Poverty Food

[MissS]

@Tormato If a store had milk at that price around here it would be sold out within the hour. It's time for people in your town to be making some ice cream.

[Sue_CT]

I pay over 3.00 for a half gallon, so not that price around here although I don't usually grocery shop at Walmart.

[Tormato]

I get all of the powdered non-fat milk that I can use (almost always for cooking), along with pinto beans, peanut butter, and a few other odds and ends, "free".

One local church has converted a "little free library" box into a mini food pantry. Recently they added a 2nd one (and also brought back the library, too) No one is taking the powdered milk or pinto beans. Some take some peanut butter, but there is usually a huge supply. It's my guess that the pantry is used mostly by the near-homeless. The church now has a 5 gallon pail with a lid, for trash, as some people are opening the pop-top cans and eating the food on site. I would find an empty can a block away on a bench on the town common, or at the bus stop, about once a month prior to the pail.

So, what I do is go shopping for what is quickly depleted, canned food, such as ravioli, macaroni and beef, soups, baked beans, chili, veggies, fruit, along with ramen noodles, etc...taking out of the pantry what doesn't move, and replacing it with what I bought. I'm probably saving a few pennies, because what I take is likely a bit more costly than what I supply. I'm thinking about sometimes leaving just enough fare for a bus ride, or two?, in the boxes (about $1.50 each ride). It wouldn't be enough money for someone to spend on the wrong things.

[worth1]

It was probably rat milk.

[LindaJean]

My Grandmother took the time to whittle down wormy apples and pears to find one edible bite, not wasting anything. She used to say if the bugs don't like it , there's something wrong with it. Sometimes I wonder about store bought organic fruit that looks too perfect.
I carefully picked a bunch of organic fruit off the ground at someone's yard that no one wanted but the wasps , and took it over to my son. Later I found out he threw it all away.

[Tormato]

I don't whittle, but I've sliced in half plenty of unsprayed apples, eating that perfectly fine half.

[mama_lor]

Over here pork meat would probably be the food. It has a lot of calories, good amount of protein, and it didn't get much more expensive, compared with chicken, also doesn't lose so much weight after cooking.

To reduce the cooking time, which is very important for the bill, use ground meat or chinese style food, where everything is chopped smaller and cooked much shorter. More work but way less cooking time.

For vegetables, it's more rough, canned stuff definitely cheaper but less healthy.

[peebee]

To me fried rice is the ultimate smart/economical/tasty food. It uses leftovers. You start off with any meat--or not. I like bacon. Throw in vegetables, make it colorful like finely diced carrots, green or regular onions, mushrooms, peas. Really anything you want. I sometimes add a drained can of corn if I don't have eggs to scramble in the pan, to add the yellow color to the dish, as I believe in eating with your eyes too. Color stimulates the appetite plus it's pleasing to behold. Last is the cold cooked rice (I always cook extra the day before just for this). Salt, pepper, soy sauce (or not), plus if you have sesame oil that'll take the meal to restaurant level. You only need a few drops, and a bottle will keep in the fridge for a long time.

[LindaJean]

This morning I made a new improved version of organic brown rice pudding with organic raisins - forgot to put in the real vanilla. It was the first time I used some old half and half instead of regular milk. Definitely tastes rich.

[worth1]

Holy Moses I totally forgot I put a 50/50 mix of pinto and mayocoba beans on to soak last night.
One cup each.
Now where's that fat back I had stashed.

[Moth1992]

We are priviledged not be in poverty, just in the middle class that will never be able to own a place, but my god every week the groceries get more expensive!!

We have cut meat consumption drastically to only nice meat as a treat. Its nicer, better for the animals and the environment, and even if per pound is pricier, we spend less.

We are eating more rice with bean stews. Rice so far is the cheapest meal we can find. Potatoes and onions and cabbages somehow are way more expensive than they have any right to but we still buy them.

Im lucky to have local fishermen in town. I can get fresh fish for reasonable prices.

Bread is insanely expensive. Freaking bread. Need to start looking into making it.

[pepperhead212]

Bread is insanely expensive. Freaking bread. Need to start looking into making it.

That's what made me start baking bread, back in '75! Bread has always been one of the biggest markups, not to mention it will taste a lot better when you make it yourself. And when you start, buy a 1 lb bag of instant yeast - much cheaper than those 1/4 oz packets they still sell in supermarkets.

[Sue_CT]

Yup, bread here is up to 5.99 a loaf for pre-sliced bags of higher end brands. The ones I usually get tend to be 3.99-4.99. A bag of 6 Thomas' bagels, 5.99. I tend to buy the stuff on sale and it is still high.

[AKgardener]

I make my own bread as well and desert !! Passing on what I know to my kids do they can continue to pass it to there children

[Moth1992]

You have some good bread recepies you would like to share?

[karstopography]

Blame Grupo Bimbo for high bread prices, they own most all the popular brands like Thomas, Sara Lee, Mrs. Baird’s. Bays, etc. I like Bays English muffins, but a pack of 6 is $3.34. They tend to expire before I eat them all.
https://www.bimbobakeriesusa.com/our-brands
A Bread monopoly, perhaps?

Still, I’ll buy a 20oz loaf of Mrs. Baird’s Large Bread at $2.86 over the generic loaf at Aldi that costs less than half as much. There’s a odd taint or off flavor I have found in the cheap brands. My wife with her super sensitive taste buds cannot stand the in the background weird taint of Aldi’s cheap brand of bread. I could probably live with the strange flavor of the cheap brand, but a sandwich or hot dog or hamburger is much better if the bread is good. We are home for lunch most every day, we both work about 2 miles from home, and a sandwich is frequently our lunch, so if the bread is off, the whole lunch is off.

HEB sells their in store made that day 16oz french loaves for $1.55 each. Their fresh made Bolillo rolls are 3 for a dollar and make for excellent sandwiches. The trouble with some of these bakery items is they don’t last long so you’d better eat them up that day or the next.

I should probably learn to bake. My daughter is a good baker. She was making her own bagels the other day. Seems like she’s always baking.

[Whwoz]

@karstopography the ingredients list on that Aldi bread should point you in the direction of the source of that off flavour. Maybe useful for you to know if you find other foods with the same flavour you could eliminate them before purchasing by knowing that ingredient. It may also be something that you and your wife have an inherent sensitivity too which could lead to medical problems down the track.

[karstopography]

Aldi Classic White L’oven ingredients list.
Enriched Wheat Flour [flour, Malted Barley Flour, Reduced Iron, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate (vitamin B1), Riboflavin (vitamin B2), Folic Acid], Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Yeast, Soybean Oil, Salt, Wheat Gluten, Calcium Sulfate, Calcium Propionate (preservative), Monoglycerides, Grain Vinegar, Datem, Monocalcium Phosphate, Cornstarch, Soy Lecithin, Potassium Iodate, Calcium Iodate.

Mrs. Baird’s Large White loaf ingredients list
Enriched Wheat Flour [Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Reduced Iron, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid], Water, Sugar, Yeast, Soybean Oil, Salt, Wheat Gluten, Preservatives (Calcium Propionate, Sorbic Acid), Monoglycerides, Datem, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Sulfate, Soy Lecithin, Citric Acid, Grain Vinegar, Potassium Iodate.

The ingredients look about identical, if in different orders. One has high fructose corn syrup and the other does not. Maybe that’s it or maybe something about the baking process is different or maybe the quality of the wheat or some other component accounts for the off flavor in one and not the other. To my tastes, it is very faint, to my wife, it’s like someone slapped her, but she’s like that about a lot of food. The least little off taste or smell in something makes her spit it out or not eat it to begin with. It’s either a blessing or a curse.

[Whwoz]

As someone who has had to go off about 50 different foods, take your wife's reaction as a blessing. Much safer to bite and spit than deal with some of the side affects.

[worth1]

I buy the HEB brand split top honey wheat.
They claim no artificial preservatives or HFC.
Or something from their bake shop.
Or any other HEB hamburger buns and such.
They even have good Hawaiian roles.


I distinctly remember my mom buying 5 loaves for a dollar.
She would also buy a loaf of Roman meal round top for herself and I.
That's what got me started on whole wheat bread.
I was definitely a mama's boy but not in a sissy sort of way.
My father was just too darn mean to be around most of the time.
Even Marine drill instructors had nothing on him.