Black Mothers, Stretch Meals and Food Insecurity

Cheesin’ for the camera at mealtime with my twin. Photo courtesy of author.

Have you ever worried that your groceries would run out before you had money to buy more? 

In the U.S., nearly 18 million households face food insecurity – that’s 1 in 7 families. Hunger is a growing problem as more families struggle to find housing and afford basic needs.   

Food-insecure households also have less access to nutritious food, like fresh fruits and vegetables. Older family members may skip meals, eat less or go hungry so younger siblings and children don’t have to. They make impossible choices: like whether to pay rent and utilities or buy food. 

Despite these obstacles, parents and caregivers often do their best to shield kids from hunger and to make groceries last until the next payday. Cooking stretch meals is one way to accomplish that.  

Stretch meals are budget-friendly recipes with affordable ingredients, like rice, beans, pasta and vegetables, that keep families nourished and communities fed.  

They’ve sustained my family for generations, even long after they were no longer strictly necessary. I sat down with my mother to learn just how much.  

I’m Black American – part of a racial and ethnic group where 1 in 4 households have difficulty affording groceries. I’m also from the South, which has higher rates of hunger than other parts of the country.  

My mother Gwendolyn grew up in Tidewater Virginia in the 50s and 60s. Growing up, she watched my great grandma Hannah — a cafeteria worker at a segregated elementary school, stretch the school’s limited resources to feed her young students. She often made hot rice cereal.

Later, my grandma Helen supported a family of ten children while crafting her own stretch meals, including spaghetti with a little sausage meat for flavor and baked beans with salt poke for seasoning.  

Stretch meals don’t always eliminate hunger. My mom remembers frequently skipping meals in a time well before free school breakfast and reduced school lunches reached segregated schools. However, they did help provide for a growing family.  

Even after my mother left home, married and had four kids in the 80s, the stretch meal tradition continued. Growing up, we ate spicy noodles, with ketchup, hot sauce, onion, and boiled egg – imitating the regional Chinese carry out (yak noodles) she couldn’t afford during her childhood.  

She packed mayo and cheese sandwiches, fried bologna for school lunches and cooked rice cereal for breakfast – no longer a stretch meal, but a treat — with butter, cinnamon and raisins. She made big pots of soup, with potatoes, vegetables and small portions of meat. We also loved her cast iron skillet cornbread – made from cornmeal, milk, butter, a little sugar, and baking powder. It’s a staple in many Southern Black households and a stretch meal that dates back to slavery.  

Stretch meals have nourished my family for generations – even after we no longer depended on them to get by. My mother, grandmother and great grandmother are part of an unbroken line of women dating back centuries who fed their families with love and determination.  

What stretch meals have you tried?  

If you need help signing up for food benefits like SNAP, or WIC, call 211 and ask about eligibility and next steps. 211 is a nonemergency hotline that can also connect you to local food banks and food pantries.

Source:

Household food security in the United States in 2023 | Economic Research Service. (n.d.). https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details?pubid=109895