Free Lunches for College Students

By Frugal Son


It seems to be a requirement that at some point in life, in order to successfully complete the metamorphosis from adolescent to adult, one must go through a period of voracious appetite, limited income, and even more limited cooking skill / desire / capability. Instead of the more elegant process undertaken by caterpillars wishing to become butterflies, humans appear to require a steady diet of Twinkies, queso dip, and Chinese take-out to make the transition to adulthood. College is often looked back upon with nostalgia, though rarely for any lost gustatory pleasures. College, however, does not have to be a desert barren of delicious food, and especially now that more and more universities are improving their dining hall facilities. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned in previous posts, dining halls can be expensive, and even though I’m not the poor, starving college student of yore, I still enjoy seeking out alternative avenues of alimentation.

One of the avenues I have been taking advantage of this year is something that can probably be found on any campus: free church lunches. Though I have known about these lunches since my freshman year, either my schedule or my conscience has interfered. Not being a member of any Christian denomination, I always felt like a fraud when I went to the lunches. It would have been better if I could have a few friends to go with, a sort of group camouflage, but it was hard enough to find time in my schedule, let alone that of even one friend. So, I normally went alone, and anyone looking lost or friendless is immediately descended upon my hordes of (well-intentioned) people wishing to draw you into the fold. The prospect of this kind of attention kept me away on the few occasions my schedule would have allowed and during my year in France I mainly forgot about free lunches.

This year, however, the free food gods have smiled on me; not only does my schedule allow me to go to all three lunches offered per week, but at least two and sometimes even five friends, are able to go with me! So, since the beginning of this year, we have been faithfully going to three churches per week: the Baptists on Monday, Episcopalians on Wednesday, and Catholics on Thursday. The food is often quite good, although there have been a few dud lunches, filling but unexciting, where the church just ordered pizza or made pasta with sauce. This being Louisiana, however, I can count on having red beans and rice or jambalaya at least once per week, but other highlights have included gumbo, rice and gravy, meat pies, and fried chicken. Each church also has its own flavor. The Baptists always have great desserts (homemade brownies, cupcakes, cake, and cookies) but they often have small group discussions at the table, which can be rather intense and uncomfortable. The Episcopalian church has great desserts as well, but where they really shine is in their salads—whether they be fruit or vegetable they are always fresh and tasty—and in their generosity. They always offer seconds and on one occasion, the servers even came around to bring us seconds of meat pies! The Episcopalians also have a short talk during each meal, but, since the theme of the lunch is “Lunch with C.S. Lewis,” it is always a discussion of one of his books, which is often interesting. The Catholics have the most impersonal lunch (it’s also the largest; probably 500 meals per week versus about 200 for the other two): you just walk in, stand in the long, snaking line, get your food and eat wherever. Perhaps because of the size of the crowd, their food is often the least interesting, tending towards the types of meals that are easy to make in quantity and the desserts are cookies from a store. No complaints, however, because for the Catholic lunch we are free to eat outside on the grass.

There really aren’t many things better than stretching out on the grass with a plate of hot jambalaya and enjoying the company of friends, especially if, as luck would have it, it is one of the precious weeks of Louisiana’s fall when heat and humidity are replaced by crisp, cool air and beautiful blue skies. Moments like that, regardless of one’s faith, are something that I think everyone can agree to be thankful for.

Will Frugality Be on the Wane in the New Year?

Not wanting to influence your spending one way of the other (who knows what effect THAT would have on the world economy!!!), I saved this post for the post-holiday period of reflection.

As I write (December 23), I have just learned that, according to the Wall Street Journal, people are spending. Other indicators that I read here and there suggest that the economy will improve in 2011. Something--as Hamlet said--"devoutly to be wished."

I wonder: will frugality fly out the window too? The easiest time to be frugal is when you don't have to be. To inoculate myself against the temptations of spending, I looked at a video done by New England Public Television in 2009. The video features Amy Dacyczyn, someone who practices a far more pathological mode of frugality than I do. You can see the clip on Boston Gal's Open Wallet, which is where I first saw it.

If you don't want to take the time to watch Amy, let me paraphrase some of her words of wisdom. The reporter asked her for ONE PIECE of ADVICE. Amy said she would urge people to practice frugality during the good times, so that when the bad times came, they wouldn't be so bad.

if you want more Amy--for philosophy as much as for tips--see the book. Take it out of the library. Interestingly, if you look at Amazon, you will see that the book retained its value better than most of its genre and vintage.

Do you think the lessons of the financial meltdown will stay with people as we--hopefully--move to better times?

Skirting the Edges of Too Frugal?: Garbage Edition

Now that the temperature is no longer in the 90s, Mr. FS and I ventured out for a stroll through our neighborhood after dinner. As I mention now and again, my neighborhood is filled with big fancy houses and little tiny houses. There are even some medium-sized houses, such as the one in which I reside. I like the diversity, so unlike the cookie-cutter suburbia in which I grew up.

It happened that one of the streets has garbage pick-up tomorrow. As an amateur sociologist I find it interesting to scan the recycling bins. People drink so much alcohol and diet coke!

You can probably see where this is leading. To add a bit of suspense, let me ask: have you ever read Laurie Colwin? I love her fiction, which features urban people with lots of education and interesting careers. She also wrote wonderful books on cooking.

One of her novels, Happy All the Time, features a character named Misty Berkowitz. I kind of identified with Misty because she has these great one-line zingers, not that I could ever have thought of them. Misty is also sullen and moody, just like me. In spite of her moodiness, the wealthy Vincent Somebody-or-Other falls madly in love with her. He lives off a trust fund, but works as a garbage analyst, writing important studies.

One of Misty's zingers to her garbage analyst is "Rich people make me sick." I can't remember what prompts this comment, but it does not deter the smitten Vincent.

Anyway, Mr. FS and I passed the once-beautiful, now falling-down house, that, according to Frugal Son who knew two of the girls who lived there, has rooms filled with garbage.

We went by the new, fancy house that sold for almost a million dollars. It was built on the site of a house that was torn down. A man who had killed his mother had lived there after he was released from a mental institution. The new house is quite ostentatious. There, next to their garbage can, was a giant cardboard box. I stepped closer to investigate. I never did figure out what was originally in that box, but I saw a grocery bag filled with hangers. At the top of the bag was a new-looking pair of white shoes.

Now I don't wear white shoes, but I took them anyway. I will donate them to Goodwill, where someone will be delighted to get a pair of Sesto Meucci flats.

We continued on our walk, stopping to talk to people who run a business called Holistic Pet Care. When we got home, I said to Mr. FS, "I'm going to go back and get the bag of hangers. The thrift stores are always asking for donations of hangers."

So I walked back and got the bag. Once I was home, I peeked inside. Under the hangers--neatly folded--was a pile of clothing, quite current, from Talbots and Rickie Freeman for Teri John. The latter, especially, were of the genre I call "rich lady clothes."

UGH. Why don't people donate these things? How horrible to just throw them out.

What would Misty say?: "Rich people make me sick."

Misty, by the way, ends up marrying the garbage analyst.

If you need some wonderful escapist reading, check out Laurie Colwin.

Her real masterpieces, I think, are her books on cooking.

FS vs BFS: Plasma Donations

Oh, BFS aka Budgeting in the Fun Stuff threw down the gauntlet. She listed plasma donation for pay as one of the EWWWWWW YUK things that were too too frugal. Or, as she put it, "going too far to save money."

Actually, her post came in response to an article from Yahoo Finance. Reading BFS and looking at the original article showed me--yet once more--how value-laden many decisions are.

For instance, I have no opinion one way or the other about dumpster-diving at cemeteries to get flowers. I wouldn't do it, but I don't mind that someone does. I DO think it's awful to refill your condiment jars with the contents of the tiny packets that can be stolen from any fast-food place. Strangely, I'm not upset that the packets are stolen (or are they? how many packets per customer are OK?); I'm upset that the packaging is environmentally wasteful. In my value system, one should use as little of items in wasteful packaging as possible. Besides, I can get a container of ketchup for under $1.00. It would probably take hundreds of tiny packets to fill it up--a lot of wasted energy on the part of the environment and me.

Back to plasma. I must admit that Mr. FS donated plasma several times in grad school. Following the family tradition, Frugal Son found a donation place when he went to college. Two donations a week give him $70. That more than covers his need for spending money. The donations have become annoyingly slow this year, he says. Even so, he is being paid a decent hourly wage. The real EWWWW comes when you learn that the centers sell the plasma for many, many times what they give to the students and "real" poor folks who donate.

SO: BFS vs FS? What's your value system?

Good Question: How Little Do You Need?

Although I am not particularly interested in attaining Early Retirement Extreme, the blog of that name gives me comfort. That is because the blogger, who has a definite philosophical bent, sometimes asks questions that I need to ask. To wit: not how much do you need to retire, but how little do you need?

How little do you need to retire? So though I do not aspire to early retirement, or to extreme frugality, or to living in a trailer, or to eating beans and rice for a week straight, I am so happy to know it can be done. SOMEONE is doing it.

Isn't it nice to know that in a time of on-going Employment Uncertainty Extreme?

Have you asked yourself any "How little" questions of late?

Book P-review: Possum Living

****UPDATE: Re comment below that refers to another blogger talking about the book. It seems that the book was discussed on Oprah! Well. Truly it must be the zeitgeist, because I don't watch Oprah nor do I read the blogger. I saw the book mentioned on Amazon, under "People who are interested in X book, might also be interested in Possum Living." Isn't it strange? Harmonic convergence.


I love reading books about frugality, not so much because I learn many frugal tips (since I know many already), but because I sometimes need a bit of affirmation from the universe. I have exhausted all the books in my local library on the topic. I just requested Possum Living, which is a reprint of a book published around 30 years ago, written by "Dolly Freed" (took me a while to realize that is a pseudonym).

Why a p-review? I don't know. Perhaps because I read a bit on-line. Also, it sometimes takes a while for the library to order the books I request, especially in the present budget crisis.

The gist is that Dolly and her Dad lived on a biggish piece of rural property 40 miles from Philadelphia. She was (illegally) removed from school and spent her teen years in the library, eventually becoming a NASA engineer. They lived a life of fishing, gardening, swapping, napping, and so on. They lived on around $1400/year.

Now many of us can't be possums. We are locked into high property taxes and other "necessary" expenses. Dolly and her Dad lived a version of extreme frugality. But her point was that she and her Dad looked perfectly middle-class.


Dolly shows that IT CAN BE DONE. How about if you don't want to be a possum? What about a semi-possum life? I think that would be available to many of us.

I started thinking about fun family activities. How about possum weekend? That could consist of eating the food in your pantry, cooking up some soup, going for a walk, whatever. How I wish my children were little; we could have had a lot of fun.

Many of my fave bloggers are already living a semi- or occasional possum life. I wrote about Simple in France a few days ago. And Revanche, a city girl, newly re-employed after a lay-off, and with heavy family responsibilities (financial and emotional), shows that even in expensive California, you can practice frugality by making chicken soup.

Have you read Possum Living? Are you ever a possum?