Welcome!

(Looong introductory post, hang in there!) Since we're both new here, lets get down to business. I made this space to share my techniques for keeping a budget and filling the pantry with nutritious, filling food.

Many times in my adult life I have experienced difficulty in obtaining food, 100% of the time due to income restraints. At one point in my younger years, after the bills were paid, I had $25 each week to feed myself and my 2 year old. There have been times we received food assistance as well and if you have tried to live on that you also know how difficult it can be to make it last until the end of the month. Depending on your situation you might have some money to spare or you might be wondering how to make a ketchup packet and the end of a loaf of bread taste good. I learned to use anything and everything I could find to make filling meals. I have standards for my family, though, I want us to eat delicious healthy things!

When possible I love to find local, organic produce but this is the exception rather than the rule given the constraints of time and budget. Generally I am working with what I can find at the supermarket, what has been donated to us through the kindness of others, and leftovers hanging around the back of the cupboard. (11 million cans of green beans, anyone?)

So what I will endeavor to share with you each week is a number of recipes that I hope will help to sustain you, and even bring you some joy. And maybe sprinkle in some of my own anecdotes and "rules" for surviving this ride. Hmm, rules seems like a good place to start, actually. I decided it would make more sense to group them into categories based on the situation so here we go!

Angela's "Rules" for Grocery Shopping

When you have money/food assistance and are able to shop at the grocery store:

• NO non-nutritious foods, this includes (but is not limited to) any kind of soda-pop, candy, cookies, "snack foods" like cheetos, potato chips, doritos, pringles

• No processed foods like boxed cereals or "helper" meals
• Buy bulk as often as possible, ask for a membership for your birthday and save at the Costco or Sam's Club or whatever you have near you
• Seriously, buy bulk. I buy 25 pound bags of rice at a time, keep it in a small tote that I have only used for food and scoop out cups at a time for my recipes.
• Always use coupons as much as possible, save 50 cents on ketchup. Man that's 50 cents you get to use on something else!
• Beg Borrow and Barter for all the coupons you can muster! Look up how to coupon websites, print at the library, print at a friends house. My family all save their coupons for me and I collect them once a week.
• Say yes to anything someone wants to give you for free from their garden, you might not like fresh tomatoes but I bet you would enjoy homemade spaghetti sauce! Never had acorn squash? Well it's time to try it.
• Farmer's Market- ours offers a deal, if you buy tokens to spend using your food stamps then they will match any amount up to $20 with more tokens. So you can buy $40 of produce for $20. Plan to go once a week and save your benefits to maximize!

*exceptions*: 

Holidays and birthday parties get a free pass for treats.

When extreme couponing and you can get things on the no list for pennies or free.

Let's face it, you don't have enough money for food to waste it on things that are of limited to no nutritional value. You have an uphill battle as it is, bills, low wages, debt...let's try to keep you fed and in good health!

When you are receiving from a food bank:

• Accept ANYTHING you are offered (unless someone in your household is allergic)
• Yes, I mean anything! Once I was given 2 one pound packages of chopped dried figs. That was way out of my comfort zone with cooking but I said thank you, then put them in the freezer because I had no idea what I would ever make with it. Then a few months later I was given 6 acorn squash, just before Thanksgiving. Yet another item I was totally unfamiliar with! On a whim I cut the acorn squashes in half and roasted them then turned them over and broiled them with butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and the chopped figs as filling and took it as my dish to pass for Thanksgiving. People are still talking about them 12 years later! I wasn't embarrassed by being unable to contribute to the dinner because I was willing to think outside the box and save an unfamiliar item in my pantry until needed.
• Breads and items that may be past the sell by date or potentially going stale within a few days need to go straight to the freezer. No sense in eating like kings for three days only to starve the rest of the month!
• Get there early, smile at everyone, and if you have anything spare to contribute (stash of toothpaste or paper towels from coupon shopping?) Then share it! It will make you feel better and really help someone else too.
• And I always fail at this rule but try not to cry. I'm so ridiculously thankful for the people who provide this service that it has brought me to tears every time I've needed to receive.

Now it's time to cook with what we have!

But wait...do you have the tools?

Here is my list of "must-haves" equipment for the kitchen.

Cast Iron Skillet- this could honestly be a whole post by itself. Don't get worried about buying a brand new modern cast iron. It's expensive and usually not as good as an antique. See if a family member has an extra one you can have, or find one at a resale store. There are many excellent blog posts on how to clean and season them so I will link to the method I use. https://www.hobbyfarms.com/clean-rusty-cast-iron-no-self-cleaning-oven-required-5/

• Wooden Spoons
• Mixing Bowls
• Whisk
• Glass or Wooden Cutting Board
• Chef's knife, pay to have it sharpened or find a tutorial online. Don't try to chop with a dull knife!
• Paring Knife
• Vegetable Peeler
• Colander
• Loaf Pan (glass are usually easy to find at a Goodwill or other resale shop)
• Stainless Steel pots of various sizes
• Cookie sheet
• Metal Spatula (no plastic!)

Please stay away from plastic or aluminum, I don't use them and I don't think they last as long before they need replacing.

With these basic items you should be able to feel confident tackling your food preparation.

And to finish out the introductory post, a quick and cheap meal using just what you might get from a food pantry.

Rice Casserole

1 1/2 cups of rice

Diced Green pepper (if you have it)

Can of tomato sauce

1tsp Italian seasoning (if you have it)

Put all ingredients into your loaf pan, if the tomato sauce is the big can (quart) just pour on top of rice until 1/4" from the top. If it's the little 8oz can then add enough water to bring the liquid to 1/4" from the top of the loaf pan. Cover with aluminum foil, set loaf pan on cookie sheet, carefully transfer to oven without sloshing the liquid over the sides, bake at 375° for 90 minutes.

If you happen to have celery or fresh onion or even dehydrated onion flakes, feel free to add some to the rice before cooking.

Serve on its own or alongside a meat/protein.