# Have "YOU" ever experienced Hunger.....???



## Sourdough (Dec 28, 2011)

NO.....Not from a choice to diet. But hunger and fear from the lack of food available.....??? No food in the house. Have you ever eaten Lard sandwiches, just bread and a slice of lard......?


----------



## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

I lived on pinto beans when I was a kid. My mom would stand in line for free government cheese, beans and powered milk.

So *yes* I have lived in a house with no food in it. But no I have never eaten a lard sandwich, we didnt have bread.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Sourdough said:


> NO.....Not from a choice to diet. But hunger and fear from the lack of food available.....??? No food in the house. Have you ever eaten Lard sandwiches, just bread and a slice of lard......?


Have you? Can you tell us your experience with it, and how did you get out of that situation?


----------



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

There were times we would of loved to have lard and a piece of bread.
It actually hurts to be that hungry, you lay in bed at night, your stomach hurts.


----------



## Rocktown Gal (Feb 19, 2008)

Yes I have been hungry from no food. No I have not eaten a lard sandwich...didn't have that either.


----------



## ryanthomas (Dec 10, 2009)

Not at home, but I've experienced a week or two of hunger a few times out in the world. All because of my own failures to plan properly.


----------



## Tinga (Jul 24, 2011)

I have. I went too long without food or nourishment that my stomach had ulcerated. The paramedics thought I was drinking. ER checked my blood and sugar was super low and my kidneys were producing a protein? I was eating, if you could count McD's ketchup packets and the occasional given food.

I wasn't on drugs, wasn't a bad kid. Just had a spineless mother who let her "new" husband bully her into kicking all the children out. (Control freaks hate others who might usurp them) I played softball, got good grades. One day I got off the bus and all my things were on the porch, the locks were changed and the windows closed. I knocked...no-one was home. 

I stayed with friend's and family, who after 2 or 3 weeks of staying there would just hint " Maybe you can work it out with them at home?" So I was bounced around and around from people to people trying to stay in school and adjust. A brief period of staying with my mother (2 days) and I was back out again. I was eating regularly at this point.

I finally just started walking. Went to parks, went to the library to read and pass time. I didn't have any clue about homeless shelters or teen drop in places. McDonalds and the other fast food places were pretty much the only source of food. Sometimes begging helped. Other times using the bathroom and waiting for people to leave ( most often they dumped their trays though)
I distinctly recall an incident where a friend had given me a small sack of food. In it was some egg noddles and tuna fish. I didn't have a pan to cook in, but I did have an aluminum can. I can still remember the taste of it. It was awesome. 

Food banks wanted ID and residency to give out food. I had none, my mother had taken all my ID. I went to my school counselor for help. She was going to call the cops and they were going to take me to the Juvenile Center. Had I known THEN what I know NOW, I might have went. Detention and Shelter are two separate housing units. Needless, I was freaked out. Why was I getting in trouble when SHE kicked me out?? So I walked out. 

I started to live with a good friend of mine from childhood. I stayed with him and his mother for 3 months. ( He's passed away but I went on to work with his mother and still remain great friends today) All of this happened in a pretty small town. 

People I knew and walked by everyday saw me sitting on curbs and parks and did nothing. NOTHING. Friends I see chatting on Facebook today joke and talk about high school. They always say " Yeah, where did you go to? Did you transfer?" Nope, I didn't transfer. I was living under bridges and in parks while you went to Prom and dances. I was trying to get food from "friends" and stay safe while everybody I have ever KNOWN forgot about me. I don't think if it were for my friend and his mother I probably would have just bounced around. Eventually I met my husband through a friend of a friend. 

We will have been married 9 years next Month, have 2 little boys, will hopefully be buying our first house. I went on to get my GED, Associates and now Bachelors Degree. We ALWAYS have food in the house. I have long term storage foods that I "Put back" in case of an emergency. I do not want my kids to feel that stomach on the backbone feeling.


----------



## pumpkin (May 8, 2012)

Only self inflicted hunger from dieting or changing to healthy eating (takes getting used to)or because I get so busy I forget to eat. But for all of those types of hunger you know you just have to go to the cupboard or the store and it is over. 

My Father experienced real hunger - the kind that destroys your teeth and bones - while a prisoner of war. My friend is from Ethiopia where real famine is part of the yearly cycles.

We were talking about getting prepared with some friends and the whole subject seemed to be about food storage. I got a few nasty looks and comments when I pointed out that all of us really need to get into good physical shape and lose the real excess weight we are all carrying in our stomachs and behinds as part of our survival preparations. The calories stored in my bat wings will keep me going for a few months but they won't help me pull myself up into a tree. I can outwork just about anyone around the homestead but don't ask me to run to the top of a mountain to escape a tsunami.


----------



## oth47 (Jan 11, 2008)

I found the secret of true happiness when I was about 10 years old.True happiness is finding 2 potatoes in a garbage bin behind a grocery store.That meant my 2 year old brother wouldn't cry with an empty belly for one night,anyway.Yes,I've known hunger..my kids have not,nor my grandkids nor great-grandkids.


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

I have never been truly hungry due to a lack of food. However, my father frequently went without food and I saw how that affected him and colored a lot of the stories that he told. For that reason, I do not begrudge anyone who needs to use food stamps. I don't want anyone to ever go hungry...


----------



## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

Yeah, I've been hungry. Stomach aching, head spinning, can't think straight, would kill you for a sandwich hungry. I actually spent so much time hungry as a kid that I rarely notice when I'm hungry now and still have some health issues from it.


----------



## Laura (May 10, 2002)

I heard about the lard sandwiches from my dad, and the plain baked potato for lunch, carried in her pocket to keep her warm on her 5 mile walk uphill (both ways) in the snow to school during the Weekly Depression Story Hour.

I've been down to fried cornmeal mush. Not bad!

A few years later due to serious unforeseen circumstances and two-legged predators, all I had was home canned and dehydrated zuchini and summer squash, spring greens (weeds), and apple cider vinegar while busting my butt getting the garden going. I dang near starved to death. 

Had I had lard or any fats I woulda' eaten it with a spoon. 

Living off the Land! Sounded good in theory, sucked in reality. My elders were were right! It won't happen again.


----------



## demeter (Jul 15, 2010)

No, never had the lard sandwich. I do remember one month in the late 70's where we lived on pintos and water cornbread. My parents were the type if you gave them 1$ they would spend 2--or 3--or 10. Funny, they never ran out of smokes during this time. And Dad certainly never ran short of beer. But I'm not bitter, lol.

Demeter


----------



## coolrunnin (Aug 28, 2010)

Nope and I'm not wanting to start anything new.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Tinga - I'm so sorry to hear you went through that, but glad you're strong and in a good place now.

To the others, - I've been close a few times, but nothing as you're describing.

I think that is part of what lead to being a prepper.

(I've just had homes taken from me a few times).

Angie


----------



## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

self imposed anorexia at age 12....to the point of memory loss.


----------



## hintonlady (Apr 22, 2007)

If I remember correctly this topic was covered either in here or CF about a year ago. The thread went poorly. People got holier than thou because they had been hungrier than someone else so implied the first person was never truly hungry.

I'm not getting baited into this slow moving train wreck. Should be fun to watch from the sideline though.


----------



## southernmom86 (Jan 16, 2009)

I did when I was a child. I had to eat frozen bellpepper and onions because that was all that was left in the house. We also ate a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches, thanks to wic. I blame this on my dad. We could have had food, but he was just lazy.


----------



## Sourdough (Dec 28, 2011)

AngieM2 said:


> Have you? Can you tell us your experience with it, and how did you get out of that situation?


Like many posting here, it was as a child in rural Pennsylvania in the 40's and 50's. How did I get out of the situation: I ran away at age 15 and never went back. 

I have to say that the response to this thread is not what I expected, frankly I expected few if any had ever gone hungry.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Never ate lard sandwiches, but I was homeless, living in my car and pregnant. This was back when you could get money back from soda bottles, so I picked up bottles on the side of the road and would buy bologna and bread. I had a small cooler to keep it in. Bologna was the cheapest meat I could find and I knew I needed the protein. To this day I can't even handle the smell of the stuff. I use to sponge bathe in the bathrooms of gas stations, and would wash out what few clothes I had in the sink. I got to the point that when I tried to eat I would vomit it up. My stomach got to the point that I had troubles eating anything solid.


----------



## Sourdough (Dec 28, 2011)

hintonlady said:


> If I remember correctly this topic was covered either in here or CF about a year ago. The thread went poorly. People got holier than thou because they had been hungrier than someone else so implied the first person was never truly hungry.
> 
> I'm not getting baited into this slow moving train wreck. Should be fun to watch from the sideline though.



I hope it does NOT go that way. You will notice I did not elaborate on my childhood. The question was authentic, and I am stunned at the feed back. 

We ate a LOT of Scrapple, fried Scrapple, Scrapple gravey on toast (SOS), Scrapple gravey on potatos. We were not always hungry, just when my father was out of work, and he was out of work a lot.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

sourdough - I'm glad you got out, and I'm really glad this thread is not what you expected

(I bet you thought no one here had been down that low. It does make for a good incentive never to be there again if it is in YOUR power. It also explains defending your food and stuff from those that think they can help themselves to it.)


----------



## KMA1 (Dec 9, 2006)

No, I am fortunate that I have not. My wife was less fortunate as a kid. Not that we had a lot, but my family always had pretty good priorities, and we almost always had beans or peas, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, cabbage, and corn meal. Enough to get by on. My Grandparents and parents experiences and way of life, as homesteaders we would call them today, took lots of hard work, never produced much extra, but at least you didn't go hungry. 

I feel for those above, who especially as kids went hungry because of bad decisions there parents made.


----------



## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

I think my experience as a kid is why I've always prioritized food above all else. If I were to be poor today I'd prefer to be homeless (In an RV I keep for a real emergency, if that counts as homeless) and fed than to have a home and no food. I'm sure I personally could survive without eating for extended periods but I'd never let my kids be hungry.


----------



## Laura (May 10, 2002)

After about 3 days the hunger pains stop. Drinking lots of fresh clean water is important.

Rattlesnakes don't have any fat at all and it's all white meat.


----------



## GrannyG (Mar 26, 2005)

Back in the day.....oh yes, potato sandwiches.....counting out beans, so there would be enough for meals for the week.....powdered milk that would swim on the top of the water and not want to dissolve, what you would give to have some chocolate in it to take out the taste....government cheese was good, and there was butter....there were no programs to catch you when I was growing up very much, very little given out..there was peanut butter as I recall....I thanked God when I was sent to my Grandma's, they had a farm...times were still hard, but we had wild elderberry bushes, strawberries, an old milk cow, and homemade bread....I think that is why I can and dehydrate so much food, always looking back at those hard times....


----------



## hintonlady (Apr 22, 2007)

I have a sort of homesteady perspective that kept someone from being hungry.

My dh had a chronic smoking alcholic father. He had to steal change out of the ashtray in his Dads truck for milk money. He could easily have been hungry.

Grandpa raised cattle and provided meat. His Mom supplemented with gardening and canning. Though the food was simple there was enough of it. Plates of plain oatmeal for breakfast instead of captain crunch etc. 

Being closer to self sufficient is much more valuable than stored preps, although they do have their place.


----------



## Sourdough (Dec 28, 2011)

InvalidID said:


> I think my experience as a kid is why I've always prioritized food above all else. If I were to be poor today I'd prefer to be homeless (In an RV I keep for a real emergency, if that counts as homeless) and fed than to have a home and no food. I'm sure I personally could survive without eating for extended periods but I'd never let my kids be hungry.



My prepping is now only about Freeze Dried meals, and having those assets deployed.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

AngieM2 said:


> sourdough - I'm glad you got out, and I'm really glad this thread is not what you expected
> 
> (I bet you thought no one here had been down that low. It does make for a good incentive never to be there again if it is in YOUR power. It also explains defending your food and stuff from those that think they can help themselves to it.)


It explains why so many are preppers.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

InvalidID said:


> I think my experience as a kid is why I've always prioritized food above all else. If I were to be poor today I'd prefer to be homeless (In an RV I keep for a real emergency, if that counts as homeless) and fed than to have a home and no food. I'm sure I personally could survive without eating for extended periods but I'd never let my kids be hungry.


This is one of the reasons we bought an RV. I don't want my DS to ever go through the things I did.


----------



## Rocktown Gal (Feb 19, 2008)

Sourdough said:


> Like many posting here, it was as a child in rural Pennsylvania in the 40's and 50's. How did I get out of the situation: I ran away at age 15 and never went back.
> 
> I have to say that the response to this thread is not what I expected, frankly I expected few if any had ever gone hungry.


That is why I am a prepper. I hope never to go through that again. 

My husband had a job that paid by the day (relatives). My husband had it that way because when paid weekly his check would not be cashed because then company had no money in the bank. So we lived in a hotel room and fed our 2 children (2 yr old and newborn) and had a roof over our heads. My husband and I did without. One time a neighbor at the hotel gave me some coffee and I immediately threw up. After a while I went home to stay with my parents until my husband could find another job and get an apartment for us to stay.

I never went hungry as a child. And If I can help it I will never go hungry again.


----------



## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

Sourdough said:


> My prepping is now only about Freeze Dried meals, and having those assets deployed.


 I have a little bit spread out but I'm afraid to hide too much in the forests around here. While I own or control a large portion of the land around me, I know there are still plenty of people out there hunting and what not. I'm afraid someone would find it and take it even pre-SHTF.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Laura said:


> After about 3 days the hunger pains stop. Drinking lots of fresh clean water is important.
> 
> Rattlesnakes don't have any fat at all and it's all white meat.


Once the hunger pains stop, it's hard to eat solid foods again. This is something a lot of people don't realize. It's best to start back using broth and then go to a soft diet until your body gets use to food again.


----------



## Pam6 (Apr 9, 2009)

I have never gone hungry. I pray and prep so that my children will never have to go hungry! Even if I can only put a few things on the table over and over again, rice and green beans, I will. I don't ever want to look my children in the eyes and tell them there is NOTHING to eat. (There is a big difference between NOTHING at all to eat and 'there ain't nothin' good in this house to eat'.) 
Tinga, and others, I am so sorry you went through that when you were young. If I knew of any teenagers/children that were going hungry I could never turn them out or away. I feel somewhat separated from that type of need because I live out in the country and I home school my children so I do not interact much out in 'public' to see a child in that situation. My oldest goes to trade school this fall and if he were to ever bring someone home with him I would feed them good! I will make sure that I 'school' my children on being kind and helping others with food! 
Tinga, or anyone else, are there any signs or somethings that I could teach my children on what to look for and then how to help discreetly? I would never want my children to embarrass someone. It would absolutely break my heart if I later found out that one of my children snubbed someone and did not share their food. 

Don't get me wrong I would protect all of the food in my house that I have if TSHTF but if while times are good and there is a child/young adult in need I would never want to let them go hungry.


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Sourdough said:


> My prepping is now only about Freeze Dried meals, and having those assets deployed.


There is just something sorta ironic funny about Freeze Dried meals, in Alaska. 
does sound as if you have several contingency plans


----------



## Laura (May 10, 2002)

Hintonlady, my dad's family were Nebraska farmers and my mom's family were backwoods homesteading Idaho loggers during the depression. I was BORN into farming, homesteading, prepping and survivalism. I was taught from an early age, but STILL had to learn from experience Murphy's Law. Stuff happens. 

The cow will go dry, the calf will drop dead, the pigs will get sick and fail to thrive, crops will fail, markets will crash on your cash crop, you or your child will get seriously ill, trusts will be betrayed, drought happens, summer doesn't always come, but the crows will along with a large variety of predators.

I take a multi-prong approach to prepping and survivalism. I will not survive a direct hit from an astroid, but I won't be cold, wet or hungry when it happens.


----------



## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

yes, I have been hungry. i won't go into why as it was in the CF thread last year.
It's probably why I prep and when I can I give to the food banks. Which are hurting by the way. 
I guess that's why I encourage others to learn to garden. I am afraid it's going to get worse and the people who argued with me about gardening may be proven wrong. Hope some one will help them to learn, especially if the internet is gone or they cann't afford it. In our small town the library really has no good information on vegetable gardening, just stupid wastefull flowers.


----------



## NoClue (Jan 22, 2007)

I have.

My mom died when I was 14, and after that my Dad disengaged from life - at least life at home. I was the oldest of 3 kids, and we wouldn't see him for days at a time. I'd always had some sort of a job from the time I was 11, so I wasn't a stranger to work. I looked after my brother and sister and made sure that we had _some_ food, that we were clothed, and I made sure that some attention was paid to their birthdays (for some reason it was very important to me at the time to make sure that they had some kind of a birthday celebration. The three of us basically only had one meal a day though - that was all I could manage. I have a vague recollection of my brother's teacher (he was the youngest and still in elementary school) getting him on the free lunch program.

When I was 16, my dad just disappeared for good (well, for several years, he did eventually show up again) and my extended family took my brother and sister in and sent them to a boarding school. In their opinion, I was old enough to take care of myself so they left me to my own devices. Lying about my age - something I was used to doing anyway to get a job - I got an apartment and continued to work and go to school. When I graduated high school, I moved to the big city (Houston), and was quite literally a starving (and generally sleep-deprived) college student. I continued to subsist on one meal a day. In my last semester of college, I got laid off and wasn't able to find another job: one meal a day became one meal every other day, every two days... and a couple of times as many as 5 days. I managed to find just enough odd jobs to keep the rent paid and avoid being put on the streets. I enlisted in the Navy, and three days after the end of my last semester I reported to boot camp. I was 23 at the time, and boot camp was the first time in more than 10 years that I got to eat three meals a day. I was so thin and so underweight when I reported to boot camp that they almost kicked me out right there. I told the doc my story, and he passed me anyway.

Yeah, I've experienced hunger and I don't wish it on anyone.


----------



## Sourdough (Dec 28, 2011)

AngieM2 said:


> There is just something sorta ironic funny about Freeze Dried meals, in Alaska.
> does sound as if you have several contingency plans



I bought several large ammo cans (120MM cartridge) They are roughly 6" X 11" X 32" tall. I call mine "Mini-Arks". They hold 33 freeze dried Mountain House meals, two firearms, and a lot of ammo, candles, small pot, spoons, etc.

When first deployed I put mothball crystals all around them for the first summer. Then spray paint them to match their environment.


----------



## sherry in Maine (Nov 22, 2007)

others on this thread have had some really hard times.

We never went hungry. Sometimes, ketchup & bread, when I was little.

Later on in life, as an early teen, we ate 'red eye' gravy (the way we made it, was, burn the flour in fry pan, add water, & salt & pepper. Poured on cornbread.(no grease in either, didn't have none)

Lots of times in between when we were doing 'good', we ate nothing but potatoes every day. (but we always did have something)
later, alot of beans (at that time, they were cheaper than meat, much cheaper)
As a teen, I grew a garden each year with my dad. That's what helped us alot.

I'm not bragging, or saying 'poor me'. My kids dont understand about eating what you have, but then again, they've never had to. They have choices, during my childhood there weren't any . That's ok, I get plenty to eat now. And I always have some kind of choice.

During the really hard times, we qualified for commodities. Then we ate much better. There was cheese, butter in 1lb cans(!) powdered milk and I think, beans. There was also flour, I think. Cant remember what else.


----------



## Ohio Rusty (Jan 18, 2008)

I was at the point once where if we didn't grow it, catch it or kill it ... we didn't eat. I know that feeling when your belly presses against your backbone because there isn't anything to eat.

My grandfather ate alot of lard sandwiches during teh depression. That is probably why he died early of heart problems...... I only use lard to season my cast iron.

Ohio Rusty ><>


----------



## lemonthyme7 (Jul 8, 2010)

hintonlady said:


> I have a sort of homesteady perspective that kept someone from being hungry.
> 
> Grandpa raised cattle and provided meat. His Mom supplemented with gardening and canning. Though the food was simple there was enough of it. Plates of plain oatmeal for breakfast instead of captain crunch etc.
> 
> Being closer to self sufficient is much more valuable than stored preps, although they do have their place.


I am lucky enough to have never been hungry. I credit that with being raised on a farm. I know we didn't have a lot of money although my parents never let on to us 6 kids. We ate simple and mom didn't buy any kinds of fancy foods. We were lucky to have a large garden and if nothing else we usually had potatoes. Dad usually raised a few pigs and sold them for extra money and we had pork and we had some milk cows and so there was usually some beef to butcher along the way. Our clothes were all mostly garage sale finds. I know we were lucky and I know that when my dad was a kid (youngest of 9) that he sometimes had homemade bread with bacon grease on it (that sounds a little tastier than straight lard!) and in the Fall they had bread with tomatoes.

I am sorry for everyone here who has experienced true hunger and am happy that you have come through those times. I admit to worrying about making sure I have enough food put back - to me full shelves are a form of security.


----------



## Pouncer (Oct 28, 2006)

I've been hungry too, as a child, and it is those memories that push me to stash food. I am literally powerless against this need sometimes, even today.

I was 11 when my Mom left my Dad, and flew us all south. We borrowed a car, and that served as home at a local park for an entire summer, as Mom walked the town trying to find work. We ate day old bread, and peanut butter for weeks, because that's all we had. 

When she did find a job, we got a house to rent ($150, I remember, lol) but we didn't have money for heat or furniture so we camped on the floor in blankets and afghans. Money was extremely tight, and we ate mostly unlabeled cans from the discount grocery, and breakfast and lunch were pancakes with jam, made from berries we gleaned from the berry farms and put up at a friends' house. It was six months of being hollow so my little brother and sister could be full, before my Mom accidentally discovered that there was a free lunch program. She'd never heard of it, nothing like that in Alaska in the early 70s, you know?

To this day, I can recall the tastes, textures, and smells of that first hot lunch at school. I was 12. It was vegetable beef soup, a bologna sandwich, an apple, milk, and a sugar cookie. I remember sitting by myself in the lunch room, and crying. I could not stop the tears, they just rolled down-it was so MUCH FOOD to me. For months, I would take home the fruit, dessert, and milk for my siblings, until Mom got a raise and we could have that in the house all the time. I had a complicit helper in the lunch room, and that wonderful woman would set aside a handful of the huge cinnamon rolls (baked on Fridays only and sold to the kids for a quarter, before school) so I could take them home. 

I will not allow my son to experience long term hunger if at all possible. This is why I have a pantry. This is why I garden. This is why I preserve everything I can get my hands on.


----------



## Chuck (Oct 27, 2003)

Ranger school. You couldn't pay me to do that again. Not for a million bucks.


----------



## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

Chuck said:


> Ranger school. You couldn't pay me to do that again. Not for a million bucks.


 On the upside though at least you came away with skills and knew if you went down someone would be there. 

Of course they were training you for the possibility there wouldn't be someone there...


----------



## stef (Sep 14, 2002)

Thank you to those of you who have suffered hunger for sharing your stories. 

I was the youngest of seven. My family was captured and taken to a Russian work farm at the end of WWII. I was too young to remember much, but I'm sure they experienced the kind of hunger you describe. 

The only personal memory I have was eating bread with shmaltz (rendered pork fat) that had little salty bits of pork rind in it.


----------



## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

Sonshine said:


> Never ate lard sandwiches, but I was homeless, living in my car and pregnant. This was back when you could get money back from soda bottles, so I picked up bottles on the side of the road and would buy bologna and bread. I had a small cooler to keep it in. Bologna was the cheapest meat I could find and I knew I needed the protein. To this day I can't even handle the smell of the stuff. I use to sponge bathe in the bathrooms of gas stations, and would wash out what few clothes I had in the sink. I got to the point that when I tried to eat I would vomit it up. My stomach got to the point that I had troubles eating anything solid.


How long ago was this? If it was nowadays, you would have gotten WIC and a ton of other social services.


----------



## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

Sonshine said:


> This is one of the reasons we bought an RV. I don't want my DS to ever go through the things I did.


 We almost never use ours and the wife has wanted to sell it a few times to clear up space. I just can't do it, it's like a life boat to me. If everything else was gone I'd at least have a home, granted not an ideal home.


----------



## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

True physical food hunger?
No.
I am so sorry for those who have experienced true hunger.....I cannot imagine.


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Sourdough said:


> Have "YOU" ever experienced Hunger.....???
> NO.....Not from a choice to diet. But hunger and fear from the lack of food available.....??? No food in the house. Have you ever eaten Lard sandwiches, just bread and a slice of lard......?


No. Come close a few times but have never been truly hungry because of the lessons the parents instilled in me I've never allowed food stocks to become that depleted. There's been a few times when I had to supplement the larder from gleaning and wild-harvesting. 

_The parents_ had experienced rationing and true hunger at different times in their earlier lives. Dad (b. 1906 in Canada) and mom (b. 1907 in England) went through depression times and 2 big wars. When WW2 was over and they were both discharged out of the military, met and married, started homesteading and started a family, they were already preppers and raised the family as a prepper and wild-crafting family. So we ate anything and everything that was edible and never went hungry. 

Mom mailed big cans of fresh farm eggs packed in lard back to her relatives in England because there was still rationing happening there and eggs and lard were very strictly rationed as some of the very few sources of high protein content foods to be had in England. So her relatives did often eat lard and bread - the lard was melted, slices of stale hard bread were soaked in the melted lard and then fried in a skillet with salt for flavouring. The eggs received in the mail were priceless to them and kept secret from the neighbours and authorities, they were very carefully rationed out to family. She also mailed eggs to them packed in parrafin wax, and the wax was carefully rationed as well, another item hard to come by at that time.

.


----------



## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

I have known long terrible hunger. There was no need for it other than my mother chose to be ignorant and greedy and allow her children to suffer. Detail ate not important and just bring up hurt feelings. But it has put a drive in me to learn and teach all around me how to be food independent and how to find wild edibles and put them up for later use. 
I just went to the grocery store to get a splurge for my family at our new property and the checker was being well stupid.i had my 3 smaller children wit me. My friend who is a manager there came up to talk to me and put the checker in her place and went on how I'm her hero. She just about made me cry on the spot. 
Threw the biggest tears may come the greatest blessings.
There is no need for my family to go hungry. And I will do what ever I can to keep them fed.


----------



## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

My heart goes out to all of you who have known true hunger. Thank you for sharing your stories.

We had a rough spot in our younger days, but never had to actually go without food. Sometimes it wasn't a very balanced diet or much variety, but we had food. To this day, DH doesn't like rice or oatmeal, he says he's had his fill. We had friends and relatives who would have been glad to help us and were more than able to. (And owed us favors to boot!) But we were young, stubborn and proud and we got thru it ourselves.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

NoClue said:


> I have.
> 
> My mom died when I was 14, and after that my Dad disengaged from life - at least life at home. I was the oldest of 3 kids, and we wouldn't see him for days at a time. I'd always had some sort of a job from the time I was 11, so I wasn't a stranger to work. I looked after my brother and sister and made sure that we had _some_ food, that we were clothed, and I made sure that some attention was paid to their birthdays (for some reason it was very important to me at the time to make sure that they had some kind of a birthday celebration. The three of us basically only had one meal a day though - that was all I could manage. I have a vague recollection of my brother's teacher (he was the youngest and still in elementary school) getting him on the free lunch program.
> 
> ...


I was underweight when I graduated from basic training, but they decided to let me stay.


----------



## breestephens (Oct 29, 2008)

Yes as a child I was hungry. My children never did. I always keep a well stocked pantry. I had some potatoes I had canned yesterday sitting on the counter when a repair guy came in he said he didn't know you could can potatoes asked if I was one of those doom day preppers or something. I told him no I just like to eat.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

thesedays said:


> How long ago was this? If it was nowadays, you would have gotten WIC and a ton of other social services.


It was mid to late 70's. I actually tried to get food stamps but was turned down because I didn't have a stove or fridge. :shrug: Of course, I didn't have a place to live either, except my car. Couldn't get anyone to hire me because of being pregnant. Family had turned their back on me because the baby was concieved out of wedlock. The Dad, once I lost my figure, booked and left me with nothing but the car that was in my name. An old rattletrap, but it got me from point a to point b as long as I had gas. I actually ran out of gas when I went into labor and was driving myself to the hospital. I stopped at a red light and ran out of gas, but God was watching out for me because a police car pulled up behind me. When I didn't go after the light changed they came up to see what was going on. When realizing I was obviously in hard labor they put me in their car and drove me to the hospital. I didn't realize until then that there were no door knobs on the back doors of the police cars and sort of panicked.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

InvalidID said:


> We almost never use ours and the wife has wanted to sell it a few times to clear up space. I just can't do it, it's like a life boat to me. If everything else was gone I'd at least have a home, granted not an ideal home.


I'm like you, we have ours parked in our back yard. We run it once every month of so to keep it running, but seldom go camping in it. But it's payed for and I won't let DH use it for collateral for any reason. I keep it stocked with clothes and food. When DS has friends spend the night, DH will usually take them out to the RV to give me a break.


----------



## demeter (Jul 15, 2010)

Pouncer, I remember the emotions regarding school lunch too.

Demeter


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

Sonshine said:


> Once the hunger pains stop, it's hard to eat solid foods again. This is something a lot of people don't realize. It's best to start back using broth and then go to a soft diet until your body gets use to food again.


I am so sorry that you have first hand experience about this, but I am mentally filing this information about how to reintroduce food away in case it is ever needed.


----------



## longshot38 (Dec 19, 2006)

Hungry? yes, i lost over 100 pounds in 3 months, i had food but it wasn't enough and i was burning a lot of calories walking everywhere and dealing with a number of stresers food was some boiled potatoes once in a while, some left over rice from friends who worked in a Japanese restaurant. trying to go to college and build something like a life on that will whittle you down pretty quick.

i determined that my son will always have food, that's one of the biggest reason i prep.

dean


----------



## bama (Aug 21, 2011)

i am truly shocked and saddened by the sheer number of people here who have gone hungry. but i am thankful to everyone for answering and making me think twice about how thankful i am.

times were tough before my mom remarried, but i never went hungry. not even a little bit, that i can remember. i almost feel like i have led a pampered and spoiled life after reading these responses, and didn't even realize it.


----------



## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

One thing that this topic has brought to mind is the statistics surrounding the numbers of people/children that go to bed hungry. While I have seen/known of people that have gone without food, I was not expecting to hear of so many from HT. It really makes me wonder about the statistics that we hear about chronic hunger in America. I always felt that the numbers were inflated...Now, I'm not so sure!


----------



## longshot38 (Dec 19, 2006)

when i was growing up we kids always had 3 meals and my dad, who worked construction as a carpenter had his lunch box full and a good meal when he came home and then went to work at a second job, my mom often had "just a little" or "i only want some toast" we accepted that at face value but looking back i see what it really was, there was only enough for us and little left for her. she's paying the price for that now with poor health outcomes. but i realize that hunger was near even when i wasn't aware, you can bet that it is near many of us even if we can't see it out in the open.

dean


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

I think we see more people who have experienced it here than the normal statistics would show because people like me want to make sure never to experience it again, or watch our children experience it. It's one of the reasons I wanted to learn all I could about where to find food, how to raise it and how to preserve it. If I knew then what I now know I wouldn't have gone hungry. It sounds like many wanted to learn for that reason. My hunger was because of my own youthful stupidness, but when children go hungry it's because of their parents not preparing.


----------



## Catalpa (Dec 18, 2011)

All I can say is wow. Thank you all for sharing your stories, it really reminds me of my blessings. I've never been hungry like that. We had lean times on the farm, with little money, but Mom always made sure we ate well. Produce from the garden, milk from the neighbors, beef from our cows...we were actually healthier than buying store food.

I had some slim times after my daughter was born, and her father decided he wanted no part of either of us, but thanks to my family and my church we never actually went to bed starving.

Reading this thread has energized my resolve to keep canning and dehydrating, and reminded me to share with others. Thank you.


----------



## teachermom44 (Feb 8, 2012)

My mom was a single mom. My Grandparents helped out when they could. But I do remember mayo sandwiches with salt and pepper and a WHOLE lot of macoroni with stewed tomatoes and butter and sugar on bread when the money was REALLY low! 

Reading this thread made me think I had it pretty good. AND it also explains why prepping has started to become more important to me as the economy gets worse.


----------



## jamala (May 4, 2007)

Thanks for sharing. I have never been hungry, we always had a garden and put up lots of produce for the winter months. The years I spent teaching in a low income public school district I saw kids going hungry all the time. One little boy I clearly remember ate the corn cobs when the lunch room served corn on the cob. My grandmother was a lunch room worker and she always gave extra food to those who asked for more and who were eating everything on their plate. She knew which kids were going hungry and made sure they were at least fed well at lunch time. Now the kids in our district can eat breakfast free everyday and most get free lunch also, it breaks my heart to see kids hungry.


----------



## triple divide (Jan 7, 2010)

Something about the way the OP was titled and introduced angered me. A holier than thou attitude that through typical Internet ediquet experience was evident. This was amplified even moreso by my experience with starvation and the fact that my answer to such a question with the same attitude delivered to me in person would have been met with wrath. 

Then I read the entire thread. There are some very brave and considerate members here. May God bless you all for sharing and grant us all peace from our similar experiences. I am humbled to be associated, albeit virtually, with such honest folks.


----------



## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

I spent the first semester of college, off campus (no room in the dorms) with a cousin. We ran out of money, after fees, tuition, books, etc., after six weeks. The next two and a half months were one meal a day, usually pasta or beans. The crock pot would start getting bubbly about Thursday morning, and it was fast time till the weekend, when we'd vamoose home and gorge.

Many a time, when backpacking, the food would disappear... in two days instead of ten days. On a weeklong canoe trip, the food disappeared on the evening of the second day... a catfish saved us for a day. Learned afterwards, wasn't really wise to eat your cocoanut flavored suntan lotion.

Learned that bad planning sucked, and thereverafter, planned my own meals, on long distance trips.... till one summer in AK, when I was leading a group of people out of a distant cabin repair service trip. They had hundreds of pounds of extra food, when at the cabin.... and they were supposed to pack enough for me and a companion... but they apparently got p'o'ed at me for bringing 'help', and didn't let me know they 'left' my food at the cabin, till the first night of bushwhacking... Weighed the pros/cons of backtracking 15 miles to the cabin and 15 miles back, then putting 10 to 15 miles on the next day.... I was 'fit', but 50 miles in 36 hours is a mule. Next three days, I subsisted on blueberries, salmonberries, and spite. We took the 'scenic route' back, including hitting the only real knee deep swamp in the area... :happy2:

One summer, out south of Shismaref, we got an AM radio message, via tundra talk radio.... we won't be able to pick you guys up till next week. Blueberries and some fish were heavenly. Seriously considered dropping a moose... alas, didn't think we could finish off a 700lb young bull in a week, and would've had to deal with grizzlies fighting over the carcass.

Many's a time, I'd'a wrassled a grizzly bear over a lard sandwich.


----------



## janetn (Apr 26, 2012)

Wow, I am taken aback at some of the stories. Ive been dirt poor but never hungry. Thanks to all who shared their experiences, the stories are really moving. 

Note to self - be more thankful


----------



## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

The first year of my marriage DH and I went hungry often. We were just kids then - I was 17 and he was 19. We worked at the same place and several of us got laid off - we were both without a job for awhile. It was rough....I remember it well.


----------



## NoClue (Jan 22, 2007)

Sonshine said:


> I think we see more people who have experienced it here than the normal statistics would show because people like me want to make sure never to experience it again, or watch our children experience it. It's one of the reasons I wanted to learn all I could about where to find food, how to raise it and how to preserve it. If I knew then what I now know I wouldn't have gone hungry. It sounds like many wanted to learn for that reason. My hunger was because of my own youthful stupidness, but when children go hungry it's because of their parents not preparing.


That about sums it up for me too. 

My parents either didn't know or didn't care about self-sufficiency. My dad fished, but there was no gardening or canning or pantry-stocking. I had some vague notion of these things. As a kid I had a vegetable garden when I could, but my parents seemed to think of that as just a harmless eccentricity of mine. My mom hated cooking and did it poorly - it definitely wasn't something I wanted to emulate. My early attempts to feed myself and my brother and sister consisted of frozen foods and stuff from cans. I experimented a few times with rice, beans, etc. but I really had no idea of how to actually cook them or how long to cook them, and there was no one I thought to ask. Those early experiments were wastes of time and money. If I'd known then what I know now it's possible I might have salvaged my family or at least mitigated some dire circumstances. That's water under the bridge now, but I can at least make sure that, barring the extreme, my children won't share my esperiences.


----------



## Becka03 (Mar 29, 2009)

Yep- growing up I remember not having any food in the house- to the point of visiting freinds at 6 yrs old to try to see if they were having dinner or snack when I was there- I remember going to bed starving in the summer- and grateful when there was school since we got the 'free lunch' which was PB and J I would go to school sick if I had to just to eat.. and my brother and i ate anything put infront of us- weird stuff to a little kid LOL- because that is what the nuns had dropped off in a box once a month.... 
one of the reasons I store now- and prep- I nEVER want my kids to be hungry... My mom and dad worked- well my dad was a crack head actually and my mom worked and he abused her and took her paycheck and he spent it- until I was in 5th grade then she left and we moved to another state where my grandparents lived- 
when mom first got her own place- we pretty much lived on eggs, rice and beans- but we didn't care- it was a heck of a lot better than nothing!


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

NoClue said:


> That about sums it up for me too.
> 
> My parents either didn't know or didn't care about self-sufficiency. My dad fished, but there was no gardening or canning or pantry-stocking. I had some vague notion of these things. As a kid I had a vegetable garden when I could, but my parents seemed to think of that as just a harmless eccentricity of mine. My mom hated cooking and did it poorly - it definitely wasn't something I wanted to emulate. My early attempts to feed myself and my brother and sister consisted of frozen foods and stuff from cans. I experimented a few times with rice, beans, etc. but I really had no idea of how to actually cook them or how long to cook them, and there was no one I thought to ask. Those early experiments were wastes of time and money. If I'd known then what I know now it's possible I might have salvaged my family or at least mitigated some dire circumstances. That's water under the bridge now, but I can at least make sure that, barring the extreme, my children won't share my esperiences.


I can't blame my times of hunger on my parents. They raised 5 kids, and although we didn't always have a stocked pantry, we always had food in the house. I made a lot of stupid mistakes in my teen years and my hunger stemmed from those mistakes. After that experience I got my GED and enlisted in the USAF. I did this for two reasons, I wanted to learn a trade so I could always find a job and I wanted to make sure I could eat. I've been around the military all of my adult life, either active duty or a spouse of active duty. Until we moved here I wasn't able to put into action my plan to raise our food, so instead I bought in bulk. I had food every where. DH had problems understanding my need to have tons of food around, but he humored me. When we moved here and was finally able to have some land I started learning all I could on how to raise our own food. Slowly DH got on the bandwagon and now he's as interested as I am in making sure we always have more than enough.


----------



## JohnL751 (Aug 28, 2008)

Hungry as in ready for a meal, happens all the time. Hungry as in nothing to eat, only once. 

I had two days in on a new job and would receive a pay check after two weeks. No way I could wait that long to eat. I went out with a sack and walked the roads for three and a half hours before going to work looking for pop bottles. The next day I took that money and bought 20 lbs. sack of potatoes and a loaf of bread. I made that last until payday. This was in the early 1970's.


----------



## grandma12703 (Jan 13, 2011)

Never really been hungry but I have had to go out and pick up cans and bottle like John and take them in so I could buy bread, milk, and potatoes. It's amazing what you can do with $5.00 when you have to. Potato soup, augratin potatoes, scalloped potatoes, fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato chips (very slinly sliced potatoes fried crisp) sandwich *love these, baked potato, hmmm lots of things...


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

grandma12703 said:


> Never really been hungry but I have had to go out and pick up cans and bottle like John and take them in so I could buy bread, milk, and potatoes. It's amazing what you can do with $5.00 when you have to. Potato soup, augratin potatoes, scalloped potatoes, fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato chips (very slinly sliced potatoes fried crisp) sandwich *love these, baked potato, hmmm lots of things...


Yes, you can do alot with $5.00, if you have a means to cook. A bit more limited though when living in a car. However, it can be done. Wish you could still get those soda bottles.


----------



## NamasteMama (Jul 24, 2009)

In WW2 my grandfather was stationed in Florida, he told stories of German subs sitting off the coast and of a bad sergeant sold of a lot of the chow for gambling money and being starved half to death and ending up with a severe case of Jaundice because of it.

As a kid, when dad was in medical school my mom painted windows and dad taught anatomy to make extra cash, but it was never enough. I remember once all we had to eat was a bag of apples and I would go outside and eat the green blackberries because I was so hungry.


----------



## Space Cowboy (Apr 26, 2008)

This is a very thought provoking thread. The stories really bring home to me what the utter desperation of the majority of the populace would be in widespread food scarcity. These stories take place in a society that can be described as prosperous. It is almost inconceivable what it would be in a breakdown.

Thank you all for your honest and heartfelt stories.

SC


----------



## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

triple divide said:


> Something about the way the OP was titled and introduced angered me. A holier than thou attitude that through typical Internet ediquet experience was evident. This was amplified even moreso by my experience with starvation and the fact that my answer to such a question with the same attitude delivered to me in person would have been met with wrath.
> 
> Then I read the entire thread. There are some very brave and considerate members here. May God bless you all for sharing and grant us all peace from our similar experiences. I am humbled to be associated, albeit virtually, with such honest folks.


Alot of people think this couldn't happen in America. And it shouldn't. most of it is bad parenting.
There has been a couple of generations that have lost the bond with their children. I am seeing it come back some, but i sure wish it would happen faster.
Dh talks to kids all the time and he sees the anger from them about how their parents are meth and booze heads. It's pretty bad around here. The kids deserve better.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

SquashNut said:


> Alot of people think this couldn't happen in America. And it shouldn't. most of it is bad parenting.
> There has been a couple of generations that have lost the bond with their children. I am seeing it come back some, but i sure wish it would happen faster.
> Dh talks to kids all the time and he sees the anger from them about how their parents are meth and booze heads. It's pretty bad around here. The kids deserve better.


Or, in my case, my own stupidity.


----------



## grandma12703 (Jan 13, 2011)

Sonshine said:


> Yes, you can do alot with $5.00, if you have a means to cook. A bit more limited though when living in a car. However, it can be done. Wish you could still get those soda bottles.


I took for granted, the stove. I have cooked fried potatoes and boiled potatoes on a wood fire though. I can't imagine living in a car. I can't imagine letting my kids or grandkids go hungry no matter what. I hope to think I am too resourceful for that to happen, although I know anything is possible and you just never know. I thank God everyday that he has taught my husband and I how to grow a garden, raise a few chickens, feed some livestock, and hunt and fish. I love becoming more and more sustainable. Like I said just never know.


----------



## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

Sonshine said:


> Or, in my case, my own stupidity.


Back in the 70's I was home less in Seattle. Because i would rather be homeless than be around my mother. Fortunetly there were the food kitchens and i ran into my DH who knew the ropes on how to take care of yourself on the streets. Some of the food was not great, but it was better than what i had been eating before i met him.
I had been picking up cans and buying what ever i could with what i made, from the stalls at the Market Place there. Which was not much at all, since I was not the only one picking cans.


----------



## wagvan (Jan 29, 2011)

This came across my FB feed and I thought it interesting and appropriate. I grew up in Detroit, which has areas that are "food deserts". (No grocery stores or places to buy healthy food. Although I am so happy that huge swaths of inner city Detroit are turning to farms and agricultural uses!)

Homeless and Overweight: Obesity Is the New Malnutrition | Wired Science | Wired.com

And the mama bear in me, weeps for those hungry children and teens that so many of you were. I just want to scoop up that younger you and hug and love on you and make you something yummy and homemade and full of love and calories. /

I am blessed that I have never been hungry. But growing up in Detroit and going to Detroit Public Schools, I have many memories of helping friends smuggle food out of the lunch room (Milk and fruit and sandwiches that other students were going to throw out. (Smuggled because we weren't allowed to take food out of the lunchroom) so that they could take them home for themselves and their brothers and sisters to eat in the evenings and on weekends. Because their dad was non-existant and their mom was a junkie and sold the foodstamps for drugs. I also whenever I went downtown as a teenager would take a loaf of bread and make a loaf full of PB&J sandwiches to give out to the homeless folks begging on the streets. Because I knew that most of them would not take money to use for food, rather it would go for booze or drugs. When I got a job, I started buying the $1 McDonalds gift certificates to pass out. I suppose it is possible it got traded for booze or alcohol, but I'd like to hope that at least some people had full bellies and lived to fight another day from that. I am not sure if I am glad or sad that my kids don't have their eyes opened to that kind of reality. It has made me much more compassionate and empathetic as an adult.


----------



## breestephens (Oct 29, 2008)

I usually don't go into detail about what I do but with so many on here understanding what it feels like to be truly hungry I thought I would share. I started a food and clothing ministry a few months ago and we run strictly on donations. No money because it is not about money, Just things others no longer want or need. I have had many calls from people who had nothing to feed their children. Yes they get food stamps but now that school is out they only go so far. A few days ago I recieved a call from a lady who has her GCs and nothing to feed them. The children were so excited when we were carrying the food in. ''Look grandma, we can have pancakes'' and another ''pizza, we havent had pizza in a long time.'' These children were hungry and thanks to others donations they can now eat. I have been there. I know how it feels to go to bed hungry and because I know, God has given me the privilage of helping feed others. I know I can't help them all but a few is better than none.I am truly blessed.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

SquashNut said:


> Back in the 70's I was home less in Seattle. Because i would rather be homeless than be around my mother. Fortunetly there were the food kitchens and i ran into my DH who knew the ropes on how to take care of yourself on the streets. Some of the food was not great, but it was better than what i had been eating before i met him.
> I had been picking up cans and buying what ever i could with what i made, from the stalls at the Market Place there. Which was not much at all, since I was not the only one picking cans.


My family had turned their back on me because I got pregnant out of wedlock. Basically telling me that I had made my bed, ect. I was in a small town that didn't have a food kitchen that I know of, but they may have. I did go to the foodstamp office and was denied because I had no stove or fridge. As soon as I gave birth I got a job and eventually enlisted in the USAF. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I learned not to be so judgemental about others who were homeless, realizing that we all have our own stories to tell.


----------



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

I was blessed to be born and raised on a farm, so in spite of us being very poor we never went hungry. Yes there were bad circumstances with hail, early frost etc but we always had a garden and always had food on the table. 
My biggest childhood misery was having the blueberry or saskatoon jam soak through the homemade bread slices we had every day for lunch, and wishing I could trade with my neighbour because she always had nice unsoggy sandwiches. Back then I thought what she had was the uncoloured margerine but now I think it was lard.

My heart aches for all of you that spent your childhood hungry and scrounging for food. 

Bless you Breestephens for helping others.


----------



## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

Sonshine said:


> My family had turned their back on me because I got pregnant out of wedlock. Basically telling me that I had made my bed, ect. I was in a small town that didn't have a food kitchen that I know of, but they may have. I did go to the foodstamp office and was denied because I had no stove or fridge. As soon as I gave birth I got a job and eventually enlisted in the USAF. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I learned not to be so judgemental about others who were homeless, realizing that we all have our own stories to tell.


In the last 3 years I have learned that being judgemental can be a survival skill. Around here anyway. As many are in this country we are living on not much of any thing. However we have been aproached by quite a few young couples, most of them taking FS and welfare. They ask for us to buy stuff or to do a job so they can buy milk for their kid. 
later we find out they bought drugs with the money we gave them. I understand the cash was theirs after they earned it to do with as they please. But with us being so short ourselves, we would not have hired or bought the items from these people. from this i haved learned not to have the compasion I used to have for these people. And i now know that even if it seems like a cruel thing to do at the time I will listen to myself from now on.


----------



## lmrose (Sep 24, 2009)

I was on my own by 14 years old. Dad was sick and Grandma moved as she thought she was dying. No one thought about me and I fended for myself. I got food from dumpsters. Then I lied about my age and started working in drive-in restaurant which gave us lunch everyday. Summers I raided farm corn fields and gardens and picked wild fruit and apples. I lived in a shack with no bathroom and no running water.Winter was worse and I was hungry alot.
At nineteen I married and had four kids by 25.I found myself alone again with the kids and things were rough .We were living in Pasadena and had access to fresh fruit and veggies for free though. Then had to leave as my health couldn't stand the pollution in the air.
Once again I was in the city and dumpster rumaging . Detroit was the worse as we had nothing but flour, potatoes and powdered milk to eat and all of us were sick. A friend helped us get back to the country. I dug up our yard and planted a garden. Atleast we had decent food. I also got food from the grocery store before it reached the dumpsters! I would wait by the back door with a wagon and bring home veggies, fruit, bread and cakes etc.

Then my life changed and I married a farmer but one who didn't own a farm! He was disinherited for marrying me.What he did have was a wealth of life time knowledge. We started our married life on an island Light House Station off southren Nova Scotia for two years. There we also raised a garden, cow and chickens. Leaving the Light House and gardening for a living was hard and five years later we acquired a run out farm. 

The work was insane and we struggled financially,but from the time I married Bill , my kids and I never went hungry again. July 9th we will be married 34 years and it was the best decision I ever made! As a bonus he has taught me so much about growing food and about raising animals if need be I could survive on my own too. I thank God every day for bringing this wonderful man into my life.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

SquashNut said:


> In the last 3 years I have learned that being judgemental can be a survival skill. Around here anyway. As many are in this country we are living on not much of any thing. However we have been aproached by quite a few young couples, most of them taking FS and welfare. They ask for us to buy stuff or to do a job so they can buy milk for their kid.
> later we find out they bought drugs with the money we gave them. I understand the cash was theirs after they earned it to do with as they please. But with us being so short ourselves, we would not have hired or bought the items from these people. from this i haved learned not to have the compasion I used to have for these people. And i now know that even if it seems like a cruel thing to do at the time I will listen to myself from now on.


I try to listen to the urging of the Holy Spirit in cases like this. I have helped some addicts, but not with money. I've helped people who were standing on the side of the road, but as I said, it's usually when I feel the prompting of the Holy Spirit.


----------



## Trixters_muse (Jan 29, 2008)

Never had a lard sandwich but had lots of foods seasoned with bacon grease to make it taste better than the last three days you ate it. I have had mayonaise sandwiches and ketchup mixed with macaroni.

My dad was an alcoholic who beat my mom and I on a regular basis, he worked sometimes but drank all the money away. My mom was afraid of him so she stayed and worked her fingers to the bone to take care of us. She tried to grow a small garden but dad scoffed and wrecked it more than once, it was hard to keep up since she worked so much anyway. Many times I went to bed hungry but never complained because I knew mom was skipping meals to feed myself and my younger sister. Dad would eat a lion's share of the food and beat my mom if she tried to stop him. We ate boiled potatoes, beans, rice, whatever mom could afford. She got lucky when I was 8 and landed a job at a warehouse that processed beans, rice, cornmeal etc. so she was able to buy in bulk cheap. I remember more than once mom had $10 to feed all four of us for a week, even back then that was nearly a miracle especially with a drunken, abusive dad that would literally take our food off our plates to eat if he was still hungry and he didn't think we were eating it fast enough. 

Mom finally ditched dad and is a healthy happy person now who gets antsy if the refrigerator isn't at least half full all the time and me, I'm like a squirrel, always putting away as much food as I can and growing everything I can. My kids have had to eat "poor man" dinners at times but have never had to go hungry and I feel blessed for that.


----------



## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

After my divorce I was homeless and living out of any old car for awhile. Yes I was hungry on more than one occasion, and that is probably why I like to eat so much now and why I prep.


----------



## Common Tator (Feb 19, 2008)

Tinga, I'm so sorry that you had to endure that! I can't imagine going through that.

Do you still have contact with your mom? She failed as a mother. She must have some serious emotional or psychological problems to allow her own child to be homeless and hungry. That is so abnormal. I know my own mother instinct is so strong, even now with my kids grown up and serving in the military. I want to love them and feed them and care for them. My son is stationed close enough to come home on weekends, and is telling me to not feed him so well. Marines have strict weight guidelines.

My grandma had severe psychological problems too. When my Mom was born, Grandma abandoned her in the hospital, after naming her after a movie star, Bette Davis. Grandma's older sister and brother went to the hospital and paid the bill and brought Mom home. So Mom was raised by this maiden aunt, and her uncle lived nearby and was a loving father figure for her. A couple of years later Grandma gave birth again and this time she kept the baby. She named her after Carole Lombard. Poor Aunt Carole had a terribly neglectful upbringing. Hunger, tattered clothes too small for her. No love or support. She knew hunger. 

My grandmother and grandfather married on a bet. They were apparently not compatible and didn't live together most of their lives. He left grandma and lived elsewhere. He never divorced her though. He provided some money for support over the years, only for Grandma and Aunt Carole. He never provided a dime of support for Mom. So this maiden aunt worked for years for $.25 per hour and supported herself and Mom with that. And when Mom was old enough, she got odd jobs and helped out with expenses. Grandpa never took an interest in his daughters lives r their welfare, other than sending a check occasionally.

People begged the maiden aunt that was raising Mom to please take Carole too, but she didn't have any legal authority to take the child unless Grandma signed her over, which she never did. And she really couldn't afford anther mouth to feed. Aunt Carole is still terribly bitter about it today. She blames Mom. Irrational for sure Mom was just a child herself, Only a couple of years older than her little sister.

I wish she could find forgiveness in her heart. The adults that failed her are all dead now. And their generation is dying too. This happened during the depression. If she could find forgiveness, it wouldn't do anything for the ones who wronged her. It would do something for her. She could finally know peace in her life, and not be consumed by hatred. While this anger was palpable when she was younger, it has really intensified in her old age.

So Tinga, I hope that you have forgiven your mother too. Not for her. Heaven knows she doesn't deserve it. But for yourself. And for your children.

Both Mom, and Aunt Carole became much better mothers than the one they had. I am certain that you are a better mother than what you had too.


----------



## julieq (Oct 12, 2008)

Hungry? Fortunately, not ever. Grew up in a lower middle income class family. Dad worked in the timber industry. Mom grew a garden and canned. We fished and hunted in season. Always good, simple food on the table!


----------



## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Growing up, we only went hungry when we were hardheadedly stubborn and didn't want what was put on the table. Both my parents were kids during the real Great Depression, and amazingly even then, never went hungry, as both sets of grandparents were farmer/ranchers. However, they were exposed to hard core prepping, probably influenced by the Depression. We never had less than two freezers full of meat, a large walk in pantry full of grub, and every spare inch of space had canned fruits and vegetables in them.

One set of grandparents lived only a mile away... granny ALWAYS had extra grub on the table, not knowing if granpa would come home alone from the fields, or with a truckload of workers.

Backside of the story, in the summer, you were expected to work like a field slave, in the pea fields, corn fields, hay fields, etc., and when the weather got cool, slaughtering hogs a couple times a week.

The 'many hands' make work easy was the LAW.... Not working was not an option. My 'closest' grandparents took in at least a dozen young folks and 'raised' them up and out of high school... they worked in the evenings after school, on weekends, and in the summer... in return, they got room and board, spending money, and unconditional love.


----------



## TJN66 (Aug 29, 2004)

Sourdough said:


> NO.....Not from a choice to diet. But hunger and fear from the lack of food available.....??? No food in the house. Have you ever eaten Lard sandwiches, just bread and a slice of lard......?


Yes...I have been truly hungry with no food in sight for days. 

It was hard growing up with my grandfather and great great aunt. They did the best they could with what little they had. Shared with me and my brother without ever holding back anything. If we went hungry so did they, even more times that I probably know. I remember eating onion sandwiches and feeling rich. 

God Bless their souls for all they gave up for us...truly wonderful people to take in two kids that were thrown away like day old bath water.


----------



## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

longshot38 said:


> when i was growing up we kids always had 3 meals and my dad, who worked construction as a carpenter had his lunch box full and a good meal when he came home and then went to work at a second job, my mom often had "just a little" or "i only want some toast" we accepted that at face value but looking back i see what it really was, there was only enough for us and little left for her. she's paying the price for that now with poor health outcomes. but i realize that hunger was near even when i wasn't aware, you can bet that it is near many of us even if we can't see it out in the open.
> 
> dean


If there was enough food for you kids and your dad, there was enough for your mother too. She sounds like she was a "Mommy Martyr", someone who uses her motherhood status to deny herself basic necessities so people will feel sorry for her, and she totally eats up all that pity (no pun intended). 

Can you tell I have some personal experience with this?


----------



## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

thesedays said:


> If there was enough food for you kids and your dad, there was enough for your mother too. She sounds like she was a "Mommy Martyr", someone who uses her motherhood status to deny herself basic necessities so people will feel sorry for her, and she totally eats up all that pity (no pun intended).
> 
> Can you tell I have some personal experience with this?


every one has to stay strong so they can care for each other. I hope every one remembers that. I know if i gave up my food i woud fail every one some other way. Like not being able to raise the food that feeds every one.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

thesedays said:


> If there was enough food for you kids and your dad, there was enough for your mother too. She sounds like she was a "Mommy Martyr", someone who uses her motherhood status to deny herself basic necessities so people will feel sorry for her, and she totally eats up all that pity (no pun intended).
> 
> Can you tell I have some personal experience with this?


I have seen many women sacrifice so their kids wouldn't do without. If you had read the post you would realize that she didn't have enough because of the dad, who was an abuser.


----------



## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

Sonshine said:


> I have seen many women sacrifice so their kids wouldn't do without. If you had read the post you would realize that she didn't have enough because of the dad, who was an abuser.


I didn't see any reference to abuse in that post, only that the dad had two jobs. Was it mentioned elsewhere?


----------



## NamasteMama (Jul 24, 2009)

breestephens said:


> I usually don't go into detail about what I do but with so many on here understanding what it feels like to be truly hungry I thought I would share. I started a food and clothing ministry a few months ago and we run strictly on donations. No money because it is not about money, Just things others no longer want or need. I have had many calls from people who had nothing to feed their children. Yes they get food stamps but now that school is out they only go so far. A few days ago I recieved a call from a lady who has her GCs and nothing to feed them. The children were so excited when we were carrying the food in. ''Look grandma, we can have pancakes'' and another ''pizza, we havent had pizza in a long time.'' These children were hungry and thanks to others donations they can now eat. I have been there. I know how it feels to go to bed hungry and because I know, God has given me the privilage of helping feed others. I know I can't help them all but a few is better than none.I am truly blessed.


When we were on food stamps we had this problem too. Summers were many basic meal PB&Js, lots of fruits and veggies from the ranch market that sells the fruit and veggies the supermarkets don't want, and pancakes from a 25lb bag of flour we would pick up at Costco. I had a miscarriage one summer because I let me children have the food that would have been my meal.


----------



## tiffnzacsmom (Jan 26, 2006)

I never went hungry but my grandparents had 79 acres with a large garden and fruit trees. We got government cheese, powdered milk and powdered eggs. When the steel mills went down everyone hurt around here. My grandparents offered garden plots to whichever families were willing to work one so a number of people in their community were able to supplement whatever they got from food stamps and unemployment.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

thesedays said:


> I didn't see any reference to abuse in that post, only that the dad had two jobs. Was it mentioned elsewhere?


You're right, I apologize. I was thinking of another post about the day being an abuser and taking the food right out of the kids' plates, so the mom did without a lot.


----------



## longshot38 (Dec 19, 2006)

thesedays said:


> If there was enough food for you kids and your dad, there was enough for your mother too. She sounds like she was a "Mommy Martyr", someone who uses her motherhood status to deny herself basic necessities so people will feel sorry for her, and she totally eats up all that pity (no pun intended).
> 
> Can you tell I have some personal experience with this?


ok i don't know what you were smoking when you read this, my dad never abused any of us, my mom was never "mommy Martyr" and never in that post did i even hint at anything like that!:hair the simple fact was food could be short in those days, that was the 70's in Newfoundland and it was what it was, i realize you may have had some experience with abusive parents but remember we all have our own story and don't let your story colour mine.


dean


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

everyone - can we try not to start this becoming GC type from here on out. Please.


----------



## Coco (Jun 8, 2007)

Well being a kid I was hungry all the time, But we had good foods to eat, I helped gram and mom in the garden every year, but I can still say I did not like to go the cellar for a Jar of stewed tomatoes. 
Ow how I hated them, and shucking peas, but I can truly say I never went hungry, I feel bad for all that had to enure that hardship in life.


----------



## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

Not lard sandwiches, but other unappetizing stuff. The funny thing is, food, almost any food, tasted so good back then! There was a time in which I looked forward to a meal of vitamins and brewers yeast tablets. I remember savoring the vitamin E capsules especially. I have tried to recreate some of the things that seemed so wonderful as a teen and it just doesn't taste the same now. In fact, often I find myself wondering how it could taste so different!


----------



## Kazahleenah (Nov 3, 2004)

thesedays said:


> If there was enough food for you kids and your dad, there was enough for your mother too. She sounds like she was a "Mommy Martyr", someone who uses her motherhood status to deny herself basic necessities so people will feel sorry for her, and she totally eats up all that pity (no pun intended).
> 
> Can you tell I have some personal experience with this?


Not "all" moms (or dads for that matter) go without for the martyr effect. Whatever experience you had with this, does seem unfortunate, as it clouded your vision to see anything but what you experienced.


----------



## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Reading this thread makes me very thankful for my parents. We had very little money, but there was always plenty to eat.


----------



## longshot38 (Dec 19, 2006)

AngieM2 said:


> everyone - can we try not to start this becoming GC type from here on out. Please.


my apologies to the board, just got a little cheezed off.

dean


----------



## NamasteMama (Jul 24, 2009)

Kazahleenah said:


> Not "all" moms (or dads for that matter) go without for the martyr effect. Whatever experience you had with this, does seem unfortunate, as it clouded your vision to see anything but what you experienced.


 I agree its not the martyr effect. It comes down to theres enough bread to make PB&J for the kids, but not you. Its more important for the litte ones to have a full belly that mommy who is is done growing and it wont hurt to not eat a meal or two.


----------



## SilverFlame819 (Aug 24, 2010)

Sourdough said:


> NO.....Not from a choice to diet. But hunger and fear from the lack of food available.....??? No food in the house. Have you ever eaten Lard sandwiches, just bread and a slice of lard......?


Lard sandwich? This sounds like a myth. Where would you get the lard? To get lard, you've gotta buy lard (which is expensive), or have meat to cook down (which is even more expensive)... To answer your first question: Yes.



Sonshine said:


> Once the hunger pains stop, it's hard to eat solid foods again.


This! I ate a beautiful meal of pasta with garlic bread. It should have been delicious, but at that point, I didn't even feel hungry. 15 minutes later, I was regretting that meal! Dear lord, does it hurt to eat after being days without food!



longshot38 said:


> Hungry? yes, i lost over 100 pounds in 3 months


Now that you mention it... That was the thinnest I've been in years. I remember being both delighted and horrified by it.


----------



## ginnie5 (Jul 15, 2003)

my parents split when I was in 6th grade. My mother didn't cook much....her idea of a nutritious breakfast was a poptart. Child support came 1x a month and food was bought after her new clothes were bought and the rent was paid. There were times when the poptarts and mac and cheese were gone that the pantry cabinet was empty. No money for lunches either. 
I think that is one of the main reasons I don't buy boxed foods. I'd much rather cook it from scratch and be able to cook 2x than what say one box of poptarts costs. My kids will occasionally look in the pantry and say there's nothing to eat. What they mean though is there is no junk food. I simply point out to them the food that is there. There's meat in the freezer, cans of veggies, dried foods, flour, rice, beans, and plenty more.


----------



## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

demeter said:


> My parents were the type if you gave them 1$ they would spend 2--or 3--or 10. Funny, they never ran out of smokes during this time. And Dad certainly never ran short of beer. But I'm not bitter, lol.
> 
> Demeter





myheaven said:


> I have known long terrible hunger. There was no need for it other than my mother chose to be ignorant and greedy and allow her children to suffer. QUOTE]
> 
> Well, I guess my parents weren't that unusual, after all. Both of them smoked 2 packs per day and threw fits when we asked for lunch money. My mother was anorexic when I was in school. She was quite proud of herself for getting down to 69 lbs. She never considered that her five children might want to eat, even if she didn't. Once a week or so she would cook up a big pot of spaghetti and leave it out on the stove until it was gone. The bigger the pot, the less often she had to cook, but she didn't know what a refrigerator was for . . . and she never taught us. We were sick to our stomachs more than any other kids we knew.
> 
> ...


----------



## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

I have never been that kind of hungry. My parents did not have lots of things but we always had clothes for school and never had to look far around the house for food. It was shared with everyone...as long as it lasted.

When I think I am hungry...my inner voice says "son...you don't even know what hungry is is." I wonder if my guilt feels worse than hunger.


----------



## grandma12703 (Jan 13, 2011)

ginnie5 said:


> my parents split when I was in 6th grade. My mother didn't cook much....her idea of a nutritious breakfast was a poptart. Child support came 1x a month and food was bought after her new clothes were bought and the rent was paid. There were times when the poptarts and mac and cheese were gone that the pantry cabinet was empty. No money for lunches either.
> I think that is one of the main reasons I don't buy boxed foods. I'd much rather cook it from scratch and be able to cook 2x than what say one box of poptarts costs. My kids will occasionally look in the pantry and say there's nothing to eat. What they mean though is there is no junk food. I simply point out to them the food that is there. There's meat in the freezer, cans of veggies, dried foods, flour, rice, beans, and plenty more.


We once had a teenage babysitter who said she could cook, etc. DH and I worked a lot of hours so we thought a live in BS would be a great idea. We expected her to cook breakfast and lunch and then we fixed dinner when we got home. Well, her older sister called one day and told me the girl had told her there was nothing for the kids to eat. I laughed although I was somewhat tiffed at the comment. Our freezer was always packed full of meat, the fridge full of fresh vegies, and our cupboards were full of canned vegies. The real problem was that the only thing she knew how to fix were microwavable dinners. UGH! and she had the guts to spread around we had nothing to eat in the house (junk food). Our son would cry when we brought happy meals home because he wasn't used to those kind of meals. He wanted home cooked meals. She was gone the next week. This is when my stay at home mom kicked in. I wanted the kids to have "real " food not boxed food for their meals and the only way to do that was to be home and do it myself.


----------



## KnowOneSpecial (Sep 12, 2010)

We would have been hungry if we didn't raise our own meat and had a huge garden. 

At one time my folks had 3 sons in college. I was in high school. My folks made $50 too much a year for my brothers to qualify for financial aid. Back then it was either you got all the aid you needed or nothing. We got nothing. Instead of making one boy quit school we sucked it up and spent every penny we had on tuition. That meant that Mom and I had a severe budget-something like $10 a week to feed both of us (Dad was an OTR trucker and gone all week). I had 2 pairs of jeans and three shirts to wear to school and I lived in fear of getting hole in my shoes. I babysat for such extras as gas to get to school (I loved being in the theater and refused to give that up-even if I had to miss the bus and drive my gas guzzling clunker.) Babysitting from 5 PM (after practice) until 10 PM or so most nights was the norm for me. I'd work all weekend, too. Going out with friends was a rare treat. Needless to say, high school was a blur for me. Not much fun, but I survived. 


But to this day (some 25 years later) I still won't eat mac and cheese, bologna and hot dogs.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

longshot38 said:


> ok i don't know what you were smoking when you read this, *my dad never abused any of us*, my mom was never "mommy Martyr" and never in that post did i even hint at anything like that!:hair the simple fact was food could be short in those days, that was the 70's in Newfoundland and it was what it was, i realize you may have had some experience with abusive parents but remember we all have our own story and don't let your story colour mine.
> 
> 
> dean


I am probably responsible for her thinking this. Someone else had posted about her situation and for some reason I thought it was you. I apologize for the confusion.


----------



## grandma12703 (Jan 13, 2011)

thesedays said:


> If there was enough food for you kids and your dad, there was enough for your mother too. She sounds like she was a "Mommy Martyr", someone who uses her motherhood status to deny herself basic necessities so people will feel sorry for her, and she totally eats up all that pity (no pun intended).
> 
> Can you tell I have some personal experience with this?


Wow! I don't like this comment at all. There are many momma's who would give up everything so their family won't do without. I'm sad someone feels this way. I say I love this momma for what she did for her family. It is called motherly instinct.


----------



## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

When I was a kid, my first wife and her boyfriend stole my paycheck, my pickup and had me removed from the house so he could move in (imagine my surprise)
I was 2 weeks without food or decent shelter.
I know 2 weeks isn't a long time to people who have it way worse, but at the time it was a big deal.
(It worked out though, they got married and hated each other for 10 years until she met #3 and pulled much the same trick on #2 :whistlin: )
A couple years before that, I lived in a park for about a month, but a friend worked at a truck stop so at least I could get a shower and the occasional beef jerky, but at least that was my own doing


----------



## Scott SW Ohio (Sep 20, 2003)

My heart really goes out to those of you who have suffered from hunger. Your stories are hard to read.

I never have known chronic hunger, or been truly poor either, for which I am very grateful.


----------



## meanwhile (Dec 13, 2007)

I grew up "poor" but we had family help with food and clothes from time to time. Sometimes though, before my Grandmother would find out we had no food, we would be hungry and have to skimp on food. My Mother would make a mix she called "mush" and it was cream-of-wheat for us kids (six of us) and she would make "corn mush" for the dogs. It was just corn meal mixed in hot water. I hated it. To this day I cannot eat cream-of-wheat nor that polenta stuff they fry up in restaurants. It was a hard time.

PS: We had the dogs because my Dad refused to give them up. They were useless beagles but he kept them anyway.


----------



## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

For an example...we ate roadkill venison....with green mold on it. Army ration crackers found in big metal tins at the local landfill. Those were 20-25 years old, but we were oh so happy to have them even though they were rancid. Lentils. Rolled barley with the hulls still on...it had been intended for animal feed. The sharp hulls stuck in our gums. Oatmeal. 

I still hate venison. I will eat oatmeal and lentils, but please, no more venison, ever.


----------



## Waiting Falcon (Nov 25, 2010)

Stale bread from the bakery and spoiling sausage cooked on gathered coal pieces from along the railroad track. We did not know we were poor.


----------



## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

chamoisee said:


> Not lard sandwiches, but other unappetizing stuff. The funny thing is, food, almost any food, tasted so good back then! There was a time in which I looked forward to a meal of vitamins and brewers yeast tablets. I remember savoring the vitamin E capsules especially. I have tried to recreate some of the things that seemed so wonderful as a teen and it just doesn't taste the same now. In fact, often I find myself wondering how it could taste so different!


You didn't have any food, but you did have vitamins and supplements? Interesting.

My local newspaper did a story about a "poor" family, and then mentioned in passing that the father regularly purchased $50-plus cans of bodybuilding supplements - and no, he did not need them for any kind of medical condition. Go figure.


----------



## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

NamasteMama said:


> I agree its not the martyr effect. It comes down to theres enough bread to make PB&J for the kids, but not you. Its more important for the litte ones to have a full belly that mommy who is is done growing and it wont hurt to not eat a meal or two.


During the Bosnian war, I saw a magazine article which described a couple where the wife was pregnant, and the husband had lost the same amount of weight that she had gained, because he wanted a healthy child. He had also not tasted meat at all since he found out she was pregnant; if they obtained any, he made sure that she got it all. 

This, IMHO, is not the same as someone denying themselves necessities when they don't have to.


----------



## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

thesedays said:


> You didn't have any food, but you did have vitamins and supplements? Interesting.
> 
> My local newspaper did a story about a "poor" family, and then mentioned in passing that the father regularly purchased $50-plus cans of bodybuilding supplements - and no, he did not need them for any kind of medical condition. Go figure.


During that time period, yes, that is correct. We were homeless, ran out of food, still had bottle of vitamins which we ate in an effort to keep our health up.


----------



## NamasteMama (Jul 24, 2009)

thesedays said:


> During the Bosnian war, I saw a magazine article which described a couple where the wife was pregnant, and the husband had lost the same amount of weight that she had gained, because he wanted a healthy child. He had also not tasted meat at all since he found out she was pregnant; if they obtained any, he made sure that she got it all.
> 
> This, IMHO, is not the same as someone denying themselves necessities when they don't have to.


I will go hungry before my children will, and if you can't understand that you must not have kids.


----------



## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

NamasteMama said:


> I will go hungry before my children will, and if you can't understand that you must not have kids.


Unfortunately, there are quite a few people who have kids who do not understand that.


----------



## Laura (May 10, 2002)

Having to eat foods you don't like, or having to eat the same foods repetitively is not the same as going hungry. It's called apetite fatigue, not hunger. 

A pot of beans and a chunk of green venison goes a long way feeding a family. When you're tired of eating beans, make chili with the venison. When you're tired of the chili, turn it into taco or burrito filling. There, you just fed a family of 5 for several days for under $1.25. Company's coming? Add water to the beans. Make your own tortillas.

At my house, any child or adult who is silly enough to say, "Ew, I don't like that," silently has their plate removed and is not offered an alternative or between meal snack. There are no repeat offenders.

Just because I keep a good pantry does not mean we have to eat all the expensive food first. Beans and cornbread, beans and rice are universal staples with recipes from every culture. I still skip meals so my DD can take the higher quality favorites in her lunch. There ain't a one of us here who wouldn't benefit from skipping a couple of meals a week.


----------



## pumpkin (May 8, 2012)

Laura said:


> Having to eat foods you don't like, or having to eat the same foods repetitively is not the same as going hungry. It's called apetite fatigue, not hunger.
> 
> A pot of beans and a chunk of green venison goes a long way feeding a family. When you're tired of eating beans, make chili with the venison. When you're tired of the chili, turn it into taco or burrito filling. There, you just fed a family of 5 for several days for under $1.25. Company's coming? Add water to the beans. Make your own tortillas.
> 
> ...


We have been blessed in that we have never gone hungry. I mean real hunger. We have suffered from appetite fatigue (good description!). When we were young and just married there were quite a few times when we have been low on food choices and there were many days when peanut butter and crackers or a bowl of homemade beans was our dinner. But we had something to eat until the next pay day. That is not hunger. And of course if we were desperate we just went over to Mom's house and looked pitiful. As we got better at life we learned to make groceries a priority over going to a dance.


----------



## demeter (Jul 15, 2010)

No, as I said before, I never experienced real hunger. I suppose it was "hunger fatigue" that we went through. The constant pintos cooked with grease and water served with cornbread made with cornmeal and water got really, really--old. 
It was to me the "eat it and be grateful you little [email protected]#$% while I smoke my tobacco and chug my beers" that was the worst. (I want to state here I didn't complain at the time--my teeth would have been loosened) 
It was all about my parents attitude. It said, "You are not worth anything. I will spend my money on crap and if there is any left--well you can eat beans."
We had the money, you see. My dad was military retired at the time and drew an excellent pension along with excellent benefits. I just wasn't worth feeding or clothing properly. I felt worthless.

Geez, that sounds whiny. But I can't really say it any other way.

Demeter


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

for all of those with parents that didn't think enough of the child-you to feed you as decently as they could - A big HUG. A bowl of stew, fresh bread, some milk and a nice berry cobbler with ice cream. Just to feed your soul.


----------



## partndn (Jun 18, 2009)

AngieM2 said:


> for all of those with parents that didn't think enough of the child-you to feed you as decently as they could - A big HUG. A bowl of stew, fresh bread, some milk and a nice berry cobbler with ice cream. Just to feed your soul.


Awww that made me smile so big Angie. :gaptooth: I have been amazed at the stories here. I have known some of them, but was not one myself. I think all of us in that category would happily join you in fixin the feast.


----------



## demeter (Jul 15, 2010)

AngieM2, that is one of the kindest things anyone has ever said to me. Thank you.

Demeter


----------



## SusanNC (Apr 15, 2012)

My mother was the oldest of 12 children. I can remember her telling us about they would go for weeks and only have biscuits and blackberries that her mother had canned. She knew hunger and she always said none of her children would ever know that feeling. Not one of the 7 of us ever complained about what she cooked.


----------



## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

You go eat some roadkill venison that is so old it's covered in green mold, and then get back to me on it, OK? I know what that tastes like, I suspect you don't. 



Laura said:


> Having to eat foods you don't like, or having to eat the same foods repetitively is not the same as going hungry. It's called apetite fatigue, not hunger.
> 
> A pot of beans and a chunk of green venison goes a long way feeding a family. When you're tired of eating beans, make chili with the venison. When you're tired of the chili, turn it into taco or burrito filling. There, you just fed a family of 5 for several days for under $1.25. Company's coming? Add water to the beans. Make your own tortillas.
> 
> ...


----------



## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

NamasteMama said:


> I will go hungry before my children will, and if you can't understand that you must not have kids.


I do not have children, but I do understand where you're coming from. Where I was coming from was people (okay, mothers) who deprive themselves of necessities WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE TO.


----------



## Laura (May 10, 2002)

chamoisee said:


> You go eat some roadkill venison that is so old it's covered in green mold, and then get back to me on it, OK? I know what that tastes like, I suspect you don't.


How do you think I know to make chili out of it? You wanna get in a gross-out contest over what we've eaten, I'll win.

A survival mindset requires a disconnect of the emotionalism over food. Food is fuel for the body. Getting the right fuel mix in should be the primary focus, and we should try and make it taste good. It doesn't need to have emotional attachements.


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

No I have never been hungry nor have I ever experienced appetite fatigue even though there were money lean periods in my raising when we ate rolled oats , fried catfish and eggs or chicken and biscuit for breakfast , sun dried olive oil packed tomato and fresh sweet pepper sandwiches for lunch and mulligan stew or vegetable soup for dinner as long as was necessary.

My father and grandfather conditioned me to not worry about appetite fatigue by explaining to me during long stretches of meals of vegetables and what ever chicken and pork meat and wild game we took how planting the yard in garden up to the back door was the boring base but the chicken, pork, squirrel, rabbit, catfish, dove quail or venison was the country character that spiced up our boring vegetables.

They also told me that country folk didn't go hungry , only country trash or those depending on country trash did and those who got wrinkles in their bellies depending on country trash often run off and fostered themselves into county folks families or hired on to get the wrinkles out of their bellies.

Since I been grown I never go hungry because I always pack my pantry and grow a garden of whatever size I can and stock up on extra catfish filets , dove breast meat, rabbit and such if my gut tells me it thinks wrinkle times may be getting close and reminds me that country folks survive and keep the belly wrinkles out.

I am glad that my grandfather and father didn't live to see me read FM 21-76 and decide to clean and prepare myself a plate of garlic butter sauteed bait worms just for a giggle and grins appetizer


----------



## TerraFarm (Jun 4, 2012)

Growing up, my parents had food, lots of food, and they made sure I was fed well. My father grew up in a concentration camp, (auschwitz)so he'd almost died of starvation and food was always utmost in their minds. My parents passed away years ago, and now it's my husband and I and our 4 kids. There have been times in our lives when all we had was pasta and sauce, but we have never truly been hungry. I volunteer at the local soup kitchen and bring my kids with me for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My kids always thought that needing a snack equals starving. They have now opened their eyes to what true hunger is about. They take nothing for granted anymore, and understand why I clip coupons like a madwoman and stock up on simple things that could save our lives in an emergency. 
I hope by showing my children and impressing upon them the importance of planning and saving, that someday, if they need it, those skills will help them to survive.


----------

