poor people food

reply to post by GypsK
Years ago I was an Adult Protection Investigator and I would discover elderly people eating canned cat food with no apparent ill affects. The sad thing was I would often find stacks of uneaten Meals On Wheels dinners in their refrigerators. They wouldn't eat them alone. I'm sure the FDA would frown on eating pet food but if in a SHTF situation I would consider it versus starvation.

Canning *can* be a bit expensive for the initial investment but deals can be found! Water bath canning can be done in a large stockpot, no special equipment needed just check YouTube for instructions. Pressure canners are pricey but you can get a Presto for under $100 new. Check CRAIGSLIST! I check it every day for canning supplies. I've found quart jars $3/dozen and cheaper. You can also find canners and dehydrators used. Once you have the equipment for pressure canning you can literally can just about anything... Even butter! If you can't grow your own food then take advantage of sales and stock up then can it up. Chicken, beef, fish... Can all be pressure canned. You can even can meatloaf.

I really recommend doing this. It is SO MUCH better for you than all that processed crap and you will get better food cheap and fast by doing it yourself. I don't have kids but if I did I would not feel good about loading them up with crap food. I'm not judging anyone... We all gotta do what we have to, but at least check into your options before going straight to cheap processed muck!

If anyone needs more info on this feel free to msg me I'd be glad to help you find the info you need.

Just made goulash tonight, at least what my neck of the woods calls goulash, and holy food economics! Now I know why my mother made it all the time when I was a kid. We might eat on this stuff for days.

1 lb of large macaroni 1.00
2 16 oz cans of tomato sauce .80
1 lb of hamburger 2.50
1 onion .20
1 bell pepper .33 (Aldi had a sale - 3 for 99 cents)
1 tin of mushrooms .30

Since we shopped at Aldi, our total price for all of that was less than $6. It made a massive pot of goulash.

reply to post by tport17


wow here at the regular store ground beef is 3.79/lb.. i feel cheated..lol i'm only a state to the west.

Good way to get more burgers out a pound is add 2 eggs and us a cup or so give or take of seasoned bread crumbs, adding veges helps too.

Will help the patties stay whole also

Bake your own bread.

Get canned veges when you can't get fresh.

Make soups with left overs, pea soup with left over easter ham. Good eats yum.

Originally posted by gnosticagnostic
reply to post by tport17

 

wow here at the regular store ground beef is 3.79/lb.. i feel cheated..lol i'm only a state to the west.

That is Aldi's price. At any other store it is over $3 a lb. I love Aldi haha. That place saves us a bundle.

I am SOOO loving this thread! It's a plethora of useful information!! Thank you all for participating and sharing all these tips, and money saving ideas!!

Just got in from work and gave everything a quick read, can't wait to sit down later to star the posts and comment on some things!

reply to post by MidnightSunshine


Mine is beans and ham. You can either buy a ham yourself and cook it...eat off of it for a week and then same the ham bone with the meat that you couldn't cut off of it...take that and boil it with beans (any beans of your choice, but I like the mixed beans) You can either quick soak your beans (place them in water and boil them for an hour, then turn off your stove, cover the beans and allow them to sit for an hour. Drain them, place them back in the pot with the ham bone, put enough water in to where the beans are just covered and boil. (not entirely sure how long I wanna say for me it's about 2 hours, but it usually shows you the amount on the package) This can be eaten with cornbread. About 5 minutes before it's done cut any left over mean off the ham bone and put it in the beans. You can either throw the bone out at this point, or you can actually rinse it off and freeze it to use it again at a later date. My family and I will make a ham (which can be pricey but we eat on it for a week and at times even freeze it, but we use it for everything...sandwiches, biscuits in the morning, with eggs, dinner, etc, and then you can use the bone for this delicious bean soup.... which in turn will last you another week or again, you can freeze some.)

Lots of stews and soups though. One it's quick for a family on the go, which we are and two....you can double the recipe, which usually doesn't cost much more, and then either eat on it for a long while if you really really like it, or you can freeze it.

Another thing that helps, if you have the room, is to also stock up when the stores have sale. We shop at publix and they constantly have buy one get one free, and I love their Italian month for this because it's all buy one free pastas and sauces, cheeses, etc. My pantry stays filled with Ragu and Barilla and pasta boxes.

Originally posted by MDG420
slice up some Hot Dogs and mix them with Macaroni and Cheese or Ramen Noodles - its really cheap and tastes great

Ramen Noodles by their self are only like $.10/each and will fill you up for a while.

I wonder if wealthy people eat oodles a noodles??? I think I remember seeing Ozzy's kids eat em

For yer meat - chicken and pork - no beef

Starches - rice by the 20lb bag.
and/or a box of instant mash potatoes

Skim milk and the cheap block of cheese for your dairy.

veggies - find the frozen variety most cost effective. Just use what you want and no waste. I've tried what is in season, but ended up tossing some out.

Pasta dishes are also dirt cheap. 1lb of ground pork 2.70 - 1lb box of noodles 1 buck. 1 jar/can of sauce 1 buck. loaf of french or italian bread - 1.69. All under 7 bucks for a dish for 4 easy...with left overs.

Frozen chicken breasts - 2 bucks per lb. A bag of frozen chicken breast meat will last most of the week.

Can make 50 bucks last all week for a family of 3 - just stay away from processed foods. Make most dishes from scratch...even my chicken satay is from scratch. Can survive off of 35 a week (for the same family), but one has to live a little. Think the record was 20 a week for us all.. Average cost per dish is 6 bucks for 3 people.

Another tip - Pre cook any veggies/potatoes in the microwave before cooking with them - cuts cooking time way down. Can do the same with meats, but nuke the veggies/potatoes while you are browning the meat and you'll have a cheap dish within 30 mins.

...but then again, I like to live way below what my income can sustain.

Another tip - if you buy cheap beef, use your crockpot to cook the meat. Tip - Most ground beef can be substituted with ground pork or ground turkey (haven't touched ground turkey since the salmonella outbreak months back - was stuck in the bathroom only to discover that the ground turkey I've bought was tainted).

Good and cheap recipes at www.youtube.com...

reply to post by GypsK


I wish I could star this more. I'm so in love with the fact that you ate cat food and then told us about it!! BRAVO

Mom said I ate cat food a few times when I was a baby...I turned out alright...I guess

Thanks for your reply

This is turning out to be a great thread! I love all the ideas and contributions. I saw the mentions of Spam earlier and thought I'd pass on a recipe I have for it. Very simple. Slice it into thin slices and brown in a skillet, no need to add any extra fat if you use nonstick skillet. When browned remove the spam to a plate, leave heat on, put 1/4 cup cider vinegar into the skillet, be careful to not breath in the fumes, lol will make you cough. Add 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and stir until dissolved and bubbling, put the Spam back in, coat with sauce and serve. Viola Sweet and Sour Spam. You can make this all go farther if you grind up the Spam, add some finely chopped onion, sauted to soften, bread crumbs and an egg, roll mixture into small meatballs and cook, can be baked, then make the sweet and sour sauce and add cooked Spamballs. Extra good served with sweet potatoes.

Originally posted by MidnightSunshine
reply to post by GypsK

 

I wish I could star this more. I'm so in love with the fact that you ate cat food and then told us about it!! BRAVO

Mom said I ate cat food a few times when I was a baby...I turned out alright...I guess

Thanks for your reply

lol I didn't "eat" catfood, just tasted it.... and I wouldn't taste the Aldi catfood because it stinks like hell :p

be honest, if you got this on a plate and noone told you it was Sheba, wouldn't you eat it?

reply to post by AboveBoard


'''''I hate the idea that if you don't have money, you have to eat unhealthy processed foods - I know that sounds uppity, but since both I and my son CAN'T eat many processed foods due to allergies, I've learned to try and save money eating whole foods. I am trying to eat less meat as well, but that is not happening soon... '''''

Uppity or Hippyish?

I agree. Although my BF and I shop together, we DO NOT shop alike. Her cart is always loaded with boxed foods. She does cook real food too, but she's not much of a cook. I feel bad for her kids, they love eating at my house

My son has PKU a metabolic disorder controlled by his diet. We spend A LOT of money on low-protein foods. So I know where you are coming from, he eats almost no processed foods from the store.

Thank you so much for your awesome post, and Yes, I am learning too!!!


Oh dear lord, ONE more thing for now. About the word UPPITY…I read a book about slavery once and from what I remember this word comes from the term for the very wealthy or ‘upper crust’ of society.
Apparently, back then even the rich were trying to save money because they would have the slave cooks use the cheap flour to make the bottom crust, and the good stuff for the top "upper crust" so they could trick their rich friends into thinking they were keeping up with the Jone’s… It was so long ago, don't even remember the name of the book...Dont know if what i just said is a fact.....LOL Im outa here.

reply to post by GypsK


Hell yea, I would eat it knowing what it was if I was starving for a few days and had no plans for dinner....

I have more to say to people but I'm tired and double posting....

So one more thing. We have a family of 5 and the plus. I thought it would be gross before I tried it but I LOVE IT...

I add a can of re-fried beans to a pound of meat and it almost doubles in size. I add chipolata to the seasoning and kids never know the difference. Maybe others do tacos this way, but I grew up on all beef tacos? My husband has 4 bothers and sisters so he has taught me many things....Like the canned biscuit doughnut trick.

I thought of a couple other things I do. Bacon ends and pieces are usually pretty cheap. They are great in soups, rice, and beans, etc. Also, if you render them down for bacon bits for salads and baked potato toppings you can keep the bacon fat for cooking and frying. Pressure cookers and slow cookers can do a great job making cheap cuts of meat tender and delicious. Brining is another way to make meats tender and juicy. Also, get a good cook book on spices and herbs they can turn bland foods into fantastic meals.

Originally posted by grayeagle
baked potato toppings

I discovered this via Pinterest - 34 crockpot meals cooked in 1 day for $150.
I can't attest to the "healthiness" of all the ingredients for folks, but it might inspire those with special diets to figure out their own way to do this. I'm looking into what she's done and seeing how I could apply it to our family.

34 Crockpot Meals for $150

Hope this is helpful!

peace,
AB

reply to post by grayeagle


Our grocery store sells fried chicken already done. The whole chicken, all 8 pieces is 6 bucks. It is soo good! My husband says that's because the use a pressure cooker? I was like...You can fry stuff in a pressure cooker?? I want one now


ABOUT HAM:

Ham is not cheap, unless it's on sale. I highly recommend buying a whole ham on sale, you can get one for about 15 bucks. EVEN if you are single. It's not easy but I cut that thing up into like 5-7 pieces depending on the size, then freeze it.

At first it's a pain in the but, but once you figure out how the bone goes, you get a system down and can dice that thing up in 15 minutes and save A LOT of cash AND eat good throughout the month!!

Originally posted by MidnightSunshine
reply to post by chasingbrahman

 

Cans of curry paste and coconut milk can make a piece of chicken, onion and pepper stretch out to feed six people with some rice, and it's tasty too!


Wow never bought curry paste or coconut milk are they cheap? What do you do with all this, sounds good??

Cans of coconut milk are around $2, and so are the cans of curry. You'll get one meal for 4-6 out of one can of coconut milk, and 3-4 meals out of the curry paste. You should be able to find both in the asian aisle (the curry cans are the size of tuna cans, and there's red, yellow and green, all with a different flavor palate). Brown your meat in some oil over med-high heat, then pull that out of the pan once browned. If you have any garlic or ginger on-hand, even better, because you should saute those in some oil over medium heat for a minute until fragrant, then add one onion and one bell pepper cut into long strips. When you can smell the veggies, toss in a heaping spoonful of the curry paste, and just spin everything around in your pot so it gets coated in the paste. Once spun, dump in your can of coconut milk and about 1/2 cup of water. Add your meat back into the pot. Bring everything up to a bubble, then turn it down to simmer for 20 minutes. Serve this over rice.

I've used these canned curry pastes in Indian and Thai cooking when I don't have the time to make a curry paste. Coconut milk is rather heavy IMHO, which is why this meal can feed so many. Sometimes I'll garnish with fresh cilantro if I have any.

I've also taken a very similar turn with this recipe, using cheap cream-of-insert food here soups. All steps are the same - you just replace the curry paste with cream-of-stuff and serve it over rice.