Extreme Poverty Foods and Meals

[ApatheticNoMore]

i suspect with even healthy food if it's a very limited diet you might eventually run into nutritional deficiencies.

[Amaranth]

Agree about the issues of doing some of these things long term and that the social issues surrounding food choices are complex.

This thread is more about a look at what things people have done in tough times and about making the best of very little.

[Tybee]

Amaranth, I have a great cookbook from the Depression, from the Aunt sammy's radiuo show. I think I packed it, but there are similar books on Amazon, google depression cookbook.

My most favorite cookbook for this question is the famous More with Less by Doris Longacre, RIP many years now:

https://www.amazon.com/More-Less-Coo...+less+cookbook

It's a fantastic book as it is very holistic and teaches you new ways to think and cook.

[Ultralight]

i suspect with even healthy food if it's a very limited diet you might eventually run into nutritional deficiencies.

There is some truth to that. But even on a couple buck a day you can mix it up. Like if you see a sale on sardines or tuna, grab a tin or two. Sometimes oranges go on super sale. A bag of potatoes can go a long way too, if you get tired of rice. Oatmeal can be another staple of extreme cheapness-but-goodness.

But I am literally talking about 2 bucks a day.

But 3 bucks a day you can get a lot more diverse. And at $3 a day we are still only talking about $21 a week for a person to eat. And if you are shopping for 4 people you have some more bulk buying power.

[Teacher Terry]

Some of my casseroles only need a pound of hamburger. We ate a lot of turkey and chicken when raising the kids. I make a delicious homemade spaghetti sauce that is not expensive and feeds a ton of people. I make a salad and garlic bread and we have a great meal.

[happystuff]

"Food deserts" are real too. I was an AmeriCorps member back in 2005-2006. One of my tasks was creating a community garden in a food desert.

I think that reasons poor people don't eat healthy are usually emotional and sometimes logistical and not really economical.

But the problems are still real.

I never really realized "food deserts" existed until I saw a documentary a couple years ago. I never actually REALLY thought about the relationship between owning a vehicle and the ability to obtain any food, let alone good food.

[Miss Cellaneous]

I never really realized "food deserts" existed until I saw a documentary a couple years ago. I never actually REALLY thought about the relationship between owning a vehicle and the ability to obtain any food, let alone good food.

In regards to having a vehicle--for many years I lived in Boston and did not own a car. Food was purchased at a supermarket that was on the way home from work. I would shop 2 or 3 times a week, because there is only so much you can carry at a time when you are walking or taking the bus. This is an issue public transportation can't solve. Even if you have one of those wheeled shopping carts, you can still only carry a relatively small amount of food with you on the bus or subway.

I was single, living alone. My mind boggles at buying food for a family of four people under those circumstances--I'd have been to the store almost daily, taking up a considerable amount of time shopping, and then getting home and still needing to cook everything. And I had a nice, cushy desk job, not a retail or fast food job where I'd have been on my feet for hours.

How you get to and from the store can affect your choice of what you buy. If you are taking the bus and planning a casserole for dinner? From scratch, you might need to buy pasta, tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, an onion, a green pepper, ground beef, some seasonings, and maybe some cheese. Or you could buy a box of Hamburger Helper and a pound of ground beef--which would take up less room in a shopping bag and also weigh less, allowing you to bring home more food for other meals.

Also, the Hamburger Helper meal will require you to spend less time on your feet chopping and stirring, which is a factor if your feet/knees/back are hurting from your job, and/or you have a child you need to help with homework/etc.

Taking a cab home from the supermarket is also an option, but might be too expensive for some. But it would allow for bringing more food home at one time.

I do think that foods that are high in fat or sugar or both are what I would call "reward" foods. They are pleasant to eat, and if you have had a hard day with customers or your boss yelling at you, well, you need to eat, so slipping a candy bar or a bag of chips into your shopping cart isn't as big a deal as other "treats" you might want that cost more--say going to the movies, or working one less shift so you can have a day off.

I have worked 10 hour retail shifts and the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was stand in the kitchen for another half hour cooking dinner. I wanted to sit down because my feet were sore. I wanted to eat something right then, because I was hungry. And tired and cranky. I dealt with this by making a big batch of something--tomato sauce, chili, a casserole--on my day off and freezing what I didn't eat that day. But I could do that because I am single. Someone cooking for a family--that big batch is going to go in one meal.

[catherine]

Some of my casseroles only need a pound of hamburger.

A staple in my Scottish MILs house was mince, which is, essentially, boiled hamburger meat, at least the way MIL made it. It's nothing but ground beef and onions, with gravy made in the same pot at the end. (Ishbel may have make it differently). To be honest, we make it frequently, and I think it's delicious--with mashed potatoes and peas (I'm not fond of the British mushy peas, but I think that's standard with mince).

MIL used to say that in leaner times, they would make it with a pound of onions to a quarter pound of meat.

[Teacher Terry]

C, I remember Lessibet telling me it wasn’t healthy to only put a pound of meat in a casserole. I have 5 different casseroles with only one requiring 2lbs of meat.

[catherine]

C, I remember Lessibet telling me it wasn’t healthy to only put a pound of meat in a casserole. I have 5 different casseroles with only one requiring 2lbs of meat.

I don't see why--I would think it depends on the nutritional value of the other ingredients. If the rest of it is all macaroni and noodles, maybe, but as long as there are plenty of vegetables, I would actually prefer less red meat. I make a mushroom bourgingnon, but I make a separate stew of meat. I eat it meatless and I add the meat for DH. It's very healthy, with mushrooms, carrots, onions, celery, etc.