koshergrl
Diamond Member
- Aug 4, 2011
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When we were just starting out, there was a lot of times all we had was pinto beans with a little ground beef in them--both were very cheap back then. Maybe a side of fried potatoes and home grown fruit or something out of the garden. We have made do with nothing but oatmeal to eat for a day. That was also very cheap. But we didn't go hungry. And though by today's standards we were dirt poor, we didn't feel like it. Nobody told us, but we just instinctively knew that we were paying our dues in our entry level jobs and things would get better.
And the day came when we were able to afford a small used black and white TV and things like pork chops and chicken became common on our dinner table. We felt very rich indeed then.
Now kids expect to start out with as much as we had after working for 25 years. And the definition of poverty is very different now than it was when we started out.
I'm almost 56 and one of my favorite meals still is pinto beans and fried potatoes. I grew up on them. Throw in some cornbread and that's some mighty fine eating right there!
Except that now it that kind of fare is redneck gourmet food. The days of 15 cents per pound pinto beans, 10 cents per pound potatoes, and 25 cents per pound ground beef are long gone. And you can't buy a watermelon for little or nothing anymore either.
Unless you live where they're grown.
Potatoes and beans are still the cheapest food. Regular round beef, nuh uh, no way, it's ridiculous and I just don't like paying that much for what I know is garbage meat.
Pork is still pretty cheap and chicken, if you watch for sales. Turkey is likewise cheap if you look for sales. Ground turkey is pretty cheap, I think but I don't use it. I would if I absolutely had to, particularly as a filler for things like spaghetti and meat loaf and stuff.
We depend on beans at my house still. The kids will eat them, they're relatively cheap, and when I make homemade rolls with them, the kids grub.