When you were a kid (answer only if your family was poor),?

There were 5 of us. We weren't dirt poor (thanks to my dad working 2-3 jobs and my mom 1), but definitely on a budget. My mom is the best at making a delicious meal out of nothing. She always made sure we had "staples". Things like flour, salt & pepper, carrots, celery, potatoes and things like that. She just got really creative. We used to have things like spaghetti, meat loaf, tuna casarole, chicken soup, and beef stew. Like I said, she always (and still does) come up with a great meal from what she calls "staples". I am starting to follow in her footsteps now that I have my own family.

We had eight in our family and we ate pretty much the same menu every week. One night was noodle surprise (hamburger with elbows in a cheese/tomato soup sauce), the next night was some kind of spaghetti (then it was never called "pasta"). Another night meat loaf, baked potatoes, lime/applesauce jello. We all had to eat something of everything served on the table. When we had guests and the blue bowl was on the table, that was the "sign" that Mom didn't have a lot of that left in the kitchen. So we kids knew to give it to the guests first. We also knew if there was holiday that included turkey or ham, that the next night would be turkey soup or ham croquettes. Ham tettrazini. Since they bought food in mass, they were always creative with the leftovers. Ham salad, turkey sandwiches. I think in the early 60's, Mom's food budget was pretty tight. Milk was delivered to the house - in fact, any dairy product would be delivered to the house. Same with potato chips. They came in a big can but only the wealthy neighbors had a luxury like that to eat. Soda pop was a treat. The bottles came in a flat and you drank them straight out of the bottle - cold. Summers were special - Mom would make homemade potato salad and ice tea. She'd serve the tea out of a big yellow bowl. And then corn on the cob! She'd make it in her canning pot. It was the best of times. And we never went hungry.

When I was growing up, we weren't rich, but Dad's salary covered the bills. Mom might have had to pinch pennies every once in awhile, but for the most part, we always had plenty of food in the house.

All that changed when I got married during grad school, back in the '70's. Between my husband and I, we made about $400 a month. . .and $150 of that went for rent. My weekly grocery budget was around $15 for two people.

We ate a lot of boxed macaroni and cheese with hot dogs cut up in it or a can of tuna added, along with some peas. I'd buy a family pack of hamburger twice a month, divide it into portions, and freeze them. Out of that, I'd make shepherd's pie, chilli-mac, spaghetti sauce -- anything that would stretch the meat to feed us. Or if chicken was on special, I'd buy that and divide it up for chicken and dumplings or chicken soup.

I also welcomed gifts of windfall apples, pecans or walnuts, extra tomatoes that someone had grown and didn't need, vegetables, etc. I made apple butter, pralines, tomato sauce. . .anything to save money.

Our big treat once a month was to go out to the Pepsi bottling plant on our bicycles (we didn't have a car for the first year that we were married.) We'd buy a case of Pepsis and make it last all month.

The year that we first broke poverty level (about $3000 for two people back then), we thought we were the richest folks on earth. It wasn't an easy time in our lives, but my husband and I both agree that it helped our marriage pull together and taught us a lot about self-sufficiency.

Mom used a pressure cooker as an artist would use a paintbrush! She would take inexpensive cuts of meat, season it with salt and pepper and put it in the pressure cooker along with noodles and somehow, someway, it would turn out the most mouth watering fare possible! We ate "minute steaks" at times and fish stix. Once a week she'd make a big pot of beans and frequently made homemade cherry pie. We bought Swansons pot pies for treats and on Friday nights we'd go to the local frosty and get a burger, fries and milk shake. They didn't supersize in those days and we sure didn't care! She introduced us to yogurt on fruit salad and lemon juice on canned spinach. We never felt like we had to do with out because she was such an exceptional cook!

My spouse grew up quite poor in a family of 6 kids. Even with no running water & no electricity his mom was a marvel. He ate alot of spaghetti with tomato juice & black pepper, peanut butter sandwiches (he would trade with a friend that only got bologna), fresh milk, cream & butter from the family cow, fresh eggs from the chickens his mom kept, veggies from the garden,& burger boiled with potatoes & frozen mixed veggies. This was in the '70's.

When I was a kid my family always had a hard time making ends meet as they were just kids themselves. (they were 19 and 20 when I was born) . I remember eating a lot of chili, goulash, hot dogs, BBQ hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, fried bologna, eggs, anything that was on sale at the store. I remember her reusing the leftovers to make other things with it. Chicken into BBQ chicken sandwiches, taco meat into taco salad, etc. This was in the 80's.

She made the best homemade mac-n-cheese! Also some creamy cheesy potato & ham casserole. On the down side I remember 4 sandwiches made from one can of tuna. Grew up in the 60s/70s.

My mom made macaroni and tomato juice with milk and butter with homemade bread and fried gizzards and livers. There were 6 kids and often many others around. I was born in the late 60's.

yes, we do. my father is very tough and hard working and my mother is very smart and clever when it comes to buying food. we live a pretty decent life but we aren't wealthy, but my friends are. i often dream about owning houses as big as theirs. but i know what i have is more than enough and i don't ever take things for granted. i use my colorful skills to make things better. i help my family improve the house with affordable materials and artistic vivid patterns. so, i love my life no matter what form it takes. i was born in the early 1990's.

Our family was poor when I was young. My mom had 5 kids to support, and was a single mother, after my dad left her for another woman who had 5 kids also. She did a great job, but there were times, for instance when it was thanksgiving, I remember having only popcorn and water. But it did fill you up that way, it expanded in your stomach. And there were times when we had to steal from the grocery store, because we were so hungry. Our mom would get mad at us for doing that because she said we should never steal and she was right, but we really didn't see why at that age. I am glad those times are behind me now.