Daanon: On a serious note, someone explain to me why we can't lift the federal subsidies on corn and start planting more food? More supply, less demand, lower prices; then we can have our ethanol and eat it too!

Because the subsidies are what have made farmers produce as much corn as they do. Coincidentally for once a bushel of corn can be sold for more then it costs the farmer to produce so they're selling them. Unfortunately it's to coops to make ethanol.

wait.... you can freeze milk?

and its, like...ok?

According to the National Dairy Council, freezing causes "undesirable changes in milk's texture and appearance. It will have a yellow cast to it due to the separation of the butterfat."

EEW!

Daanon: On a serious note, someone explain to me why we can't lift the federal subsidies on corn and start planting more food? More supply, less demand, lower prices; then we can have our ethanol and eat it too!

Corn subsidies also pay for oil. It takes more oil to make ethanol than what you actually get out of it, not to mention all the petrochemicals you use for fertilizer, pesticides and other things on the farm.

Ant: Isn't all food organic?

Booklegger: No. Table salt is most definitely inorganic.

And yet, you can find "organic salt" in stores.

/ BTW, water's inorganic, too
// And yet

40oz_A_Knight: 1) Unmarried and calls her significant other a "partner" rather than "boyfriend" (heterosexual) or "girlfriend" or "wife" (homosexual)? Check.
2) Works in human resources but claims a fancy title? Check.
3) Buys name brand milk from Target? Check.

This week on You Might Be a Pretentious Coont...

And pregnant with her second child. So even if food and gas remained the same price, how could afford to eat organic with a second child.

dirtyfarker: She's reached "a tipping point" everybody!

I'm about to start cannibalizing my neighbors and she's upset that she can't buy the organic milk produced by free-range cows who get 4 hours of therapy every week.

cow tipping!

Szech: Do you know what this is Marti Tracy?

**rubs fingers together**

SO much THIS.

Tom_Neyman: No one has pointed out yet that this is Bush's fault?

Anyone?

It's all Bush's fault!!!!

/There ya go, Tom.

BlorfMaster: wait.... you can freeze milk?

and its, like...ok?

According to the National Dairy Council, freezing causes "undesirable changes in milk's texture and appearance. It will have a yellow cast to it due to the separation of the butterfat."

EEW!

Yes you can has freeze milk. We've done it for years. It does turn yellow, when it's frozen. We usually leave it in the sink overnight when we want to thaw it out. Once it's thawed, the yellow color is gone and it looks/tastes the same. The dairy farmers just don't want you to know this I'm guessing.

and this happens while poor Britney spent 61$ millions last year...

They should get together... they are both pretty close to the poor house.

Maybe swap coupons or something.

_{/still living payday to payday, slowly getting better, but food isn't ever going to be an issue if I can help it...so really getting a kick out of this story}

way to feed yourself for a week

3 boxes of pasta- $3
2 cans of tuna for extra protein- $1
1 Gallon of milk- $2.99
2 jars pasta sauce-$3.58
1 Box of total-$4
Tap water- $.05
a few veggies- $3

less than 20 f*cking dollars

die b*tch, die!

S_P_I_K_E: atlanta_ufo: 40oz_A_Knight: 1) Unmarried and calls her significant other a "partner" rather than "boyfriend" (heterosexual) or "girlfriend" or "wife" (homosexual)? Check.
2) Works in human resources but claims a fancy title? Check.
3) Buys name brand milk from Target? Check.

This week on You Might Be a Pretentious Coont...

And pregnant with her second child. So even if food and gas remained the same price, how could afford to eat organic with a second child.

Easy. Eat the second child.

Spike

Well, if she only eats organic, then I guess the baby is organic meat.

She lives in Bowie and has a Blackberry? Who did she steal it from?

Raskolnikov's Angst: "I hated her, so much... That...Flames, on the side of my face..."

/me after reading that article
//maybe she shouldn't be drinking that trendy Archer Farms brand milk?

Win

atlanta_ufo: S_P_I_K_E: atlanta_ufo: 40oz_A_Knight: 1) Unmarried and calls her significant other a "partner" rather than "boyfriend" (heterosexual) or "girlfriend" or "wife" (homosexual)? Check.
2) Works in human resources but claims a fancy title? Check.
3) Buys name brand milk from Target? Check.

This week on You Might Be a Pretentious Coont...

And pregnant with her second child. So even if food and gas remained the same price, how could afford to eat organic with a second child.

Easy. Eat the second child.

Spike

Well, if she only eats organic, then I guess the baby is organic meat.

or she'll have a nice placenta to eat real soon...

All I can say is DOLLAR MENU YOU IGNORANT biatch!!

So which bank can I donate to the Marti Tracy fund? I mean, this is a travesty! Look at that tiny, tiny kitchen they had to cramp in to to eat this horrible non organic milk and meat!

/"Sales of peanut butter and pasta, staples for bagged lunches and cheap dinners, also are on the rise, she said." - Just the stuff us fat Americans need to eat more of...

Tracy and her partner also stopped buying the cereals they like in favor of whatever was on sale; stopped picking up convenient single-size packs of juice, water or crackers; and, in order to save gas, stopped going to multiple stores. "I find the whole thing a huge hassle, but I've reached a tipping point," said Tracy, a government human resources specialist who is pregnant with her second child.

But she has all the rug she can munch and the turkey baster was full of man batter recently so she's not too hard up.

what_now


Go find a single mother who's eating rice and beans! Hell, go find a college kid who works 30 hrs a week and is going to school full time!


Ok, I found them. Took forever to find a single mother eating rice and beans, but now I've got two really confused people standing around...

I hesitate to say this, because it's just begging for me to lose my job and start starving, but: If paying an extra $10 a week for groceries is breaking the bank, you may have problems bigger than egg inflation.

I totally feel for anyone in that situation. I was broke for years and I'm far from rich now. All I'm saying is, maybe the Post ought to try talking to folks who are ACTUALLY suffering rather than folks who are just inconvenienced. It's tricky, because those people are busy working three jobs and don't have time to talk to the press, but still...

madmann: I know times are hard, I've recently had to cut back from "hookers & blow" to "one hooker & some Sudafed".

The horror.

I giggled like a schoolgirl...thnaks

In the past 6 months, Walmart has rose from $45 to 55$ a share. Guess I know where people are shopping for the lower prices.

Bin_jammin: what_now


Go find a single mother who's eating rice and beans! Hell, go find a college kid who works 30 hrs a week and is going to school full time!


Ok, I found them. Took forever to find a single mother eating rice and beans, but now I've got two really confused people standing around...

I thought Mexicans were becoming more common in the US?
/Heyyyoh!

Liberal media???? Nah.

I hate Chevy: Yes you can has freeze milk. We've done it for years. It does turn yellow, when it's frozen. We usually leave it in the sink overnight when we want to thaw it out. Once it's thawed, the yellow color is gone and it looks/tastes the same. The dairy farmers just don't want you to know this I'm guessing.

Leaving a jug of milk sitting out overnight is playing russian roulette with all kinds of nasty diseases. Once any part of the frozen 32 degree milk gets to be over 40 degrees, which it will within minutes, any bacteria that have happened to find a home in it will start multiplying. Maybe it's fine this time or the next time, but the time it's not and the stray E. Coli, botulism, or salmonella finds its way in, somebody's getting sick. If you have kids or old people in the house, somebody might be getting dead.

Freezing stuff does not kill germs unless it stays under 0 degrees for something like thirty days.

The_Sponge: BlorfMaster 2008-05-01 07:31:41 PM

wait.... you can freeze milk?

and its, like...ok?

According to the National Dairy Council, freezing causes "undesirable changes in milk's texture and appearance. It will have a yellow cast to it due to the separation of the butterfat."

EEW!


My Mom used to freeze milk if we went to a long vacation. Once we came back home, it wasn't a problem.

Consider the source....the National Dairy Council wants you to buy more milk. Just like Jiffy Lube tell people that the should change their oil every 3,000 miles.


I've been a mechanic for 15 years. I've never worked at a Jiffy Lube or anywhere like it. Change your oil every 3k.


Yes, really. I can show you pictures of what happens to the inside of an engine when you don't.

Its called college living - Ramen FTW!!!

There are other ways to conserve energy. My husband and I pretty much live in the dark haha. Only turn on the lights when they are absolutely needed.

Hubby had this wonderful idea of paying off his car sooner, so he kept his $500 car payments instead of lowering them and having more time. Then, we got our apartment, and the shiat hit the fan.

Also, just because she said partner doesnt mean shes gay. Maybe shes just not married to the guy she lives with (which could be stupid considering that they could save money in some ways with that).

janks369: way to feed yourself for a week

3 boxes of pasta- $3
2 cans of tuna for extra protein- $1
1 Gallon of milk- $2.99
2 jars pasta sauce-$3.58
1 Box of total-$4
Tap water- $.05
a few veggies- $3

less than 20 f*cking dollars

die b*tch, die!

I thought I was the only one on a "student diet"!?

/God knows how many tuna cans i've used in the last couple of years
//Hope no dolphins died :(

I have an idea for a business. I could give myself some bullshiat title like "frugal living consultant" or "budget life coach", and charge pretentious yuppies like Marti Tracy big bucks to show them how to live within their means and save their money. People like her would be dumb enough to pay a lot of money for this advice when they could get the same information from books at the library for free. I swear, I'd make a killing!

I'm crying her a river of teeny tiny violins. It's a terrible strain on my tear ducts. Someone pity me.

Tom_Neyman: No one has pointed out yet that this is Bush's fault?

Anyone?

People were stupid BEFORE Bush got appointed president by the supreme court elected . In fact, while one is the cause of the other, it's not the order you're thinking of.

You know it seems like eating all organic would be terrible for a pregnant woman in this day and age. Certainly you want the baby to eat as healthy as possible but nearly everything has preservatives now, and if that baby isn't introduced to some of them who's to say it won't be deathly alergic? You know, it's like flu shots. Make sure their system can process preservatives first, then make sure they aren't being stuffed full of them. Becuase clearly if this economic squeeze is stretching her so "thin" as to have to shop with the peasants, her child will eventually need to deal with cheap foods.

She's 34.

She's GEN X.

Not a boomer. One of the reasons boomers look so "rich" to Gen Xers is that they have been drinking out of the tap and cutting coupons for decades.

Srsly. In my neighborhood, the older boomers are radically into thrift. Most of them never saw too much more than minimum wage, but the work was steady and they are so damn thrifty it makes your butt hurt just to think about what they use for toilet paper ( rough 1 ply, you just know it - and I swear they'd use junk mail if necessary).

janks369: way to feed yourself for a week

3 boxes of pasta- $3
2 cans of tuna for extra protein- $1
1 Gallon of milk- $2.99
2 jars pasta sauce-$3.58
1 Box of total-$4
Tap water- $.05
a few veggies- $3

less than 20 f*cking dollars

die b*tch, die!

Good job/list, except I can't find edible tuna 2 for a dollar - not even cat tuna. I have to be able to eat it without puking for it to count. $1.50 a can, here. Milk is $4.89 unless I drive out of my way to Costco, which cancels out the savings. I learned freezing milk (and cheese) from my former m-in-law.

But basically - you've got it. I ask students every year to compile a list of what they could eat on a budget (it's always a massive fail for most of them). We eat rice and lentils instead of total. And pintos are cheaper than tuna (for extra protein).

Of course, I spend way more than $20/week/person on food in my house - but I don't have to, and it's a main way we're enjoying economizing right now. Better-prepared, home-cooked meals - high in nutrients - and cheap.

For some reason, Janks, I picture you as under 45 - and therefore, not a boomer. But if you are a boomer, then I'm not surprised that you know how to economize.

Raskolnikov's Angst: janks369: way to feed yourself for a week

3 boxes of pasta- $3
2 cans of tuna for extra protein- $1
1 Gallon of milk- $2.99
2 jars pasta sauce-$3.58
1 Box of total-$4
Tap water- $.05
a few veggies- $3

less than 20 f*cking dollars

die b*tch, die!

I thought I was the only one on a "student diet"!?

/God knows how many tuna cans i've used in the last couple of years
//Hope no dolphins died :(

also peanut butter (yes, generic) plenty of cals, protein

S_P_I_K_E: /do they even have "brand-name" milk other than that nasty soy bullshiat?

Perhaps you've heard of Hood?

I think it's sad when people buy into this organic bullshiat so heavily that they think they have to go into debt to pay the premium for it. But then I think the whole GNP of the US right now revolves around brainwashing people into paying extra for gimmicks and marketing tricks.

Raskolnikov's Angst
I thought I was the only one on a "student diet"!?

/God knows how many tuna cans i've used in the last couple of years
//Hope no dolphins died :(

I've been out of grad school for 3 and a half years, got a job that pays $50k, and I'm still on the "student diet."

When you have no time and no desire to spend a lot on home cooking, you just make everything in big batches and subsist on leftovers.

Options:
1 large pot of brown rice and 1 large wok of vegetables
1 large pot of pasta with veggies and red sauce
1 large pot of stew

Start building nuclear power plants all over the damn place, start drilling off the coast and in ANWR and other federally held land, start building more refineries. With the time that buys us in terms of reducing overall energy costs, start promoting research into meaningful alternative fuels by giving the big bad oil companies (and anyone else who will do it) tax breaks for devoting more of their profits to researching those fuel sources.

Solar, wind, hydro-electric could also be used as stop-gap measures. Any of you scientist types know how feasible it would be to harness solar power from orbit and then use a microwave beam to get it to the surface? Or did I just get that from SimCity?

S_P_I_K_E:

/do they even have "brand-name" milk other than that nasty soy bullshiat?

Where I live, there are usually two choices: the store brand, and th e more expensive "name" brand of whatever other dairy there is in the area. Here in Indiana, that means Dean's at Walmart or Sealtest at Kroger. It was the same when I lived in Tennessee, just a different brand name dairy. The brand name stuff rarely goes on sale, and even when it does, it's almost always the same price or more expensive than the store brand.

I understand the point of the article, but they really needed to pick another subject. I don't really feel any pity for the people who can't afford organic groceries or bottled water, neither of which is really a necessity.

clown-freak: Don't know if it has been said yet but...


SHE'S A WITCH !! BURN HER!!!

THIS!11!!

grizzlyjohnson: I hate Chevy: Yes you can has freeze milk. We've done it for years. It does turn yellow, when it's frozen. We usually leave it in the sink overnight when we want to thaw it out. Once it's thawed, the yellow color is gone and it looks/tastes the same. The dairy farmers just don't want you to know this I'm guessing.

Leaving a jug of milk sitting out overnight is playing russian roulette with all kinds of nasty diseases. Once any part of the frozen 32 degree milk gets to be over 40 degrees, which it will within minutes, any bacteria that have happened to find a home in it will start multiplying. Maybe it's fine this time or the next time, but the time it's not and the stray E. Coli, botulism, or salmonella finds its way in, somebody's getting sick. If you have kids or old people in the house, somebody might be getting dead.

Freezing stuff does not kill germs unless it stays under 0 degrees for something like thirty days.

I guess the last 25+ years of handling milk this way constitutes the luckiest run of Russian Roulette ever then. We have kids. Oh and we did have an old person but, they died of old age before the evil Al qaeda frozen milk germs could get them.

FunkOut
This lady is a dolt. Don't cry when you can't afford brand name organic foods - start crying when you can barely afford powdered milk that tastes like wallpaper paste.

Hey now, I get really good use out of my KLIM. Makes great chowders.

I blame bush.


She should of shaved it.

I don't care about any of this, it's only temporary. Come November I'm going to vote for the right person and that will fix everything.