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Recently revived a “poverty meal” from my childhood and my partner was horrified. Recently revived a “poverty meal” from my childhood and my partner was horrified.
Open Discussion

Given the cost of everything, I’ve been prioritizing making sure we clean the pantry out and don’t shop until we absolutely have to. I decided to make some Tuna Mac for lunch and honestly, it was tasty. I jazzed it up a bit more than my mom ever did, but it still gave me fond memories and hit the spot.

My partner was truly horrified. He had the fortune of not growing up with a tight budget, and is unfamiliar with a lot of “poor foods” that I consider delightful childhood staples lol.

In these expensive times, I am grateful that I learned how to be creative and resourceful with food.

What are your poverty/struggle meals you still like or have revived lately?

Edit: before is get more comments I want to clarify that tuna mac is not tuna noodle casserole. They are essentially the same but Tuna Mac is the low budget version. It’s literally tuna mixed into boxed Mac n cheese. There’s no crispy topping, there’s no baking it. It’s a one pot, stovetop meal. I grew up eating both but the stovetop version is the real “I’m making it work” vibe.

Also before anyone assumes the worst of my bf, he did not grow up rich or out of touch. He was middle class, but he’s also not from the Midwest USA so his comfort level with a lot of the Midwest/southern classics is limited. And he just really, really hates canned tuna lol


If a dinner guest decided to carve/cut up your expensive protein without asking first, and botched it up, how upset would you be on a scale of "no big deal" to "would immediately kick out of my house"? If a dinner guest decided to carve/cut up your expensive protein without asking first, and botched it up, how upset would you be on a scale of "no big deal" to "would immediately kick out of my house"?

This past weekend we had some amazing warm & sunny weather in my area. I figured it would be a good time to bring the Kamodo grill out of winter storage and invite my cousin and his wife over for dinner. I bought a full striploin and carved the steaks myself on big side of 1.5" thick and I dry-brined them on a rack overnight.

So I cooked the steaks, and they're looking great, perfect maillard crust. I bring them inside the house and put them on the cutting board to rest, while I go back outside to cook some asparagus spears.

When I come back inside to my horror my cousin's wife had decided to take it upon herself to cut the steaks up, but not in nice normal 1/4" slices along the bias, but in big cube sized chunks and now the juices are absolutely flooding the cutting board from lack of resting.

The kicker here is that my cousin's wife is Vegetarian. She didn't eat any of the steaks at all. So I'm genuinely puzzled why she thought she would take it upon herself to do this.

I like my cousin, so my response to her was a bit measured, and decided to educate her about resting meat after cooking. But that will probably be the last time I invite them over for steaks.