primitive runs out of money for food

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x75382

Oh my.

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 01:03 PM
Original message
 
Gotta be ultra frugal the next two weeks: reqest for frugal recipes and tips!

I've not only had a bad six months personally (read my journal), but also financially. Have had bad things happen and just trying to weather the storm. I have roughly $35 dollars for the next two weeks and need to stretch what I have. Leftovers will be lunches the next day, AALette has money in her lunch account at school and I do have stuff in the freezer and pantry.

Freezer: mostly chicken - boneless, skinless breasts, one whole chicken cut up, one pacakge bone-in breasts. Lefover ham (2 big pieces) and one chuck roast.

Pantry - ceareal, pasta, new potatoes, corn, green beans, tomoato sauce, tomato juice, pasta sauce, flour, sugar.

I'm just giving you an idea of what I have to work with. Any of your tried and true tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

But one suspects the primitive has plenty of cash on hand for the dope dealer.

kestrel91316  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 01:07 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. Pick up 5-10 of rice and a bunch of different types of dry beans/legumes.

Bag of carrots, bag of onions, bag of potatoes. Box of powdered milk if you must have milk. It's very doable.

kfred  (83 posts)     Sun Feb-28-10 01:31 PM
Response to Original message
 
2. Good start there, AwakeatLast

I would add some fresh fruit and some tuna for variation to the list just mentioned. You may or may not need more potatoes, depends on what you have with your stash of new.

I'd start with the chicken and stew it with potatoes cubed, carrots, onion and seasonings. Take part of the chicken and shred it into the broth, thicken it a bit (mash the potatoes up) and use it as stew. Keep some of it apart and use that for a noodle hotdish with chicken (add the legs or wing meat). If you have any flour you could make dumplings and gravy with it. Put some of the tomato sauce and Mexican seasonings and have chicken chili. Chicken breasts can make chicken salad for sandwiches or on some lettuce. Get some Romaine and you can make chicken salad wraps with it.

The ham could make a marvelous ham and bean soup or split pea soup. Ham and scalloped potatoes is an option with your new potatoes. Potato Salad is an option. If you DO get tuna, make a tuna noodle casserole with the grean beans in it.

You actually have a pretty darn good start on great meals for possibly longer than two weeks.

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 04:46 PM
Response to Reply #2
 
14. I did find two cans of tuna

That will make quite a few sandwiches for lunch if I get tired of leftovers.

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 01:46 PM
THE DEFROCKED WARPED PRIMITIVE, #09 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Original message

3. First, stretch that chicken so thin it's transparent

Think stir fries. You don't need the pricey asparagus, just stir fry it with onions, carrots, celery, cubed winter squash, whatever the market has that isn't expensive. Think soup with the bones and skin of that cut up fryer. Throw together some noodles with that flour. Think about a chicken stew with whatever v*****s you have, serve in individual bowls with pastry over the top. Think about shredded thigh meat on pizza.

The same goes for that chuck roast, which can be cut up and stretched the same way. A whole slab o meat can wait until things get better.

My go to starvation diet was always beans and rice. Beans are amazingly versatile and can either stand alone as themselves or be formed into burgers, loaves or bean balls for spaghetti. I'm guessing you've got the usual assortment of spices and a few essentials like either oregano or basil. That leftover ham would go nicely in a pot of navy bean soup.

What the kiddo is going to miss the most is sweet stuff. A slice of bread, butter and sugar was a major treat when I was growing up. You, on the other hand, will be craving fruit. The only fruit I saw when I was really poor was a splurge on applesauce once in a blue moon.

Just don't be surprised if the kiddo asks for some of the starvation stuff when things improve.

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 04:41 PM
Response to Reply #3
 
10. You won't believe this

my daughter does not have much of a sweet tooth. I am very lucky that way. I do have a stash of applesauce (didn't list it) that I always have because that's what she asks for. She could eat her weight in applesauce. I always buy the unsweetened, too.

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 04:47 PM
THE DEFROCKED WARPED PRIMITIVE, #09 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #10

15. Bread, butter and applesauce is great, too

and will stretch the hell out of that applesauce. So will allowing her to put it on pancakes in the morning.

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 04:50 PM
Response to Reply #15
 
17. Oh! And I have two loaves of bread in the freezer!

They had a buy one, get TWO free sale on Aunt Millie's bread (love that kind, no HFCS). If that sale is still going, I will get three more and freeze them.

Stinky The Clown  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 08:33 PM
THE SPARKLING HUSBAND PRIMITIVE, #05 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #3

21. My favorite "Sweet Cheaps" is cinnamon toast

Buttered (or margarined) toast. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle it on the toast. I still love it.

grasswire  (1000+ posts)      Sun Feb-28-10 03:02 PM
THE FARMERETTE IN WISCONSIN
Response to Original message

4. check your drawers for any old unused jewelry

Gold is 1100 an ounce. I had an old charm bracelet from former MIL kicking around. Took it to the pawn shop and they paid me $400 cash. Just saying it's worth looking if you haven't already done so.

That said, the best thing to do is plan meals out if possible. Then if you have to use your cash, you can stretch it. I've fed two on $25 a week. It can be done.

And if you have a paypal account, I'd be happy to kick in a few dollars next week for milk or whatever. I've been where you are, chum.

Yeah, right.

One wonders if the C-pig primitive and the Bostonian Drunkard would chip in some bucks, too.

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 04:43 PM
Response to Reply #4
 
11. Oh my goodness, thank you!

I've never had anyone actually offer to give me money. I do thank you, but I will make it through this. You all have been very helpful to me and I hope this thread helps anyone else who is in a pinch but is too afraid to let anyone know.

It's nice to know you have friends when the going gets rough!

Vinca  (1000+ posts)      Sun Feb-28-10 03:07 PM
THE HIP-CHALLENGED VINDICTIVE PRIMITIVE
Response to Original message

5. I've been trying to stretch things a little, too, since our business is way off.

We've gotten into the habit of making a big pot of homemade soup and having soup and sandwiches a couple of times a week. I use whatever leftovers are in the fridge to concoct something or make split pea or bean soup.

In case anyone's wondering, the vindictive primitive's business is buying cheap goods at garage sales, and price-tagging them like Sotheby's.

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 04:44 PM
Response to Reply #5

12. I do a lot of soups, too

I am starting to soup myself out, but I will probably be making two at least in the next few weeks - chicken and beef vegetable.

Vinca  (1000+ posts)      Sun Feb-28-10 05:17 PM
THE HIP-CHALLENGED VINDICTIVE PRIMITIVE
Response to Reply #12

19. I'm anxious for gardening season to get here. 

If you can grow anything at all, you can save serious money.

Tesha  (1000+ posts)      Sun Feb-28-10 04:01 PM
Response to Original message

6. Eggs!
 
Omelets, frittata, quiche, egg salad, pancakes,

and check this http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art61691.asp

Cheap Meals for LESS than $5 a Day

or this. http://www.bloglander.com/cheapeats/category/recipes/th... /

3 Dollars or Less

hahaha or this! http://en.wordpress.com/tag/family-dinners-under-2 /

Blogs about: Family Dinners Under $2

and there's always things like lasagna, mac&cheese, my mom used to make something she called spanish rice - with cooked rice, a can of tomato soup, and a little fried ground beef and onions, or substitute elbow macaroni for the rice

GoCubsGo  (1000+ posts)      Sun Feb-28-10 04:06 PM
Response to Reply #6
 
8. Re: Of your links

I noticed that the vegan link lists a number of Indian recipes. Indian food is pretty frugal in general, with lots of rice and legumes. If you already have the spices in your pantry, Indian food might be a nice option, if you like that sort of food.

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 04:45 PM
Response to Reply #8
 
13. Yup, putting eggs on my list

GoCubsGo  (1000+ posts)      Sun Feb-28-10 04:02 PM
Response to Original message
 
7. If you need to supplement what you already have...

...you might be able to save big with coupons. Here is a site with lots of other sites with coupons you can print yourself:

http://www.wow-coupons.com/grocery.php

If you check the sale papers, and your store doubles coupons, you can often get items for nothing or next to it. Some grocery stores allow you to download coupons to your loyalty card (see each store's web site). If you have a paper coupon for an item, you can use that on top of the electronic coupon on your card. I got a 4-pack of yogurt free that way today. I have been seeing some decent sales around on cheese and frozen vegetables, and there should be coupons available for both, as well as canned v*****s.

I know what you are going through right now. For me, it's been a bad going-on-three-years. I rarely even buy meat any more. When I do, it's the marked-down variety. I don't have any other advice beyond what the others have offered, other than to say that soup is good for you and very filling. Blending it with an immersion blender makes a nice, creamy soup without having to add cream. If you use any fresh vegetables, roasting them first adds a nice zing. This is especially true with the root v*****s.

kfred  (83 posts)     Sun Feb-28-10 05:33 PM
Response to Reply #16
 
20. Take a closer look at store brands

I've found little or no difference, and in some cases superior flavors for great savings. I had to have another look at what I'd buy when it came to "buy one get one free". I had to ask if I would have gotten it in the first place or was it the allure of a sale.

DrDan  (1000+ posts)      Sun Feb-28-10 05:16 PM
Response to Original message
 
18. I would make up a huge pot of beans and get some cornbread

add an onion and hot sauce

healthy - cheap - delicious - easy to prepare

Alas, Mrs. Alfred Packer, the "hippywife" primitive, doesn't show up at this campfire.

One wonders if hippyhubby Wild Bill, is jealous of her friendships with the cooking and baking primitives, like he won't let her do Christmas.

[Duchess]

If they weren't moonbats, they could get tips from PJComix, who has fine-tuned couponing into an art form-free steak dinners yet!

[The Village Idiot]

If they weren't moonbats, they could get tips from PJComix, who has fine-tuned couponing into an art form-free steak dinners yet!

He said he used store and triple coupons and got bags of dog food for a quarter or something. Neverpayretailagain.com or some such.

BTW. I'd be getting Ramen Noodles, Mac'N'Cheese and dry beans etc.

[Duchess]

He said he used store and triple coupons and got bags of dog food for a quarter or something. Neverpayretailagain.com or some such.

BTW. I'd be getting Ramen Noodles, Mac'N'Cheese and dry beans etc.

Dry beans-there's a whole cuisine that could be based just on these! And they're nutritious and filling. Red beans and rice and cornbread-yum.

[The Village Idiot]

Dry beans-there's a whole cuisine that could be based just on these! And they're nutritious and filling. Red beans and rice and cornbread-yum.

Yes. That sounds really good.

[Duchess]

 

Yes. That sounds really good.

Wish you could come over for dinner then, I'm making some for DH when he gets home from business in YankeeLand tomorrow 

[jukin]

I got a hundred that says not only does it still have broadband internet but also a cell phone and cable TV.

Zero bong.

[GOBUCKS]

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 04:50 PM
Response to Reply #15
 
17. Oh! And I have two loaves of bread in the freezer!

They had a buy one, get TWO free sale on Aunt Millie's bread (love that kind, no HFCS). If that sale is still going, I will get three more and freeze them.

So now here's a DUmmy claiming to be on the verge of starvation (you know it's a lie to earn DUmp poverty cred), who still makes a special effort to quote DUmp orthodoxy on HFCS. I'm kind of surprised she didn't mention that none of her food is from WalMart.

If Straight Story had a sidekick like DUmmy grasswire to bring up the PayPal angle, he'd probably be strapping on that parachute by now. Which reminds me, last year, grasswire moved into that charity apartment above someone's garage on the quarter-acre farmette in Wisconsin, but was supposed to be out by the BEGINNING of winter. Winter will be OVER soon...well, it's Wisconsin, so not that soon, I guess, but we've not heard of any plans for DUmmy grasswire to move in one someone else. You have to wonder about the folks who made the mistake of taking this freeloader in. Wonder if they're making any plans on how to get her out of that garage apartment. She could move south a few hundred miles to Wichita, Kansas. There's a DUmmy there, on the north side, who has a vacant basement apartment, since the drunk moved out, and an empty upstairs bedroom, now that the daughter has escaped. DUmmy grasswire could have her choice of accommodations there, and the family in Wisconsin would be mightily relieved.

[franksolich]

Which reminds me, last year, grasswire moved into that charity apartment above someone's garage on the quarter-acre farmette in Wisconsin, but was supposed to be out by the BEGINNING of winter. Winter will be OVER soon...well, it's Wisconsin, so not that soon, I guess, but we've not heard of any plans for DUmmy grasswire to move in one someone else. You have to wonder about the folks who made the mistake of taking this freeloader in. Wonder if they're making any plans on how to get her out of that garage apartment. She could move south a few hundred miles to Wichita, Kansas. There's a DUmmy there, on the north side, who has a vacant basement apartment, since the drunk moved out, and an empty upstairs bedroom, now that the daughter has escaped. DUmmy grasswire could have her choice of accommodations there, and the family in Wisconsin would be mightily relieved.

You know, I wondered about that myself.

This is the SECOND winter there, for the farmerette in Wisconsin.

In case anyone's forgotten, it's the farmerette who had a nephew (or son or something) in the restaurant business, which did great business--her own words, the farmette said them--2001-2009, but then shortly after January 20, 2009, it tanked and everything was lost.

The farmerette must've forgotten who was president, when.

[Alpha Mare]

Gold is 1100 an ounce. I had an old charm bracelet from former MIL kicking around. Took it to the pawn shop and they paid me $400 cash.

14K gold(58%) charm bracelets average about 5 grams.  It's worth about $115 retail, and pawn shops don't pay retail.   I know jewelry 

[Duchess]

14K gold(58%) charm bracelets average about 5 grams.  It's worth about $115 retail, and pawn shops don't pay retail.   I know jewelry 

Jewelry-precisely, gold-is my husband's business. We just sold a bunch of my odds and ends accumulated over the years for a big chunk when gold was up.

[Chris]

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 01:03 PM
Original message
 
Gotta be ultra frugal the next two weeks: reqest for frugal recipes and tips!

I'm having an enormous, beautiful steak for dinner and enjoying every bite. 

Toodles!

[The Village Idiot]

Wish you could come over for dinner then, I'm making some for DH when he gets home from business in YankeeLand tomorrow 

The DUmmie has more food in his house than we have here.

[Carl]

What the?

It has all the food it needs by its own description to go two weeks easily yet has to ask how?
Good God these imbeciles are helpless and hopeless.

[The Village Idiot]

I'm having an enormous, beautiful steak for dinner and enjoying every bite. 

Toodles!

B-I-L grilled hotdogs, hot links, breakfast pork chops and steak last night. It was good.

[Karin]

Yeah, that pantry and freezer are STUFFED.  She's only doing this so she can get out her violin and play a mournful tune.  She's got chicken and beef and ham out the ying-yang.  This is no crisis. 

[Celtic Rose]

What the?

It has all the food it needs by its own description to go two weeks easily yet has to ask how?
Good God these imbeciles are helpless and hopeless.

I suspect that this thread is really a way of making the DUmmy feel like they are part of the desperately poor in the current economy.

 It sounds like it is just the two people, the DUmmy and her daughter, and the daughter eats a bought lunch at school every day.  She has a good amount of meat, plenty of basic ingredients, etc.  However, she gets more attention by making her situation sound desperate.  She can latch on to the stories of people struggling, and get sympathy.  

She probably reads about how bad some people have it, and so she has to include herself with those who really are struggling.

[Carl]

I suspect that this thread is really a way of making the DUmmy feel like they are part of the desperately poor in the current economy.

 It sounds like it is just the two people, the DUmmy and her daughter, and the daughter eats a bought lunch at school every day.  She has a good amount of meat, plenty of basic ingredients, etc.  However, she gets more attention by making her situation sound desperate.  She can latch on to the stories of people struggling, and get sympathy.  

She probably reads about how bad some people have it, and so she has to include herself with those who really are struggling.

The other possibility is that she is spoiled to the point that if it isn`t a resteraunt prepared meal she doesn`t like it.
In other words cooked chicken and mashed potatoes just isn`t fancy enough to qualify as a decent meal.

[GOBUCKS]

This could just be a case of a DUmmy bragging about how much food they have in the house. At the DUmp, having a stash of food is affluence. Most democrats only plan ahead when it comes to intoxicants and hallucinogens.

[Duchess]

Poverty in the US (cable, mobile phone service, internet service)-what the truly impoverished in Third World nations aspire to.

[dandi]

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 01:03 PM
Original message
 
Gotta be ultra frugal the next two weeks: reqest for frugal recipes and tips!

Learn how to can, DUmbass.

[delilahmused]

This could just be a case of a DUmmy bragging about how much food they have in the house. At the DUmp, having a stash of food is affluence. Most democrats only plan ahead when it comes to intoxicants and hallucinogens.

You know, Pam seems to have a lot of competition in "unintentional" brag posts lately.

Cindie

[shadeaux]

She has more in common with Pam than you realize.

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Wed Aug-05-09 11:39 AM
Response to Reply #1

2. Yes, I am

 I am a teacher, so I have not had to work while dealing with the initial blow. We are discussing financials right now and preparing to tell our daughter. He will most likely be out of the house by Sept. 1st.

Thanks for asking!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=301x635

With all she has in her pantry and freezer I could make a menu for 2 weeks and never repeat the same dish. Nothing fancy of course but damn, she can't be that dumb, she only has herself and her child to feed. Just damn. 

[AllosaursRus]

I eat meat!!!!!!!11111 I'd just go out back and plug me a big fat doe! That and a 100 lbs of potatoes and I'm good for 6 weeks at least!

AwakeAtLast  (1000+ posts)        Sun Feb-28-10 04:46 PM
Response to Reply #2
 
14. I did find two cans of tuna

That will make quite a few sandwiches for lunch if I get tired of leftovers.

Huh? Hell, I damn near put a can of tuna on 1 samich!

[The Village Idiot]

I eat meat!!!!!!!11111 I'd just go out back and plug me a big fat doe! That and a 100 lbs of potatoes and I'm good for 6 weeks at least!

Huh? Hell, I damn near put a can of tuna on 1 samich!

You can spread it to 2 sandwiches