What did your parents do for Budget Friendly Meals?

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We thought rice-a-roni was a treat!!!! :LOL: (just trying to keep you from being the "thread killer" :-p) But TRULY, rice-a-roni really WAS a treat...from San Francisco you know!


good looking out KE!!:ROFLMAO: we liked it too, but not enough to ever have purchased a box in my adult life...:LOL:
 
Family of eight kids -we now are all between 59 to 40's year old now
But when we were growing up it what alot of casseroles, spanish rice, goulash,
Dad always had a huge garden so there was alot of canning and freezing for the winter.
 
For us it was:
Salmon Patties, Macaroni and Cheese and Creamed Peas
Hamburger Gravy over bread with corn on the side
Tuna Casserole
(repeat as needed-lol)
 
I was just my mom and I after I was 3, she cheated on my father and the divorce was final when I was 3 and she got custody. She was a secretary for an insurance company for most of my life. I remember her getting a nickle raise when I was about 7 or 8, I don't know what she made, but it surely couldn't be much.

So our meals tended to be simple with cheap ingredients. PB&J sammies, hot dogs, beans-n-wieners, hamburgers, potted meat sammies, S.O.S., TV dinners, tuna casserole. Two meals she actually cooked was Beef Stroganoff and Chicken Caruso ... the only time I've heard of Caruso. It was either Ragu or Prego spaghetti sauce in a jar with diced chicken over rice. The Stroganoff was whatever beef was on sale mixed with sour cream and cream of mushroom soup topping rice as well. Other than that, most meals were samwhiches or out of a box.
 
Dad usually worked 3 jobs when I was a kid, one of which was at my great uncles slaughter house, so meat usually wasn't in short supply. Mom usually made sos, (chip beef or ground beef) burgers in gravy, quick fry pork chops and gravy, lots of mashed potatos, goulosh, potato soup, bean soup, whatever frozen or canned veggies that were on sale. I can remember mom buying small boxes of frozen french fries that were 10 for $1.00. She made terribly dry salmon cakes:yuk: so I have never bought a can of salmon as an adult. We did have lots of fresh fish and crabs back then, very inexpensive. Boxed mac and cheese 4 for $1.00 I believe.
Lots of PB&J, very seldom any dessert.
 
chops on sale with veg and baked spuds. pan sauce.
spaghetti
soup from leftover roast (beef lamb ham)
meat pie from leftovers (chicken pork beef)

remember those country and southern favorites like chops and gravy or chipped beef , sausage or hamburger gravy on biscuits were meant to stretch the food budget.
 
my Dad makes a delicious roast beef gravy with leftovers. shreds the beef, my Mum makes mashed taters, & we ladle it over pullman bread.
 
Chili-Mac was one of our favorites. Chili, spaghetti, beans with ham hocks over rice with cornbread or biscuits. Homemade vegetable soup, yeast rolls, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings, beef stew, baked chicken, homemade hamburgers, hotdogs and beans. Kielbasa and cabbage, pork chops with rice and gravy.
 
What is SOS?
I've been coming up with some really random ideas in my head for what it could be... but nothing seems to fit.

Please put me out of my misery!!!

I grew up in a single parent family, so we ate cheaply too. I remember a lot of meatballs and spaghetti, but I don't actually remember much else.
 
What is SOS?
I've been coming up with some really random ideas in my head for what it could be... but nothing seems to fit.

Please put me out of my misery!!!

quote]


ummm... excretion or waste on a shingle, to be gentle! :)
 
SOS is short for "S*** on a Shingle". In our family it meant creamed chipped beef on toast. I suppose everyone as a different version, but that's what ours was. I never liked it much, but it was edible.
 
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What is SOS?
I've been coming up with some really random ideas in my head for what it could be... but nothing seems to fit.

Please put me out of my misery!!!

I grew up in a single parent family, so we ate cheaply too. I remember a lot of meatballs and spaghetti, but I don't actually remember much else.


LOL, S**t On a Shingle is what we always called it :LOL:
 
My mom called it dried beef gravy and served it over toast points. Still can't stand it.
If we needed to stretch it would come in the form of more cracker crumbs in the meatloaf or round steak split 3 ways instead of a higher end piece.
My parents were the type that would go without coats so that I could have a good winter coat. When it came to food, they'd work double shifts if need be to put good hearty food on the table. Roast beef, fried chicken, which I'm sure was like .10 a pound. I also remember mom buying bread on sale 10 for a dollar around the holidays. LOL! And we finished everything until it was gone. Left overs, left overs! And made into different things.
Also have a tip for ya:). If you're ironing, before no iron fabrics, and you have a hungry little girl, take a piece of white bread, coat in oleo or margrine on the outsides, cheese inside, sliced colby (before processed slices). Wrap in aluminum foil, lay iron on for a few, flip over lay iron on other side. Unwrap, and WOW! a picnic for a 4 year old!:LOL:
 
you're ironing, before no iron fabrics, and you have a hungry little girl, take a piece of white bread, coat in oleo or margrine on the outsides, cheese inside, sliced colby (before processed slices). Wrap in aluminum foil, lay iron on for a few, flip over lay iron on other side. Unwrap, and WOW! a picnic for a 4 year old!:LOL:

I make quesadillas that way when I'm travelling, and don't want/will be too late for room service. Pack a tortilla and some cheese and wrap it in foil, and keep it cool (if you can). When you arrive in your hotel - get the iron out and and instant quesadilla!!
 
We had a garden and raised 2 pigs every year. One we sold and the other we had butchered for ourselves. We also did not buy any pre-made drinks; we either had water, iced tea, milk, or coffee.

As far as meals goes my mom made dishes that were quick and cheap:

Creamed tuna on toast
Ground beef with beef rice-a-roni
Hotdogs sliced and mixed with Pork 'n' Beans
Hot dogs sliced and mixed with tomato soup and served with mac and cheese
No frozen or processed potatoes. We made French fries, hashbrowns, mashed potatoes, etc from scratch.

One thing my mom insisted that we did have every night for dinner was a green salad. To this day a green salad is a favorite part of my dinner.
 
Mom and Dad always had a garden, when we lived in the city and later in the country. I'm sure they used cost cutting methods, but our meals never seemed that way. Mom cooked everything from scratch. I've never been much of a meat eater so I was happy with veggies, salad and always a dessert. She cooked lots of chicken, pork, beans, greens, rice, macaroni and cheese (the real stuff, not the box) rolls, biscuits, desserts. I remember she used leftover bread, biscuits, toast, etc to make a delicious bread pudding with raisins or pineapple and sometimes nuts. There were four kids but we always had plenty. I don't remember having steak often, but we had roasts.
 
SOS takes me back to the Army, I loved it, the Army did a really good job and you got all you could eat. The other favorite was fried liver still the best I have ever had.

later
 
It was very simple how we got by. My Mom made everything, and I really mean EVERYTHING from scratch and bought the ingredients in bulk and on sale. She baked bread, cookies, cakes, etc. every week. We had fruit trees in the yard which went into pies and our lunch boxes. We would go to the farms and get corn, other fruit, strawberries, etc. and she would spend weeks canning, freezing, pickling, with help from my sister and I. My parents would buy a side of beef and have it packaged in various cuts. She would turn this into all sorts of dinners. I remember she even made her own mince meat and corned beef for awhile. Even when she started working in my Dad's pharmacy she tried to do as much scratch cooking as possible. But by that time I was able to take over a lot of it (age 12) and loved doing it.

Oh, what did my Mom do in her spare time? She made many of our clothes! (But that's a different forum LOL!!)
 
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