Back when I was in college before, and always short of money, I did what many students have done over the years, and subsisted largely on one of the least expensive foods available, boxed macaroni and cheese. But when you think of macaroni and cheese, don’t think of the high-quality product from the likes of Kraft. No, I usually had to buy the generic product, which was less than half the price but with comensurate taste. I kept a few boxes of Kraft, “the good stuff”, on hand for special occasions.
But there are some foods (and I use the term loosely) that even a poor college student won’t eat. One day I was looking at cheeses in the grocery store, and saw a bunch of products labelled “cheese food”. These are products with cheese content below the minimum percentage required by the FDA to be labelled as cheese. That didn’t bother me too much; that’s the kind of stuff that was in the generic macaroni and cheese boxes.
Then I saw a package labelled “cheese food substitute”. I can only surmise that such a product contains no cheese at all, but I have no idea what it’s actually made of. Soybeans and pressed sawdust? I wasn’t about to try it.
I’ve never again seen “cheese food substitute”, but then again, I haven’t gone looking for it. It’s probably still out there. Google shows 181 hits on a search, but I didn’t bother to read any of them.
Squeeking by on minimal money, work and GI Bill with rent taking 80-percent of the income, I espied the grocery store ad. Top Ramen, 8-cents per pack. This was back in 1982 but, even then, it was a very low price.
The store was a local chain with several outlets. Went to each store and asked for cartons of the stuff from the back room. Hit each store. Bought them out.
Believe I obtained around 40 cartons with 24 packs per carton. Kept me going. When some extra money came along (a rare event) would buy a pack of the 49-cent turkey hot dogs, slice them up, and add it to the ramen.
After using the stockpile…. never had ramen again. Ever. Likely never will.