Comfort food that takes you back to your "poor" days

[phillygirl]

My "poor days" comfort food is pasta with butter and parmesan (really, locatelli-romano because my grandmother would give us pounds of it) cheese. Such a simple meal, but it sustained me all through high school and college when I was poor and didn't have much food in the cupboards.

I still love a bowl of that, but know that I can no longer eat that 5 times a week and expect to fit in my clothes.

What's yours?

[Celeste Chalfonte]

In retrospect, we referred to much of my childhood as "the spaghetti years." We had no idea that we ate spaghetti so frequently because it was cheap and we were on a tight budget. What kid doesn't love spaghetti? Most of the time, we could afford ground beef in it. In really lean times, just noodles and sauce.

The adult version, for me, was a dish my roommate made with Top Ramen (12/$1.00 on sale, 10/$1.00 regular price) when I was in law school, she was on State Disability following a MVA, and Nova was laid off and looking for work. She would boil the ramen noodles, dump them in the wok with a little oil, the seasoning packet, and at least a pound of whatever vegetable was really cheap that week (often bean sprouts), and stir fry. Lots of filling, flavorful food for pennies a serving.

I think of both fondly, but neither is something I could eat more than a spoonful of nowadays. If I'm cold or just need a little comfort food now, it will be a cup of Campbell's beef soup with vegetables and barley, or HRH's homemade tomato bisque with cheese sprinkled on it.

[phillygirl]

In retrospect, we referred to much of my childhood as "the spaghetti years." We had no idea that we ate spaghetti so frequently because it was cheap and we were on a tight budget. What kid doesn't love spaghetti? Most of the time, we could afford ground beef in it. In really lean times, just noodles and sauce.

The adult version, for me, was a dish my roommate made with Top Ramen (12/$1.00 on sale, 10/$1.00 regular price) when I was in law school, she was on State Disability following a MVA, and Nova was laid off and looking for work. She would boil the ramen noodles, dump them in the wok with a little oil, the seasoning packet, and at least a pound of whatever vegetable was really cheap that week (often bean sprouts), and stir fry. Lots of filling, flavorful food for pennies a serving.

I think of both fondly, but neither is something I could eat more than a spoonful of nowadays. If I'm cold or just need a little comfort food now, it will be a cup of Campbell's beef soup with vegetables and barley, or HRH's homemade tomato bisque with cheese sprinkled on it.

We lived on ramen in college. It was normally 8 for $1, but often we could get it 10 or 12 for $1. Living in the dorms, we had a hot pot and a hot plate. So the choice was did we make it as a soup, or drain it but use the seasoning packet (we didn't cook vegetables in the dorm) or drain it and add the butter and locatelli romano? So many choices! I don't think I've had the packaged ramen in decades.

Once we got an apartment in college we actually ate pretty well. I cooked about 5 nights a week (my classes ended by 11:30 each day because I was the weird senior who actually took the 8:00 a.m. classes) so I spent the rest of the day planning dinner to fit around my roommates' schedules and whichever group of guy friends decided they wanted to dine with us.

Frequently on the menu was a big pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. I cringe now when I think how I made it (and the fact that other people ate it). I boiled the crap out of the whole chicken and the vegetables that I threw in during that process were the vegetables that stayed in the soup for eating. The fat from the chicken wasn't skimmed off until day 2, when it had congealed in the refrigerator. There was never too many cloves of garlic or too much black pepper!

Chicken was our protein of choice because I could buy a whole chicken for about 49 cents a pound. I learned quickly how to break one down. I "knew" I was affluent when I had my own house and actually paid the ungodly price for a package of skinless, boneless chicken breasts! Now my niece, a college student, has shrimp for dinner!

I also made a lot of spaghetti with clam sauce (white). Even though I developed a shellfish allergy that year to the clams, it didn't really stop me. A can of clams, a little olive oil and of course, lots of garlic. The canned clams didn't seem to effect me as violently as fresh clams.

My roommate introduced me to spaghetti and artichokes. Once my grandmother found out we were making that we got truckloads of jarred artichokes, so that meal became a bi-weekly dish as well.

[scott]

Sloppy Joes. During a very lean time I was feeding the whole family for $200 per week. That was 4 kids, Mel and I. We had sloppy joes at least once per week. I would brown the meat, ground chuck usually, add in some chopped bell peppers, garlic powder, pepper, and the Publix vegetable spaghetti sauce. I could make enough for 2 full meals plus lunch for me for about $5. That was cheap - 50 cents a meal!

I still make it sometimes and the kids used to ask for it when they came over. They still don't know I made it because we were trying to save money.

[phillygirl]

Sloppy Joes. During a very lean time I was feeding the whole family for $200 per week. That was 4 kids, Mel and I. We had sloppy joes at least once per week. I would brown the meat, ground chuck usually, add in some chopped bell peppers, garlic powder, pepper, and the Publix vegetable spaghetti sauce. I could make enough for 2 full meals plus lunch for me for about $5. That was cheap - 50 cents a meal!

I still make it sometimes and the kids used to ask for it when they came over. They still don't know I made it because we were trying to save money.

My grandmother would call them "wimpies". Although she made actual patties out of the meat. My mother despised them because they ate them so much and that was apparently one of the go to meals that my grandmother would send over to the hospital for my mom when she was in nursing school.

However, as a kid, my mother would make them for us as well.

So much of my food growing up really was poor people's food but we didn't know it. Pasta fagioli...pasta, beans and a little tomato paste and water. Still one of my favorite dishes!

[80zephyr]

Not me, but my mom. She was sent to school with lard sandwiches. And she had a girl classmate that would bring an orange to school almost everyday. Her dad had the local grocery store. My mom would tell me how she ached to at least taste that orange. Very sad.

Mark

[phillygirl]

My mom and uncle ate lard sandwiches. Sometimes with a slice of onion and/or tomato. As things improved they switched to mayonnaise.

My grandmother often made a delicious tomato salad. Tomatoes, onions, oil and sweet basil. I loved to make a sandwich out of that or her hot peppers. Cut up hot cherry peppers with garlic cloves and oil. She always had a jar of them in the fridge. We thought they were sold prepared like that! When I was drunk in college and couldn’t afford to buy anything at the pizza shop after the bar I’d ask them for a plate of hot peppers. They usually cut me off after 2 or three platefuls!!

[Newman]

In retrospect, we referred to much of my childhood as "the spaghetti years." We had no idea that we ate spaghetti so frequently because it was cheap and we were on a tight budget. What kid doesn't love spaghetti? Most of the time, we could afford ground beef in it. In really lean times, just noodles and sauce.

My Brother-in-law and his wife were notoriously frugal in their early years together. It really was overboard, imo. Anyway, my wife once asked their 3 children when they were adolescents what they would most enjoy eating when they grew up. They instantly said, "Name brand food," meaning Coke not Shoprite Cola. We still chuckle about that. No "Oat Os" in a huge plastic bag instead of Cheerios. And as adults they've been faithful to that aspiration.

[Newman]

My mother (who did all the cooking, natch) was frugal by making every dish from scratch. A couple of dishes I remember from childhood are mac & cheese with cut-up hot dogs baked in, still a favorite, and bologna slices baked with a scoop of mashed potatoes on top (and "au gratin" on top). (I think the rind was left on, causing the bologna to form a cup under the potatos.) My wife and I haven't been able to recreate that dish in any sort of way that was worth serving.

[Lady Marva]

Creamed tuna over toast. Wishing for some now!

[Newman]

My "poor days" comfort food is pasta with butter and parmesan (really, locatelli-romano because my grandmother would give us pounds of it) cheese. Such a simple meal, but it sustained me all through high school and college when I was poor and didn't have much food in the cupboards.

I still love a bowl of that, but know that I can no longer eat that 5 times a week and expect to fit in my clothes.

What's yours?

My "poor days" were fairly brief, and I don't take any comfort remembering the menu. I was scrawny in college—I even considered evading the draft for being underweight—but I remember buying the peanut butter & jelly sandwiches Ben & Jerry were peddling in the dormitory in the evenings. (Yes, the Ben & Jerry, college friends (I wasn't at all close, but my roommate was) and budding capitalists.)

Briefly between college and grad school I lived on a few "mustard sandwiches," which inspired me to get work in a restaurant. And the best was starting graduate school in Manhattan, where for a couple of weeks all I could afford was a banana and a short Bud. Or a baguette and a short Bud. The food I suspended from the ceiling with twine to evade the roaches.

Hot plate cuisine followed, and a lot of Ramen.

[Gramps]

The food I suspended from the ceiling with twine to evade the roaches.

Wouldn't have deterred the Tulsa roaches i grew up hating.
Comfort food..

These were supper ar least once once a week..
Fried potatoes and eggs
Brown beans would last 2 days

Sunday.. fried chicken

[Lady Marva]

Fried potatoes and eggs
Brown beans would last 2 days

Wouldn't mind having the fried potatoes and eggs right now!
Ugh beans. Thankfully didn't have to have much of those. No beans to this day!
Hot dogs - lots.
Bologna sandwiches- constantly

[phillygirl]

Wouldn't have deterred the Tulsa roaches i grew up hating.
Comfort food..

These were supper ar least once once a week..
Fried potatoes and eggs
Brown beans would last 2 days

Sunday.. fried chicken

I'm not sure why, but my family didn't do beans, except for baked beans. My brother and grandfather loved if my mom and grandmother were out shopping all day. That meant they got hot dogs and baked beans or creamed corn. My sister and I didn't like any of that.

[phillygirl]

My "poor days" were fairly brief, and I don't take any comfort remembering the menu. I was scrawny in college—I even considered evading the draft for being underweight—but I remember buying the peanut butter & jelly sandwiches Ben & Jerry were peddling in the dormitory in the evenings. (Yes, the Ben & Jerry, college friends (I wasn't at all close, but my roommate was) and budding capitalists.)

Briefly between college and grad school I lived on a few "mustard sandwiches," which inspired me to get work in a restaurant. And the best was starting graduate school in Manhattan, where for a couple of weeks all I could afford was a banana and a short Bud. Or a baguette and a short Bud. The food I suspended from the ceiling with twine to evade the roaches.

Hot plate cuisine followed, and a lot of Ramen.

In law school all I could afford at the cafeteria was the .50 bowl of mashed potatoes with gravy. I was commenting to the cafeteria worker how good they were, as though I was choosing the cheapest thing on the menu because I loved it. He looked at me and just said "they're from a box". After that I noticed that he would give me a bit extra. Sometimes I had enough change to buy a package of crackers or M&M's out of the machine. Although I had a boyfriend that lived out of state I went on dates simply because the guy would pay for lunch or dinner. My best friend and I would also go to Wendy's at night. He had discovered their "pasta bar". We'd eat as much as we could for about $3.99. Going back again and again until they gave us dirty looks!