Hot, Chaos-Free Food for a Crowd

There’s two sides to this story. On one side, we’re all fighting for political and societal change. Trying to fix a fundamentally broken system. On the other side, we’re trying to survive. I’m not completely sure which is harder, and both are essential. I’ve been writing (talking) a lot lately about political change. It’s time to come back down to earth and survive.

Whether you’re feeding 600 protesters or 6 kids (that are louder than 600 protesters!), cooking for a crowd is not the same thing as slapping dinner for two on the table. It takes a little more planning, a lot more organization, and a different mindset. That’s ok. Here’s how I feed the hungry mob:

1. Choose your recipes carefully. Not every recipe that looks good on paper is going to work for feeding a crowd. Avoid anything that involves individual servings. You do not want to assemble 600 stuffed and breaded chicken breasts. Instead, opt for 1-pot meals like chili, spaghetti, mac and cheese, stew, etc. Especially as we head into cooler weather, hot nourishing meals are going to be important.
2. Work with what you’ve got. You probably can’t set up camp kitchens on the street, but if you’ve got a dozen locals who can each make a crock pot (or several pots) full of chili, you’re golden. The nice thing is, a meal cooked in a crock pot will stay hot for quite a while, even after it’s turned off. Just keep the lid on as much as possible.
3. Let them customize their own meal. Set out extras that complement the meal. For chili, I’d put out grated cheese, sour cream, chives or onions, chili powder or tabasco sauce, plus whatever leftover veggies I had on hand.
4. Avoid plain noodles. Noodles get gummy in a heartbeat, unless they’re in a sauce. Don’t try to serve plain noodles and let people add their own sauce. It won’t work well.
5. Add bread. For chili, I usually make several trays of cornbread (it’s quick, easy, and inexpensive). French or Italian bread is always good for sopping up extra sauce from spaghetti or stew.
6. Keep it simple. Simple is good. Avoid setting up a meal that requires more than one hand to carry.
7. Set up a serving table with plates or bowls, silverware, and napkins at one end. Next comes the hot food, then condiments and toppings. Set out the bread next, and put another stack of napkins at the far end of the table.

Next up, cold chaos-free food.

My Demands

Michael Moore put it very succinctly on MSNBC last night, when asked about the demands of the #OccupyWallStreet movement. He could only explain his own demands. We all have our own priorities, our own top concerns. And that’s ok. That’s important, because we’re all important. Our individual needs, in a collective structure.

So here are my demands:

• Education. If “job creators” are going to insist that you need a college degree to answer phones or flip burgers, then it is the right of every American to have access to that educational system. When employers decreed that a high school diploma was necessary to have a good job, the educational system responded and education through high school became free and mandatory. A birthright. It’s not right to insist that you must have a college degree for all but the most menial (and low-paying) jobs, then bar access through financial restrictions or unwieldy debt loads. Student loan forgiveness.
• Jobs. There should be enough jobs that everyone who wants to work, can. And can work for a living wage. Remember back when you could support a family on one income? Yeah, neither do I, but I’ve read about it in the history books.
• End to corporate person-hood. If you can’t put it in jail, if it can’t be homeless, if it can’t be hungry, it’s not a person. It doesn’t get to have the rights of a citizen if it can’t face the consequences of its choices.
• Reform of the credit industry. Right now, your credit score can be used to determine your ability to get a job, rent an apartment, and adopt a dog. It’s being used as an indication of your trustworthiness, your value as a person. That’s abuse of the system. People are literally being held hostage and denied the right to fully participate in society, because they’ve had to make hard choices.

“How are we going to pay for all that?” The guy in the suit wants to know. Let’s start by reforming the tax code to favor actual job creation instead of outsourcing, perma-temps, and capital gains. Tax income (including capital gains) over $500,000 at 90%. That ought to cover quite a bit of it right there. End the wars that are costing us billions every week. Most importantly, put the economy back in the hands of the people, who want to participate in it, want to earn and spend money. Take it out of the hands of the few who are hoarding wealth like there’s an angry mob outside their door. Oh wait…..

These are my demands. What are yours?

Finally Free

Why? It’s a big question being thrown around right now. Why are we doing all this? Why are people showing up, camping out, protesting in cities all over the world? Why now? Why me?

It’s about the realization: This is not all my fault. Life is tough around here. There isn’t enough to go around. We have a big family, and the next time someone casually tells me “you know, you really need a bigger house” I may just go postal. Trust me, when the kids and the dog are running wild through the living room because there’s nowhere else for them to run, I know I need a bigger house. When the place never quite feels clean because I have stuff stored in every available square inch, I know I need a bigger house. This isn’t about wanting the McMansion. It’s about meeting basic needs.

Freedom From Want

For so long, the only answers I’ve been getting to this problem have been “Cut back. Get rid of stuff.” or “Well, if you had been more responsible with money, your credit wouldn’t be so bad.”

First off, how dare they – the people who preach simple living out of virtue, who get rid of stuff because it makes them feel good, all the while knowing that if they need something they got rid of they’ll be able to go out and buy a new one – tell me to get rid of things? If I get rid of a book or a tool or whatever it is, chances are I’m going to need it 6 months from now and have to make due without (again) because I listened to some crazy de cluttering zealot. The zealots seem to get really quiet then.

And the accusation that if I had been more responsible…..sure, we’ve made some money mistakes. A lot of them involved the decision “do we buy food or pay the student loan bill?” when the IT layoffs happened back in the early 2000′s. Now the hole is so deep, I don’t know if we’ll ever be truly free of it. So we do the best we can and accept that we may never get a mortgage.

For so long, I’ve listened to the accusations. I’ve believed them when they told me my problems were all my own fault, and I’m paying for my mistakes. Then the #Occupy movement started and for the first time somebody said what that voice in my head has been screaming for decades: “No. This isn’t my fault. We’ve been set up to fail, and it isn’t fair.” We – the middle class – never had a chance.

FINALLY! We all quit thinking we were alone in our troubles. We’ve come together. We’re pushing back on a system that’s been holding us down by the financial throat.

We’re finally free.

10 Things You Can Do To Join the Movement

A version of this list was originally published here:  11 Things You can Do…

The modifications and commentary are my own.

1. Spread the Word. Check! I’m adding links to various sites discussing the protests, the issues behind them, and other useful stuff as fast as I can. Join the conversation on Twitter, on blogs, on Facebook, or wherever you hang out.
2. Bring American flags, cardboard, markers, water, etc. down to Liberty Park. Kinda tough if you’re not in NY. But protests are spreading across the country – Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, etc. Find your nearest protestor and bring art supplies!
3. Take the day off and just go. I’m debating this one, honestly. Talk about a field trip the kids will never forget! But at the same time, watching Mama get pepper sprayed and arrested might not be the educational experience we’re after.
4. Be subversive against the big money interests. Use cash, deprive the big boys of their 3-5 percent fee. They’re basically getting a sales tax on every CC and debit card purchase you make.
5. Move your money from a big bank to a credit union. Did that years ago. Not so much for political reasons as for the fact that our credit union doesn’t go out of its way to hammer us with fees. And the money we deposit actually shows up in our account immediately. That’s kinda reasonable, I think.
6. Picket a local branch of a bank. What’s your favorite mega-bank? I’m thinking the one that turned us down for a mortgage over 5 stupid credit rating points.
7. Send food. You know what they say, an army marches on its stomach. These guys are out there fighting for our freedom, the least we can do is buy them a pizza. You’ve got a ‘net connection. Google “pizza near <protest city>”
8. Make some noise. Do you know someone in local media? Got a good following on your blog/Facebook/Twitter? Start talking about what’s going on!
9. Offer the protestors use of your shower. If you live within walking or biking distance of a protest, hop on twitter and offer the use of your shower. Lets face it, nobody likes going for a week without getting cleaned up.
10. Buy local. If given the choice between buying food directly from the producer at a farmer’s market or at Walmart, go local. Odds are you’ll get better quality, and you remove the middleman from the transaction. And does the CEO of your favorite mega-corp really need your money? The farmer does.

News Flash: The Solutions Aren’t Simple!

Yeah, I know. Solutions to complex problems aren’t one-sided and simple. If they were, we would have solved them by now. Here’s the big bummer: NO one side, or group, or person has the whole of the answer. We’re gonna have to – gasp! – set aside our differences and work together, or else we’re all going down together.

And that’s not just me saying so. David Brooks agrees with me.

Welcome

Hi – thanks for stopping by. We’re still getting stuff put together, but that’s ok. Like most things in life, Mom Wants Change isn’t about picture-perfect order. It’s about jumping into the conversation in the middle, and trying to add something to it.

There are two main things you’ll find here over the next days and months: News and updates on issues that affect middle class quality of life, and practical tips and ideas to help you survive middle class-dom a little bit better.

In the meantime, follow @MomWantsChange on Twitter or check us out on Facebook.