Cooking During Economic Hardship

Economic Hardship Cooking.

Times are tough. Real tough. Money is tight and work isn't as steady for many. That's why when you're cooking during economic hardships it's very important that you maintain some sort of respect with what you're making.

It's pretty clear that in our economy, everyone is making every table scrap count and making every value meal from Jack in the Box count. So hey, why not look to the most fruggle of people to find exactly how to survive during the worse of times.. The Holocaust Survivor Coookbook And by purchasing the most important cookbook you'll ever own will:

Raise money to feed the poor in Israel
Raise money for Jewish Organization all over the world
Preserve great Jewish Recipes
Keep the stories of Holocaust Survivors alive for generations to come
Help us reach our goal of selling 6 million cookbooks world wide

Over 250 mouth-watering Jewish recipes
129 amazing and miraculous stories of courage and survival
Recipes your family will enjoy, stories they will never forget
All profits from every cookbook sold will be donated to the Carmei Ha’ir Soup Kitchen in Jerusalem to help feed hungry Israelis.

By the way, I've looked over that site and as far as I can tell, there's no reason to think that the recipes themselves are actually saved from the holocaust or coming specifically from holocaust survivors.

What it sounds like is that it's just a cookbook with holocaust survival stories interspersed throughout it. Which isn't a bad thing, by any stretch of the imagination. But isn't what it sounds like the title makes it sound like. Besides, that's going to be a shit load of hummus recipes.

While you can help them reach their goals of selling 6 million cookbooks world wide, you would think that Jews would have no shortage of money to spare in cooking nothing but the best pickled fish and corned beef.

It sort of makes you wonder if there's a potato famine survivor cookbook. I mean, I know nothing wets the palate like... holocaust survival stories, but maybe I'll pass on that for now. Not to mention that everyone knows the recipes to the potato famine cookbook. It's you cook children and eat them.

But perhaps we should get on to actual tips for the potential economic downturn. How about cooking on food stamps tips and tricks. You have to wonder exactly how does one cook with just $81 a month, which is the maximum awarded to a single male in Chicago. As far as I know, you can buy pre-made sub sandwiches or little debbie snack cakes. So I guess you can keep from starving with those for a while.

You do have to factor in that you can't buy beer with food stamps. That doesn't mean you can't buy all of the ingredients to make your own beer with it. Eh, see what I'm doing there? You gotta improvise some times.

Or you could just sell the foodstamps for cash and buy weed. You'll get lower than street value, but at the same time if you sell the weed for higher prices and repeat this cycle - then you got yourself some money generating income, boy!

Factor in that your average prisoner is able to get by on 3 meals a day for just $1 in tax payers. Then realize that prison food doesn't look THAT bad. Especially not worse than NO food. Get what I'm sayin, braw.



Okay, I'll get on with actual advice. If you can scrape up a good $15 for a cheap rice cooker, you'll have your starchy carb situation completely taken care of.

Another helpful tidbit would be to watch sales and clip coupons. Especially for shit like fresh fruit, veggies, meat and brand name crap you can't stand to go generic on. Get a shopper's club card at your local store and don't buy anything if it's not discounted by a coupon or the club card. In fact, never pay full retail for anything.

But also remember that just because it's cheap isn't a reason to buy it. If it's so poor quality that it tastes like shit, you've just tossed away the money you spent on it anyway. You should also get a freezer-ready storage bin for soup/chili/crockpot leftovers as that will help you a lot in making big pots of things all at once. You don't want to throw away leftovers on that kind of food budget.

You should also start planning your meals. This helps you keep a budget when you go shopping, even if it's only over the next week. Make a list and stick to it. Not to mention that this will help you a whole lot when it comes to an actual diet.

One major thing to consider and to make sure you have is spices. They don't cost a lot, more than likely around $1 or so and will make even your horrible cooking edible. Salt, pepper, salt substitute, garlic powder, onion bits. All these things are really cheap and will turn a generic meal into something that taste amazing.

Since I'm going to milk this topic for at least another few updates - you know, given that I'm away for the next couple of days enjoying some time up in Northern California, I'll just leave it at this for now.