Men’s Rights Jeopardy: I’ll take “Kill the B*tch” for two dozen upvotes, Alex.

Also, having actually been PB&J broke (fish food comes first, always) I can attest that dollar store bread is not fucking bread as you know it. Tried spreading the peanut butter and it ripped, so check the nutritional panel cuz really, how do you fuck up bread? Sugar is not listed, HFCS is, that’s how you fuck up bread.

My point here is that if you want an actual meal, you need real bread. Also, yeast doesn’t eat HFCS.

They did have legit instant oats cheap though, so there was that.

Katz — plus food deserts. I can cook, if I can get to a real grocery store, which I could not. (Thankfully there was a subway in walking distance and a foot long sub is enough to last me all day)

Well, there are usually lots of problems with those types of calculations (most often failures to account for the actual purchasable quantities, eg, “Where do I buy a single stalk of celery?”), but I think the more important issue is the underlying point being made. Too often it’s “It’s mathematically possible for you to create healthy, balanced meals on this amount of money, so there’s no problem here.” Obviously that’s not correct no matter how perfect the calculations are.

Auggz — it isn’t healthy long term to eat just that, but yes, it is cheap. Lunch for a week for well under $10, even with real bread and name brand peanut butter. Canned goods are, if you can get them home (argh to shopping by bus!), a better bet nutrition-wise.

I can get pork for about 1.20 a pound when I buy a whole six, seven pound shoulder.

It’s one of those situations where if you’re buying a lot, the price goes down. But you’ve got to have space to keep it, etc. There’s economic privilege in that–and in having the time to prepare it. And energy.

I love to do some home cooking, when I can. You can do a lot of fun things with an hour free in the evening to prepare the food.

Maybe she meant a salad bar at a restaurant? I don’t remember. I also don’t remember seeing too many restaurants lately with salad bars. They seem to be passé. Or maybe I’m just not eating out anymore (this is true).

Too often it’s “It’s mathematically possible for you to create healthy, balanced meals on this amount of money, so there’s no problem here.” Obviously that’s not correct no matter how perfect the calculations are.

There’s also the problem of knowing how to cook, or having the time/energy/inclination to do it, or the cash to spare getting more food if you cook something and it turns out inedible. Yes, we laugh at the “dude who never learned to cook” meme, but dipshit fantasists like Mr PB&J aren’t the only ones going to run into those problems. (Not that he actually would, if he has to be getting ten grand a month to be paying that sort of child support.)

It also really helps to have a wide array of pots and other kitchen equipment, including a big stockpot, which surprise! Not everyone has. Also a living arrangement where there are no other people sharing the kitchen who’ll be annoyed if you take up the stove for several hours, and, you know, a stove. A big freezer is also helpful, and again, not everyone has one. Plus space and the correct containers to store bulk foods in a way that doesn’t leave them vulnerable to pests.

I really do think it would be awesome if more people a. knew how to cook and b. had the time, energy, and resources to do so. But I always get uncomfortable when it’s assumed that all of those things are true. I once looked at a flat in London that had nothing in the kitchen in terms of equipment except a small fridge with a freezer big enough for a carton of popsicles and a microwave. Anyone living in a place like that is going to have a hard time with the whole “cook meat stews to stretch your budget, and lentils!” thing.

When I was in high school, in the years prior to the last one (when we finally got access to a kitchen), I learned how to cook all kinds of things on a little toasted sandwich maker. Also does sausages!

On electric kettles – I was so confused when I moved to the US and realized nobody here really uses them. I was all, but how do you make…and then I realized that the answer is that Brits drink more tea.

(You could also use one of the hot water urns that’s kind of like an electric samovar that they sell at 99 Ranch.)

@ kittehs

If mum drinks a lot of tea/other hot beverages I’d recommend one of the hot water urns if you can get them there. Any Chinese or Japanese grocer should have them. Fill with water, press button to dispense when needed. Way too heavy and oddly shaped to mistake for a stovetop kettle.

My parents built a house in the early 1980’s and saved money by buying used appliances. The first stove welded itself to our kettle. The second one had two elements that just never worked. My siblings (flush with being newly employed) bought them (well, mom, really) a new fridge and stove, and the stove had all kinds of fancy new features like a rotisserie. Mom couldn’t get it to work, and because it was new, called the repair guy to fix it on warranty. He spent about 2 hours tracking down every possible thing that could be wrong, and couldn’t figure it out. On a whim, he checked the voltage on the electrical outlet again (which had been his first step), and found it WAY off. Turns out that outlet, the stove outlet, had never been grounded for the whole two years we’d been living there. Hence the whole welded-kettle thing.

I seem to be rambling aimlessly about irrelevant things. Perhaps I should up my blood sugar.

Is the kettle studded with diamonds? That’s ridiculous. Even the Le Creuset ones don’t cost that much here!

I know, it’s just absurd! Talk about daylight robbery. The cheapest metal kettle I’ve seen so far was $59, and the reviews said things like “tarnishing already” and “like a steamroller – slow and loud”.