When I was poor[0] it wasn't really the food that got to me. No, rice kept well and I'd cut up some hotdogs into it or melt some butter or oil or something. The

When I was poor[0] it wasn't really the food that got to me. No, rice kept well and I'd cut up some hotdogs into it or melt some butter or oil or something. The problem was the crushing depression of thinking of every single quarter. Things you take for granted like wanting to read a book or going downtown Toronto to visit friends. Every drive with the car was a gamble. It's this sort of constant pressure that eats up so much of your mental energy. Healthy food on a budget is easy if you're not depressed. Bake some sweet potatoes. Raw carrots with hummus. Eggs. The problem is that you didn't clean the kitchen because you hate your life and now there are all these little ants all over the place. And now you don't want to be home to cook and you can't really go anywhere either because you're broke. But you do anyway, because you want to be around people, and so you stretch that $5 pint of Labatt 50 across as long as you can. It's not a fun life. I don't recommend it. [0] Startup poor in 2009, as in, my startup was failing but I could get an above average job with little more than a resume. I understand that this is not the same thing as proper poor, but it sure felt horrible anyway.