end of the month food

[davestlouis]

I was reading another food thread, and was reminded of something...when I was a kid, my dad got paid once a month. There were times that a professor's salary didn't go as far as we would have liked, so late in the month, our meals took on a more basic slant. To this day, there are several meals that remind me of times when money was running out near to payday. I avoid these meals like the plague. The top 3 are as follows, in no particular order.

1. spaghetti with meat sauce
2. tuna casserole...canned tuna in some sort of noodle concoction. Also, its even nastier cousin, "tuna mac", which was macaroni and cheese with tuna stirred in
3. what my mom called "garbage potage" with a pseudo-French pronunciation...garbage soup...whatever was in the fridge getting old, went in a big pot, with noodles, maybe some rice, and broth. Add some bread, and voila, a nasty, filling meal that was never the same twice.

My dad liked to refer to it as "Genteel poverty". Anyone else care to chime in?

 

[goldendawn7]

Pancakes were what my family made on broke nights. I still love them though. The Mac/cheese/tuna concoction was another end of the week meal when money was low. That one I cant stomach.

I was somewhat lucky having an Italian family, as legumes were cheap and my mom knew how to cook them really well.

These days, as an accomplished cook myself, cheap meals range from a fried egg on mushrooms to white bean ragu to the confit I always have in my fridge. Hell, I could braise some beef shanks (really cheap, even the grass fed stuff from Whole Foods), and as long as I have some flour and egg, I have pasta to go with it.

Poverty food is certainly different after culinary school.

 

[cooncatbob]

My Dad was a retired career Army Sergeant and worked as a driver for the county clerks office and also got paid once a month.
I remember shepherds pie, a ground beef, mashed potato casserole.
Another was fish cakes made from canned tuna and fried and often we had waffles for dinner and the end of the month.
While we lived in the suburbs, we also raised chickens and rabbits.

 

[Tomasso]

This thread is makin' me hungry......I wish it was the end of the month.....

 

[LizzieMaine]

Peanut butter, corn meal mush, and Spam. Not necessarily at the same meal.

 

[davestlouis]

I have never tasted SPAM...it was verboten in my mother's house, and I've never had any occasion to taste it as an adult. Velveeta cheese was another no-no when I was a kid. We also did the pancakes for dinner, but I didn't mind that so much.

 

[davestlouis]

Potage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Potage (from Old French pottage; "potted dish") is a category of thick soups, stews, or porridges, in some of which meat and vegetables are boiled together with water until they form into a thick mush. Potage has its origins in the medieval cuisine of Northern France...

Even the wiki definition sounds gross

 

[Lady Day]

I had a job where I got paid monthly as well. It sucked. At the end of the month it was saltines, spaghetti and frozen peas.

Now-a-days my end of the month is beans and rice. Thats sometimes my beginning and middle of the month too

LD

 

[Viola]

Pancakes with no eggs and no milk. Sad things. Lived up to the promised flatness, though. I called them Povertycakes, mom was not amused.

Mashed potatoes made from flakes with no milk.

When we were kids my mom was perpetually cutting the bad bits off of fruit, vegetables, or bread and proclaiming it still good. My baby brother said one day he'd be rich and never eat bread that was green or vegetables that were white. lol

 

[Tomasso]

mom was perpetually cutting the bad bits off of fruit, vegetables, or bread and proclaiming it still good

Same thing happens in the best restaurants.

 

["Skeet" McD]

SPAM separates the sheep from the goats....

I have never tasted SPAM...it was verboten in my mother's house, and I've never had any occasion to taste it as an adult. Velveeta cheese was another no-no when I was a kid. We also did the pancakes for dinner, but I didn't mind that so much.

When I ran a few 1930s Skeet shoots, I tried for the total immersion effect: 1930s radio playing in the club house, and documented foods for the luncheon.

It was immediately apparent who among the shooters had actually LIVED through the depression: the litmus test was the reaction to the SPAM casserole: the older shooters made a beeline for it and it was their favorite dish: younger shooters wouldn't even try it....they turned up their noses at the very thought.

Interesting....

Here's the recipe, for what it's worth:
SPAM CASSEROLE
1 can Spam
4 or 5 potatoes
1 egg
Grated American cheese
milk
butter
Slice Spam into 1/4 inch slices and brown in an oven-proof
skillet. Remove Spam and set aside.
Slice potatoes thin and layer in the skillet with grated
cheese.
Put browned Spam on top.
Mix egg, milk, and butter and pour over Spam.
Bake at 350° for about an hour or until potatoes are crisp
on the bottom.


"Skeet"

 

[Tomasso]

[QUOTE="Skeet" McD]

It was immediately apparent who among the shooters had actually LIVED through the depression: the litmus test was the reaction to the SPAM casserole: the older shooters made a beeline for it and it was their favorite dish: younger shooters wouldn't even try it....they turned up their noses at the very thought.
[/QUOTE]I was raised by people who had lived through the Depression......They HATED Spam. [huh]

 

[KY Gentleman]

Egg sandwiches, mac n cheese, egg noodles + cream of chix soup... I have lived on these items for months at a time! SPAM and Vienna Sausages too.

 

[Lady Day]

What people, no cup of noodles or ramen?

If I ever taste ramen again in my life...*bleck*

LD

 

[kamikat]

Wow, not a single meat or dairy-free meal!?!?! What could be more filling, healthful or satisfying than beans and rice? You can get a large can of small red beans for $1, bag of rice for $1.50, throw in some spices and a dash of liquid smoke and you've got a great meal.
My husband's new job pays once a month and we're still struggling to adjust to having to spread it out. I try to have "end of the month food" throughout the month so we can have "beginning of the month food" at the end, too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

What people, no cup of noodles or ramen?

If I ever taste ramen again in my life...*bleck*

LD

When I got out of the hospital a few years back, I ate far too much of that stuff -- I was too weak to go shopping and ended up eating literally everything I had in the house. Way in the back of the cupboard was an emergency stash of ramen that my ex left behind, and when I got to that I knew what real desperation tastes like. All I could think of was the Little Tramp in his cabin in the Yukon eating boiled shoelaces.

 

[Opas Coat]

Egg sandwiches, mac n cheese, egg noodles + cream of chix soup... I have lived on these items for months at a time! SPAM and Vienna Sausages too.

hahaha, Vienna sausages cost over $1.00 a can here.

 

[Lady Day]

Wow, not a single meat or dairy-free meal!?!?!

I eat that way everyday
I mentioned beans and rice. Its the bestest meal ever! So hearty, tasty, and cheap! You can make up a batch of beans and make some rice every evening for a week. Yummy stuff.

LD

 

[Wally_Hood]

"29 days and holding meal" would be scrambled eggs. Spice 'em up with tabasco, shredded cheese, etc. Bacon if there's some about.

 

[goldendawn7]

Wow, not a single meat or dairy-free meal!?!?!

My white bean ragu is meat and dairy free in times of exceptional leaness. So is the Dal I make if theres no butter in the house.