7 ms·

I lived on the streets for a time as a teen. When I got off and had my first real place to live, I couldn't afford much. I had potatoes, butter (was like heaven

I lived on the streets for a time as a teen. When I got off and had my first real place to live, I couldn't afford much. I had potatoes, butter (was like heaven) soy sauce and mustard. So that was my dinner for months. My co-workers thought I was crazy when I microwaved a potato and put soy sauce and mustard on it. I simply didn't have anything else. Later I got pickles and cheese (the greatest thing I had ever had up till then). But I was so grateful for having something the thought of feel anything negative about it didn't even cross my mind. I couldn't afford snacks, so that was my meal, my only food for hours before and after. I think so many "problems" society has today is because we are all a bunch of rich snobs. And I have to remind myself to remember how grateful I was when I was really poor. I never want to lose that gratitude, it's protection against all kinds of mental/emotional problems.

danielbigham 8y ago
I absolutely love your sentiments. hug
Qwertystop 8y ago
I've been lucky enough never to be in a situation like yours (not having the money for food that isn't in the vicinity of the cheapest), but since the first time my college dorm had a kitchen I've been making an effort to keep food costs low (with a more recent additional shift away from meat), and I've come to a similar realization. Even when the option for something more is always there, keeping my standard meals simple (currently, miscellaneous-root-vegetable stew, or rice-and-beans, or half an acorn squash with raisins) means that on when I occasionally have reason to go for something fancier (once a month or so), the thing that would have gotten boring ages ago for some people (a turkey Reuben from a deli) is really good (and still much cheaper than a comparable step-up would be from a higher baseline).
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  Remind yourself of this lesson in the future, as in my experience, these feelings can be dulled over time or through neglect. I have also spent time cooking a specific meal (the same one) over and over again at home tweaking it to get it to be as good, or better, than the restaurant, so I can have the same experience without the expense. But also, it's funny how simple foods can be satisfying. I've been around some really rich people that are total food snobs and I feel a little sorry for them. They can't enjoy homemade or simple foods.
elagost 8y ago
Even though it must have been very difficult, living a harder life seems to have given you a super power to transcend the silly little things that everyone else seems to care so much about. Personally I find I get wrapped up in the little things quite often, and only after do I really understand I wasted so much effort on something meaningless. I'm not suggesting trauma tourism, but I am interested in a way to broaden my horizons and understand this mindset. Is there anything you'd suggest one can do?
- appleiigs 8y ago
  I flog myself by hiking and running long distances. You gain a bit of toughness when pushing yourself to the limit (exhausted and a bit hurt), while in a thunderstorm, and you are still 1 hour away from finishing. (And while we are talking about food. Intermittent fasting is a similar experience. Going hungry for a while makes you appreciate food in a different way.)
  - chrischen 8y ago
    The expectation of food after fasting is such a great feeling–better than the act of eating itself.
  - RobertRoberts 8y ago
    I agree, I've had the same experience with exercise and food. I consistently eat one meal a day right now. The reason is that I simply don't need that much, and I am really hungry by dinner time. But if I want to eat lunch I do. The "appreciate food" angle was what really helped get into intermittent fasting. The fact that my food tasted _so_ much better (the same food as always) made me appreciate feeling hungry for an hour or more before meals. If I am hungry, I know full well that dinner is going to be good, no matter what it is. Thanks for the reminder on this topic. I have taken a year off of running as an experiment for weight control. I found food intake was the primary mover for weight control, not exercise. I've lost a lot of weight with no exercise. Looking forward to start running again this spring. :) (got a little giddy from the reminder your comment gave me)
kzrdude 8y ago
Thoughtful! Also thanks for the reminder about microing potatoes, it totally works (and tastes something between boiled and baked).
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  My pleasure, I do wonder if there's something to be concerned about microwaving food... a concern for another day. I found too that if I put a bowl/cover over the potato, it steams it as well, and cooks faster and is more moist.
dustindiamond 8y ago
One of my favorite meals is a plain hotdog bun with yellow mustard.
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  Nostalgia from childhood? Or are you currently not doing very well? There's more places to find help than you can imagine. Let me know if you stuck, and I can post some resources.
ip26 8y ago
FWIW humans need more than potato & soy sauce in their diet to be healthy long term, so at least for that part wanting more doesn't seem like snobbery. (You can subsist on potatoes, and you can even do it for a while- but for example young children develop deformities if they lack certain vitamins, which potatoes do not have)
- barry-cotter 8y ago
  Really cheap nutritionally complete diets; potatoes and milk, rice and beans, peanut butter and bread. Note that these are all ~carbohydrates and protein.
  - Engineering-MD 8y ago
    You need a degree of fats in your diet for fat soluble vitamins to be included too.
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  If you haven't ever lived at subsistence level you may not understand what you are facing in reality. Food is food, better to have a deformity than to be dead. There are tons of greens in everyone's backyard in America right now that you can eat. Half the weeds in your yard are editable and would fill in all the missing nutrients. Education is the problem here, maybe not so much resources. (unless famine?) But also, when I eat the same meal every day, I do feel a certain hunger for other things after awhile, so I don't disagree about nutrients.
  - Noumenon72 8y ago
    You can't subsist on greens, they're 8 calories a cup (47 grams). You would need to eat thirty pounds a day of lettuce out of your back yard. That's polluted urban soil so it would probably poison you whilst you starved.
    - RobertRoberts 8y ago
      I was merely pointing out that probably a few bites of greens (not covered in chemicals, where do you live?) has enough vitamins to stave off scurvy and a host of other nutritional deficiencies... not feed you outright.
black-tea 8y ago
Yes, as we get richer we lose something. We lose the ability to like those simpler things. A 17 year old kid loves his clapped out 1.2 Clio at least as much as you love your BMW Super Truck X Series.
- justtopost 8y ago
  So true. I sold my exotics and drive cars I always wanted as a kid. Its more fun, and cheaper to boot. I can't help but smile every time I see one of my cheap little cars.
  - pertymcpert 8y ago
    Which cars are they?
thunderbong 8y ago
Thanks for that. It brought back some memories! One point though, looking back at both those phases of my life, I noticed that I became aware of my snobbery only after I could afford everything, not while I was going through the tough times.
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  Yah, that is my experience as well. And it wasn't right away, it crept up on me slowly, and it was hard to come back from a little. But I knew it was from the old saying "a luxury once tasted becomes a necessity."
HNLurker2 8y ago
Gratitude makes you a boring person and a boring life story. At least that's what I am (nobody).

danielbigham 8y ago

I absolutely love your sentiments. hug

Qwertystop 8y ago

I've been lucky enough never to be in a situation like yours (not having the money for food that isn't in the vicinity of the cheapest), but since the first time my college dorm had a kitchen I've been making an effort to keep food costs low (with a more recent additional shift away from meat), and I've come to a similar realization. Even when the option for something more is always there, keeping my standard meals simple (currently, miscellaneous-root-vegetable stew, or rice-and-beans, or half an acorn squash with raisins) means that on when I occasionally have reason to go for something fancier (once a month or so), the thing that would have gotten boring ages ago for some people (a turkey Reuben from a deli) is really good (and still much cheaper than a comparable step-up would be from a higher baseline).

RobertRoberts 8y ago
Remind yourself of this lesson in the future, as in my experience, these feelings can be dulled over time or through neglect. I have also spent time cooking a specific meal (the same one) over and over again at home tweaking it to get it to be as good, or better, than the restaurant, so I can have the same experience without the expense. But also, it's funny how simple foods can be satisfying. I've been around some really rich people that are total food snobs and I feel a little sorry for them. They can't enjoy homemade or simple foods.

elagost 8y ago

Even though it must have been very difficult, living a harder life seems to have given you a super power to transcend the silly little things that everyone else seems to care so much about. Personally I find I get wrapped up in the little things quite often, and only after do I really understand I wasted so much effort on something meaningless. I'm not suggesting trauma tourism, but I am interested in a way to broaden my horizons and understand this mindset. Is there anything you'd suggest one can do?

appleiigs 8y ago
I flog myself by hiking and running long distances. You gain a bit of toughness when pushing yourself to the limit (exhausted and a bit hurt), while in a thunderstorm, and you are still 1 hour away from finishing. (And while we are talking about food. Intermittent fasting is a similar experience. Going hungry for a while makes you appreciate food in a different way.)
- chrischen 8y ago
  The expectation of food after fasting is such a great feeling–better than the act of eating itself.
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  I agree, I've had the same experience with exercise and food. I consistently eat one meal a day right now. The reason is that I simply don't need that much, and I am really hungry by dinner time. But if I want to eat lunch I do. The "appreciate food" angle was what really helped get into intermittent fasting. The fact that my food tasted _so_ much better (the same food as always) made me appreciate feeling hungry for an hour or more before meals. If I am hungry, I know full well that dinner is going to be good, no matter what it is. Thanks for the reminder on this topic. I have taken a year off of running as an experiment for weight control. I found food intake was the primary mover for weight control, not exercise. I've lost a lot of weight with no exercise. Looking forward to start running again this spring. :) (got a little giddy from the reminder your comment gave me)

kzrdude 8y ago

Thoughtful! Also thanks for the reminder about microing potatoes, it totally works (and tastes something between boiled and baked).

RobertRoberts 8y ago
My pleasure, I do wonder if there's something to be concerned about microwaving food... a concern for another day. I found too that if I put a bowl/cover over the potato, it steams it as well, and cooks faster and is more moist.

dustindiamond 8y ago

One of my favorite meals is a plain hotdog bun with yellow mustard.

RobertRoberts 8y ago
Nostalgia from childhood? Or are you currently not doing very well? There's more places to find help than you can imagine. Let me know if you stuck, and I can post some resources.

ip26 8y ago

FWIW humans need more than potato & soy sauce in their diet to be healthy long term, so at least for that part wanting more doesn't seem like snobbery. (You can subsist on potatoes, and you can even do it for a while- but for example young children develop deformities if they lack certain vitamins, which potatoes do not have)

barry-cotter 8y ago
Really cheap nutritionally complete diets; potatoes and milk, rice and beans, peanut butter and bread. Note that these are all ~carbohydrates and protein.
- Engineering-MD 8y ago
  You need a degree of fats in your diet for fat soluble vitamins to be included too.
RobertRoberts 8y ago
If you haven't ever lived at subsistence level you may not understand what you are facing in reality. Food is food, better to have a deformity than to be dead. There are tons of greens in everyone's backyard in America right now that you can eat. Half the weeds in your yard are editable and would fill in all the missing nutrients. Education is the problem here, maybe not so much resources. (unless famine?) But also, when I eat the same meal every day, I do feel a certain hunger for other things after awhile, so I don't disagree about nutrients.
- Noumenon72 8y ago
  You can't subsist on greens, they're 8 calories a cup (47 grams). You would need to eat thirty pounds a day of lettuce out of your back yard. That's polluted urban soil so it would probably poison you whilst you starved.
  - RobertRoberts 8y ago
    I was merely pointing out that probably a few bites of greens (not covered in chemicals, where do you live?) has enough vitamins to stave off scurvy and a host of other nutritional deficiencies... not feed you outright.

black-tea 8y ago

Yes, as we get richer we lose something. We lose the ability to like those simpler things. A 17 year old kid loves his clapped out 1.2 Clio at least as much as you love your BMW Super Truck X Series.

justtopost 8y ago
So true. I sold my exotics and drive cars I always wanted as a kid. Its more fun, and cheaper to boot. I can't help but smile every time I see one of my cheap little cars.
- pertymcpert 8y ago
  Which cars are they?

thunderbong 8y ago

Thanks for that. It brought back some memories! One point though, looking back at both those phases of my life, I noticed that I became aware of my snobbery only after I could afford everything, not while I was going through the tough times.

RobertRoberts 8y ago
Yah, that is my experience as well. And it wasn't right away, it crept up on me slowly, and it was hard to come back from a little. But I knew it was from the old saying "a luxury once tasted becomes a necessity."

HNLurker2 8y ago

Gratitude makes you a boring person and a boring life story. At least that's what I am (nobody).