What's a "Poor Person" Food That You Still Eat?

What cheap/penny-pinching foods do you still find yourself eating even though you aren't poor anymore? Or even if you're not the most secure financially, what are your cheap comfort foods?

I'm talking like, you grew up poor and this is something your parents or caregivers made on a shoestring kind of dishes.

Or you had/have grandparents from the depression era who regularly made dishes out of whatever was on hand just out of, not really habit, but because they were drilled to not waste anything. Ever.

Mine is hamburger gravy on mashed potatoes with a side of vegetables (when I was a kid it would have been that 5 veggie frozen blend with lima beans, boiled TO OBLIVION). I just can't quit it even though I can afford to make whatever grocery list I really feel like (I'm super cheap though.), and I can cook. A few times a year I make it and think about when my parents would make this on the day before payday because it was an entire meal that cost $3.00 in 80's/90's money with tons of leftovers, and I would hate it. My parents were terrible cooks. They still are.

It costs about $10.00 all in to make now.

So what "poor people"/hard scrabble food do you love? What do you think it cost when you or your family were on hard times vs. now?

My grandparents also ate some great poor people food that isn't really poor people food anymore, like homemade headcheese, which is now a delicacy here and hard to come by; and my grandfather loved "Pap", which was old bread torn up in a bowl with cream and sugar or honey, the original cereal I guess! To no ones surprise, he also suffered from rickets as a child in the 20's.

Ooohh, and my Gram loved beef tongue sandwiches on homemade white bread with mustard from a jar that she kept in a cupboard. With pickled "chow chow", which means different things everywhere, but here it's sweet pickled green tomatoes.

a reply to: Atsbhct
Homemade chicken noodle soup. There is still meat on that there chicken bone. Two meals in one.

originally posted by: Tarzan the apeman.
a reply to: Atsbhct
Homemade chicken noodle soup. There is still meat on that there chicken bone. Two meals in one.

Yes! You have to use it!

Pinto Beans, Stewed Potatoes and How Cakes
🤤 Yummy 🤤

a reply to: Atsbhct

Domestic caviar.

Fried Bologna sandwiches, field peas, black-eyed peas or crowder peas cornbread, and a slab of onion. Hell, I'll eat Ramen noodles all the time I just use my homemade broth and add loads of stuff.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Blobfish roe on Aunt Jemima dollar pancakes. With syrup. Butter flavoured.

Hits the spot.

Grilled cheese, county style.

Squashed flat in an empty chips bag.

If you know, you know 😂

originally posted by: FreeFalling
Pinto Beans, Stewed Potatoes and How Cakes
🤤 Yummy 🤤

Oh man love "potato soup" as we called it, with a plate of Mom's biscuits. Macaroni and Tomato soup was a staple growing up that I still enjoy.

originally posted by: FreeFalling
Pinto Beans, Stewed Potatoes and How Cakes
🤤 Yummy 🤤

Beans!! I didn't even know beans existed in that way until I was an adult.

originally posted by: solentsunrise
Grilled cheese, county style.

Squashed flat in an empty chips bag.

If you know, you know 😂

That's totally new to me! As "a treat", we had a babysitter who would rip open a bag of doritos and melt cheese on them in the microwave. Lol. How did that not catch on fire? 🤔

Homemade chicken soup. Also toasted cheese sandwich. Clearly remember those as a child.

a reply to: Atsbhct

You can't go wrong with Ramen Noodles. I don't eat them all that often, but those things are still surprisingly good.

Peanut Butter & Jelly.

Frozen Burritos.



This isn't something I still eat, but you did cause me to remember this....

During my High School years, there were many times when we'd be cruising around the country after school smoking pot, and we would go to Long John Silver's and eat for $0.15 (fifteen cents) each. An order of crumbs (from the deep fryer) and an ice water. I think all we were actually paying for was the cup. The water and the box of crumbs were all free. That was some good stuff.

originally posted by: putnam6
Fried Bologna sandwiches, field peas, black-eyed peas or crowder peas cornbread, and a slab of onion. Hell, I'll eat Ramen noodles all the time I just use my homemade broth and add loads of stuff.

I do this too. Ramen is impossible to get here, but chicken feet and pig feet are dirt cheap, so we just make tonkotsu broth now and pick up the imported $1.00 noodles instead of the 33 cents noodles. Livin' large!

Tinned corned beef, baked beans and mashed potato………the stuff poor dreams are made of……..

I love beans and rice. The last couple days it's been Pintos and Mexican rice with home made tortillas. I love 'em all though spicy red beans, butter beans with ham, field peas.

Home made cream of corn soup.

Fried bologna and baked beans.
I learned to make this over a gas stove when I was 7 and never stopped eating it.

originally posted by: REDMORGAN
I love beans and rice. The last couple days it's been Pintos and Mexican rice with home made tortillas. I love 'em all though spicy red beans, butter beans with ham, field peas.

Me too, I really like a good Hop n John combo.

Black-eyed peas, rice chopped onion can of drained Rotel with some cornbread and my grandmother's jalapeno jam. Damn it is so good and satisfying

originally posted by: BrokenCircles
a reply to: Atsbhct

You can't go wrong with Ramen Noodles. I don't eat them all that often, but those things are still surprisingly good.

Peanut Butter & Jelly.

Frozen Burritos.

 

This isn't something I still eat, but you did cause me to remember this....

During my High School years, there were many times when we'd be cruising around the country after school smoking pot, and we would go to Long John Silver's and eat for $0.15 (fifteen cents) each. An order of crumbs (from the deep fryer) and an ice water. I think all we were actually paying for was the cup. The water and the box of crumbs were all free. That was some good stuff.

A box of crumbs! The stuff you could find to buy as a teenager back in the day. We would get a Subway veggie sub and just ask for more and more of everything in the salad bar until the sub wouldnt even close. Then we'd split it between 4 people. That was about $3.00 back in the day.

Or we'd go to "Toonie Tuesday" at KFC and ask for more fries because they were cold, and bam, a two person chicken dinner for $2.00.