We've been having a meatless meal here once a week. It's a challenge when you feed 3 adult guys! But I made the decision that we don't need to be having meat or fish every night, plus it's easier on the budget.

I have never tried freezing milk, how does that work for you? Do you put it in small containers if you buy it in a gallon?

I put the gallon(s) of milk in the freezer but it can take a few days for frozen milk to thaw in the fridge so plan accordingly! i took a 1/2 gallon container of milk out of the freezer and put it in the fridge yesterday and it is still almost completely frozen.

"To thaw milk that has been frozen, place the frozen milk container in the refrigerator for a day or two.

For a quicker thaw, you can put the sealed jug of frozen milk into a sink of cold water for several hours. "

https://www.eatbydate.com/can-you-freeze-milk/

I don't know how I'd survive without my big upright freezer. I buy things when they're on sale and freeze away, also I freeze garden produce from the summer. My Food Saver has probably paid for itself many times over.

Summary:
One of the first studies to explore the effects of calorie restriction on humans showed that cutting caloric intake by 15 percent for two years slowed aging and metabolism and protected against age-related disease. The study found that calorie restriction decreased systemic oxidative stress, which has been tied to age-related neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, as well as cancer, diabetes, and others.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180322141008.htm

Interesting side note....
During the Great Depression, life expectancy rose by 6 years.

ate up the tax bonus I was going to use to get that Costco membership. I feel your pain..

we might live forever.

I eat legumes several times per week not because they are cheap, but because they are a superfood that packs a lot of nutritional punch.

1 cup dry lentils $0.87
1 cup dry black beans $0.94
1 medium onion, finely diced $0.10
2 large carrots, chopped $0.34
1 can diced tomatoes $0.72
1 tsp minced garlic $0.04
1 tablespoon ground cumin $0.10
1½ teaspoons chili powder $0.03
½ teaspoon dried parsley $0.01
5 cups hot water
2 teaspoons salt $0.01
½ teaspoon black pepper $0.04

Subtotal $3.20

This serves 8, 1 1/2 cups each, so the cost for a single serving is $0.40.

Instructions

Rinse lentils and black beans. Discard any small pebbles or bad beans. Pour them into the slow cooker. Add the onions, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, cumin, chili powder, parsley, salt and pepper and hot water to your slow cooker.
Cook on HIGH for 6 hours.
Mash the soup into a thicker mixture if desired. Serve hot. The soup will be very thick, almost like chili.

We would pool our resources together (on the floor of the dorm, about eight of us) and make things like that or big plates of couscous or rice for everybody to eat.

Life expectancy rose when adults and children were starving to death?

War torn and poverty hit countries do not see a rise in life expectancy when their people have famines and droughts and little food.

Ireland during the potato famine did not see a rise in life expectancy. Disease and death usually follow famines, not rises in life expectancies.

calorie restriction and famine.

Up to a 50% decrease in calories can be very healthy for most Americans.

Watch the BBC Documentary on youtube. Eat, Fast, Live.

But the RepubliCON great depression had people starving to death. How could life expectancy increase?

UC Davis has a study out that suggests a13 percent increase in life expectancy with low carb eating too. It hasn't been done on people yet.

"From job security to home foreclosures, there are plenty of things for people to worry about during a recession. But a growing body of research suggests that there's one negative outcome that is actually less likely during an economic downturn: death. "

http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1919447,00.html

workplace deaths too.

My father had so little food as a child he developed weird hoarding rituals from it. His breakfast as an 8 year old, was water and flour cooked as mash.

No one really dies of starvation it's vitamin deficiencies, especially in young children, or dehydration, you need salts and electrolytes and when you stop eating, you don't get them and can have a heart attack from it. So records on it are very bad. And what about all the increased suicides? Didn't a recent study show an increase in suicide rates during economic downturns?

But my father's family were Oakies and traveled to California just like in the Grapes of Wrath. His uncles said many people died trying to get to California with them and it wasn't from disease. So, yeah people died from lack of food in the RepubliCON Great Depression.

It's fashionable to minimize death from lack of food in the US ever since W. changed the word starving or hungry to food insecure. So, Time is just jumping on the band wagon. But people do die in the US from lack of food in Depressions and economic collapse. I don't buy the RepubliCON spin on it. Wait 5 years and see the truth come out about it.

Homemade starter costs nothing. My Depression era dad would tell us tales about gleaning, searching for fallen apples left behind after the orchard was harvested, and using them as a starter base for bread making. They made applebutter with fermented apples without any sugar. My grandma grew tomatoes from seeds and canned them. I have grandma's handwritten recipe book, and there are a lot of weird recipes that most of us would never think of making, but her cooking ingenuity got them through both the Depression and the food rationing from WWII.

That's why after her husband died and left her with 4 children, she gave up the farm...the bank took it. Then moved in with her sister's family.

It was her brothers that California kicked out and wouldn't let pick grapes. They joined her on their sister's farm. But with the dust, they weren't getting any crops. I have seen pictures from then. The abject poverty is horrid, the farm house was a flimsy shack. Their clothes were gray and worn. The adults looked like bag of bones, the kids with swollen bellies and dark circles under their eyes.

No amount of creative cooking would feed those people with nothing to their name. Farming in the dust was impossible. The RepubliCON Great Depression was deadly to many people.

and low in nutrition

Not rib-showing thin, just a little underweight. Like people, you don't see many fat old dogs.

Milk, 6 twinkies, 6 bagels, butter, some cheese
A bag of chips and a case of sprite.
Till May 1.

I'll be cooking the 5+ lb whole chicken of which I'll eat 8 oz. of tonight along with 1 serving of rice and beans plus 1 cup of steamed cabbage, a slice of bread, and milk . For dessert, I'll have a serving of jello.

make a pot pie out of it with carrots, potatoes,celeri, whatever is around. I make a bechamel with flour and butter, throw everything in the crust and bake.

The broth..

Unless, of course, you're feeding a family of 10. Then you're screwed.

In our home, we're having financial difficulties, but I have to say if we had in our freezer and larder, what you have, we'd feel safe. You have a lot of food.

Thanks to the kindness of others, our dogs are fed.

I also have to say that we have been the beneficiaries of more kindness than I could have ever imagined.

Just today someone who works for the town gave us 7 bags of wood pellets, which we are going to need because apparently spring is still a few weeks away.

I'm bad at math, but there are 17 days left to the month... and from your inventory I think you can make it. $130 for food? You have that in your home.

And now... I'll admit something else...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181069095

The hospital is an 1 1/2 drive from home and she might be there for a month. Given that I live on $1158 SSDI, I don't have much extra. After my wife was admitted, I decided to do the inventory and calculate how long I could last with the food I have on hand as almost all my discretionary spending money that I have this month and possibly even all of next month will be going for gas.

This extended winter is a kick in the butt. The LP tank is at 20% and I turned the t-stat down to 61 the night my wife was admitted. It's supposed to warm up starting Tuesday so I got my fingers crossed that the LP gas will last for awhile.

I hope the best for you and your family! I've been in a very tight financial situation before and I understand how it is.

you need gas money. I get that.

I so wish I could help.

Also hope your wife is going to be okay.

I have enough groceries for tw0 more days and my propane tank almost empty...no ss check until the 8rh of next month. Thank your lucky stars!

Sorry if I sounded like I was complaining in my OP. I just thought it was interesting that after doing the food inventory and coming up with a meal plan, I could see that I could last for quite some time with the food I had on hand.

I'd say a good two month's worth, but in any case more than enough to get you through the rest of the month.

And especially looking at your food supply, it's clear you cook for yourself and do so quite frugally.

Hope your wife is much better soon.

$2.31 per ample serving.

Four servings:

2 cups flour
2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sugar

Kirkland Pesto 4 tbs
Red Onion
Pepper Flakes
Kirkland Artichoke Hearts - about 12
Vegan Roast Italian Sausage - 2
Gorgonzola Cheese 2 ounces
Arugula - couple of handfuls