BB and I were discussing financial hardship and trying to afford healthy meals that way in another discussion.

The Dollar Stretcher has an article on food crises that goes right along with it.

I know some here are struggling after the crash of Angel Food and other meal programs. How are you managing to put meals together? Have you ever been in a situation where even basic and cheap foods were hard to afford? How did you make it through that?

Great topic. I have to sit back on this one and educate myself by listening and allow more open mindfulness through reading answers as I have never been in this position before. I have been very blessed in that sense... will look forward to hearing survival stories of people here who have been in those situations. Thank you for opening this topic discussion up! I'm going to learn some!

BargainBinge:

I have never been in this position before.

We have had periods of low income and a small budget for food. I have never been to the point of dire circumstance when it came to food.

Our income was often up and down though, I'd stock up when I could and live off the stock in lean times so we always seemed to make it without the choices we have discussed in other posts here like ramen or choosing packaged food over the cost of ingredients. I did and still have to use a lot of white starch foods and the like.

My friend and I are going through this right now.  I paid for his medication out of our grocery money last week which meant no food money for a week.  We are seeing the reprecussions of that this week.  We ran out of milk and fruit and cucumber.  We have frozen food items and I actually had purchased ground chicken burgers which do not taste that good but were cheap the week before the medication incident.  It was not covered by MSP so I expect people on welfare are not allowed to get fungal infections as none of the meds for that are paid for.  I was in tears at the pharmacy and I know they felt quite bad too.  It was only the fact that they made up the cream specifically that I did not refuse it and he really needed it.  I go to the 2 food banks monthly and drop into the Salvation Army office for bread items on a weekly basis.  I have dipped into my scooter money to such an extent that I only have $900 left and I wanted to keep a $1000 cushion for emergencies.

Sometimes I wish I were not here (alive) and I know it is my depression talking but I think geez I`d not have these problems if I were dead.  My meds were changed and I went to CBT therapy too and so my mindset is much better than it used to be.

Sally.

 Sallybabe - sending you a PM in a few.

Everyone else - it was a long time ago, and going to have to think about just how much sharing I can handle.  It was a really bad time in my life.

Yes. we were there in the early 80's. It was a very hard time.  Dh had no job. the job market was very bad at that time. We couldnt pay our rent, had very little food.  I went for food stamps and only got them for one month.  I stocked up and we ate that food for the winter.  I had been given a lot of surplus peanut butter left from a summer camp where we had worked. We ate a lot of pb sandwiches. I dont know if there were food pantrys so no free food. I remember my friend and I took an antique bowl of her Dads and sold it to a shop. We then took the money and bought a beef roast. We cooked it and our two familys had a wonderful meal.  At one point, DH called a friend and ask for prayer for our finances. That afternoon, they showed up with a full turkey dinner all ready to be cooked. It was such a blessing to know that someone cared. I am sure that our familys would have helped if we had ask. We were living 900 miles away from then and would never have ask for help.  We did make it through the winter. Finally in the spring, DH was hired as a full time sub at the high school.  That summer we moved to a small cottage at a church camp and stayed there until Nov. It was free so that helped us get back on our feet. Shortly after that things started to improve. It was hard but we learned a lot about ourselves and trusting God to provide for us.  We wetn through another rough time around 1994. I remember going to the salvage store. They sold cans with no lables for 10 cents each. we called them mystery cans. I would buy them and we would guess what was in them. Meals were what ever was in that can.  Soup cans were easy. Pineapple said Hawaii on the bottom.  The kids are adults now and laugh about it. I do feel that they benefited from the hard times that we experienced. Babs

grame:

  It was a really bad time in my life.

I by no means wish to make light of your situation but it seems to me that you survived it and are a capable person, possibly because you had to rely on skills and determination or learn some.

This is just a perspective that may help to make it easier to look back.

Both of my parents grew up during the 1930's Great Depression and many of their methods of coping were taught to their children. My mother's family especially had a very difficult time. While they never had to actually stand in a bread line, there were times they were only a day or two away from that.

So we grew up eating a lot of chicken, rice, homemade soups, beans and sandwiches. Beef was a rarity, and never very good because they always bought the least expensive cuts. Veggies came out of cans, very little if any of the fresh stuff. We did see an occasional pint of strawberries but that was only during the summer months.

It can be done and has been done before. I remember reading (perhaps it was on the DS site) of several cookbooks written during WWII in Europe being back in print and those recipes are cheap to make.

I wonder if the $80 is for a week or a month. I know we are going threw a rough time do and with out Angel Food it has been a little rougher. I do the best that I can. We might not have a lot of food but at least we get to eat. I have found out pantry's and mark down food is a great way to have food in the house. I am one to say I miss Angel Food. It was a great way to feed my family.

The '80's were bad for us as I quit work to stay home with our two (at the time) dk's.  Our troubles were more week to week than by the month as that's how dh was paid - if a large bill was due, dh's whole check many times was needed to cover it and there was little or nothing leftover for groceries.  We found out later we qualified for both WIC and food stamps but didn't know it at the time and may not have taken it anyway.  Our oldest needed a special formula that kept us broke.

I was very careful with leftovers and remember one night before payday, I took a frozen blob from the freezer, thinking it was leftover beef and gravy and was going to heat it up and put it over bread for dh - he did hard, outdoor work, so I was going to give him the meat and me and the kids were going to have something else.  As I melted the blob on the stove, I found that it was only some gravy I'd frozen and there was no meat in it.  Dh ate the gravy bread anyway as there was nothing else. 

 But I don't remember us being overly concerned about it, the folly of youth, I guess.  We weren't actually hungry, but didn't get a lot of choice about what we ate during that time...Liz.