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When I was young, poor, and starving in the 1980s, we used to go to Kentucky Fried chicken 10 minutes before closing. They sold everything half price and would often toss in free stuff like desserts that were meant for the garbage can. We discovered this accidentally but then used it regularly.
we used to go to a local bakery before closing and ask for any left overs
I remember this. All the major telecoms had various specials/promos..."enjoy unlimited 5 cents/minute for your first six months". I remember Sprint snail-mailing a $50 check to sign up with them as a long distance carrier. The younger generation has no idea that long distance calls cost more, before cell phones existed. I remember having to make calls out of state and watching the clock, every minute was another ten cents. Some people didn't have long distance service on their land line. If you tried the call just wouldn't go through.
Back when the CLECs were popping up, offering an alternative to your local Ma Bell for phone service, you had to choose who your Long Distance carrier would be. Some carriers created additional company names, such as "I Don't Care", "AnyBody", "Doesn't Matter", etc, so when people said that, they would get signed up for "I Don't Care Long Distance Service", which was really Sprint, MCI, etc.
Coupon clipping.
S & H Green stamps.
Cooking from scratch and having enough leftovers for a second dinner. Taking a lunch to work.*
Homemade gifts.
Women setting hair with curlers, slips and bobby pins, and cutting their kids' hair instead of taking them to a salon.
*Btw, can anyone tell me if it now cheaper to buy school lunches or send kids to school with a bag lunch?
I can't, as my kid is 32 (she was sent with a lunch), but as someone who recently started working full-time again after being retired for eight years, I can tell you it's definitely cheaper to take a lunch, and after the past two weeks, I did exactly that on Wednesday (job is three days in office, two WFH).
There are not many places to get lunch in the building complex where I work, the neighborhood literally on our side of the tracks is rundown and has only the usual pizza or McDonald choices, the neighborhood literally on the other side of the tracks has wonderful Portuguese/Brazilian/Spanish restaurants but is way too much for a daily lunch, and the salads in the best place in the building itself run from $11 and up.
On Wednesday, I realized I had thawed a piece of fish then ate something different for dinner the night before, so I quick cooked it up, tossed it into a container with some leftover vegets, and heated it up in the office microwave at lunchtime.
Now that I'm almost back in the routine of getting up early, dressing properly, and catching a train, I'm going to add "get lunch ready the night before" to my daily tasks. I don't want to spend $15 a day on lunch for stuff I can make so much cheaper at home. My old Dutch ancestors will haunt me in my dreams, Mom at the head of the line.
My dad always frequented the local Wonder Bread "stale bread" store.
Today, they throw away food past it's sell date. Possibly donate it. Back before the government required a "sell by" date, Wonder Bread would sell all of its old bread, rolls and muffins at the "stale bread" store.
You could tell the food was definitly not fresh, but there was nothing wrong with it otherwise. We were kids. We didn't know better.
Somehow, Wonder Bread and Hostess were connected, so you could get old Hostess cupcakes and twinkies for cheap there too. Twinkies never went bad but the icing on really old Hostess cupcakes got REALLY stale.
It was beneath most people to shop at the stale bread store but everything was cheap and my Dad always shopped there. Never bothered me.
On Wednesday, I realized I had thawed a piece of fish then ate something different for dinner the night before, so I quick cooked it up, tossed it into a container with some leftover vegets, and heated it up in the office microwave at lunchtime.
Did you get fired after that? LOL. I thought heating up fish in the company break room is a big no-no, due to the smell. I think I've even seen that specifically mentioned here on the forum, as 'co-worker grievances'.
Coupon clipping.
S & H Green stamps.
Cooking from scratch and having enough leftovers for a second dinner.
Taking a lunch to work.*
Homemade gifts.
Women setting hair with curlers, slips and bobby pins, and cutting their kids' hair instead of taking them to a salon.
*Btw, can anyone tell me if it now cheaper to buy school lunches or send kids to school with a bag lunch?
We have free school breakfast and lunches for all kids in California. The policy was made permanent in the 2022-2023 school year and continues. California was the first state in the nation to pass such legislation. Both breakfast and lunch are provided for students in grades K-12 at all public and charter schools, regardless of financial circumstances.
I cook from scratch and have always make sure while cooking that I have leftovers for additional meals. I cook soups, stews, rice, pasta and frequently vegetarian type dishes. If baking potatoes, I cook a few to make sure I have extras for additional meals.
I haven't been in a hair salon in over 20 years.
My dad always frequented the local Wonder Bread "stale bread" store.
Today, they throw away food past it's sell date. Possibly donate it. Back before the government required a "sell by" date, Wonder Bread would sell all of its old bread, rolls and muffins at the "stale bread" store.
You could tell the food was definitly not fresh, but there was nothing wrong with it otherwise. We were kids. We didn't know better.
Somehow, Wonder Bread and Hostess were connected, so you could get old Hostess cupcakes and twinkies for cheap there too. Twinkies never went bad but the icing on really old Hostess cupcakes got REALLY stale.
It was beneath most people to shop at the stale bread store but everything was cheap and my Dad always shopped there. Never bothered me.
Hostess and Wonder Bread were produced by the same company. It got acquired by another company (its former chief rival), then Hostess got spun off as a standalone.
There was a Wonder/Hostess outlet store near where I lived in Northeast Philadelphia. I don't ever remember buying stale bread there. The bread I bought there was still soft and tasted fine.
BTW, you all do know that the foods you buy are still good past their sell-by dates, sometimes long after them? That date is only the date after which quality may start to deteriorate and stores should take the product off their shelves. There's a deep-discount supermarket chain here called Grocery Outlet Bargain Market that's like an Overstock.com for food: If a manufacturer made too much of a product, or changed the packaging or weight, or couldn't sell everything they made to regular supermarkets, GO will buy it and price it insanely low. Often enough, these super-cheap items (they also have some regular suppliers who provide products at low prices) are close to their sell-by dates. And like regular grocers, if their fresh meats are bumping up against the sell-by date, they'll slap multiple $1 off stickers on them and discount the price by the number of stickers x $1 per sticker.
We have a few stores near me that advertise daily "hot bread at 5 PM or free". We pick up our french bread and similar breads that way.
Any bread we buy that either is reaching expiration date or like french bread at risk of getting hard, we freeze (cutting french bread into slices prior to freezing). Our toaster has a defrost setting which works great for frozen bread slices.
Hostess and Wonder Bread were produced by the same company. It got acquired by another company (its former chief rival), then Hostess got spun off as a standalone.
There was a Wonder/Hostess outlet store near where I lived in Northeast Philadelphia. I don't ever remember buying stale bread there. The bread I bought there was still soft and tasted fine.
BTW, you all do know that the foods you buy are still good past their sell-by dates, sometimes long after them? That date is only the date after which quality may start to deteriorate and stores should take the product off their shelves. There's a deep-discount supermarket chain here called Grocery Outlet Bargain Market that's like an Overstock.com for food: If a manufacturer made too much of a product, or changed the packaging or weight, or couldn't sell everything they made to regular supermarkets, GO will buy it and price it insanely low. Often enough, these super-cheap items (they also have some regular suppliers who provide products at low prices) are close to their sell-by dates. And like regular grocers, if their fresh meats are bumping up against the sell-by date, they'll slap multiple $1 off stickers on them and discount the price by the number of stickers x $1 per sticker.
I had a roomate who tossed EVERYTHING the day after the "best by" date. I guess he thought it was a "becomes lethal poison and horrible death" date.
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