Posted on 09/22/2011 7:36:30 AM PDT by Abathar
YEP....what YOU said....we may be heading there....who knows....I still fear an EMP attack...
Don’t get me wrong, I agree by and large. It’s just complicated. The woman with 5 children might get a job, but then her children go to day care. Maybe she’s such a bad mother, day care is better. Maybe day care workers will actually care more about them than their mother. Maybe they won’t get abused worse in day care than at home. Then again, maybe not.
Personally, I wouldn’t want to be poor and home taking food stamps, but I’d like it better than poor, taking day care benefits of arguable benefit (which btw also costs us taxpayers), and trusting the government to look after the kids. Same goes for their public schooling.
And don’t forget that many of the poor are former producers, now consuming, but economics is not just what you see, it’s also what you don’t see. Like the taxpaying they did, and the jobs they provided.
Except, of course, that Dave didn’t have anything to do with the recipe.
These women had to make tough choices between paying bills and buying food. Often they skipped meals so their children could eat. Often the amount of food stamps they received was not enough.
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Once again - as usual - there is no mention of a husband. And we are left to assume these women with children are unmarried and/or divorced.
You would think that after several generations of broken homes and the resulting poverty in America, these people would learn that having kids and no husband DOES NOT WORK!
But then.... The Democratic ideal is for the gubmint to be the daddy.
I have no idea what we spend on groceries, but this thread has prompted me to ask my bride for the figures. I am certain that I won’t like to hear what it is.
I was brought up in the 50’s. I was the oldest of 6 kids from a dirt poor family. I do not have any idea what mom spent, but we were never hungry and my parents refused to accept charity.
We hunted and fished.... I still do. We would get permission from local farmers to pick what we needed from their crops..... corn, green beans, peaches, apples, etc. We always had a vegetable garden and a potato patch. We all worked, paper routes, yard work, berry picking, bucking hay, picking pinecones...anything.
Mom wanted us to attend Catholic school, so she convinced the Priest to hire us for their janitorial needs to pay for the tuition.
Mom canned and baked. There was nothing that she couldn’t stretch. I remember eating in the dark a few times when the power was shut off, but we were never without enough to eat. Funny, I had a great childhood and never felt like we were sacrificing. I didn’t even know that we were poor until the kids at school told me that we were.
I am convinced that we could all survive on far less, it takes commitment, work, teamwork and imagination.... mom had all of that and much much more.
So yes, I could survive just fine on a $30 per week grocery budget.... I choose not to, but if need be I sure could.
Of course, I will cheat. About 1 1/2 years ago I set out to buy two chickens, laying hens. I wanted fresh brown eggs. I now have 17 chickens and we take dozens of eggs to our local food bank every couple weeks and we sell others for $4 per carton.
I now raise ducks and geese... I have 62 birds and that will double within the next few months. At some point, I am going to have to start putting them in the freezer and selling a few. LOL
Where there is a will, there is a way.
We have friends...who are very well off....HE does the grocery shopping and shops in the same places you talk about...discounted meats, etc.
When the liberals lose badly, the media will go full-bore again on the starving poor, and the rediscovered homeless people will be on every newscast.
I get chicken breasts on sale for $1.99/lbs, ground beef on sale for $1.99, and rice in large bags is under 50 cents/lbs.
With a couple of 50 cent cans of tomato paste, I can make a good, filling meal for four for under five bucks.
That was awesome. Now people in other offices are wondering why I'm sitting in my office by myself, laughing out loud.
Meet Clara. Now 94, she lived through the Great Depression and shows some of us how to cook along with some stories of the day.
http://www.greatdepressioncooking.com/Welcome.html
She also is on Youtube.
We have some friends with a very large family. During the recent Obama depression, although highly qualified he was out of work for quite a while. They finally had to resort to taking food stamps. They were absolutely offended at how much money they were given or food. It was far more than they had been spending, even during the good times.
I can stretch one chicken through 4 days of meals for 2 (8 meals total). And can a couple of pints of chicken stock in the process. ;)
I eat very well, very cheaply, if you don't count what I paid for tuition at a culinary school. But it does take time.
/johnny
Yup. As a kid in college I LIVED on eggs, Campbells soup, etc.
One can of tuna fish has all the protein requirements for an average adult.
Now if you are working out for two hours a day, that’s not going to cut it. But if you only have $30 a week for food, you would be better off looking for a job rather than working out!!
Doesn't mean I'll ever do it again, though. ;)
But who knew haggis was so good? It sounds repulsive, but without trying it with an open mind, you miss out on so many things.
/johnny
I’ve always been kind of primitive when it comes to cooking beans. For cheap meals, I like blacked-eyed peas or red beans, cooked with onions, garlic, other seasonings, and lots of ham or sausage, over rice, preferably brown rice.
Geez. My mouth waters just thinking about it. Don’t get to do it, ‘cause the kids won’t eat it. Hmph.
One of these days, I’m going make real “Boston Baked Beans” just for me and my wife.
Anyways the meat ingredients can cut into that $30 per week real fast. Most non-processed, non-luxury food is pretty cheap, but meat, even turkey, is always pretty expensive. GOOD meat (or sausage!) gets expensive fast. Even bacon ain’t cheap.
Also my wife doesn’t like risotto so I haven’t tried it much. I’ll try it next time I see it at restaurant.
Is that $30 for one person for one week, or $30 for a family of four? I mean, if we’re talking $120 for family of four for a week, we are not talking about a challenge. Sometimes it seems like the more you have to feed, the cheaper it is per person...
“I prefer to keep the feet and comb...”
What on earth for? Picking your teeth and combing your hair?? Yuck!
Now, I won’t say that I would NEVER eat that stuff, because I was brought up to eat anything. BUT, only if I were starving.
There are lots of ways to cut back on your food budget. I am currently feeding a family of 5 on $200 per month or less. With a little planning ahead it can easily be done.
You buy meat and poultry in bulk when it is on sale at a very good price (target price is under $2.00 per pound, but no more than $2.50 per pound).
Watch for loss leader items in the stores’ weekly ads that your family likes and pick them up then, and use coupons and double them whenever possible. (I would note that in my area there are only two stores that will double coupons and one allows you to double only 4 coupons per week and the other 3 coupons per month, but every bit of savings can make a big impact. In many parts of the country coupon policies are much better than what I have in my part of Oregon.)
Buy rice, beans, pasta, and grains in bulk (a 25 lb of rice in my area can be picked up for about $16 or less, and I find lots of beans, pasta, and other grains for under $1.00 per pound).
Buy fresh fruits and vegetables weekly that are in season as they are cheaper then or buy fruits and vegetables that are usually reasonably priced year round(Bananas, apples, oranges, and pears and sometimes grapes, carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, cabbage and even a head of lettuce are usually reasonably priced year round). Instead of buying a bag of salad, buy a head of lettuce and other things to add to it and make your own salads and you can also save a bundle), pick up canned and frozen fruits and vegetables when they are on sale to supplement when you can’t afford much in the way of fresh veggies.
Watch the prices on milk and bread and figure out which store in your area regularly has these things the cheapest on a regular basis. (Many stores have some kind of bread you can pick up on a regular basis for $.99 cents a loaf and I can almost always find a gallon of milk for $2.79 or less and usually pay $2.49 or less.) For my family I spend between $20 - $25 per week on bread and milk alone, so that only leaves me $25-30 per week for everything else.
Utilize everything you buy and make other meals out of leftovers. I may cook a larger Rump Roast on Sunday with carrots, peas and mashed potatoes and gravy. Then later in the week I might will use some of the leftovers to make Beef Stroganoff with pasta and some green beans for our dinner (To really stretch the meat budget use a little less meat than normal and throw in canned or fresh mushrooms and you will feel just as full). If I still have leftover meat (and I usually do), I cut up carrots, celery, onion, and any other appropriate veggies I have on hand and I use the last of the beef to make a stir fry served with white rice. Any leftover stir fry I throw in a zip lock bag and throw it in my freezer and then add it to a soup at a later date.
Likewise, leftover pork roast from a similar Sunday dinner, can quite easily be made into shredded pork burritos, tacos, enchiladas and served with rice and beans, pulled pork sandwiches served with a home made potato salad and a side of home made baked beans, or a stir fry.
I do the same with any large piece of meat I prepare. Leftover chicken or turkey can be turned into a stew, soup, or even Chicken and dumplings, pot piea, Chicken Salad sandwiches, etc. Leftover ham can be turned into a macaroni and cheese casserole with ham, scalloped potatoes and ham and many wonderful casseroles, any kind of egg dish, and lots of different kinds of soups and sandwiches.
Don’t forget to save the bones from all your meats and poultry and use them to make home made stock too! I usually throw the bones into a zip lock and freeze them immediately and then make the stock when I have lots of bones saved up and extra time around the house so I can let it simmer on the stove to get all the great flavor out of those bones.
Cut down on the amount of meat used in each meal by adding more mushrooms and vegetables to the dish or make dishes that have lots of pasta, rice, or some other grain as a filler a couple of times a week. Add more beans to your diet as they are a cheaper source of protien. Have a breakfast for dinner night every so often, or make a breakfast casserole for dinner since things like eggs, grits, and potatoes are still relatively cheap and can really stretch the budget.
Put any leftovers you are not going to use later in the week in zip lock bags or containers and put them in the freezer. Keep and eye on perishable foods in your fridge and pantry and always use them up or freeze them before they go bad.
With a little planning you can easily feed your entire family quite well on $200 a month, and stock up your pantry too but you do have to make the correct choices to do it.
There are limits to what I will try.
I would eat Haggis though. I love Scottish meat pies. There is not much difference in the filling.
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