#60 Recession Busters

Everyone seems to want to spend less these days. Maybe Oprah was thinking of recession busting when she decided to spring for free food from KFC. Unfortunately the promotion fell flat...really really flat...because KFC didn't have enough chicken to meet the demand. And that was just the first day. But, even though the little people didn't get a free lunch, KFC and Oprah got something for free: a lot of bad publicity, which they "richly" deserved because of their incredibly poor planning.

The moral seems to be, if you want to save money cook for yourself.

Here's a recipe for chicken spaghetti that feeds a lot of people for very little money:
source

Watching Clara Cannucciari was fun and I admire her spunk, but I like Ree Drummond's receipe better because it's baked instead of fried. Her web site, ThePioneerWoman.com, is one place to look for simple and frugal recipes. I regret looking at the site today though, because she posted a recipe for Peanut Butter Pie, and now I'm craving it in a big way.

A good book about growing up during the Depression is Mildred Armstrong Kalish's "Little Heathens". Set on an Iowa farm, Kalish's memoir vividly describes the family's way of life, and helps [this reader, anyway] maintain perspective regarding the current economic "crisis". For example, Kalish writes that "the only things my grandparents spent money on were tea, coffee, sugar, salt, white flour, cloth and kerosene." Can you imagine? Now THAT'S cutting expenses to the bone. My own grandmother at least bought raisins, so my father could take a raisin sandwich for his lunch at school. And speaking of Depression-era cuisine, the book contains recipes for making down-home dishes such as Porcupines and Cotton Tops, as well as good old fashioned comfort foods like meatloaf and apple sauce cake. The recipes may also be found online here. Check out "grandma's hiccup cure", too.

As a child born of parents who grew up during The Depression, I have deep roots in thrift; however, in today's world, "denying" one's self during difficult economic times has quite different implications. Hardship then might have meant no meat for supper, or quitting high school to help support the family. Today, I dare say you would be considered a hardship case if you couldn't afford cable TV for a while. (And just in case, you could still watch a show online at www.hulu.com.)