I grew up on pinto beans and fried potatoes.”
We didn’t have pinto beans but we had plenty of fried potatoes with wiener gravy for dinner. My mom canned all summer so in the winter we would have the potatoes and gravy with a home grown veggie and homemade cornbread or biscuits. We always had desert too - one homemade cookie, a big spoon full of bread pudding or a very small piece of white cake. Really wasn’t too bad and I don’t recall ever being hungry. My mom always worked but she spent a lot of time in the kitchen in the evening and weekends and everyone knew how to cook.
We survived on slum, macaroni noodles mixed with tomato sauce and some ground beef. That was back before the feminists started demonizing stay at home moms. Let me tell you, my mom was a true American hero. Being a homemaker is one of the most demanding and important jobs a woman can have. My mom was no dummy. Should could have easily handled a "real" job (It would have been a break for her!). It took (takes) a wide variety of skills to raise a family, especially on a tight budget. For example, she turned couponing into an art form. We were poor, but we never starved or asked for government help.