I'm sure that most of us have gone through a few of those in our life, survived and even gained a few pounds. Well, I have.
We humans are resilient and we adapt. We can all make a penny stretch if we have to. We all know how to save money on food. We can all make panfuls of soups, slow-cook cheaper cuts of meat, grow vegetables, keep chickens, etc...
But all these money-saving ideas demand dedication, motivation and getting up from in front of the telly.
Are we prepared to act now or shall we wait until the fridge is empty before we begin panicking?
When I was a student, a million years ago, at Sunderland Poly (1976), my food intake followed the same pattern every month.
The beginning of the month, having just received my grant, I used to splash out on nice bottle of Medoc, a leg of lamb and green beans.
But as my funds dwindled, the daily menu went from a feast to a famine in just thirty days:
Fillet steak-sirloin steak-stewing steak-minced meat
Chicken breast...chicken leg...chicken thigh...chicken drumstick
Spag Bol...Spag and tomato sauce...macaroni-cheese...macaroni-butter
Chicken soup...chick pea soup...warm water...cold water
By which time I was gasping for the end of the month to arrive along with my grant.
I think I inherited my resilience from my mother, bless her soul. She was a very inventive cook and a great motivator. At least three times a week she converted us kids into vegetarians without even preaching. She just couldn't afford meat...
Cartoon Courtesy of The Guardian.
Credit Crunch...
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14 comments:
This brings back memories! In a way, though , the more hard-up you are, the more inventive you have to be. Many of today's great dishes are actually the food of the poor, aren't they? Italian food springs to mind.
I've inherited my grandmothers talent for making a meal out of a dishcloth! :)
The meals I remember the most are those of my Nan's, and this wasn't because they were loaded full of expensive ingredients. I try to replicate some of her meals, haven't mastered her onion sauce yet.
I thought it would stir happy memories in you all.
Sheffy, you´re right there.
I don´t think any one country has the monopoly on inventiveness when it comes to food.
Akela, I´ve made a meal out of everything but never a dishcloth!!
Q, your nan has a lot to answer for. Like a restaurateur-grandson...
I must make more effort but my Achilles heel is my computer and blogland rather than TV.
My mum made a good war-time potato pie (whistle when you find a piece of meat:))
Malheur à celui qui n'a pas connu La pauvreté !
Nos souvenirs nous rattrapent et nous font redécouvrir la réalité amère du monde de la misère. Heureux celui qui l'évoque !
La seule richesse, la vraie, est celle qui apaise l'esprit. Notre conscience nous interpelle.
Pensons à ces milliers d'êtres humains qui meurent encore de faim. Nous avons honte de nous-mêmes.
We've all known worse times. It's those who are down to their last billion who will suffer the most!
Well I'm obviously not quite down to my last billion just yet, but when I am, I'll be asking your advice on how to feed my family, when I can no longer afford dish cloths..
J'ai eue ce que l'on appelle " la galère " !
J'ai servi aux restos du cœur ,et cuisiné comme bénévole hé , oui !
Je n'arrive toujours pas à admettre !?
Daphne Wayne-Bough, the rest of us will be down to our last bouillon cube. I think you call them stock cubes... stock is a bad word now too. :)))
Your family's special Krimo.
Where are you when i want you, trying to sort Nats menu out (nightmare). Just wanted to run a few things by you...
We eat non-meat dishes more than three times a week, and we are not vegetarians, more like living the great meditarranean diet, as they call it. Meat as a main dish was reserved for Sundays, when I was a kid. The rest of the week a tiny bit here and there for flavourings, but no roasts or the like. In Austria, they even have an old song, about the various dishes of the week: Monday pasta, Tuesday dumplings, Wednesday strudel, Thursday cabbage, Friday fish, Saturday and Sunday meat. The refrain goes something like "I wished that there were meat dishes every day of the week, it would make me so happy!". :-)
There's free food about this place, according to the wandering lot I see...snails, leafy green veggies growing wild, fish, and, if you're so inclined, other people's crops. The security guards next door tried to steal a bunch of our bananas. As for mangoes...mangoes everywhere, all varieties.
I am researching Tapas at the moment in a sunny location while England is being battered by snow storms...
I take my work very seriously.
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