the goddess Fortuna.

The reason for my OP is simple: Anxiety attacks are draining (been there, done that) and lead nowhere. Group anxiety attacks are disempowering, spread, and lead to even more people feeling hopeless and helpless.

Those who are able need to reclaim some sense of power over their own lives so they can move, so they can resist, so they can reach out a hand to help pull someone else up.

Many posters responded in that spirit. I'm sorry if a few could not. The problems are massive, but the only place we have to start from is within our own hearts. From there, collective action.

Best wishes,

Hekate

[LWolf]

166. The low-level,

long-term anxiety that people experience who are forced to count those nickles and find a way to survive is life-limiting, to say the least.

I want people to be able to exist without that monkey on their back.

[HockeyMom]

130. Schools and Restaurants

The majority of food cooked, and not served, must be thrown out at the end of the day. I have heard of restaurants which gives this food away to food pantries, homeless, etc., at the end of the day rather than throw it in the garbage. Hello, Gordon Ramsey? Apart from the undercooked food that goes in the garbage, scallops, pork, or risotto that is overcooked CAN be given away for the poor to eat.

When I worked in a school cafeteria, the food we cooked which was not served, was allowed to be taken home by staff, OR at one school in a poor area, parents could come to the cafeteria and take home the leftover food they wanted.

So, so much of our still edible food is thrown in the garbage when people are going hungry.

[Hekate]

141. A friend of mine told me how her mom used to take food home from the school cafeteria

We grew up in different parts of the same island and didn't meet until college, but have stayed close.

I think her mom wasn't even working there, but just befriended the cafeteria ladies. You do what you have to do. At least the food in those days was more wholesome than the fishsticks and hotdogs that were reheated in my own kids' so-called cafeteria.

I'm with you all the way; it is a sin how much good produce and other food is wasted in this country. You have to jump through a variety of bureaucratic hoops in order to give it away, though, and while I understand why one needs to ensure that the "leftovers" are wholesome, I do not understand why it has to be so hard to do.

Another thing I don't understand -- at all -- (am I starting to sound like Andy Rooney here?) is the public attitude toward what might be called nuisance wild game, such as the overabundance of geese that despoil public spaces in some parts of the East coast. It costs money to discourage them and to eradicate the ones that won't be discouraged, yet on the occasions when someone suggests that instead of sending the bodies to the landfill maybe they should be given away to the poor, there is a hue and cry about how insulting that is. I fail to see the insult here. Maybe it just needs to be phrased differently: "Good people of XYZ Township, hear ye! Fine fat Christmas goose for your dining pleasure, trussed and ready. Donate (generous sum) to the Food Bank for your goose, (and sotto voce -- Food Bank clients get their goose free)."

[KittyWampus]

132. Lentils, brown rice, onions. Crockpots turn cheap meat into deliciousness.

[freshwest]

153. Um, you're making me hungry here.

[Cha]

143. Aloha Hekate and Mahalo~ I always

envied those people whose parents had their own garden when they were growing up. What a nutritious way to form a healthy foundation for your body.

[kentauros]

144. This was posted in C&B the other day:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/46-penny-pinching-ways-to-save-a-lot-of-money-this

Highlighted were numbers 13 and 14, for growing your green onion and celery stubs (what you would normally discard after cutting them off.)

13. Plant your green onion stubs — you'll have a new bunch in just ten days.



The next time you've used up your green onions, put the white ends into a jar of water. They'll start to grow almost immediately. This also works for celery stalks.



Find out more about planting celery here.

[freshwest]

154. You can do carrot tops, garlic and even potato pieces, too.

There are stories of people living off the same carrot, etc., for years. Thanks for the link and pix.

[Generic Other]

155. My mom was Asian frugal

She made rice every night. And then added some strong flavored pickle or vegetable, cut into a zillion pieces and soy sauced. So dinner might be rice with a white onion that had been sliced so thin it looked like paper, marinated in soy and a drop of tabasco. Variations might include cold canned green beans or spinach with a drop of soy, or even an egg cracked raw over the rice. Or tofu. Don't forget the soy. Spaghetti noodles were doctored the same way. Onions and soy. Tabasco. I think I could stave off starvation with this diet. It's pretty cheap.

This is basic survival food for hard times.

[AsahinaKimi]

157. This !!

And I might add in my area, Asian markets have great prices, especially in Chinatown. Also we have farmer's markets around here, where the food is fresh off the farms the the prices are not bad.

[magical thyme]

161. I'm changing my garden's focus

from whatever common veggie I can grow to the more expensive ones. So I will buy most of my carrots and potatoes, but will grow specialty ones with deeper color and rich in phytochemicals; eg, purple Incan potatoes, orange cauliflower (the brand new deep purple sold out fast!), deep red carrots.

I'll also be adding beets with also edible greens, eggplants and kale this year. And I'll be replacing my strawberry patch (moved to a safer location after it got plowed up a couple years ago and never recovered) and will finally have a place to put in 3-4 blueberry bushes now that a maple in the back has died and must be brought down. I already get a massive amount of raspberries and decent amount of peaches some years. If I have time and money left, I will replace 2 dead pear trees with another peach tree.

I have a large and growing patch of sorrel, a perennial which gives lovely greens with a bright lemony flavor from early in the season until well in the fall. If my oregano survived an overenthusiastic plower this year, I will add a couple more herbs. If the oregano didn't survive, I'll be starting new oregano from scratch. I lost the tarragon my property came with, so hope to get some tarragon going as well.

And a few heirloom tomatoes and peppers if I can start them from seed. And I grow a "micro mix" of mild and spicy greens; still using the 2 large packets of seeds from a couple year ago. A small patch combined with the sorrel gives me a large salad base every day throughout the summer.

I've decided to skip green and dried beans, which I can buy cheaply, and instead focus on sugar snap peas which are expensive and which I love, love, love both raw in salad and sandwiches, as well as stir fries and even snacks. I stir fry and freeze up the surplus. I'm still finding ziplock baggies full in the bottom of my freezer

I sometimes eat a gourmet diet and for less money than most people spend.

[allan01]

163. re:Screw that catfood meme. How about tips for actually eating well on no money to speak of?

found this series

great depression cooking by clara.
and yes one can grow vegtables in a small apartment .
google it

[Hekate]

164. That's charming!

Thanks -- I'd never seen her before, though someone upthread mentioned the Youtube series.

[slackmaster]

172. Jasmine rice, pinto beans, fresh fruits and vegetables, small amounts of meat.

Get a wok and learn how to use it.