Living Below the Line - Day 4

The Brick and I continue our food experiment on Living Below the Line. 

It's not been too bad. (I do miss the meat. We eat a lot more meat than I'd realized.) Although I wouldn't enjoy eating like this for extended periods, we actually lived on a similar budget as poor college students. Our mainstays:

     *canned chicken noodle soup
     *ramen noodles (we bought Sapporo Ichiban by the case at the local Japanese market)
     *peanut butter and jam sandwiches on homemade bread. (The Brick still loves this. I'd rather have just plain bread and butter.)
     *Pig in the Blankets (recipe over in my foods blog soon)
     *pancakes and waffles (still the Brick's favorite on Saturday mornings)
     *carrots, onions and potatoes - still the cheapest veggies out there
     *any fresh fruit or veggies in season.
     *hamburger, with an occasional steak or beef stew (the latter served over rice)
     *roast chicken (with the bones and bits used for soup and casseroles)
     *pork chops or pork steak, sliced thin. Also bacon -- usually the 'bits and pieces' package -- and the occasional bratwurst.
     *smelt and whatever fish was cheapest - it was salmon, haddock and tilapia back then. (We switched to trout when we moved to Colorado, and salmon is now a luxury. Shrimp is the cheap indulgence, instead.)
     *rice and beans (heavily relied on for this week's challenge)
     *lots of soup, generally made from leftovers

Home-brewed coffee, an occasional beer or glass of wine, and brownies rounded out the essentials.
     Our diet was heavier on starches than it is now -- and I use more veggies and fruit. (Fewer apples, sadly - they used to be much cheaper in Michigan.) I use more Mexican ingredients, including tortillas and that blessed taste, green chilies. More cookies - especially chocolate chip - than we should have. (The Brick loves his "pogey bait.")
     Otherwise, though, we eat many of the same foods, prepared the same way. That's partly because it's easy. (I still don't have a leisurely schedule, though it was worse back then, working full-time.) Partly because it's healthier. (I bake, more than fry.)

     And partly because it's just plain good.