Favorite Poverty Meal?

[lxskllr]

Most of my food is poverty food. Due mainly to laziness, and simple tastes, but I've had spots of being poor in the past. Legitimate poverty was cutting the mold off anything that's even nominally salvageable, and fishing the moth larvae out of my grains. Pseudo poverty is grilled cheese, and canned soup. One of my favorite meals. Extra sharp cheddar, seeded rye, and either tomato or French onion soup. I'll take that over a steak any day of the week  :^)

[No_Dude]

Surely, a pasty must be on this list!  
(my mother, being a Yupper, loved these things. Me....not so much)

Whats a pasty? Maybe it's just my area are what are used to keep uh.... women from poking when its cold.

[Ljohnsaw]

Whats a pasty?

We have a '49er mining town a little ways north of me (Grass Valley/Nevada City (aka The Pondarosa)).  The hard rock miners were mostly Welsh and that was a traditional food they brought with them.  Several restaurants use to serve Pastys - a quick search did not find them on any menus. :-\  They are a mainly-potato, maybe some ground meat of some sort, onions and ? wrapped in a flaky pie-type crust - baked to perfection.  Not astounding flavor but very much comfort food especially on a cold day.

[Dave Shepard]

The Welsh miner's tradition for pastys was to only handle the rolled up crust part because of three toxic material they were handling. The crust was then thrown down the mine as an offering of some sort. In some parts of the country rutabeggers are involved. 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Pinto Beans and fried Bologna.  8)

[No_Dude]

Whats a pasty?

We have a '49er mining town a little ways north of me (Grass Valley/Nevada City (aka The Pondarosa)).  The hard rock miners were mostly Welsh and that was a traditional food they brought with them.  Several restaurants use to serve Pastys - a quick search did not find them on any menus. :-\  They are a mainly-potato, maybe some ground meat of some sort, onions and ? wrapped in a flaky pie-type crust - baked to perfection.  Not astounding flavor but very much comfort food especially on a cold day.

Sounds kind of like a pot pie in hot pocket form

[WV Sawmiller]

David,

   I never heard of Pinto beans as a main course till I moved to WV. Brown beans and cornbread is often served as a meal here even in the school lunch rooms. In N. Fla where I grew up Pinto beans were something you bought to put in your chili when the grocery store ran out of Kidney beans.

    There is not a big selection of peas and beans here - typically 4-5 kinds in our local grocery stores while in Charlotte, 200 miles south of here, we typically find 15-20 kinds or more. Around here you can find Pinto beans in 50-100 lb bags. Even Wal Mart has them out for bulk sales.

[Magicman]

 

 
A beef Pasty with a bowl of gravy on the left.


 
A chicken Pasty with gravy.

[No_Dude]

 
A beef Pasty with a bowl of gravy on the left.


 
A chicken Pasty with gravy.

Man I can get down with that

[Ljohnsaw]

Whats a pasty?

We have a '49er mining town a little ways north of me (Grass Valley/Nevada City (aka The Pondarosa)).  The hard rock miners were mostly Welsh and that was a traditional food they brought with them.  Several restaurants use to serve Pastys - a quick search did not find them on any menus. :-\  They are a mainly-potato, maybe some ground meat of some sort, onions and ? wrapped in a flaky pie-type crust - baked to perfection.  Not astounding flavor but very much comfort food especially on a cold day.

Sounds kind of like a pot pie in hot pocket form

Except the potato is mashed - more like a to-go Shepard's Pie.

[bigred1951]

My poverty meals included fried bread with a little salt and pepper. Sometimes them little $1 pack of noodles and I'll tell on my self it's odd but I love it. I'll take a couple thick slices of Kentucky border bologna and take lays chips and put on the bologna and roll it up like a burrito and eat it just like that for a quick snack.

[Chuck White]

Sometimes a "hard fried" egg samich on toast will get me by!  ;)

[barbender]

I'm not sure if I have any good poverty meals of my own, but my Grandpa told me when they were kids (they were dirt poor) they used to have lard sandwiches- and they thought they were good!

[DDW_OR]

when i went to DeVry in Phoenix in 1991 & 1992 i had $20 for food for the month.
basic meal, top ramen noodles + 4 oz of tomato sauce.
Noodles on sale 12 for $1, once in a while 15 for $1
8 oz tomato sauce = 10 for $1

once in a while i would throw in 1/4 cup frozen mix veggies
$0.25 to 0.50
and sometimes the CHEAP hotdogs or meatballs.

I learned at a young age to stock up when something is on sale

[olcowhand]

My mom would make Mac & Cheese with cut up Hot Dogs or Ground Beef mixed in. Served with home made Garlic/ Texas Toast.
I always enjoyed having Chicken Gizzards on noodles.

[red]

Corned beef hash

[Novascotiamill]

Lobster sandwiches all the time near eveyday wrapped in newspaper and taken to school for lunch. Fed them to the dog that hung around thevschool yard . You got teased alot for havin lobster sandwiches , it was the real poverty poor mans food that and parsnips back then!

[thecfarm]

Lobster sandwiches. :D  Poor man food. Seem like I read that. They are a "ground" feeders,like a suckers. Low on the list of good things to eat.

[Raider Bill]

Surely, a pasty must be on this list!  
(my mother, being a Yupper, loved these things. Me....not so much)

Whats a pasty? Maybe it's just my area are what are used to keep uh.... women from poking when its cold.

HAHAHAHAHA!

[WV Sawmiller]

   As I remember it was often included in Indentured servants contracts in New England that they promised not to feed them lobster more that twice a week.

   Kind of like treatment of African slaves giving them the ribs and shoulders and such off the pig. They figured how to make slow cooked BBQ to make it tender and edible and the owners found out how good it was and they started keeping it for themselves.

[gspren]

Regular barn pigeons have more meaty breasts than most people would believe and with a small fishing net taped to a long pole they are easy to catch at night.

[No_Dude]

Regular barn pigeons have more meaty breasts than most people would believe and with a small fishing net taped to a long pole they are easy to catch at night.

How do they taste

[Hilltop366]

I'v heard the generation before me talk about being embarrassed about having to take lobster sandwiches on homemade bread to school, if they had the chance the would trade up to bologna sandwiches with store bought bread. 

Apparently it was not uncommon to put lobster in the garden as fertilizer, some still do but use culls from the lobster pound.

[BradMarks]

Roxie's meal, except in our house it was called SOS (military term).  It was actually THE weekend meal.

[Raider Bill]

Regular barn pigeons have more meaty breasts than most people would believe and with a small fishing net taped to a long pole they are easy to catch at night.

How do they taste

Taste like chicken