The Struggle Meal Checklist

 I am pretty sure I have posted here before about "struggle meals" or maybe "cheap eats". I distinctly remember sharing one idea on Reddit once. At any rate, after telling a young person about shopping and eating when funds are low. This person isn't broke but they are trying to save money for something. What I told them works for whatever reason you are trying to eat cheaply. A lot of college-age people or small families are trying to stretch dollars. Aren't we all?

Keep in mind, that I learned most of this from my elders. Wisdom bears repeating.

The shopping list is the most important thing. You don't want to wait until funds are super low to stock up on things. Plan ahead. If you are like most of us, you will have one of those too-broke-to-pay-attention times. These are some of the things to try to put away for when times are a bit rough:

• Dry beans. My personal favorites are pinto and navy. Beans are very filling and they can be eaten solo or paired up with vegetables and cornbread. Dry beans keep for a long time so that's another plus.
• Rice. Rice is also filling and easy to pair up with other things. 
• Flour and cornmeal. Try to keep at least some flour and cornmeal bagged up and stored in the freezer to keep the weevils out.
• Cornstarch. Trust me. 
• Blackstrap molasses. 
• Powdered milk and powdered eggs. If you have kids, this is great to have around. (There is also shelf-stable dairy and the milk doesn't taste bad at all.)
• Dry cereal. Mueselix is good because it can taste pretty good as a dry snack.
• Powdered potatoes mixes. They are pretty filling solo and make a decent side dish otherwise.
• Ground beef or turkey - buy on sale and keep in the freezer as long as you can.
• Real bacon bits. Toss them in the freezer.
• Tofu - it's really versatile and not as bad as some people think.
• Oil -EVOO is best but even any decently healthy oil can be really useful. It's often cheaper than butter.
• Crackers. I keep basic store brand "saltines" around if I can.

As for recipes, here are a few basic ones that you can modify as you want:

• Pinto beans taste great. You can cook them with extra water then thicken the "bean gravy" with cornstarch. Crackers, tortillas, bread, etc. taste great with that gravy. I love to eat hot water cornbread with beans.
• You can add bacon bits, beef, or turkey (or tofu) to pinto beans. 
• Navy beans are good with some diced onions or potatoes.
• Tofu is pretty versatile. I'm not as crazy about preparing it, but... It tastes like whatever you season or cook it with. No kidding. I had an aunt who thought that, scrambled in a tiny bit of oil, it tasted like eggs. I have made tofu burgers and I have even chopped it up to bulk up the ground beef in pinto beans.
• As I said, some cereals - especially Muesilix - can take the place of snacks. I've eaten Mueslix in place of trail mix when trying to avoid salty and fatty snacks.
• Blackstrap molasses is something my mother used to add to beans to boost my iron. Some people like drinking it in their coffee or tea. It's too strong a taste for me but it is iron-boosting.
• If you have flour, oil, and water, you can make a cheap pan bread. You just lightly fry each side in a small amount of oil. You can boost the recipe by adding cornmeal.
• Cornmeal, oil, and salt will give you hot-water cornbread. It has to be eaten hot to taste the best but it's great with beans, soups, and stews.

Those are just some ways to eat when you are broke. The EVOO is for adding to the beans or frying your breads. It's good for you (I guess) and I eat it on almost everything, no matter what.

I don't use a lot of milk so I tend to keep powdered milk around. If you like whole milk you can add a bit of white vinegar to it and have quick buttermilk. Adding buttermilk to bread is something my mom liked to do.

When we were kids, my dad wasn't getting rich being a G.I. Often he was gone for long stretches. Mama kept us all well-fed. Dinners were often liver and smothered potatoes and onions with pan bread on the side. For breakfast, we'd have pan bread with some syrup and butter. 

By the way, I have people ask how to make hot water cornbread. It's so dang cheap and easy. I tend not to measure, so here's my "recipe":

• Get a small skillet ready with enough oil to cover the bottle of the pan to about 1/2 inch.
• Boil some water - and it does have to be boiling. Let your pan start heating but don't let it smoke.
• Put some corneal (not cornmeal mix) in a bowl that can withstand boiling water. I usually use about 1.5 cups of meal. You can add salt and pepper and tiny dice of onion if you like.
• Add about half a tablespoon of oil to the meal, then you are going to slowly add the hot water to the meal and stir with a fork. Keep adding water until the meal is saturated and can be made into a patty. I like to add a lot of water and get a thinner mix but you can have a thicker mix. The thicker the mix, the thicker the patty.
• The hot water is cooking the meal in the bowl. Now make your patties and carefully place each patty in the skillet to cook. 
• Drain the patties on paper and eat.

It will take some practice but just remember that you can always add more water to the meal but you can't subtract it. I like to use a really small skillet so I don't need much oil. I personally don't like hot water cornbread unless it's fresh and hot but... I will heat it up or add cold patties to hot beans.

To this day, whether I am broke or not, I love making a big pot of pinto beans with ground beef - hopefully, to eat with some hot water cornbread! But if not, I'll eat the beans folded into a tortilla or with some saltine crackers crumbled into it. Whenever I am doing intermittent fasting, pinto beans are a favorite.

Peace

--Free