Working Poor

But all you really need is a stove and some basic pots and pans. I have a crock pot (gift from mother in 1981), a pressure cooker (gift from mother about ten years ago), a microwave, and one of those little indoor grills (this one is about seven or eight years old).

What do I mainly use? Regular stove, pots and pans. Some stuff I do in the microwave (easy for rice), though we're using it less now. I love my cast iron pan (had it at least a couple of decades) and use it often.

Back when I was with the ex-D(amned)H, I found a book in the library called "Good Recipes for Hard Times". It's from the 70s, by a woman who grew up in the Depression. The book has lots of recipes for cooking basic foods, many from other cultures, with ideas on stretching things past one meal, and an amusing section about food budgets in the back.

I learned to make biscuits from this book, and still use the cake and pancakes recipes. I looked the book up on Amazon once, and it was selling for $35! That's crazy.

I find lots of recipes on the Internet. I cook from scratch as much as possible, with basic ingredients. I make up my own spice mixes (chili powder, Italian seasoning, Ranch dressing mix -- which is awesome over chicken and baked), will often make pizza dough and there's this one recipe that makes the most delicious buns...

We don't eat fancy stuff like ribs, roasts or much fish, or many fresh fruits or vegetables. I know we should, but the money only stretches so far. Farmers markets here are outrageous on prices, and mostly the stuff doesn't look as good as what's in the stores.

When things are really tight, I will mix ground turkey with ground beef to stretch it. Turkey is half the price, so a couple of pounds mixed with five pounds of hamburger helps. I've done it half-and-half, too. I don't care for ground turkey on it's own (too many bad memories from the low-cal, low-fat days).

We can get two meals from a whole chicken (.95 a pound at Aldi), and my son will make stock from it, too. I usually use about 3/4 lb of ground beef in many recipes, and we don't really miss it. That's for four people, three of them hungry grown men. We just had three meals from a bag of chicken breasts (from Aldi), because the pieces were pretty large so I only made one apiece.

I try to keep dinner at $5 for the four of us. Sometimes it runs more, but usually around there. We don't have breakfast as a rule, since everybody has different schedules. Sometimes my youngest will make breakfast burritos, or I'll have a bowl of grits, or occasionally some eggs (from our hens) and sausage links (1.09, Aldi).

Another thing I like for breakfast is some sausage links with Mozzarella on them. Diced tomatoes if I have any.

Lunch is leftovers, or Ramen noodles. Again, different schedules so we don't have set meals. I often just do a late breakfast, with whatever I can find. Sometimes a cheese stick with some peanuts will do me, or I make a breakfast quiche (low carb idea), and that will last me three or four days.

Okay, post is getting really long, and I need to get back to sleep. Love this group so far!