Letters to the Editor
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Beans, beans, beans
Once a month on Sunday during the winter I would make a vat of lentil soup and we'd have that for lunch and never got tired of it. You bring to a boil lentils (I like the little pink ones but you can use the green), chicken broth or water, a big can of tomatoes with the juice, plenty of diced onion, carrot, celery, a bay leaf, a pinch of rosemary, salt, pepper, cayenne. Simmer 15-20 minutes until the lentils are tender. You can add sliced Italian or breakfast sausage coins, bits of chicken or ham, heck, I guess you could add any kind of vegetable as long as it was good for soup. It can be frozen in baggies and stacked up in the freezer.
In the summer I buy a big can of pineapple in juice and add any cut up fruits - grapefruit, oranges, pears, apples, strawberries, berries, apples (just before serving), and we have that in the refrigerator to go with yogurt or cottage cheese.
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Asian Food Stores
"Shop the asian markets: cheap, cheap, cheap"
Mrsbug
You are so right. My wife is Chinese and we save an enormous amount of money by shopping in the Chinese grocery stores. Also, the food is fresher and more varied. Many of the vegetables are unkown to westerners and are delicious. $200.00 will feed 4 people for 2 weeks, and I'm talking pork, fish, shrimp - not beans! To hell with beans!
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Please pay Heather enough to make her immune to the recession. She's worth it.
Ms Havrilesky is the funniest writer that Salon employs. And that's saying something.
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They live!
More HH columns!
As far as I know, she's the only one on the internet whose willing to write critiques that are funny, depricating and damning all at once.
We all do fritter away our days doing things of little value (watching tv, cooking beans) and its wonderful to read someone whose not afraid to make fun of us/her about it.
There is no reason critiquing culture can't be amusing. There is a lot of ridiculousness out there to be mocked. Consumerism has always been a ripe source of mocking. At least since 1984. (See: the John Carpenter film, 'They Live'. http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/the_new_cult_canon_they_live )
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Inspiration for Moderation
Though I found the article a bit snarky about some serious situations, I also frankly relate to the drive and challenge to survive more by using less and to re-evaluate one's expenses.
For me, I take similar inspirations from Japanese sources. Learning how to make appetizing food that's good for you fast by studying bento cooking has been very informative. I can now turn out 4-6 meals in one night in an hour, so one weekend of cooking means I've just made dinners, and maybe even a few lunches, for the week. When that rice cooker is going while I whip up some soboro (a spiced ground meat you can use as a protein in anything), it's a nice feeling.
I'm also learning how to live with less of a commodity Americans take too much for granted - space. My wife and I are getting a friend moving in (whose current city has been economically messed over in the recession). Sure we loose our den, but it also means we have a third income in the house hold, and it gave us a chance to purge a bunch of unneeded junk. (Or as I put it to my wife, If I'm going to blow money on something I'd rather it be a new DS that takes little space than things we don't need)
There is indeed a pleasure in doing more with less. A kind of joy of the strategy of leading your life precisely. I think when Americans rediscover that, they'll be happier, healthier, and more thoughtful of what they do.
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I'm guessing Heather was raised in a much more comfortable environment than I was
Stories about the recession do not make me want to curl up in my cozy apartment and take enjoyment from the small pleasures in life. I already do that. Stories about recession give me nightmares about being broke and having the electricity cut off and not having enough food to eat. Even though I know rationally that won't happen. I'm just going to keep my head down and avoid stories about how we're turning into a third world country and the euro is kicking our ass (although with my husband needing to travel to Spain for business, it's not easy to avoid the knowledge that our economy/dollar is in the toilet).
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Does No One Here Have Health Problems?
As a Type-2 diabetic, if I ate that much bread and that many beans, I'd be chugging insulin instead of maintaining my blood sugar levels through diet and exercise and requiring no Rx at all (plus dropping 100+ lbs that has stayed off for the past 13 yrs).
Granted, I live on Healthy Choice, et al, but it's worked for me.
So, once everyone has saved $$ on food bills, all that cheap food will eventually translate into poor health--hello, medical/Rx bills that skyrocket as you watch them--maybe that was the Plan...
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Back to Beans (For the first time)
Back in the booming 90s, I found myself suspiciously perusing the dried bean section of the local supermarkets, hoping that my unemployment check could pay for enough vegetable protein to avoid beriberi. I was in my early 30s and had just lost my job as a newspaper journalist. There was no hope of landing another -- print journalism has been in recession for at least a half century. So in between hopeless job interviews and a couple dead-end part-time jobs, I studied foreign languages and learned how to bake and cook with the help of Julia and Giuliano (public libraries come in handy in these times!).
The results were pretty nice. Less consumption does not mean less happiness. Over the course of the next couple years I lost about thirty flabby pounds, earned degrees in Spanish and Portuguese, got a great library job and made a bunch of friends around the world. And the first step in that journey began with a visit to the bean aisle.
One word of warning, however. If you are not used to legumes, treat them with respect and maybe a dose of Beano. I discovered that early on when, in a fit of enthusiasm I made a meal of marrow bean stew, whole grain rye bread and raw cabbage salad. What followed was a one-man re-enactment of the Hindenburg disaster.