My neighbor is on a fixed income

Terrific for all of you! Lucky dogs to be so much loved.

Gilbert still takes care of the dogs; we pay him a little more since he’s no longer right next-door and he has to make two trips a day and drive over but he still loves taking care of them!

There are two gay men living in the old house, Gilbert is so funny, he said they were stuck up bitches

I rarely eat fast food for lunch but every now and then when I’m in a hurry I’ll get something at burger king because its fast and close to work. Whenever I do I see the same woman and we always talk and say hello to each other, she’s 78 years old. A 78 year old should not be forced to eat a fast food value meal every day, yet she makes her way around the corner for food, the sad reality is she says is its cheaper for her to eat unhealthy than it is to cook or buy whole foods. That’s what she tells me. I want to live in a country where my taxes help pay for healthy meals for all seniors and I'm not talking government grade food. I'm talking good healthy premium whole foods!

I know how it is. My income is gradually shrinking.

I'm a low income senior and cook 99 and 44/100% of my own food, including bread. I'm also a food snot, as you know. Fresh vegetables, my staples, are pricy and my closest market has a bad to moderate selection. It takes some effort to cook veggies, especially if once a month on stamps, and freeze them so they somehow come out delicious. I do that, I'm getting good at it, but not every elder can. There is a food distribution place some miles from me, but that is mostly stuff in cans and takes lining up, plus getting there in the first place.

I'm lucky, I know how to caramelize onions and all that. I could teach, but where and how?

When I was looking for a cooking class I did a search on Google and found the woman who was a retired chef, she started out with a very cheap website someone put together for her. She’s retired and just does it in her spare time for extra money. I think the site cost her about ten bucks a month but she does pretty well and has built up a small cliental for her business.

I have friends that could put together a nice website for you if your interested, wouldn’t cost you a thing. They owe me favors and some of them are pretty good web designers and graphic artists.

I absolutely don't believe that. She definitely could eat a healthier meal at home for less cost than what she gets at Burger King. She could even eat a healthier frozen meal for less than what she pays at Burger King--when Lean Cuisine meals are on sale, for instance, they are only $2.

A lot of elderly people who live alone don't want to bother cooking for themselves, and shopping just for one can be difficult (unless, like osso, you cook and freeze extra food).

She's not being "forced" to do that. If she's eating at Burger King, it's because she prefers to do that, or it's simply easier for her to do that.

All the senior centers I know of provide a very low cost lunch--a complete meal--and many seniors go to the center for that meal, which may be their main meal for the day, so they don't have to cook, and so they can have a varied diet. And the quality of the food is very good.

I think your taxes do help to pay for those healthy meals at senior centers, jcboy.

I have yet to find frozen meals palatable enough to eat on a regular basis.

Yes, I do know.

I'm pretty fussy about food too, but I honestly cannot find serious fault with frozen vegetables which, particularly if bought in bags, when on sale, are generally less expensive than fresh, particularly if you only need 1 or 2 sevings at a time, since you just take the amount you need out of the bag. Also, with frozen, you get a greater range of out-of-season veggies at much lower cost than buying those fresh.

Fruit I've got to have fresh--so that I buy when it's in season (like apples and grapefruit now). I'll only use the canned stuff to dump on cottage cheese once in a blue moon.

I really think the problem is that most seniors living alone may not want to bother cooking for one, or they don't have the energy or interest to do that. Most of them do know how to cook--they've raised families, etc.

Why not volunteer at a senior center. You have good ideas, and you might be able to stimulate interest in cooking for one, and doing it on a budget.

Lemme tell you something about fast foods. I had a Jr. Delux Cheeseburger with chilli cheese fries. Never mind the nutritional content, it totaled out at $7.50.

Fast? Not in our lifetimes!

Would you find it palatable to eat at Burger King on a regular basis?

Some of the frozen meals are quite good. After my father died, my mother had no interest in cooking for herself. She really liked the Lean Cuisine, and she had one every night. She never ate fast food, or take out food, and much preferred those frozen meals, and they were quite nutritious. She loaded up on them when they were on sale because she carefully watched her pennies too.

The refrigerated already prepared meat and chicken entrees aren't bad either--they heat in the microwave in 4 minutes and feed 2. Just add frozen veggies and it's a fast, easy, nutritious meal, that's not expensive, and a tad better than the frozen meals.

I never mentioned burger meals. I tried taking frozen dinners to work not that far in the past. I never found any that I wanted to eat twice.

Different people have different tastes, Edgar.

I only mentioned the burger meals because the elderly woman told jcboy it's less expensive for her to eat those regularly.

When I wanted to save money, or time, or calories, I always brown bagged my lunch--generally a salad I made at home with a can of tuna dumped into it, or a simple cheese sandwich and a piece of fruit---much less expensive than eating at Burger King, and healthier too.