Poverty meals
@GardenGerty (157551)
United States
February 16, 2019 9:26am CST
We did not get pancakes growing up unless we actually were scraping the bottom of the barrel. It made mom feel so bad. I LOVE pancakes. I crave pancakes. This is one of the supposed poverty meals that bring good memories to me.
I have been hungry for pancakes. I know that they are available frozen and identical in packages, very cheaply, at the grocers. I do not want those.
I made pancakes this morning, making them healthier by stirring in oatmeal, flax seed meal and "nut flour", as well as some pumpkin and a generous shake of my pie spice blend I make. I will freeze the rest. These did not hold together really well as they were low in gluten, but the taste was fabulous.
Another poverty meal I like is beans, in any shape or form. I like all kinds of beans and hot homemade bread, especially corn bread. Mom did not like beans, either.
Soup, that is also economical. It can help if you have reduced funds. It is also tasty and comforting. I love home made soup.
Pasta, well I like it, Bob does not. I do not crave it, though.
What kinds of foods do you eat when you try to save money?
I have gone and helped pack meals we ship overseas to places that really are impoverished. They are nutritious combinations of rice, spices, textured vegetable protein (soy) and dried veggies. They can be rehydrated with water. For a price you can purchase some of these meals to keep in your home as well. That helps pay the shipping. The meal packing charities I know of are "Feed My Starving Children" and "Numana". I packed at Feed My Starving Children in Minnesota, with my granddaughters and daughter. It was fun.
So, the question stands, "what are your poverty meals".
16 people like this
17 responses
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
16 Feb 19
Bean and potatoes. But I never looked at food as poverty meals. Once when I was married , he was a bum, I had to eat biscuits and plain water gravy for a week, another time green beans and potatoes. For years after that I would not eat any of that. I hated him for that.
4 people like this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
Pretty much that describes how my mom felt about pancakes. She remembered once making as you say plain water gravy and seasoning with winter onions.
1 person likes this
@ThreeTeddies (2038)
• United Kingdom
17 Feb 19
@andriaperry Actually, your right - there is no such thing as 'poverty food'. It's how you were raised and what your associations with food are which matters. Where some see poverty food others see their favourites!
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40515)
• United States
16 Feb 19
Our church and community for many years now has helped pack meals through Rise Against Hunger (previously Stop Hunger Now.) It sounds similar to the charity you mentioned. We raise money for a couple of months, send it to headquarters so they'll know how much food to send, then we all spend one afternoon packing the bags with rice, vitamins, soy and veggies. Each bag makes six meals which go to wherever in the world needs the help at the time.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
16 Feb 19
Yes, it sounds like very much the same.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (95165)
• Marion, Ohio
16 Feb 19
I love pancakes too. I did not like beans as a kid but love them now.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
16 Feb 19
I learned to like a lot more different foods when I began to cook them myself.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
I did without or ate very slim fixings growing up. I always have a stockpile now. I donate whenever possible because if you have enough to give away you are rich.
2 people like this
@ThreeTeddies (2038)
• United Kingdom
17 Feb 19
@GardenGerty That's a good definition of being rich!
1 person likes this
@just4him (306196)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
17 Feb 19
I love pancakes too. I've been wanting them for a while now. I'm missing one ingredient - bananas.
I think mac and cheese is probably a poverty meal. My mom made the best scratch mac and cheese. The boxed meals are no comparison.
Dad made homemade soup too. I don't like soup except for chili or beans. Beans was also a staple on our table growing up.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
I have made the banana egg pancakes in the past. They are so much like crepes. I have over ripe bananas stashed in my freezer. I would have loved mac and cheese growing up, but we never had it. Sometimes we would have noodles, but that is the only pasta Mom would make. In fact I made up a cheap dish once for us girls at home, egg noodles with vienna sausages and canned tomatoes. It was pretty good.
1 person likes this
@just4him (306196)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
18 Feb 19
@GardenGerty I recently tried making crepes. They didn't turn out very well. The other poverty meal I forgot about until later was spam. My father was laid off from work and spam was on the menu morning noon and night. I can't look at a can of spam without gagging.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
18 Feb 19
@just4him I never liked Spam but hubby does. There is an interesting Spam Museum in Minnesota.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
16 Feb 19
Oh, that would not be good to do alot.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
16 Feb 19
My daughter eats pancakes almost every day for breakfast with peanut butter on them. They are the frozen ones with blueberries in them. I prefer from scratch but I don't have time to make her them every morning like that. I did used to make them from scratch and freeze them but she love these frozen ones anyway.
Your pancakes sound so yummy!
I love rice, beans, and pasta.
That is so nice you helped pack meals to send over seas. What they are getting actually sounds like a meal I would love.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
The food does not smell bad, when we packed it. The people who did the presentations emphasized that the nutrients had been scientifically balanced to be very beneficial for people who are malnourished. I love pancakes, but the frozen ones are too high carb for me. At home I add stuff that makes them more nutritious. I do not think they are a bad meal and it is good your daughter will eat breakfast, so many young people do not.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
17 Feb 19
@GardenGerty she tries to get away with not eating it sometimes but I make her even if it’s just a piece of toast. It worries me how teens are so worried about their figures. The worrying over that started in school when she had to keep track of how many calories she eats. Healthy eating is good but these kids are so impressionable they need to find a way to get them to try to eat healthy without giving them a complex.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
19 Feb 19
@GardenGerty 
reminds me of the story of my sister seeing my mom drinking soda while driving. She started crying and telling my mom she’s not supposed to drink and drive.
reminds me of the story of my sister seeing my mom drinking soda while driving. She started crying and telling my mom she’s not supposed to drink and drive.
@allknowing (130066)
• India
16 Feb 19
I did not know pancakes were a poverty meal. We make pancakes here but with plain white rice The ones I tasted in the US I liked very much specially with maple syrup.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
That was just to my mom's thinking. I love pancakes. They can be a very inexpensive way to fill up. How do you make your rice pancakes? My first mother in law would make an egg and rice patty. I never got it quite right.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
18 Feb 19
@allknowing Ooh, sounds very tasty. I do not think I have had jaggery, I know it is a sugar. Hubby really likes cardamom.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (130066)
• India
17 Feb 19
@GardenGerty Grind the rice to a paste and dilute it with water. Spread it on a frying pan. Stuff them with coconut, jaggery and cardamom mixed with a few raisins.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
18 Feb 19
Ramen noodles, mac and cheese, and rice were staples of mine when I was a poor college student struggling to get by.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
18 Feb 19
I ate on campus. If we were away from campus I just pretended like I was not hungry. I would go to the neighborhood convenience store and buy canned tuna.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
21 Feb 19
@GardenGerty I had a friend of mine in college who was struggling so much with money that he couldn't afford food, so when he was hungry he would go to a grocery store and pretend he was shopping, and just eat food right off the shelf. Then, when he was full. He would just leave his shopping cart full of food and just walk out the door.
Me, I tried a different approach. I just sought out all the all-u-can-eat buffets in town and I would just sit in those restaurants and study and do my homework and just keep going up to the buffet line whenever I got hungry (I paid for the meal of course, but I definitely ate multiple helpings throughout the day).
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
She ONLY made them if we were out of food at home. We had very limited resources most of my life. Making pancakes made her feel really poor.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
18 Feb 19
@JudyEv Our feelings do really affect us. I am sorry she had to wear those boots, but she would be right in style now.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325759)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Feb 19
@GardenGerty Some things really did make people feel poor. My mum had to wear her brother's hob-nailed boots when he grew out of them and the kids could track her all round the school-yard. She hated them.
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
16 Feb 19
I've never heard of pancakes as a poverty meal.
But I'm not a big pancake person, so they aren't made here often no matter what.
No one here likes beans, and both my mom and brother only eat soup if sick. Me, never. Though did a few times as a kid, only for the chicken pieces of Campbell's chicken noodle though.
Pasta isn't a poverty food for us. As we have it often no matter what.
So.. I guess the only "poverty food" for us would be eggs. Though we also eat those whether were trying to save or not.. they're just, a "have to be in the mood for them" food for us.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
As a kid, I felt poor. Some of it was in how things were approached, some of it was because we all were particular about what we would and would not eat. Pancakes were cheap to make if you did the very basic mix.Mom only made them when we were out of food and money. Mom also boiled sugar and water to make syrup. She felt there was really no nutrition in the meal. Everything I buy is on sale or bulk or both, so everything we eat here pretty much is economical. The only pasta my husband eats is my homemade lasagna. I do not boil the noodles. When I make that though I fill it with so many good things and lots of cheeses and meat, so it is not economial.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
18 Feb 19
@Courtlynn My kids tell me they never felt poor. We were at times, but that was not what we focused on. We also never went without food.
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@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
17 Feb 19
@GardenGerty sorry you felt poor.
I've always been a picky eater, but we always had food. Even had 3 things cooked sometimes as we'd all want different things. My mom made sure of it.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
That is pretty much what I have on hand right now. I made soup yesterday, with a pound of ground beef. I had gotten ground beef on sale last month and paid less than eleven dollars for six pounds. I buy frozen veggies for a dollar a bag and had some other things. All in all we figured I spent about six dollars on a pot of soup that will make four meals. We ate some yesterday, some today, and I made two frozen containers for us to eat on another day.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
18 Feb 19
@playertwo You can make potatoes so many different ways.
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@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
Chapatti is a type of flat bread, right?
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@amitkokiladitya (171936)
• Agra, India
17 Feb 19
@GardenGerty yep...it is a wheat bread
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
18 Feb 19
I think beans are almost a universal meal. I make bean salads that have corn, sometimes. I like eating a variety of foods. Greens and herbs make the meals taste even better.
@aureliah (24319)
• Kenya
19 Feb 19
@GardenGerty Beans are popular but here they are associated with poverty.
@sallypup (57859)
• Centralia, Washington
16 Feb 19
Much of the listed foods are what I eat often. I make my own pancakes from freshly ground wheat flour. Daughter hated our mac and cheese when she was little and we were living on very few pennies. We'd put in nutritional yeast to boost the food value into the mac and cheese. She wasn't fond of our breakfasts either- we found a place to get eggs cheap so we scrambled in eggs into the night before's leftovers. Many times we had gingerbread cookies with cheese for lunch- the cookies made with whole wheat flour. In those days cheese was often on sale. We also made things like wheat pilaf cause we could get wheat cheap. Sunflower seed cookies instead of peanut butter cookies cause sunflower seeds were cheap.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
It all sounds so good, though. We eat a lot of eggs, because they are usually very cheap at Aldis. Not only that, I think their chickens are healthier. The shells are harder, the yolks more yellow. I would and do put left over veggies in scrambled eggs. Don't you know, it is trendy, it is a "bowl".
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
Me too, and you can do a lot with them.
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@ThreeTeddies (2038)
• United Kingdom
17 Feb 19
Baked beans on toast! This was a cheap and simple staple when I was young but I still love it
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@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Feb 19
A friend who used to be oh here posted about that once. So we tried it, and it was really good. Yes, that is economical as well.
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