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Any kind of soups & stews to stretch meat for 7 kids was necessary. Fortunately, I love 'peasant food' to this day. Just ate crockpot beef stew today & am making hamburg/potato soup tomorrow. Both are my fave meals.
Mum baked all our bread... flour was cheaper in those days... so lots of French toast for us. I even like it for dinner sometimes.
When times were really tough, sugar sandwiches was candy & mayo sandwiches could be a snack. I wouldn't want either today & tbh, I can't even stomach the smell of mayo since then.
I also recall being given a large spoon & each of us got to scoop out a bunch of peanut butter to eat for a meal. Same as with mayo... today I gag if I get a whiff of PB. One year of PB only for lunch was enough.
And, someone mentioned it above... one of my fave meals is chicken gizzards friend with onions & butter. Had it 3-days ago, in fact. They're hard to find at the store, so I hope I find them again soon... can't wait. The only con is they smell like gym socks boiling up on the back of the stove. When I lived in FL, I had a screened in patio... it was so nice to plug in my electric saute pot & let them boil up for hours outside. Wish I could do that here.
Not poor but mom very frugal...markdown bins in store...overripe fruit/veggies, expired milk, yogurt etc (still good), day old bread, dented canned food (much cheaper), meat with dark spots (eat right away or freeze it), pastas, ramen, peanut butter, baloney...beans/rice staples...most other stuff mentioned on here. Also had a garden plot at community center so many fresh veggies...
I volunteer at the Food bank taking home expired food that cannot be distributed & some in-date food if it's donated in such abundance we cannot give it all away that day. Such as eggs are common. Majority of our meals are made of free food bank food- I try to make homemade. Meat for the meals must be purchased though we often buy the already cooked rotisserie chickens at Costco which are HUGE and only $4.99 each. Food bank meals are:
Chili
spaghetti
chicken enchiladas
chicken dumplings
bean burritos
stuffed bell peppers
omelets
Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Various homemade soups (chicken, lentil, split pea, pinto bean)
Meatloaf
Free bags of organic vegetables always include-Bell peppers, Chili peppers, Celery, Carrots, Potatoes, Onions & garlic. Bags of dry split peas, lentils, pinto beans, canned stewed tomatoes, canned tomato paste, canned black & white beans, canned tomato sauce, etc. I take home, especially if organic. A ton of free- range organic eggs are always in abundance.
I buy Organic Kale, Cabbage, Radishes, Bananas, lemons Cantaloupe or Mellon if in season. We get torn bags of flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, breakfast cereal, Super-Foods like Turmeric, etc but we cannot legally distribute it. I tape it up and take home.
Kraft mac and cheese with peas and canned tuna in a casserole. Fried tuna patties made with egg, onion and bread crumbs. Roasted sausage and mashed or scalloped potatoes. Frozen vegetables.
Cheese omelettes. Toast and peanut butter. Oatmeal porridge. Frozen fruit. Koolaid. Margarine.
I've taken up intermittent fasting again and am also trying to cut back on how much I eat during my window because I desperately need to lose some weight, so I'm actually struggling to consume all the food I already have on hand in my fridge, freezer and pantry! It's great for my food bill. However, I have no problem eating humble, frugal food when I do resume buying. Personally, I prefer it...
My MIL was very Frugal. She would buy one 10 ounce can of fruit cocktail and split it between 4 people. My husband would get for lunch 1 slice of bread folded in half with 1 slice of ham or turkey maybe a slice of cheese. rarely a snack given but she would give him 10 cents for milk. She would buy a loaf of bread with the Black X in magic marker on the package because it was 1/2 the price. She made some meals as if they were poor but they both worked and were middle class. I think maybe once a month they would get Chinese food or pizza to go and the pizza could not have any toppings because it was extra $.
My MIL was very Frugal. She would buy one 10 ounce can of fruit cocktail and split it between 4 people. My husband would get for lunch 1 slice of bread folded in half with 1 slice of ham or turkey maybe a slice of cheese. rarely a snack given but she would give him 10 cents for milk. She would buy a loaf of bread with the Black X in magic marker on the package because it was 1/2 the price. She made some meals as if they were poor but they both worked and were middle class. I think maybe once a month they would get Chinese food or pizza to go and the pizza could not have any toppings because it was extra $.
Any kind of soups & stews to stretch meat for 7 kids was necessary. Fortunately, I love 'peasant food' to this day. Just ate crockpot beef stew today & am making hamburg/potato soup tomorrow. Both are my fave meals.
Mum baked all our bread... flour was cheaper in those days... so lots of French toast for us. I even like it for dinner sometimes.
When times were really tough, sugar sandwiches was candy & mayo sandwiches could be a snack. I wouldn't want either today & tbh, I can't even stomach the smell of mayo since then.
I also recall being given a large spoon & each of us got to scoop out a bunch of peanut butter to eat for a meal. Same as with mayo... today I gag if I get a whiff of PB. One year of PB only for lunch was enough.
And, someone mentioned it above... one of my fave meals is chicken gizzards friend with onions & butter. Had it 3-days ago, in fact. They're hard to find at the store, so I hope I find them again soon... can't wait. The only con is they smell like gym socks boiling up on the back of the stove. When I lived in FL, I had a screened in patio... it was so nice to plug in my electric saute pot & let them boil up for hours outside. Wish I could do that here.
As a kid we were going through a particularly tight period and the best they could do was a mayo sandwich. When you’re truly hungry it taste like a feast.
Remember when ground beef and snapper were dirt cheap? That isn't the case now.
Chicken thighs and drumsticks are pretty inexpensive.
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