# "Poor people food"



## SpringCrkAromas (Aug 21, 2005)

A post on face book this morning asked what's the one poor people food you still eat and like.
It had 100's of responses but most were from people offended by the words "poor people food"
Surely I can't be the only one that knows what it was like to only have enough money left to buy a loaf of bread, a small jar of mayo and a tomato and live off tomato sandwiches for a week. Or a bag of dried beans and a small slice of ham and live off ham and beans for a week.
That was 40+ years ago and I'm doing much better now but you don't forget that life and you sure learn from it.

So, you offended or do you know what poor people food is?


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

Beans and cornbread or tortillas. PBJ. Cheese and crackers.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Ramen noodles and toasted cheese sandwiches. Cheese was govt cheese and the bread was bought from the discount store.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

I have used that term many times.

Think about food in style today like fajitas, chicken wings, brisket. Those are expensive now, and they used to be poor people food.

I grew up on poor people food. White beans are my least favorite bean because we had that many times each week. The same thing on fried potatoes. Having fried potatoes along with those white beans converted me to rice. I can just now eat corn bread again.


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## Adirondackian (Sep 26, 2021)

Poor people food today is not what it was 50 years ago. Its not beans, rice, corn bread and collard greens. Its some concoction that comes fully processed and prepared in a bag. The ingredients are chemical words that you cant pronounce.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

I'm still replaying the "People were offended..." part.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

Adirondackian said:


> Poor people food today is not what it was 50 years ago. Its not beans, rice, corn bread and collard greens. Its some concoction that comes fully processed and prepared in a bag. The ingredients are chemical words that you cant pronounce.


That is exactly right, along with a stop at Burger King


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

GTX63 said:


> I'm still replaying the "People were offended..." part.


People are always offended. It's a new game they like to play.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

I know, but I'll probably never stop marveling at the absurdity of us all.


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## SpringCrkAromas (Aug 21, 2005)

[QUOTE="GTX63
I'm still replaying the "People were offended..." part.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE="Danaus29
People are always offended. It's a new game they like to play.
[/QUOTE]

Right. It's not like it said black folks food.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

I had a black boss in Houston. He worked hard to show this white boy his soulful upbringing. He grew up close to downtown. We'd cruise the streets lined with hookers, and he went to school with many of them. We might pick up a bottle of cheap wine for lunch at a package store close to his old house. This was all very exiting to me. There were no blacks in my hometown or high school.

My favorite was going to a restaurant in the hood called "This is it" Soul Food. Looking at that website it has moved and gone upscale. It was just an old house with a 100 TV sets playing soap operas. Anyway, I told him I guess I grew up on soul food and just did not know it. Them ladies could cook.


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## kinderfeld (Jan 29, 2006)

Adirondackian said:


> Poor people food today is not what it was 50 years ago. Its not beans, rice, corn bread and collard greens. Its some concoction that comes fully processed and prepared in a bag. The ingredients are chemical words that you cant pronounce.


Very true. They'd be a lot healthier with the old fashioned "poor people food".


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## Adirondackian (Sep 26, 2021)

Danaus29 said:


> People are always offended. It's a new game they like to play.


Victimhood is power to alot of people.


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## Adirondackian (Sep 26, 2021)

kinderfeld said:


> Very true. They'd be a lot healthier with the old fashioned "poor people food".


Aside from the fact that they wouldnt know how to cook it, they dont want it. I know several people like this, they grew up on microwaved Fajitas in a bag or Mcdonalds. They dont have a taste for real food. You can invite them over for a homemade roast beef dinner with all the fixins, they cant appreciate it. Would rather have a big mac and fries.


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

I don't care who gets offended by a word that's been around since before money was even invented. 

I've had lots of poor food. My first marriage I had to move on my mil who was recovering from being an alcoholic. We didn't have any extra money. She gave me a grocery list and there wasn't much on it. She saved every scrap of bacon grease. When the was no food left to fix she would fix rice and put in the bacon grease. It was actually pretty tasty. She has always been a city girl and I guess that's what city girls do to save money. 

As a kid we always had food because we grew it. But winter food was different than summer food. We would eat the lungs, tongue and other parts that no one wanted. The packing plant would just give it away back then. Once we got off the sharecrop farm we had our own beef, pork and chicken. But I still had to eat cows tongue.


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

My father told me a story about when he was in school. He carried his lunch in an old ribbon cane syrup bucket. It was collards every single day. He and his friend decided to trade buckets one day. No take backs either. When he opened his friends bucket there was a dozen hickory nuts and a rock to crack them open with. 

Never assume you have it worse than everyone else.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

mreynolds said:


> I've had lots of poor food.


I will not eat poor food


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## Digitalis (Aug 20, 2021)

I eat a lot of ground beef and rice, and can't help but think of it as super-premium dog food sometimes


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

HDRider said:


> I had a black boss in Houston. He worked hard to show this white boy his soulful upbringing. He grew up close to downtown. We'd cruise the streets lined with hookers, and he went to school with many of them. We might pick up a bottle of cheap wine for lunch at a package store close to his old house. This was all very exiting to me. There were no blacks in my hometown or high school.
> 
> My favorite was going to a restaurant in the hood called "This is it" Soul Food. Looking at that website it has moved and gone upscale. It was just an old house with a 100 TV sets playing soap operas. Anyway, I told him I guess I grew up on soul food and just did not know it. Them ladies could cook.


I was raised on soul food and it's my favorite food. 

I was working out of town and the boss took me to lunch. It was a place called Lucky Charms. I'm thinking, ok, we're eating cereal for lunch today. The building was pier and beam and part of it was on the ground. It was so dilapidated, I don't want to go in. But I smelled soul food. 

We go in to a packed house. Even the mayor was there. The boss told me that the fire marshal tried to shut it down as a hazard but the mayor just fired him and hired another Marshall. I hear now they have a new building but it's just too far away for me to go to.


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

HDRider said:


> I will not eat poor food


Never say never.


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## nodak3 (Feb 5, 2003)

Slow cook some frijoles (pintos) until black and thick juice. Add a little bit of ham if I have it. Make some homemade flour tortillas, fry some hamburger meat and make enchilada sauce. I fry the hamburger with onion and green chili, then drain well. Cover with water and add some ground New Mexico mild chili, Mexican oregano or some marjoram, cumin, and cilantro. Simmer a bit, thicken with corn starch and water. Stack a tortilla, meat mixture, beans, and lots of grated longhorn cheese. Repeat for larger appetites. If I have it, add lettuce, cut up tomato, and raw onion before serving.

Or, like today, have some purple hulls, sweet potato, fried okra, and cornbread.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

mreynolds said:


> Never say never.


I would never like it


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

nodak3 said:


> make enchilada sauce


Good post, but I think you were trying to pull a fast one.

How do you make enchilada sauce, and is that the same as sauce on a wet burrito? These are important decisions.


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

Sometimes I'll take some frozen zipper cream peas and add ham. Cook cornbread. That's comfort food for a cold day. 

Chicken and dumplings are cheap too.


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

Dam I could eat tong sandwiches every day for lunch . 
my grand mother would make depression meals all the time. 
Squash soup , spaghetti and meat balls, one small meat ball .
Lots of greens . 
Grand pop had a chicken farm . 
My dads mom was a cook for rich people . 
We are having Hoover stew once a week now . 
Pea soup last night .


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## Kmac15 (May 19, 2007)

Dad was in the navy before direct deposit and his check got lost in the mail one time. Mom had a huge bag of rice so every meal included rice for two weeks. It went well with milk an sugar for breakfast. With leftovers for lunch and dry beans with any meat from the freezer for supper. Never went hungry. On a funny note my husband was working 12 hour shifts in a tiny hospital that had such a small kitchen that the staff couldn’t eat at. All staff meals were ordered in or brought fromhome. It was about 6 months before I went to visit him at work. After my visit they told my husband they were very surprised by me as they had assumed that based on the meals he brought from home we had a mixed race marriage


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

The most famous dishes from every ethnic group are generally what was "poor man's" food. Taco's, spagetti, stir fry garden veggies over rice, chicken 'n dumplings, pasties, etc.

By adding grain and garden vegetables to expensive meat the meal will feed twice as many people at least.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

from my experience working the food pantry and working as a cook/host for family a homeless shelter program the thing I found is what most poor people eat isn't really low cost food.

lots of boxed meals and some what convenience items ,low cost per purchase but not low cost per serving.

true low cost per serving meals are things like Rice and beans , but you couldn't give away the Mylar bags of pinto beans and frozen hams at the food pantry.
boxed meals were the hot commodity and ground beef 

there were turkeys and hams and big roasts that people just didn't know what to do with these things , it was too much for one meal and they didn't have the education in cooking to use these things.to cook ahead.


some low cost items that make for low cost per serving meals 
99 cent 3 pounds bags of yellow onions 
big bags of carrots 
potatoes 
rice in large bags 
pasta 
flour 

some easy low cost meals 
perpetual pot stew

chili if you can get the peppers on sale , we shop a store that will clearance the wrinkled peppers 99 cents for about 6 peppers in a bag

spaghetti 

biscuits and gravy

soups lots of soups can be made on very little money pair that with a loaf of bread or noodles and get a very filling meal.

rice and beans


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## susieneddy (Sep 2, 2011)

fried bologna with hot water cornbread


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

I think dry beans and rice are both unpopular items at food banks. I've been in one that had piles of bags of beans and rice, but the canned food was usually picked over. The spice section was mostly full as well. Produce was usually going bad because it had been there so long. Chips and mac and cheese were hard to find as was sliced bread. The full loaves sat around until they were only good for chicken feed, It was a senior citizen food bank, and I felt self concious going in there, but I did get a good bit of pasta, rice and beans and spices Many of which I gave to others.
A bit of macaroni and a can of diced tomatoes isn't bad eating in itself, add some corn bread and butter and it is pretty durn good,


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## NEPA (Feb 21, 2015)

I don't think people eat like that anymore. My daughter gets state assistance and doesn't worry about food prices. When she visits she'll bring the meat for a meal so we don't have to buy it. Her pantry is always stocked. Her kids never want for food. I guess the program is doing what it's designed to do.

The shameful part is that she works full time for Head Start as a behavioral specialist and still qualifies for assistance. She loves her job, but it doesn't pay well.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

i dont know anything about poor people food. i eat the same as i always have when i was at home. we had plenty of everything. pea soup mom had on saturdays. still eat that. got a pot on up there now waiting to make the dumplings.maybe that's classed as ppf i dont know.

we did have a pudding called poor pudd. probably because dad and mom had been having it for so long anyway. nothing poor about that though. it was a self saucing pudding. mom would change around the flavors. i have that quite often myself. plenty home made bread, buns and whatnot. baked beans for sure.

i just came back from shopping and i got 50 lbs white navy beans. i think dad use to buy them in 100 lb sacks. i also found a large jug molasses that i have been searching for. we were big on molasses for beans, lassy jimmies etc. still eat lots of rice. the only way mom ever cooked rice was in a rice pudding with eggs cream raisins and whatnot as a dessert. never had it the way i do today with chicken etc. we had lots of lamb also because dad had sheep. that's likely the only thing i dont eat much of like i use to when i was growing up because it has gone sky high in price. ~Georgia


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

susieneddy said:


> bologna


I gag on bologna now. When I was a kid I had so many bologna sandwiches, or fried bologna, I just can't stand the smell of it.


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

NEPA said:


> I don't think people eat like that anymore. My daughter gets state assistance and doesn't worry about food prices. When she visits she'll bring the meat for a meal so we don't have to buy it. Her pantry is always stocked. Her kids never want for food. I guess the program is doing what it's designed to do.
> 
> The shameful part is that she works full time for Head Start as a behavioral specialist and still qualifies for assistance. She loves her job, but it doesn't pay well.


That's because they don't want her off of assistance. That's the really sad part.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

If the poor people had needed the beans and the unsliced bread then they would have taken it. I think it is good that people do not need all of the food that is available


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## Kmac15 (May 19, 2007)

Terri said:


> If the poor people had needed the beans and the unsliced bread then they would have taken it. I think it is good that people do not need all of the food that is available


Most of them have no idea how to cook it. We had a home ec teacher offer to teach a cooking course at the food bank and no one showed up. The number of people that want to cook better on assistance is low. When someone suggested making a class mandatory it was pointed out that that would be suggesting that poor people were stupid


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I have no desire to attend a cooking class to learn to boil food that I dislike either. Especially not if I had to arrange a baby sitter, take the kids along, or arrange for transportation. 

I have seen recipes on tear off sheets at the grocery stores to use on less-familiar foods. That would work better, though most over-worked people would rather prepare food that they do not have to think about. I know that I did when I was a working Mother. _NOW_ I will take the time to mess with a ham bone and a bag of mixed beans: back then I would not have. If the kids will eat spagetti without fuss or effort, then they got spagetti. Then it was time for homework, dishes, bed for the kids, and perhaps a half-hour of kicking back with my husband.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

knowledge , tools and the knowledge to use them is very low 

my inlaws had nothing but garbage for knives , they weren't even poor , my mother in law is the daughter of a butcher shop owner, my father in law you would have thought should know how to sharpen a knife. nope along with the Marine corps not training the M16 prior to combat in 1968 they apparently gave no lessons on sharpening your K-Bar either.
he could find a 2 cent error in a 20 page bank statement but not sharpen knife.

you only really need about 3-4 knives to do almost everything in the kitchen and the primary two can be had quite reasonably and will last you decades








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I have found them used for less , there are other brands but these are good quality for the price 
a sharpening stone is also needed 
my grandma had a 2 sided wet stone she kept next to her knives , I use a number of different sharpening methods most commonly diamond steel they run about 30 dollars 

it is an investment in equipment but given what I have seen people spend on non stick skillets learn to use cast iron and have it for life 

when I did the family shelter I brought my own knife , I can cook most things with just my belt knife it is a little slower but easy to carry.

just so many don't even know what the don't know about a sharp knifes and how to cut and it seems so basic but it is so under trained.


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## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

I eat milk and cereal like it's going out of style, though hardly ever for breakfast.

Grilled cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, bologna sandwiches, those are good too.


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## doozie (May 21, 2005)

I don’t know about “poor” people food, but I still have plain black tea with no sugar or creamer at times. Maybe cheap food is a better description.

Also, saltines topped with margarine as a snack, only now I use real butter  Peanut butter if I’m feeling fancy LOL. At times when I was a child it might have been counted as a lunch. 

I’ve met people that think canned tuna is gross, but I grew up eating it and still do, on the saltines of course.


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

My favorite poor folks food is, and probably always be, Kraft Dinner. We’ve made fancy scratch Mac and Cheese, but that packet of unknown craft “cheese” sauce is still my favorite.

We’re big fans of cheap food, all around, though. We’ll start with, say, chicken breast that we bought in-bulk on-sale, for $1 or $2/lb. I’ll grill about 2#, and we’ll maybe eat a half-pound between us, so, with a side, that dinner will have cost us $0.50- $2. Then, the next night we’ll have salads, 75% of which is from the garden, and hack off another 1/4# of that chicken as strips for the salads, so maybe $1 for that dinner for two. Then the rest will get shredded into chicken salad that makes us a few lunches (or dinner if we’re tired) for another $0.75 or $1.

We do the same thing when we make steaks, or I smoke a pork butt or beef brisket. When you have means to cook big, but then preserve big leftovers, you can eat on a $10 or $20 chunk of meat for a week or two’s worth of meals


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## CC Pereira (9 mo ago)

Kmac15 said:


> Most of them have no idea how to cook it. We had a home ec teacher offer to teach a cooking course at the food bank and no one showed up. The number of people that want to cook better on assistance is low. When someone suggested making a class mandatory it was pointed out that that would be suggesting that poor people were stupid


I think requiring and providing a free basic cooking and food safety course for people who receive free food from the gov is a good idea. I don't think it would be rude or condescending at all.


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## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

doozie said:


> I’ve met people that think canned tuna is gross, but I grew up eating it and still do, on the saltines of course.


I've eaten it straight from the can, even shared with the cats and house fish. Saltines and butter are also delicious. My grandmother said she used to have saltines in milk. I've never tried that one.


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## rbelfield (Mar 30, 2015)

my grandpa used to pour a glass of milk, tear up a piece of bread, into the milk and then season it with salt and pepper...he called it yogurt...lol...i called it awful!


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

Funny we don't think about mayo and mustard as poor people food.... But miracle whip and mustard was. We still eat both because we like it. Potato chips was a


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

you can get leg quarters for 49-79 cents a pound meaning a flat of 4-5 leg quarters are right around 3 dollars 

you can cut the drum sticks off and bake them for one meal and make a big pot of soup from the thighs 

or with a few potatoes and some carrots make a nice chicken dinner for 5 at about a dollar a person.

I found the expiration date chicken marked down to 1.49 a tray that was 4-5 leg quarters it came to 39 cents a pound, I froze a pile of those , ran out of freezer space 

chest freezers are another tool many poor apartment dwellers don't have that home owners are more likely to have 

we used to be able to watch for free freezers they would pop up all the time I got 3-4 free freezers gave some away kept some 2020 changed that now everyone thinks their old freezer is gold


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## Digitalis (Aug 20, 2021)

HDRider said:


> I will not eat poor food


So you insist on eating the rich?


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

that milk and bread one goes a long way back. my gg use to have it when she was a kid. then all the way up through to me. we would have it mostly winter time like a comfort food. we would sit around the stove. mom would have the bread(home made of course) cut in cubes and she would go around and half fill our mugs with some then she would bring hot milk that was already on the stove. fill our mugs then a little butter and sug. if we wanted it and top with a couple drops vanilla or maple etc. it was so good. i'd like to have one right now. i wouldn't knock it until you've tried it. a boily is what we called it ~Georgia


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

The only people who eat "poor people food" are the people who still like to cook and cook with real ingredients. It doesn't have much to do with income. I can afford to eat at the fake taco drive-through fast food, but I don't like it. I'll take the time to cook a pot of pinto beans and shredded meat and to fry tortillas myself. It doesn't have a whole lot to do with the cost of the food, it has to do with eating good food. 

I've volunteered at the food bank and nobody there is going hungry. They don't need free food and they don't want stuff that has to be cooked. They won't take the lettuce or even the fruit. They want the day old cakes and the boxed mac and cheese.

I've seen what people are buying with their food stamps. The definition of "poor people's food" has greatly changed.

As for offended, if we are too sensitive to say "poor people" will they no longer be poor if nobody notices that they don't have a lot of income?


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

what is absolutely absurd is what they charge for soup bones at the store

do you realize how many pounds of soup bones there are in a cow and how unused so many of them go unused

that right there should be the po-people food 

I butchered a small cow two weeks ago that had to be put down I felt bad throwing out the bones to the compost pile but I have a pile of soup bones left from the last cow I did and I am out of freezer space got 4 pounds from getting all the ground in I used 2 on chili and I have 2 more to use up in the fridge. 

by weight there are more soup bones in a cow than steaks by about 75%


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## nodak3 (Feb 5, 2003)

HDRider--no fast one pulled. I gave you my exact recipe for the sauce Now the tortillas, if I tell you I might have to make sure you take that recipe to your grave lol.


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> what is absolutely absurd is what they charge for soup bones at the store
> 
> do you realize how many pounds of soup bones there are in a cow and how unused so many of them go unused
> 
> ...


 How about ham hocks , I could not believe how much they want for ham hocks 
they wanted 6 bucks a hock I had to use a ham stake in my white beans last week .
There is no such thing as cheep poor people food .


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

rbelfield said:


> my grandpa used to pour a glass of milk, tear up a piece of bread, into the milk and then season it with salt and pepper...he called it yogurt...lol...i called it awful!


My granddad still does that, but with cornbread. It’s his absolute favorite nighttime snack.


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

Another of our favorite leftover vehicles is stuffed peppers. During the summer, we’ll take an Anaheim (our favorite), sweet bananas or jalapeños (though I prefer them once they go chipotle), cut them in half, scoop in a spoonful of whatever leftover meat we have, give it a sprinkle of shredded cheese, and grill them. Four or five of them makes a plenty big enough dinner, especially if you’ve got a scoop of beans or potato salad to go with it.

We’re going to try experimenting with making Mexican street corn to keep as a bowl-o’-ready-side dish in the refrigerator this summer.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

I dated a woman a few years ago. She said her grandmother would put a slice of bread on a plate and spoon liquid from a pot of pinto beans over it when she wanted a snack. I ate a lot of Miracle Whip sandwiches when I was a kid too. I would also pull an onion and pick a couple of tomatoes from the field garden it I got hungry in the field and wanted a snack.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I do not buy ham bones for soup: instead I buy the occasional ham and the bone comes with it. I would not pay soup bone proces


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## Digitalis (Aug 20, 2021)

GunMonkeyIntl said:


> My granddad still does that, but with cornbread. It’s his absolute favorite nighttime snack.


love love love cornbread in milk and honey


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## Steve in PA (Nov 25, 2011)

Bean soup, chicken and dumplings, and fried rice. My bachelor years.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

Wellbuilt said:


> How about ham hocks , I could not believe how much they want for ham hocks
> they wanted 6 bucks a hock I had to use a ham stake in my white beans last week .
> There is no such thing as cheep poor people food .


you know it was the darn hipsters started raving about bone broth

I wish I knew people closer who wanted them , when I get a downer cow I have probably 50 pounds of them all of my freezers are full right now can't get one more thing in any of them.

when I started doing side work for the farm fixed a few things that saved them a bunch of money and they declared pete gets free soup bones for life! then I got my first down cow and realized how many there were.

we could eat soup near every week but no one in my house wants it that often.

we were seeing cheap country style ribs which are good for a bean soup was 1.99 a pound not it is 2.48 a pound unless I see them near expiration.

I can still get hocks from the farm for a good price


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 4/27/22 9:17 P.M. CDST

I still eat the same types of food my grandparents and parents cooked up. Cornbread, beans , collards, home raised chicken , stick baloney , souse meat , buttermilk and the rest of considered country or "soul foods". 

My favorite meal has always been pinto beans and ham hocks cooked with onion, garlic and salt and pepper , cornbread and collards washed down with sweet tea or buttermilk.

Some folks might consider our normal for this foothill mountain country cooking "poor folk eating" but we just consider it normal good eating as we work and tend our 401k or other savings investments.

I also like pan fried catfish from the pond behind me that I keep stocked since my neighbor owns the pond but we both fish at with Cajun seasoned hush puppies.

Rich and city folk may consider our type of food poor eating but as the song lyrics said "I like my sushi southern fried".

You will never see me paying through the nose to eat raw fish at some over hyped sushi bar /live bait store.

Once in awhile we might go to a steak house for a low cost steak or a Chinese restaurant for a meal with a fortune cookie but those nights out seldom run us more than $25 to $45 for two plus what I leave as tip appropriate for the table service.


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

I think a lot of people just don't want to have anything to do with washing dishes. Easier to pull through the drive-up at McDonalds, scarf down your burger and fries, and fling the refuse out the window.


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

MDs is not poor food any more burger fries with a soda cost me 23$ for 2 the other day
and they shrunk the Burger again .


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

Wellbuilt said:


> MDs is not poor food any more burger fries with a soda cost me 23$ for 2 the other day
> and they shrunk the Burger again .


But you are probably someone who works for a living and pays taxes to subsidize the "poor" people going to McDonald's. Smarten up. Get on disability and collect the check. Then work under the table without paying taxes. No disrespect to folks that are actually disabled and cannot work.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

Digitalis said:


> So you insist on eating the rich?


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

It’s hard to work in my area , with out insurance unles you are a illegal alien . 
But it has crossed my mind


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

My monthly check is $300. It pays for about 2 trips to McDonalds. Good thing I don't like McDonalds.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

last time i was at a restaurant my first husband was still alive and he's been gone 20 years now


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## JRHill02 (Jun 20, 2020)

HDRider said:


> ... brisket.


I have always loved corned beef brisket and it was indeed cheap in earlier times. And if you got to a larger supermarket I'd sometimes find a fresh 1/2 brisket for about the price of burger. But those days are gone for sure.

As far as "poor food" goes, I learned a lot from grandma. Having raised four children through the depression she never changed from those days. EVERYTHING she made was from scratch.


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## NEPA (Feb 21, 2015)

oregon woodsmok said:


> The only people who eat "poor people food" are the people who still like to cook and cook with real ingredients.


So true. My wife takes great pride in tracking the cost of our meals. The cheapest come from the garden and the coop. Other than seasonings she can go several days and spend nothing for meals.

Of course she insists that my time, aching back, feed, lumber, etc. cost nothing. After 40 years I've learned not to argue. In my defense, these are also the best tasting meals! I just noticed that the asparagus is up. Good poor food is on the way.


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## harrylee (9 mo ago)

When poor man's food is mentioned, I think of potatoes. Easy to grow, fairly cheap if you are buying them and filling. It saved the Irsh when they had a famine many years ago. 
I grow a garden with at least 1/2 of it potatoes most years, not so much because I am poor, but I enjoy it.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Actually it was the FAILURE of the Lumper potato that caused the famine. Most poor people were eating the Lumper potato as their staple. Poor folk ate up to 95% of their calories from the Lumper potato, and pretty much every potato farmer grew it. When disease hit it, it destroyed almost every potato in Ireland. 

The other food that was raised was shipped out of Ireland and sold in England at a profit, leaving 1 million Irishmen to die.


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## harrylee (9 mo ago)

Terri said:


> Actually it was the FAILURE of the Lumper potato that caused the famine. Most poor people were eating the Lumper potato as their staple. Poor folk ate up to 95% of their calories from the Lumper potato, and pretty much every potato farmer grew it. When disease hit it, it destroyed almost every potato in Ireland.
> 
> The other food that was raised was shipped out of Ireland and sold in England at a profit, leaving 1 million Irishmen to die.


Oh...my mistake. I thought that was all they had to eat. Shows you what I know..........Seems here in Canada last year, the PEI potatoes had something strange about them and the US wouldn't allow them to be imported.


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## Chief50 (10 mo ago)

Everything we had to eat was poor people food. Had to be because were sure were poor.


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

harrylee said:


> When poor man's food is mentioned, I think of potatoes. Easy to grow, fairly cheap if you are buying them and filling. It saved the Irsh when they had a famine many years ago.
> I grow a garden with at least 1/2 of it potatoes most years, not so much because I am poor, but I enjoy it.


I agree. Spuds are a good cheap food source.
Potato soup would be classic "poor folks food" in my mind, but I love it.

My buddies dad was a POW in Germany, said their typical meals were potato soup made from the peels the Germans gave them with some moldy bread.


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## RideBarefoot (Jun 29, 2008)

The only thing I can't stand to eat anymore from growing up is canned green beans. Way too many of them.

Y'all are making me hungry. Off to cook up a pot of beans and rice and cornbread. Apparently Smithey agrees; the ad on the sidebar is their cast iron that I drool over.


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## Mish (Oct 15, 2015)

I'm kind of surprised no one mentioned cabbage (or maybe someone did and I missed it). My depression-era grandparents made cabbage soups/dishes with variations a lot. My mom would gag when we'd go to grandma's and you could smell the cabbage cooking as we got out of the car. And of course potatoes all the time, but none of us gagged or complained about that. Also grew up on meatless Hamburger Helper, back when you could get a few boxes for a dollar or so.

My most shameful poor meal personally was when we were a young military family, every so often we'd dip into our stash of expired MRE's (don't ask, don't tell).


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

The hen fruit is backing up so I made up some egg salad this morning. Eggs, mustard, mayo, pepper, paprika, relish.
Now, it is probably easier to grab a container off the supermarket shelf for $7 than it is to make mine for about $1.50, but when you ate it as a poor kid it seems odd to spend that much money on a container of poor people food.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

making me hungry also. i'm making up real ppf right now.(or so some would say) called teddy poor cakes. the real name i guess would be pork cakes but it has been called that as long as i can remember and my mother before me. i've got some pork fat rendered out and potatoes on boiling. i will mash that together and when it's just warm i'll add baking powder and flour (very little) (or they will be dry and tasteless)and roll in balls.lay on cookie sheet and bake in hot oven until nice and brown.i like them really crispy. 

every saturday without fail mom would make a couple batches and we would have them for supper with baked beans. they are so good.i still make them i can make a meal on them alone if i have tea to go with it and that's something i have plenty of in my preps. when my bro visited me a couple years ago it was the first time in 50 years he had them. good heavens i had to take the rest away from him. ~Georgia


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## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

Growing up we always had a dish of pickles and bread & butter of some form with dinner. Pickles seem to have fallen out of favor for many folks - but maybe it's because they don't actually sit at the table to eat. Lunch as a kid was often graham crackers & butter or graham crackers & peanut butter. Tuna sandwiches - but not in your lunch box. I can still remember my mom making broiler bean sandwiches --
slice of bread covered with baked or pork & beans with a strip of bacon cut in half across the beans and a slice of American Cheese - under the broiler until crispy and bubbly. Also - corn tortillas with cheese crisped in the fry pan. Grew up in the West Coast so collards, greens, etc. were not on the menu until I was grown, had moved to the midwest and discovered them.


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## nodak3 (Feb 5, 2003)

Last night we had free for catching fresh catfish, fried in bacon drippings after being rolled in cornmeal. Corn and Kentucky Wonder beans I canned last summer. Fried some of the potatoes.

I ate too much lol.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I never buy egg salad. It just tastes icky from the store. 

For us, cabbage was a filler in vegetable soup. Only occasionally was it ever served by itself. When Grandma made cabbage it was cooked with a little milk and a lot of butter. Cabbage rolls weren't a common dish because she had to buy the rice. 

I guess you could say vegetable soup is a poor food. It was made with garden leftovers (what was left over after canning separate vegetables) and never was the same twice because the vegetable amounts varried. You could add rice and meat and have a good meal. It was a mix of green and lima beans, onions, peas, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and tomato, mostly tomato.

I never was very fond of pickles. There's a jar of them in my fridge that has been there a couple years. I don't eat them and hubby rarely eats them.


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

nodak3 said:


> Last night we had free for catching fresh catfish, fried in bacon drippings after being rolled in cornmeal. Corn and Kentucky Wonder beans I canned last summer. Fried some of the potatoes.
> 
> I ate too much lol.


And I just had to come to this thread right before lunch. Now, I may have to eat early today.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

I cook dry beans and make all sorts of things out of them, but sometimes, I just need a bit of cooked beans so I buy cans of beans and keep them in the pantry.

I just opened a can of beans and it was half liquid and only half filled with beans. I guess that makes cooking the dry beans at home more attractive.


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## ladytoysdream (Dec 13, 2008)

You can pressure can dry beans in water, in pints or quarts. Do a bunch of different ones
in same canner load. That way if you need some, just open one up and
ready to eat  A lot cheaper than what you buy from a store in cans.

Should be a good recipe in Ball Blue Book.


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## Kmac15 (May 19, 2007)

ladytoysdream said:


> You can pressure can dry beans in water, in pints or quarts. Do a bunch of different ones
> in same canner load. That way if you need some, just open one up and
> ready to eat  A lot cheaper than what you buy from a store in cans.
> 
> Should be a good recipe in Ball Blue Book.


Just did a batch this week. Two lbs dry make 9 quart jars for me.


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

Mish said:


> I'm kind of surprised no one mentioned cabbage (or maybe someone did and I missed it). My depression-era grandparents made cabbage soups/dishes with variations a lot. My mom would gag when we'd go to grandma's and you could smell the cabbage cooking as we got out of the car. And of course potatoes all the time, but none of us gagged or complained about that. Also grew up on meatless Hamburger Helper, back when you could get a few boxes for a dollar or so.
> 
> My most shameful poor meal personally was when we were a young military family, every so often we'd dip into our stash of expired MRE's (don't ask, don't tell).


Just made some cabbage/bean/hamburg soup Thursday. One pound of burger, one head of cabbage, three or four carrots, one pound of dried kidney beans. Feeds the two of us for several days.
Ham is also an inexpensive deal around here, when it goes on sale for around $.50lb we buy two or three. This makes 2-3 baked ham dinners, several sandwiches, and a big old pot of pea soup.


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## Chief50 (10 mo ago)

Would an armadillo be called poor people food?


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## Clem (Apr 12, 2016)

I had poke salad and eggs just this morning. Been eating that for 70 years. Used to "help" my grandma cook up enough poke salad for a dozen people.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

Armadillo was called Hoover Hog during the Depression.


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## Chief50 (10 mo ago)

whiterock said:


> Armadillo was called Hoover Hog during the Depression.


Where I lived there were not any armadillos at that time. It took them many years before they made it to where I lived.
I can remember helping my dogs catch an armadillo. I didn't know what it was. We took it over to the general store and post office to see if anyone knew what it was. Finally about a week later a salesman was passing through and told us what it was.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

I've dealt with them all my life. They would get under the house and bang into the pipes, mess up foundations on pier and beams, dig huge holes and tear up the gardens.


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## Little Joe (Feb 18, 2021)

GunMonkeyIntl said:


> My granddad still does that, but with cornbread. It’s his absolute favorite nighttime snack.


Buttermilk and cornbread is my favorite, my grandparents always ate buttermilk and cornbread and for years I didn't, now I eat it all the time. Throw in a little onion and some jalapenos, man that's good.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Chief50 said:


> Would an armadillo be called poor people food?


Only by poor people… wealthy folks call them possum on the half shell.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

the poor people who have to decide between oil and food around here now are not saying "it doesn't matter how much it cost'. actually i dont know anybody that's saying that. desperate times out there now.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

the lowly raisin bun goes back hundreds of years. grandmother told me that and the pork buns and lassy jimmies was something they came up with to make when all the bread was eaten and they were waiting for another batch to bake. anyway that's what i made this morning to eat for a snack when i came in from the garden. they were so good split and filled with apricot jam and butter. ~Georgia


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

In most of the US, avocados and salmon is rich people food.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

definitely rich people food here


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Danaus29 said:


> In most of the US, avocados and salmon is rich people food.


Makes me glad to be poor.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

i was talking to my son lunch time and i mentioned this thread. he said people out in the country where he lives are already eating road kill. have been for quite some time. food banks are not getting as much either because the people who use to give aren't giving as much anymore . high prices for fuel and just about everything is affecting them also. they have to think of their own family.

my son burns oil but i gave him a woodstove i had in the mobile and he's been cutting wood for the last couple months preparing for next winter. everyday that it isn't raining hard he's out there sawing down ,cutting, splitting and whatnot. i'm on this end prepping food for us. ~Georgia


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

When I was a kid, we were poor. My dad farmed, logged, and drove a dump truck. I remember when minimum wage went up to $2.75 an hour, we thought we were rich. We ate beef, chicken, venison, pork, beans, corn bread, eggs, and fresh caught fish. Mom baked pies, baked nine loaves of bread every three days, and canned food for the winter. The only meat I remember buying from the store was turkey for the holidays. We always had two or three milk cows. Everybody we knew were poor, so we thought it was normal. The only people I remember who didn't have enough to eat, were the ones who's parents bought cigarettes, and beer. 

I remember taking an extra sandwich to school, to give to a friend who didn't have anything to eat when he got home. I felt bad for friends who lived in town, and couldn't grow or raise their own food. I also remember those same "friends", making fun of me because I had manure on my boots.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

be interesting to know where some of them are now. most of the ones i knew growing up are dead of overdose and whatnot.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

newfieannie said:


> be interesting to know where some of them are now. most of the ones i knew growing up are dead of overdose and whatnot.


Years ago I tried to look up some of them. Most are dead or in prison.


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## Mish (Oct 15, 2015)

Danaus29 said:


> In most of the US, avocados and salmon is rich people food.


Get what you're saying, but I live in an area where a lot of people have them (avocados, not salmon) growing in their back yards along with their citrus trees. 

Unfortunately, I think they're gross (avocados, not citrus). Not that I wouldn't eat them if I was hungry, but I'd have to be pretty darned hungry.

I guess it all boils down to what is cheap and available where you live to be considered poor people food.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

No avocados here. But asparagus grows well.


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## Mish (Oct 15, 2015)

Danaus29 said:


> No avocados here. But asparagus grows well.


Oh yeah, now I can tuck into some asparagus. We used to have a bunch growing behind our garage when I was a kid (don't know who planted them, but boy we looked forward to them coming up every year). They don't grow very well here without a lot of babying that I am way too lazy to do continually.

I'd trade my avocados for your asparagus for sure.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

thinking about the good old food i just had to make some lassy mogs(as mom use to call them. only takes about 10 min to bang together and 20 or so to bake. there was always a cookie tin full of these in the pantry when i was growing up. i have them quite often also because my son loves them. ~Georgia


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

newfieannie said:


> thinking about the good old food i just had to make some lassy mogs(as mom use to call them. only takes about 10 min to bang together and 20 or so to bake. there was always a cookie tin full of these in the pantry when i was growing up. i have them quite often also because my son loves them. ~Georgia


Are you willing to share the recipe?


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 5/3/22 12:14 A.M. CDST

Today while helping a friend move to her new house , he had her new computerized EZ Bake oven but all of her expensive shelf stored TV dinner meals for it had gone home in the back seat floorboard of her brother's pick up before the rain set in.

While we all were ready for a late lunch but nobody wanted to face the rain, I remembered seeing a kitchen box with some mac and cheese and a few old school cans and went searching.

Two hours after finding the two boxes of mac and cheese , a couple cans of sweet peas and tuna , Ibaked a poor folks casserole fr the four of us still at the new place..

As we ate , the woman said she forgot how good a buck worth of mac and cheese and $3 of peas and tuna could make good simple meals and she needed to drop the high tech TV dinners she started getting during the c19 lock down craze.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

sure! nothing to it though. i only made a small batch so 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine,1/2 cup sugar(i used brown this time just because i like brown) mom always used white. 1/2 cup molasses, (less if you dont like that much molasses)1 egg, about 1/4 cup milk mixed with 3/4 tsp soda, couple tsp cinnamon or more if you like. mom used cloves also but i dont like it . beat all together as usual. add flour. i like these soft so probably used 2 cups or so in these. but suit yourself. (gradually add the flour. too much and they will be too dry and hard) drop on cookie sheet. i use a tablespoon or more. ( i use parchment on my sheets)depending on your stove 375 or 80 at around 20 min. ( keep a watch on it and cover with foil if needed) when i'm making something for the first time i just drop some on folded foil or a small foil pan etc. and bake first to see if i need to add more flour or lower the heat or whatever. Enjoy!


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

They sound yummy. Grandma never made molasses drop cookies but I have had them made by someone else. I like them, I'll have to write in down and make some soon.


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## Chief50 (10 mo ago)

newfieannie said:


> thinking about the good old food i just had to make some lassy mogs(as mom use to call them. only takes about 10 min to bang together and 20 or so to bake. there was always a cookie tin full of these in the pantry when i was growing up. i have them quite often also because my son loves them. ~Georgia
> 
> View attachment 109708


How do you get them to stick to the pan?


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## homesteadforty (Dec 4, 2007)

Danaus29 said:


> No avocados here. But asparagus grows well.


I'm having a bumper crop of asparagus this year. Been eating it for a couple of weeks already. I'm probably going to can a bunch... including pickled, mmmmm mmmmm.


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

Yes


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

Chief50 said:


> How do you get them to stick to the pan?



i dont get that. why would you want them to stick to the pan?


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

what is collards? is that similar to swiss chard?


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Collards are a kind of non-heading cabbage.

My in-laws grew up on what they called "greens", and I am pretty sure they meant collard greens.


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## Rodeo's Bud (Apr 10, 2020)

Collards are proof God loves us. In a yummy, salty and buttery way.


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## Hiro (Feb 14, 2016)

newfieannie said:


> what is collards? is that similar to swiss chard?


Collards are wonderful brassica that grows in mild temperatures suitable around here (zone 7) for winter and early spring, but is tolerant of low 20 F temps short term. They are stupendous cooked properly (with seasoning ham) and excellent in a kale/collard salad with olive oil, shaved garlic, lemon juice and honey. 



Terri said:


> Collards are a kind of non-heading cabbage.
> 
> My in-laws grew up on what they called "greens", and I am pretty sure they meant collard greens.


I cannot speak to other definitions. But in the southern US, greens are any of a number of leafy cool season veggies including mustard, turnip and collards.


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

rbelfield said:


> my grandpa used to pour a glass of milk, tear up a piece of bread, into the milk and then season it with salt and pepper...he called it yogurt...lol...i called it awful!


I knew someone who did that, only added sugar instead of salt and pepper. I like it better with corn bread than white bread. The original cereal?

Maybe calling it peasant food wouldn't offend the sensibilities of some. And it is good food in many cultures. Love bean burritos with Mexican seasoned rice on the side. Love potato soup, chicken and noodles, even like the box mac n cheese. Fried rice, sourkraut, liver and onions, oatmeal, grilled cheese, beans and cornbread, it's all good.


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## sniper69 (Sep 23, 2007)

newfieannie said:


> i dont get that. why would you want them to stick to the pan?


I think the comment about sticking to the pan - is because the picture you posted was posted upside down, so it looked like the lassie mogs were defying gravity and sticking to the pan.


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## sniper69 (Sep 23, 2007)

Hiro said:


> Collards are wonderful brassica that grows in mild temperatures suitable around here (zone 7) for winter and early spring, but is tolerant of low 20 F temps short term. They are stupendous cooked properly (with seasoning ham) and excellent in a kale/collard salad with olive oil, shaved garlic, lemon juice and honey.
> 
> 
> 
> I cannot speak to other definitions. But in the southern US, greens are any of a number of leafy cool season veggies including mustard, turnip and collards.


Collards are good eats, but I definitely prefer a mix of turnips and mustards (given the choice). And the pot liquor is definitely good with corn bread.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

newfieannie said:


> i dont get that. why would you want them to stick to the pan?


Somehow your picture ended up being posted upside down.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 5/4/22 12:58 A,M. CDST

I grew up enjoying collards and other greens my folks cooked up , my mother dusted my socks with cornmeal to fend off cut worms as I pooped as regular as my dogs and decades later collards are still my favorite green vegetable , but I enjoy all greens decades later .

My GP can't believe when he asks how regular I am during physicals and I tell him that eating greens , bans, lentils, mixed vegetables, tomatoes, onion and garlic cooked with marked down lean meat cooked in the crockpot with seasoning keeps the poop chute going , especially with a half cup of dry oatmeal mixed in two meals a day keeps me going.

One time he asked me how I could eat the same thing every day and gave me a "huh" look when I said "with a spoon and bowl with a handle and ACV spiked water to wash it down with a tangy cool drink so I can eat and watch TV" as he almost lamented that my BP, cholesterol , liver / kidney function and heart rate was better than a 20 year olds


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

Fiddleheads are sprouting!


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

yes indeed! fiddleheads will soon be at the market. probably end of the month. i shudder to think what they will cost this year though. they had already taken a jump last year. Georgia


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 5/4/22 8:22 A.M. CDST

I enjoyed a southern poor folk food breakfast this morning. A bacon ,lettuce, tomato , cheese and egg sandwich with redeye gravy to dip it in made from the bacon drippings and some of my morning coffee.

I used lettuce,and cherry tomatoes I grew in my sunroom garden in one of my worm bins and the bacon was from a slab we smoked last fall with hams from a hog we slaughtered and hickory smoked in the small smokehouse my father had a carpenter / stone mason build 30 years ago..


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

if you had to go out and buy any of that now it certainly wouldn't be poor folk who could afford it. i saw a pk bacon for 9dollars last week. course that was the most expensive grocery store in the city. i really only go there now for fish.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I am going to stop reading this thread. All this good food is making me hungry! And I did have a good breakfast this morning.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

newfieannie said:


> the poor people who have to decide between oil and food around here now are not saying "it doesn't matter how much it cost'. actually i dont know anybody that's saying that. desperate times out there now.


It must be very different there.

What desperation exists is coming from the fact that every employer in my area is begging for workers.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

i hear a lot about beans and rice everywhere . here,prepper sites etc. etc. being a complete food etc. i've never had them together but i like both so when i came in from the garden for a break i decided to make up some rice. then i sauteed some shallots and addded the rice. already had some lefover baked beans from 2 days ago, warmed them up and had beans and rice.

toppped it off with a tea and some home made bread. it's really good together. so i'm good for awhile if everything falls apart or i should say falls further apart. i have 50 or so lbs rice and more than that for beans. probably should get more rice. i think it said on one of the sites 50something lbs a year for one person but i think that would depend on how much of it you eat. i like creamy baked rice pudding. a lot!~Georgia


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I like fried rice occasionally but not gummy rice, ever. Even counting Chinese restaurant meals I might eat 1 pound of rice a year.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

newfieannie said:


> beans and rice everywhere


Beans and rice can be the foundation for a great many great meals. Goes with sausage, chicken or pork.

You can use almost any bean, or like the Jamaican dish of black eyed or purple hull peas and rice.


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

We eat a lot of beans and rice it’s a easy one pot dinner for a bunch of people .
You could add pork beef or chicken even hot dog in a pinch . 
This is good survival food , I think every one should stock up
It’s good Insurance .


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

HDRider said:


> It must be very different there.
> 
> What desperation exists is coming from the fact that every employer in my area is begging for workers.


i'm talking about the fuel and food prices that have spiked and everything else around here making it difficult for people to afford anything. especially the seniors many of whom have to struggle along on their OAS. what world are you living in?. i thought fuel prices are gone up world wide and people were struggling everywhere. maybe you're not hurting and i'm not but many are. ~Georgia


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

newfieannie said:


> i thought fuel prices are gone up


Everything is higher. My point is that we are a million miles form "desperation".


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

I’m thinking we could have food shortages come winter , things are going South fast .
I have a large family every shopping trip looks like I’m hoarding , I keep a lot of food
in house . It’s irresponsible to not have some eats on hand .
I’ve never seen a weevil and I keep a lot of rice on hand .
Weevil would be extra free protein in the beans and rice


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

Mater Sammich said:


> I am not much of a prepper, but I bought enough rice for maybe 6 months. Then I found out rice breeds weevils if you don't freeze it before storing. I don't know how weevils taste. Maybe I shouldn't mind them.


Free protein.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

haven't seen anything in the rice or the flour or pancake mix etc. i dont freeze any of it. maybe it's too cold where i live. although if i'm not mistaken i heard mom talk about that one time.she didn't call it weevils though.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

HDRider said:


> Everything is higher. My point is that we are a million miles form "desperation".


Very true! And I like to KEEP it that way. Now that I am retired I do enjoy having more time and money to enjoy life, but, to continue living below my means I also make it a point to enjoy my favorite "peasant food" like beans cooked with a ham bone and cornbread on the side


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

My grand father was a sailer in the 1890 
and he always talked of weevils in the bread and wormy cheese bad salt pork . 
it was a regular thing . 
He lived to over 100 👍


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## homesteadforty (Dec 4, 2007)

Terri said:


> Collards are a kind of non-heading cabbage.
> 
> My in-laws grew up on what they called "greens", and I am pretty sure they meant collard greens.


Depends on location and preference. Domestically there are collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, beet greens and Kale.

There are also wild greens... dandelion, chickweed, violet leaves, nettles, plantain, docks, lambs quarters, poke, various cresses, milkweed, etc. They are very high in vitamins and fixed properly are very tasty. We just had a wilted salad of dandelion greens this past weekend.


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## homesteadforty (Dec 4, 2007)

newfieannie said:


> i hear a lot about beans and rice everywhere . here,prepper sites etc. etc. being a complete food etc...


Sounds really good!

Just a note... beans and corn is also a complete protein. The corn has the advantage of being easier to grow in more areas. Though I do buy a 100 lb. bag of rice each year too .


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

Fiddleheads and brook trout fried in bacon grease. Take me now, I'm ready to go.


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## homesteadforty (Dec 4, 2007)

HDRider said:


> It must be *very different there*.
> 
> What desperation exists is coming from the fact that *every employer* *in my area* is begging for workers.


Important highlights there... mnay areas _are_ different and many people are struggling in those _different_ areas. In more than a few areas there are few _employers_ at all... much less any _begging for workers_. Add to that the jobs that do come available are minimum wage and prices are jumping leaps and bounds above _any pay raises_.

Don't forget those on social security... the aveage cola raise this year was around $70 per month... wonder how that stacks up against with price increases??? 




HDRider said:


> Everything is higher. My point is that *we are a million miles form "desperation"*.


Not for millions who were on the edge before all this.

The way I live, it doesn't effect me nearly as much but, even as little as I buy, I'm feeling a pinch.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

homesteadforty said:


> Important highlights there... mnay areas _are_ different and many people are struggling in those _different_ areas. In more than a few areas there are few _employers_ at all... much less any _begging for workers_. Add to that the jobs that do come available are minimum wage and prices are jumping leaps and bounds above _any pay raises_.
> 
> Don't forget those on social security... the aveage cola raise this year was around $70 per month... wonder how that stacks up against with price increases???
> 
> ...


I can only speak about my area. There is no desperation here


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## homesteadforty (Dec 4, 2007)

Mater Sammich said:


> Here is what I learned: weevils get into rice during the process of harvesting and packing. They lay eggs. You buy the rice, and you also get the eggs. They hatch, and then they eat their way out of the rice container, even if it's a thick plastic bag. Then they find your bagged flour, etc., and tunnel into the bags. Then you have flour weevils.
> 
> I don't know if it's a universal problem, but it does happen. Now I freeze things like flour and rice before storing in hard containers.


I've not had the problem but I believe there's a way to dry or oven can that also eliminates the weevils.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I haven't had weevils in rice. I have had moths in cornmeal and beetles in Reese's cups.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

Danaus29 said:


> I haven't had weevils in rice. I have had moths in cornmeal and beetles in Reese's cups.


How did they taste?


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I bought some ferns just for the fiddleheads. Unfortunately the deer like them too. I haven't seen any sign of the fern planted in the boggy shrub garden yet this year.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

HDRider said:


> How did they taste?


I fed the buggy cornmeal to the birds. They seemed to enjoy it. The Reeses cups went to the landfill.


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

Just came home from visiting my 86 year old neighbor. Brought her some fiddleheads, some salmon fillets, and a pint of maple syrup. I hope my ribs heal by tomorrow from the hug she gave me so we can go fishing again.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

gilberte said:


> Just came home from visiting my 86 year old neighbor. Brought her some fiddleheads, some salmon fillets, and a pint of maple syrup. I hope my ribs heal by tomorrow from the hug she gave me so we can go fishing again.


Is this what you mean by fiddleheads?


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

Thems the ones.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

gilberte said:


> Thems the ones.


I never hear of that. I looked it up. It said it was toxic. It kind of says the same thing about poke, but you need to know how to cook the toxicity out of poke. Does the same thing apply to fiddleheads?

Fiddleheads contain a compound associated with bracken toxicity.


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

You have to know what you are getting. Fiddlheads have a hollow groove in their stem. Other ferns, which are not necessarily good to eat are not. Kinda like mushroom hunting.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

Mater Sammich said:


> Is this poor food? Collards plus 1/2 pound of cooked bacon, along with garlic and a few seasonings. Boiled forever.


It would have been before bacon went up to $8 a pound.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

I've got some sympathy for the old folks trying to live on Social Security when rent and groceries and fuel are all up in cost and the "cost of living adjustment" in SS was given with one hand and taken away with the other and applied to Medicare, so no extra money in the pocket.

However, I sus[ect that those senior citizens are not living on what we have been discussing as "poor people food" If they are not living on food stamps, they are eating packages of donuts and potato chips, not cooking a pot of dry beans or eating fiddlehead ferns that they picked themselves. Although, maybe people at their age are old enough that they know hw to cook. But maybe not. I remember the commodities program where the people on welfare were given flour, cornmeal, canned meat, and dry beans and they dumped it all in the trash and only kept the welfare cheese and butter. So maybe they never did learn to cook.


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

Wow! Not sure how to respond to that.


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## ladytoysdream (Dec 13, 2008)

oregon woodsmok said:


> I've got some sympathy for the old folks trying to live on Social Security when rent and groceries and fuel are all up in cost and the "cost of living adjustment" in SS was given with one hand and taken away with the other and applied to Medicare, so no extra money in the pocket.
> 
> However, I sus[ect that those senior citizens are not living on what we have been discussing as "poor people food" If they are not living on food stamps, they are eating packages of donuts and potato chips, not cooking a pot of dry beans or eating fiddlehead ferns that they picked themselves. Although, maybe people at their age are old enough that they know hw to cook. But maybe not. I remember the commodities program where the people on welfare were given flour, cornmeal, canned meat, and dry beans and they dumped it all in the trash and only kept the welfare cheese and butter. So maybe they never did learn to cook.


Let me try .....

Yes on SS the adjustment living increase normally is ate up by the medicare increase.
So no extra money.Especially true if one is low income.
Well no donuts in this house. Maybe 1 bag of chips a week.
We do eat beans.
We eat poor people food.
YES we both know how to cook.
Both grew up on a dairy farm.
And I know plenty of people in our age group and similar stories.

I suspect you really don't know what you are talking about on this subject.

Let me know when you reach our age and can actually walk in our shoes.
Then tell me how one makes ends meet when you get sick, and have to buy meds
that one prescription alone is more than your monthly SS payment ....

Good thing there is beans in the house.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

People do not change that much just because they get older. Somebody who grew up on junk food will want it still, and the reverse is also true.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

Terri said:


> People do not change that much just because they get older. Somebody who grew up on junk food will want it still, and the reverse is also true.


My mother was a great cook. We lived off of home cooking.

I feel guilty now because I gave her such a hard time about her diet and exercise before she died. She would eat cookies, Hostess Snow Balls, crackers, and so much junk food. She was on insulin, had two open heart surgeries, and a stroke. Got little to no exercise.

She was Ok up until the last month or so. 

Miss you mom.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

HDRider said:


> I never hear of that. I looked it up. It said it was toxic. It kind of says the same thing about poke, but you need to know how to cook the toxicity out of poke. Does the same thing apply to fiddleheads?
> 
> Fiddleheads contain a compound associated with bracken toxicity.


Ostrich ferns are edible. Bracken ferns can make you sick.









Bulletin #4198, Facts on Fiddleheads - Cooperative Extension Publications - University of Maine Cooperative Extension


Ostrich fern fiddleheads are edible, and can be identified by the brown, papery scale-like covering on the uncoiled fern. Fiddleheads are approximately 1 inch in diameter, have a smooth fern stem (not fuzzy), and also a deep “U”-shaped groove on the inside of the fern stem.




extension.umaine.edu




.


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## Rodeo's Bud (Apr 10, 2020)

HDRider said:


> I can only speak about my area. There is no desperation here


Same here. Seems like folks are spending and buying whatever they want.

Maybe they are living off credit cards, I don't know. But retail is alive and well.


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

I think a lot of people are spending down there life savings and retirement


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

Wellbuilt said:


> I think a lot of people are spending down there life savings and retirement


That's the idea


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

yup I think so better to spend it now then to louse it , I’ve been spending like a drunken sailer 👍


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

lots of spending here also but that's people who can afford it. many more are going to food banks. people who never went in their lives before.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

well yeah i wouldn't want to louse it. takes too much effort to get rid of them little buggers


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## Chief50 (10 mo ago)

Wellbuilt said:


> yup I think so better to spend it now then to louse it , I’ve been spending like a drunken sailer 👍


Many people are doing the same thing. Many of them are using a credit card. That is a loosing battle.


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## Sherry in Maine 2nd (Jan 9, 2021)

nevermind


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

Ya , well they can’t get blood out of a stone . 
People don’t believe they have to pay there bills any more ? 
They just run up the cards and then throw them away . 
I don’t use credit


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

i do have a credit card. most companys i deal with prefer it to cash like the guys i got the windows from , the furnace guys etc. etc. i pay it fully every month.


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