Introductions

The idea for this blog came when reading the local paper. Two employees have been writing articles for hunger awareness this week and, to get a better feel for it, they're only spending $30 this week for food - about what a person on food stamps would receive.

But in the process it seems that they're practically starving themselves. Peanut butter and celery and a bag of microwave popcorn were a couple of meals mentioned. Forgoing coffee because their favorite drinks are too expensive. Today mentioned how one of them went out and bought a bag of potatoes and finally felt full after cooking up some and eating them!

Now I don't want to make light of hunger or a lack of food, but I grew up in a family on a tight budget. In the early 1990's my mother's food budget for the week was $45 for a family of ten. Yup, you read that right, just about $5 a day to feed eight kids and two adults. We ate great, healthy meals and never went hungry. Mom bought food in bulk (50# bags of oatmeal), on sale (a case of pasta when it went on sale) and used more expensive ingredients more sparingly. Meat was used in stir-fry and gravy instead of roasts and steak. We did have an advantage with fruits and veggies as my grandpa was an incredible gardener and shared the bounty with us, but there are also ways for the average person to get these more affordably in many cases.

Today I'm a returning college student, I only work part time and I'm on a tight food budget. I probably spend $20-$25 a week on food. Now in all truthfulness I do eat about a third of my meals at my folks, but I'm still pretty close to the food stamp allowance. And the meals I eat are much more satisfying than peanut butter and celery!

In this blog I'll share tips on how my mom did it (and still does), how I do it, simple recipes, cooking hints and frugal habits.

I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful in at least a small way!