What foods are you eating more of with the economic crisis?

[DainBramaged]

Poll question: What foods are you eating more of with the economic crisis?

I've changed my eating habits out of financial necessity, and I am sure many of you have. I will probably miss a few, but that is why there is 'other'.

Thanks for responding. We ain't the Rethug nation, we have financial burdens they don't

[Cant trust em]

1. Ramen isn't an option? NT

[DainBramaged]

7. It's part of the 'other' food group!

:hi:

[PDJane]

2. Legumes.......

produce from the farmer's market, home made everything, and no fish....we've polluted the waterways so much I'm afraid to eat fish.

[asdjrocky]

3. Rice, beans, chicken-

And I've planted a huge vegetable garden.

[flvegan]

4. Beer.

Wait...is that a food?

[babylonsister]

8. Bud, to Bud light? nt

[flvegan]

12. Dear goddess, no.

Amstel Light. Middle of the road.

[blondie58]

25. ya know, if you drink something 'thick' like Guinness

you feel like you're eating something!B-)

[LeftyMom]

47. Guiness sold in the US isn't vegan. It's filtered with isinglass (fish bladders)

Guinness sold in Ireland and the UK isn't isinglass filtered, and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

[blondie58]

49. oh, that breaks my heart, as I love Guinness. Do you know if that

applies to Guinness sold on tap, also. We have this cool Irish pub in Denver called Fado's that sells it on tap, not from the bottle. And what the heck- isinglass? how do they think of these things?

[Buns_of_Fire]

57. Odd, that figures in my traditional non-holiday breakfast!

One (1) bottle of Guinness Extra Stout
One (1) vitamin
One (1) cigarette

On holidays and weekends, I indulge myself and include four (4) "Mr. Salty" pretzel sticks. Five (5), if I'm feeling frisky.

[DainBramaged]

9. You bet, you can live on it

for how long though is questionable. Until they add vitamins.

[Double T]

13. Bud Light PLUS will build strong bodies twelve ways.

[Harry Monroe]

39. It's only built my beer gut one way!!

[asdjrocky]

14. Beer will get you through times without money...

Better than money will get you through times without beer.

[davidinalameda]

5. I try not to eat out for lunch as much

mostly pasta for lunch

[squawk7700]

6. Other: Bison

It is a bit more expensive than beef but it's leaner and way tastier. :D

[TahitiNut]

10. Oatmeal

Good for me.

[babylonsister]

19. Then you will love this!

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/00/001009e.cfm

Real Recipes for Real People
Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets

No thanks necessary! :hi:

[colinmom71]

42. Yeah, well I'm still saying Thanks!!!

My son LOVES hot oatmeal in the mornings, and I tend to buy the pre-sweetened packet style oatmeal (apple/cinnamon is his fave!). This recipes can let me buy organic oatmeal and divide it as separately flavored cereals for school mornings!! Thank you so much for the link!! :-)

[babylonsister]

53. You're welcome and enjoy! nt

[Digit]

11. So far, I have changed grocery stores, eat more store brands...

eat more soup, sometimes have cereal for dinner, a popsicle if I want something sweet.
I check for marked down meat, and shop the sales.

I joined Costco, so let's see how I can stretch a dollar (for what it's worth) there.

[Glorfindel]

15. "Other" - ramen noodles

Fortunately, I love them, and one pack will make two meals for one person, along with a green salad. It's what I almost always have for supper.

[alfredo]

16. Bake my own breads. Yeast and flat breads. Soups. Meat as a flavoring.

Growing some veggies.

[patrice]

17. Hemp

[Speck Tater]

18. I've done "voluntary simplicity" for many years. I don't need to make any changes.

I buy my rice, dry beans, flour, and other staples in bulk from a restaurant supply house, and grow and freeze most of my own veggies. I only shop once every couple of months and never buy "factory food" like boxed, canned, or frozen meals, desserts, etc. I'm single, and I make everything from scratch, and spend very little on food, all things considered.

[mdmc]

28. My buddy just got off 'factory food'

How hard was it for you to give up that kind of convenience?

[Speck Tater]

32. It was originally a matter of necessity

I was out of work and had no choice but to cut way back. I decided I could either feel "deprived", or I could tell myself I was doing something "righteous". So I made the psychological adjustment and made the adjustment cheerfully rather than dolefully. By the time I found work again it had become a habit, and I found it easier to stick with it because factory food just didn't taste as good to me any more.

[rwheeler31]

20. bread and pasta

[MrSlayer]

21. Haven't changed anything.

And I'm not in an economic crises. I'm still solid middle class. The first few Bush years were painful in my industry but it's been pretty good for construction the past few years. Construction is cyclical and we are in an upswing.

[Indenturedebtor]

22. Hotdogs etc

I'm eating a lot more frozen whatnot from Costco. When the food doesn't rot it tends to last a lot longer. We're buying pretty much all our meat frozen, more canned vegetables.

[undeterred]

23. Ramen, waffles, hotdogs, oatmeal.

Fills you up, even if its not the healthiest.

[RazBerryBeret]

24. peanut butter....

everyone loves it...

[stillcool]

26. Black Beans and Rice!

Hell, beans and anything. Lots of Chinese cooking. It's amazing what you can do with a head of cabbage. Takes a lot of planning though.

[elocs]

27. I realize that this is the point where I'm supposed to chime in about how my diet has been impacted

by the economic crisis, but the truth is that it hasn't at all. What many probably consider to be a spartan and deprived diet, to me it is simple and frugal, but very healthy and I like it. Rice is a staple in my diet, just as it is for billions of others. I eat next to no red meat at all, but frequently have chicken which I can get for $6.99 for 10 pounds. I regularly eat fresh broccoli which the last time I got for 69¢ a pound, but is usually about a dollar. Grapefruit can be had for 50¢ apiece, oranges 5/dollar, bananas for 25¢ a pound. Milk runs $2.50 a gallon and will last me a week as will a loaf of 12 grain bread for $1.99 (Sandwiches are bad? I love sandwiches.) I have maybe a half gallon of ice cream a week and can usually find good brands for $2.50. Potatoes are cheap, but I do not eat many of them.

So for me, I eat well and never feel deprived in any way and the cost of my food has only gone up minimally. It keeps me healthy and my weight is good and my cholesterol is exceptionally good. One key is that I do not eat out. Even $5 dropped for a meal at Mickey D's would feed me for a day. Food, like many things, is about choices.

[Lucky Luciano]

30. You must have a lot of free time!

I am up at 6:00am and on the desk at 6:45 in the office. Then I do a run down to the deli for a bagel and a red bull for breakfast for $5...then I go downstairs again and spend $10-$15 for my lunch and get it back to my desk in 10 minutes as I cannot be gone longer than 10 minutes...I get home at 6:30 pm....then I walk the dog for an hour...and hit the gym for an hour...too wrecked for cooking..and my g/f and I order delivery food for $30 which arrives at 9:00. I get to the supermarket once a month...maybe..

[Retrograde]

38. time vs money

My idea of true luxury is simultaneously having both enough time and enough money. In the working world there's all too often a trade-off. Right now I've got time.

Still, $45-50 a day for food? I don't doubt it, things do add up, but even if you only do it 5 days a week you're still talking $250+ a week. Yikes!

[Sanctified]

46. You better be making $250,000k a year.

Because if you are not you really should think about what your time and health are worth. Your work ethics are commendable however that kind of strain on any person is a heart attack or stroke just waiting to happen.

[Lucky Luciano]

58. I wrestle with that concept a bit...

I dicked around in grad school taking my sweet ass time getting a doctorate (which is when I spent more time on this site)...I partied, I traveled to 32 countries and lived a good life in (UC)LA....but then I had to pay for all the extraordinary debt that I incurred (though I played a lot of poker which helped, had a TA-Ship and tuition was free). Amassing the debt was really a bet on myself - I bet that I could score a job that would pay for it all afterwards...and in one year I was debt free. The job is a lot of fun from 8:15 until 4:15. The 6:45am-8:15am part sucks as does the 4:15pm to 6:30pm part - I have just written some C++ programs and Excel VBA programs that will speed the 4:15 to 6:30 part up to being 4:15 to 5:00, so there is hope yet :-))))! After 4:00 I am wiped out from a heavy day of pounding the phones and getting stuff done. The job pays quite well and the growth opportunities are exponential, so I am comfortable with these hours I put in.....but I must say, the investment bankers in NYC are fuckin' crazy! They work 100-120 hour per week EVERY week when they start out. Yes...that is roughly 9am-2am M-F, 12-12 on Sat and 12-8 on Sun. Insane! I have half the hours they do, but each hour for me is far more intense and less schmoozey.

I want to work for 10-15 years and be done...then it will be back to continuous world travel instead of having only 4 weeks off per year to do it. We'll see how that plays out.....Maybe I will move to Africa when all is said and done. I went there last summer and it was the ebst experience I ever had. I dream about it all the time...

[elocs]

52. Yes, I do enjoy a very laid back lifestyle, which is how I like it.

I work nights, so my eating schedule is a little different. At work my lunch consists of a grapefruit, an orange, and a banana. For breakfast when I get home I have a bowl of oatmeal that I make with flavored water, add raisins and walnuts, then the most important ingredient--chocolate ships and I eat a banana with it. I don't spend much time on food prep--maybe a half hour a day. My weekly bill at the supermarket is about $50 and that includes non-food items. My food bill has changed very little.

[Digit]

61. The grocery prices you quote would be last year's prices in my area

Oranges 5/dollar?
Milk 2.50/gallon?
Broccoli 69/lb?

Oh, and I just paid 65/lb for bananas, and they were not organic.

[OwnedByFerrets]

29. Legumes...nt

[Marblehead]

31. dumpster diving

not really

[DU GrovelBot]

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[fortyfeetunder]

34. Spicing up the obvious

I collect spices for my meals and I can eat beans and rice any number of ways, in addition to cooking from scratch.

[ccharles000]

35. Fast food.

[1]

36. i must be lucky...

i eat whatever my local (roberts, ash grove, mo) supermarket offers, and they offer whatever they have excess of...

pork steak. $.99 a pound for the past few weeks. i bought 2 huge packages. 15 meaty pork steaks. $10.

split chicken breasts $.99 a pound. i bought 4 packages. i haven't even counted them yet.

all locally grown. no factory farms here.

cows here eat grass. chickens here eat bugs.

sometimes i wish i lived in the big cities so i could see concerts and whatnot.

other times, not so much...

[ccharles000]

37. Fast food.

[colinmom71]

40. I clicked "Other"...

We've been truly fortunate enough to not have to change our dietary habits, even with increased food consumption prices. Thankfully my DH has a well paying job with a company that has been very good to our family over the last 8 years... But then, I also have a husband with very particular food aversions and son with multiple disabilities that have resulted in strict dietary limitations. I couldn't change much if I wanted to, regardless of costs...

I have been silently introducing organic and healthier alternative ingredients and recipes over the last year, which has been a slightly more expensive option overall. But we haven't had to deal with an obvious deterrent to these newer healthier options as of yet. But time will soon tell, I'm sure...

[Elwood P Dowd]

41. More beans, peas, turnip greens, and other veggies from my garden.

Fish from the pond out back. The guy who has hunting rights gives me half his deer meat. He only killed two this year, so that wasn't much. I also have several pecan trees, and there was a bumper crop this year. Pecans seem to do well when there is a drought. About the only food I buy is rice, chicken, and bread. I just rented out a small garden space to a neighbor. The rent is half the veggies they pick plus a few eggs per week from their chickens. Living in the sticks does have it's advantages. No more fast food, restaurant food, or most of the shit they sell in the grocery stores.

[Liberty Belle]

43. More meatless meals. Also more home-cooked meals, less food out.

[papapi]

44. Soda crackers and tap water.

[Sanctified]

45. No change in my eating habits.

I think a healthy diet is more important for me than entertainment or other non essential crap, so I have cut back costs on stuff I don't need like lattes, alcohol, movie rentals, movie theaters, eating out, you get the point.

[Quantess]

48. None of the above.

I currently have no steady job,no health insurance, have extremely meager income (that means next to zero $), and yet I maintain my lifelong priorities to eating healthy. I am lucky to live near an amazing local produce market that has low prices.

NOBODY takes fruits & vegetables away from me! It's how I stay healthy and normal-weight, and young looking.

[fed-up]

50. coffee because it helps stop the hunger pangs-could deal w/social worker at food stamp office

when she put wrong name on chart, put yearly income down as monthly

told me she had to work full-time even though she had health issues and didn't see why some got food stamps when she didn't

It was humiliating enough to have to go ask for help and my mental health could not cope with her attitude

if I am lucky someone will buy some bookshelves that I will be setting out in my driveway today...

but that money will go towards car insurance which was due yesterday...

[fight4my3sons]

55. .

:hug:

Your worker sounds like a real nightmare. I've been lucky to actually have a decent worker. She appreciates that I try to have our paper work in when it needs to be in and she leaves us alone. Hopefully my husband got the job he has been interviewing for the past two weeks and we will be off of food stamps and medicaid.

[cali]

51. chicken thighs, soups,

things like curried rice salad as a main dish or a Spanish Tortilla of potato, egg and onion.

[varelse]

54. Fresh vegetables, organically grown

we recently rejoined the CSA in our area. It's a good deal - a single share is easily enough for a family of four, and there's only two and a half (b/f is afraid of 'green stuff' and reluctant to eat his fair share) of us in this house. $180 for nine shares, delivered to a drop point each week.

Also, cooked dried beans (we stopped buying cans), fresh eggs (from the farmer's market, 2.90/dozen), handmade tortillas (we buy flour in bulk) and fresh fruit.

What we're consuming LESS of is wine or beer (none at all, now), prepackaged foods and sauces, processed foods, fast food, cheese, bread, and bottled water and juices (I finally started remembering to refill a water bottle - DUH).

If I can just "unhook" my sister from the bottled soda-water habit, myself from the "I forgot to bring lunch yet again, let's go out for it" habit, and both of us from the "we have to get away from the work-place for the lunch half-hour, let's go get a coffee" habit, our budget will be doing much better.

Oh, yeah... we're growing some tomatoes, potatos, cilantro, basil, and peppers. Hopefully they'll do better than the ones we tried to grow last year. Basil plants are a very economical alternative to buying either fresh or dried herb at the store, and we've no reason to ever buy rosemary or sage. It grows *everywhere* in this area.

[annonymous]

56. I have been drinking more iced tea and less soda

I use processed cheese food more too because it is cheaper than shredded cheddar cheese. In addition, have been eating more vegetarian meals i.e. bean and cheese burritos, vegetable soup, pasta with cheese.

[oustemnow]

59. I generally still eat like a college student anyway

so things haven't changed much for me. But I definitely eat FEWER eggs (they have skyrocketed recently) and milk. Even produce that has generally been pretty cheap (bananas, oranges) are going up. And I decided a few weeks ago that I should, you know, maybe eat a salad once in a while, but salad fixings are getting out of range too, especially tomatoes.

[MiniMe]

60. It depends on what's on sale

[yakubu]

62. Is this the financial crisis

...Where the economy expanded 0.6% last quarter, and the jobless rate fell?

Or are you talking about inflation, which is affected more by factors like the wholesale price index and the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy?

[DainBramaged]

63. You read the misAdministration's propaganda with a closed mind, don't you?

OOPS, you were tombstoned aleady dillweed, buh bye.:thumbsdown:

[uberllama42]

66. The unemployment rate doesn't actually count the number of people who don' have jobs

It is the fraction of the 'work force' that can't find work. It does not measure the number of people who have left the work force because they are discouraged and are no longer looking for work. If jobs were lost (and hundreds of thousands were last quarter) but the unemployment rate drops, it is obvious that the unemployment rate alone does not reflect of all the relevant data.

Furthermore, the wholesale price index is increasing in part because of the growing global demand for oil, which is a serious problem for our oil-dependent economy. Recent months have seen an unprecedented series of expansionary moves by the Fed, which also reflects the fact that we have an economic crisis. They meager positive growth posted last quarter was a pleasant surprise, but denying that our economy is in trouble is a farce of the highest order.

[Tippy]

64. Beans, pinto, white with or without ham....bean burritos...oat meal

Now that eggs have come down we have them with pancakes. Meat loaf made with lots of filler(crackers), using honey for a swetener...If we do have bacon I save the greese to use in place of shortening, or for seasoning beans...

[kwassa]

65. Crow.

I seem to eat crow a lot.