@great lakes mom: Food preservation works for me as a starting point of a conversation about how we eat, and the value we get for our money. If one stores the untouched parts of a meal, and remembers to go in and use it within a few days, there is a savings versus a loss right there; one more (small) meal can be had. If one freezes bread about to go bad, and then creatively blends in a few dairy items and sugar, one can have a sweet treat down the road from what is too easily destined to be thrown into the trash. Sealing things properly, refrigerating them in the proper place in relationship to the door, etc. All of these conscious acts help to give a sense of control, and the ability to exercise a frugality that can feel like triumph.
Women (and men, I suppose) are amazing at being economical when they can set their minds and psyches in a place that shuts out the ghoulish sounds of “Have This New Shiny and You’ll Be a Good/Better Mom,” "Buy From This Venue and the World Will Know You Care About Your Children!. It is about the dignity of still being able to provide something more than dust for their children that pushes them forward, their dignity intact.
My kids went to a title I public elementary school that had a program called Kids Cook! It was great. They got a cookbook every month with low cost, nutritious recipes (based on a regional cuisine). Once a month, they cooked a sample meal and learned how to handle kitchen knives properly, about cross contamination, open flames, how to clean up afterwards. We still use some of those recipes in our family.
As for setting up a kitchen, between thrift shops and dollar stores, you can get most of the basics relatively cheaply, if you know what you’re looking for.
So I looked at the recipies on her blog and while they look good, I was amazed at how many ingredients they required. I have a reasonably well stocked kitchen and there were many recipies that I’d need to run to the store first before I could make them. I was expecting simpler recipies but maybe there are simpler ones in her book.
I plan to make the banana pancakes over the weekend. But first I need to buy bananas tomorrow. We go through so many bananas in this house that I wish I had a banana tree in the backyard!
Not to say being able to eat on $4.00 a day is not a great achievement. But I personally think that, in my life, the housing cost is a much greater burden for me. If only someone could show me how to have my housing need taken care of with $400 a month in a safe area of a city on either coast. (Am I day dreaming?) I currently pay much more for my 1-bedroom apartment in the bay area than what my 5-bedroom house would cost me in the heartland!
The kitchen is my favorite room of the house. I take a lot of pride in my ability to stretch my food dollar , but as thrifty and careful as I am, if I didn’t have my arsenal of really good tools , it would all go to crap. I have had to cook in kitchens with poor quality knives and various pans and it really makes a difference . Food storage for freezing is key . Access to cheap produce is crucial so you can learn to blanche and freeze . We are lucky to live in the garden state where access to so many fruits and veggies can help out tremendously for budgeting food
I agree it would be wonderful if this cookbook could make it into every household. Possibly it could be made into videos to show at community centers.
I think it is up to each of us to go to our local church/community center and offer to teach a cooking class and donate some of the cookbooks or find someway to help. Every time we go past a thrift store or a discount store, we should pick up a few kitchen items and find a family who could use them.
When refugees take ESL classes, they really becomes daily lessons in language, home economics, teaching manners, health care, grooming, how to read a bus schedule, etc. It cannot be done without volunteers. Can a volunteer program geared toward domestic education make it into poor neighborhoods?
The government cannot solve this problem by spending more money, so it is up to the good folks in the community to share their knowledge and gift of time.
I just read an article by a man who took the SNAP challenge, to live on about $140/mo, which is about what a person on SNAP receives. He lives in SF and would actually get about $180/mo, but challenged himself to live on $125. I had to laugh because he’s receipts were from Whole Foods, he said he used no coupons. He did it and posted his meals.
There are two things wrong with the SNAP challenge. First, SNAP is supplemental, and is not intended to be the only source of food. The challenge requires you to account for all food, so if you receive a free meal or eat at someone’s home, you must deduct the cost of that food. SNAP doesn’t require that and I’m sure would encourage ‘creative eating’ just like we tell our college kids to find free meals or coffee or donuts or whatever. If a family is on SNAP and the kids get a free lunch at daycare or school, great. If their church has spaghetti supper on Saturday nights, go for it. Also, on the challenge you aren’t supposed to use any food you have at your house. Well, very few people start from scratch every month. There are staples in the cupboard, salt and pepper, a sale on pasta that can last a few weeks.
I can easily live on the SNAP amounts, but I have resources many on benefits don’t. I have transportation to shop at the cheapest places. I get a newspaper to get coupons. I have refrigeration and a full kitchen to prepare things, a freezer to stock up on sales. I can read recipes and have the internet to look up things to do with the ingredients I have on hand. I used to joke with a friend that I play the Food Network game ‘Chopped’ every night for dinner. “You have these 4 ingredients on hand, now make dinner with milk, corn, bacon, and zucchini.”
I agree with romani that every tool we give those on benefits helps. Cooking lessons, children learning to cook at school, vouchers for Goodwill to buy pots and spoons. I’ve had clients who don’t know how to do anything except go to McD’s, and when we show them how to cook a few things, they are willing to try. They just don’t know how to start.
For anyone so moved to do a bulk order and give them as gifts or even to their public library, here’s the info about bulk orders (which was on the homepage of the leannebrown.com website:
I may order a case and give to our support group and maybe some as part of Angel Tree gifts this holiday season. $5.19 per cookbook is VERY reasonable! Whoops, the bulk orders are for nonprofits who serve people in need (as my nonprofit does). I’m sorry, I thought it was for anyone who wanted a lot of copies.