A Recession Diet?

I was just reading an interesting article on New York Times on-line, the Recession Diet (link in blog title is working). It is about what people are doing to save money. They mention Save-A-Lot supermarkets which is where I shop. I did my shopping there yesterday and believe me the prices are going up. I commented about it to the cashier and she agreed that the increases were getting bad. My niece recently was promoted to assistant manager at Starbucks and her store has seen a slow down. At work (Wal-Mart) they have started cutting back every ones hours. From 40 hours to 35 and sometimes even less. They want cashiers to work only four hours shifts. This is leading to very long lines and disgruntled customers. I guess they figure there is no cheaper place to shop so they will just keep coming back anyway.

In keeping with this frugal attitude I found this ad from Van Camp's Pork and Beans (1974). This ad cracks me up because they are promoting pork and beans as an ingredient for a celebration meal. They have Hole-in-one Peppers, Good Report Card Cantonese, Baseball Muffins and Big Promotion beans. The only one that makes sense is New Car Casserole. After buying a new car you just might need to resort to a few bean meals.

The Big Promotion Beans is the silliest. Heaven help the day when we need to celebrate a promotion with this concoction.

Big Promotion Beans

In saucepan mix 31 0z. Van Camp's pork and beans, 33 0z. Stokley's Finest fruit cocktail (well drained), 1/4 cup Stokley's Finest catsup, 1/4 cup chopped green pepper, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon. Simmer on grill until warm. Serves 6 to 8.

Yes, there is almost equal proportion of beans to fruit cocktail, and with sweet spices. Yuk.