Sh*t My Dad Says

Sh*t My Dad Says written by Justin Halpern is such a short book I should have finished reading it the day I checked it out of the library. Instead I read a chapter or two and the in between chapter highlights. Example: the heading in On Legos, then there is a short sentence of something Justin's father said. I think there are ten headings between each chapter; some of the chapters are only a couple of pages long. As mentioned, short, easy read that I am considering removing the bookmark and moving on to another book.

One chapter is about the time Justin's mother decided they were going to eat like the people she helped when doing volunteer work. They were "parents on welfare" and "homeless families". She had visited a grocery store in San Diego (or there about) where "some" of the families she worked with shopped. She decided to shop there spending only the amount of food stamp benefits the poor she helped were getting.

Justin continues the story describing the inedible meals his mother began serving. Even his father refused to eat one of those meals. I have experienced both food stamps and shopping in cheap grocery stores. I have never been forced to starve, or eat day old bread (until living on the streets), or make gross meals.

Times may have changed since her experiment (meant to teach her sons what it is like to be poor and hungry), yet twenty-some years ago, food was a lot more affordable than it is today. It was not unusual to get meat bones free. I am guessing: maybe a package of bones costs all of 37 cents. The gist: less than a dollar. Ten cans of tuna fish on sale cost a dollar. I think a dollar would buy 20 cans of Campbell's soup ~ on sale. Del Monte  canned vegetables went on sale 5 for a buck.

Pork and beans or hot dogs were quite cheap. A bag of dried split peas is still cheap, although a bit more in cost than they used to be. Franks and beans may not be the most nutritious meal, but it was edible and affordable. In today's economy with the cost of everything delivered constantly rising, it is not as easy to get bargain foods. I still do not buy day old bread, but I no longer buy the oat grain bread I used to. I do buy store brand cheap hot dog buns which is basically the same as the white bread that I stopped eating many years ago. (Exception: living on streets.)