What is the worst thing you have done to eat when you were poor?

[Mom21]

When I first moved out, I would visit my parents for a meal. That was ok, but when I was leaving I would suddenly remember I didn't have mayonnaise for a tuna sandwich I wanted to eat the next day. I would "borrow' some from my mom. I would get a container and fill it to the top with mayo. My mom never asked why I needed a half a jar of mayo for one tuna sandwich.....LOL. Then I ate mayo sandwiches (no tuna) for days. Know what is sad.... my parents would have given me any food I wanted as they were well above middle class. I was just so danged proud I couldn't admit I couldn't make it on my own.

I worked at a power plant in the coal handling dept. If we stayed over on 2nd shift to dump a train we got dinner paid for. I would order the largest meal available and then save half for the next day. If they called you in at 3 am to dump a train you got breakfast. I would buy the largest breakfast available and have leftovers for lunch.

Oh yeah, the thing I am least proud of. When I was a waitress I would eat one fry off each plate. Don't worry I was very hygenic (is that a word?) about it, but I would be so darn hungry as that was my second job. I figured they never missed it, and after a long day those 15-20 fries really made me keep going.

So what did you do?

 

[lecach]

The worst thing I ever did was agree to a date with a guy I was NOT interested in just for the free dinner. Im not proud of it.........

 

[Papa Deuce]

Not me, but my mom's dad worked for Kraft Foods in the 40s and 50s.... she said they ate cheese sandwiches 5 nights a week andhad tomato soup about 3 or 4 times a week.

They also ate ketchup and cracker sandwiches.... which I eat too...because I LOVE EM!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I'm so cheap about food usually. I clip coupons, and then wait for the items to go on sale. When I first lived on my own, I pretty much lived on ramen noodles.

 

[Stacerita]

When I first moved out in college I was really really poor. I lived on ramen noddles mostly. And I was even cheap about that too. Would bargin shop for my ramen. Its a sad day when $.10 was too much for ramen.

But the one thing that I think was really icky was making kraft mac and cheese without the butter or milk. Just the cheese pack and water. It tasted blech. Never again.

 

[MAKmom]

I rented a house down the Jersey shore the year I graduated high school. We had 6 girl in the house. We lived off of toast with butter,sugar & cinnamon.

 

[Marseeya]

Food stamps.

There's not much more degrading or humiliating.

 

[binny]

Food stamps.

There's not much more degrading or humiliating.

Been there.


I worked for Kirby ( yes selling vaccumms) for 4 days. It was terrible.

 

[joshsmom]

Please let me say, I am NOT proud of this but when I was with my (now ex) husband, he would drink a lot of our rent, bill $ and food $. But I had one thing in my pocket I could count on: an Amoco credit card. Our Amoco store was VERY small, but they sold 77 cent hot dogs. I probably survived a year on those things. But it got me through. Of course if I NEVER see another hot dog it will be too soon!!!

 

[grinningghost]

Church food pantry. Didn't do it for long, but it was a very humbling experience. I was very grateful for their help.

 

[golfgal]

I ate a lot of Ramen noodles and spaghetti when I was in college, amazingly I still like both. I have to say I have been lucky to never be so bad off I couldn't at least buy those. DH remembers growing up and having a meal of corn on the cob and that is it for dinner.

 

[HaleyB]

Well I guess I am guilty of the date for food thing. I did this pretty often, to tell the truth. But in my defense, they asked me out... and I hate to crush a guy by saying no... man was that a long time ago...

We used to go to a happy hour (me and room mates, all girls) and ask the bar tender to give us water in a martini glass. So it looked like we were drinking (and so buying drinks) and then we would fill up on the free happy hour snacks. We actually knew a place with happy hour free food for every night of the week. We got to know so many of the bar tenders that after awhile they were sliding us free drinks too. That was sorta bad, I guess.

We also would go to the free Krishna (sp?) meals. You had to listen to their rant and pretend you might be interested, but in exchange they fed you well. We also knew of a Buddist temple that served a pay what you can buffet. We always paid something because the food was outstanding, but never much because we never had much. Don't really feel badly about this, because we did pay what we could.

 

[nwdisgal]

When I was in college I remember a lot of boxed mac and cheese, and for some reason we ate apple crisp - which was a pure indulgence.

My roommate and I were getting pretty desperate for something substantial. Her parents had a farm. I went into the freezer one day and I spotted some fresh frozen sausage. I was so hungry I was about to cook it up and then she told me that it had been her pig, Herbie.

 

[LoraJ]

I would take a box of macaroni and cheese, and a can of chilli, cook it, mix it together and i'd have chilli mac for the week.

 

[MzDiz]

I stole food from the restaurant I worked at. I also would steal crackers from my roommate. I remember one week I had no other food but rice for days straight and those crackers tasted sooo good.
Hell, I was happy to go on food stamps when I got pregnant at 17 (I was on my own very young), at least I knew I would eat. They made me feel rich!
Now and then, my husband complains about our money situation because we can't afford some silly thing. I just think to myself "honey, don't complain to me about poor!" Then I look at the full cupboards and fridge and smile to myself.

 

[ktink]

My mom often tells us kids, there were 3 of us, that when they were having a hard time we would have beanie weanies for supper one night. Then franks and beans the next. Then hot dogs and pork n beans the next. She said us kids never complained after all it wasn't the same meal every night.

 

[joshsmom]

My mom often tells us kids, there were 3 of us, that when they were having a hard time we would have beanie weanies for supper one night. Then franks and beans the next. Then hot dogs and pork n beans the next. She said us kids never complained after all it wasn't the same meal every night.

Now THAT'S a creative mom!!!

 

[swillis]

During my leanest single mother days we ate a lot of pasta. It's cheap, and easy. Throw in a can of veggies and you can almost- not feel like a terrible mother

We would go to my mom's house every Saturday. We would get there around 10am and she would give my kids breakfast, and then we would linger through lunch so she would make lunch for them too. I don't know if she knew I did this on purpose to get my kids fed, but if she did....she never let on.

The kids were on the free lunch program, and I had signed them up for a nutritional study through Tuft's University that was studying the effects of increased protein and excercise. I only signed up because the study provided free snacks during the kids after school programs.

I am happy to say that I am now remarried, to a man that actually goes to work for a living. I have also become successful in my job, and would like to think that even without the added income of my husband, my kids and I would be ok now.

It is quite a humbling experince to be that needy. The working poor. I am grateful for the experience though. It has made me a better mother, and grateful for the good things that come my way through hard work and perserverence.

 

[jonestavern]

My roomie & I lived off those humongous tins--5#?--of instant mashed potatoes & a pound of butter day after day! Week after week! Our paychecks would only buy so many groceries, most of all our pooled bucks went into rent & gas in our cars.
We both were on our own pretty young & had minimum wage jobs. Often we would go visiting people--unannounced, of course --juuust about dinner time! Our homes were off limits, his parents tossed him out for being gay & my parents were in the middle (for 10 years! ) of a nasty divorce, so we were basically scrounging off friends not that much better off than we were~
Both of us had a lot of dinner parties when we did better!

We also both got part time jobs in restaurants just to get the free meal

Geez, instant mashed potatoes still frighten me!

Jean

 

[pearlieq]

When DH and I were in college we went shopping in "mom's store". Honestly, though, we were very lucky and never went through very lean times.

Things were different when I was a kid. Mom was on her own and I remember government cheese and "shopping" at the Phillips 66 because that's where she had a card. I still admire her for scraping through it.