Trying to eat more healthy

[WillyBob]

no it isn't.

[WillyBob]

I think folks might do better if they change how they think about fast food eateries... What they serve is more akin to candy.

 Your first hint there might be a problem is the presence of a nutritional statement.

I feel a rant coming on... better stifle myself now

[BigStewMan]

3 hours ago, HDBRbuilder said:

Did you try to use your toothbrush to get that dog crap out of the nooks crannies on them shoes?  Here's an idea for ya...just save an old toothbrush for stuff like that...your taste buds will thank you!😉

no i threw the shoes away.  i’m OCD -- not going to scrub the crevices and get splashed with dog poop water.  pair of sneakers ain’t going to break me. 

[HDBRbuilder]

34 minutes ago, BigStewMan said:

no i threw the shoes away.  i’m OCD -- not going to scrub the crevices and get splashed with dog poop water.  pair of sneakers ain’t going to break me. 

Even though I am doing just fine in retirement with what my income is, I am still a "cheapass" at heart...mostly due to having been raised by Great Depression-era parents!  I kinda wonder how many on the forum were also raised by Great Depression-era parents?...and ended up learning how to make-do with what we had while growing up?  I was jealous of how my kid brother got things which I never got...like a new bicycle instead of a30+ year-old re-welded frame hand-me-down bike that had originally been purchased in the 1930's!  At least it was genuine Schwinn...with a springer front fork!  LOL!  Once Dad told me that the bike needed painting, as he whipped out a really sorry looking well-used paint brush and a can of olive drab green paint and handed it to me...yes, he was in the military!  My friends: "Hey Andy, why do you always walk around with ONLY one of yer pants legs rolled up above your calf while the other is rolled down?   just buy a chain guard for that thing!"  Me replying: "What the heck is a chain guard?"  We always had ten times more food in the house than we needed...three freezers full...twice a year all kinds of stuff got thrown outta the freezers to make room for NEWER stuff...WHY?  Depression-era parents never wanted to worry about being hungry again!  It was one of the signs of having those kinds of parents!  We threw out almost as much food as we consumed due to that!  Straightening out old rusty used nails so that they could be used again...yet another sign!  I refuse to use straightened out old rusty nails, simply because I can afford not to do that!  Dad had dozens of old coffe cans full of them..."Son, grab a couple of those nail  cans and start straightening-out the ones that need it...while I use them on this here project!"😂

[Marvel]

We lived in a house buit in the 1850s. One summer, we put down some oak flooring my dad had acquired. I pulled nails and straightened them to use again on the flooring. My dad was a civics teacher and the only coach for all the sports at the high school where he taught. In the summer my folk would work detasseling corn, so they would have the money to pay bills. He also taught driver's ed to his students in the summer.

 

All that, and the '50s were still good for growing up in the midwest.

[codewritinfool]

I am only in my early fifties but have siblings a decade older. My parents (RIP both) were born in ‘27 and ‘33, both dirt poor.

 

I am certain I have some of their sense of cautious spending but mostly their sense of what is important in life.

 

I grew up in the sticks and we raised a good portion of our own food. I can’t tell you how many beans I snapped, lol

 

It seemed mom was always canning things, and there was a big area in the cellar full of canned something or other.

 

I had a great childhood and learned a ton from my dad, a veteran of WWII and Korea. He lied about his age to join up. That man could do anything, and taught those skills, electrical, plumbing, framing, concrete, roofing, whatever - to his 3 sons. We were required to know.

 

Mom knew everything about cooking, making clothing, etc and taught those skills to my sisters.

 

We all agree we had GREAT parents. Very rarely got what we wanted but always got what we needed.

 

I am fortunate and grateful.

[WillyBob]

2 hours ago, Marvel said:

I pulled nails and straightened them to use again on the flooring

 

this sounds familiar

[CECAA850]

5 minutes ago, WillyBob said:

 

this sounds familiar

Every year after Christmas my brother and I had to remove the aluminum "icicles" from the Christmas tree one by one so that we could re-use them the next year.

[WillyBob]

I still do.... But, I'm too cheap to buy a tree.  I cut/trim our arborvitae and make a Christmas tree bouquet using an old wheel as a stand. My dad would be proud.

 

for me

a Christmas tree is just very expensive firewood. And not very good wood, at that

 

I feel like I should add a "Bah Humbug"

[WillyBob]

back to food

apple season 

I love this time of year.   We can get heirloom varieties.

Not like you folks in IN... Elkhart/Bristol was all about apples until WA. There are orchards where you can get 10 different Russet[?] apples. I'd have to ask my sis...

 

[Marvel]

We get a lot of fresh food at an Indian store (India Indian), and the prices are usually very good. There are some good Asian stores around here also. Apples we have to get at one of the major chains, but a lot of them don't have much variety. Wally World, for all of it's socio economic faults has the most variety here. We do have a lot of locally grown apples here in N. Georgia, that tend to be pretty good.

[MookieStl]

On 10/10/2019 at 7:40 AM, codewritinfool said:

I am only in my early fifties but have siblings a decade older. My parents (RIP both) were born in ‘27 and ‘33, both dirt poor.

 

I am certain I have some of their sense of cautious spending but mostly their sense of what is important in life.

 

I grew up in the sticks and we raised a good portion of our own food. I can’t tell you how many beans I snapped, lol

 

It seemed mom was always canning things, and there was a big area in the cellar full of canned something or other.

 

I had a great childhood and learned a ton from my dad, a veteran of WWII and Korea. He lied about his age to join up. That man could do anything, and taught those skills, electrical, plumbing, framing, concrete, roofing, whatever - to his 3 sons. We were required to know.

 

Mom knew everything about cooking, making clothing, etc and taught those skills to my sisters.

 

We all agree we had GREAT parents. Very rarely got what we wanted but always got what we needed.

 

I am fortunate and grateful.

I am ten years ahead of you and was the youngest of five children, so yes, I had depression era parents. Many great skills were passed down, like how to cut the mold off cheese and eat the rest, and the famous mayonnaise jar of bent nails. My brother and I one time (we were 10 & 11 +/-) walked to the hardware store and bought a couple of boxes of nails for our dad's birthday! He was not amused.

 

Like you, I had wonderful parents. Not everybody gets that! I am very grateful. 

[CECAA850]

8 minutes ago, MookieStl said:

Like you, I had wonderful parents. Not everybody gets that! I am very grateful. 

Me too.  They both died in their mid ninety's and born in the 19 teens.  1914 and 1917 I think.  They were VERY frugal and kept their pantries and shelves loaded at all times.  They also kept a refrigerator and 2 freezers full of food constantly.  They definitely remembered the lean years and wasted nothing.

[RT FAN]

 I am with those who cook for themselves rather than bringing in or going out for dinner. Don't get me wrong my wife and I take advantage of the great dining scene in Manhattan, although mostly for state occasions, birthdays and anniversary. Going out has gotten prohibitively expensive. At our house we have a chest freezer in the basement which we keep well stocked. Meat and fish get wrapped in Saran Wrap, put in foil and then into a Ziploc bag, which is labeled and dated. I keep an inventory sheet of everything and try to use whatever is oldest first. It appeals to my German-Virgo nature. Yeah, my old man ws a child of the depression and it bugs me to no end to waste food.

[WillyBob]

12 minutes ago, RT FAN said:

Going out has gotten prohibitively expensive

 

Amen

 and eat better at home.

 

It is nice not having to clean the kitchen after...

[RT FAN]

I am an old busboy, so cleaning up doesn't bother me too much but yes, you are right, it is nice to have everything taken away from the table. tomorrow night my wife and I will grill up some pork chops, saute some broccoli in garlic and oil, and have a salad. Throw in a $12-15 dollar bottle of wine and we can have a really nice meal for less than $25 for the two of us. Restuarants in the city have taken to pricing wine 2 1/2 to 3 times retail. Having to pay $75 for a $25 bottle makes little sense to me. Tough to go to a decent place and get out of there for less than $150 these days. Forget "Nice" places, entrees start at $48 and move up from there. We are getting priced out of Manhattan.

[mr clean]

I like to eat at home, but we do eat out also. I like the thought of knowing who prepared the food, and whats in it. I the older I get, the more I like eating at home. And don't get me started about sleeping in Hotels! 

[Wolfbane]

On 10/10/2019 at 12:29 PM, CECAA850 said:

Me too.  They both died in their mid ninety's and born in the 19 teens.  1914 and 1917 I think.  They were VERY frugal and kept their pantries and shelves loaded at all times.  They also kept a refrigerator and 2 freezers full of food constantly.  They definitely remembered the lean years and wasted nothing.

 

I was lucky too. My dad was born in 1923 and depression era raised and things got tough after the big market crash for his family of ten. It wasn't until he and his brothers went into the military starting in the fall of 1939 that the household started to recover. My dad's dad was a Swiss Trained Chef so the food was always good at their home, but my grandmother only taught the girls in the family to cook. My dad, who could barely boil water absolutely depended on my mother to cook to survive, did all the grocery shopping in our household and I learned to always keep the pantry, basement shelves and fridges and freezers full from him. Especially with household staples when they come on sale. Drives my wife crazy sometimes though (until she actually needs something). Made sure I learned how to cook well before I left my parent's nest to make my way in the world without having to resort to having to eat much fast food.

 

The first rule I taught my girls (now married and/or out working) was to be frugal, humble, compassionate and honest (and always vote in every election). They think I've turned into their grandfather. Especially when I make them homemade citrus cleaners and things like that. 'Here's some lemonade' on a Monday, followed three weeks later with a citrus and vinegar cleaner made with the peels.

 

Wb

[Wolfbane]

On 10/10/2019 at 8:47 AM, Marvel said:

We get a lot of fresh food at an Indian store (India Indian), and the prices are usually very good. There are some good Asian stores around here also. Apples we have to get at one of the major chains, but a lot of them don't have much variety. Wally World, for all of it's socio economic faults has the most variety here. We do have a lot of locally grown apples here in N. Georgia, that tend to be pretty good.

 

Check out the stainless steel made products at the Indian store if you haven't already. The make very good 18/10 steel spice containers and things like that.

 

Wb

[twistedcrankcammer]

On ‎10‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 12:32 AM, HDBRbuilder said:

Even though I am doing just fine in retirement with what my income is, I am still a "cheapass" at heart...mostly due to having been raised by Great Depression-era parents!  I kinda wonder how many on the forum were also raised by Great Depression-era parents?...and ended up learning how to make-do with what we had while growing up?  I was jealous of how my kid brother got things which I never got...like a new bicycle instead of a30+ year-old re-welded frame hand-me-down bike that had originally been purchased in the 1930's!  At least it was genuine Schwinn...with a springer front fork!  LOL!  Once Dad told me that the bike needed painting, as he whipped out a really sorry looking well-used paint brush and a can of olive drab green paint and handed it to me...yes, he was in the military!  My friends: "Hey Andy, why do you always walk around with ONLY one of yer pants legs rolled up above your calf while the other is rolled down?   just buy a chain guard for that thing!"  Me replying: "What the heck is a chain guard?"  We always had ten times more food in the house than we needed...three freezers full...twice a year all kinds of stuff got thrown outta the freezers to make room for NEWER stuff...WHY?  Depression-era parents never wanted to worry about being hungry again!  It was one of the signs of having those kinds of parents!  We threw out almost as much food as we consumed due to that!  Straightening out old rusty used nails so that they could be used again...yet another sign!  I refuse to use straightened out old rusty nails, simply because I can afford not to do that!  Dad had dozens of old coffe cans full of them..."Son, grab a couple of those nail  cans and start straightening-out the ones that need it...while I use them on this here project!"😂

 

Hey Andy !!

 

Mt best friend is worth over $20 Million and he hasn't even inherited over Ten Million in land from his parents yet who are both still alive. His Grandfather was a share cropper who saved all his money at home and paid cash for land during the great depression and started his own family farm. The great depression messed him up so bad that he still routinely went dumpster diving for free stuff after he was old and a millionaire.

 

Roger