The Depression Diet: Are You Gonna Eat That?

Apropos of nothing in particular (perhaps the looming and sort of terrifying background unemployment rate?), Consumerist asked its readers to chime in with the sickest things they've done to save money. The result is a culled-down list of 27 that should make even those of us who are experiencing fiscal lean times give a little involuntary shudder of gratitude.

The examples range from the hilarious-but-plausible (eating a shoplifted blueberry pie in a toilet stall) to the truly gross (eating bug-infested mac 'n' cheese) to the profoundly ridiculous: "My uncle lived on unsweetened Kool-Aid and homemade biscuits for two years. The biscuits were flour and water—that's it."

That thrifty eating may be coming back into vogue is something we may need to all get real comfortable with as economic downtimes linger. Crock-Pot cooking, anyone?

Image source: Flickr member davitydave under Creative Commons