Oh my God, you are ringing so many bells, from government cheese, to powdered milk, to bakery thrift stores. After my pastor father and my mom got divorced over his infidelity, Mom and we three kids were very poor indeed for a while, even more poor then we had been as PKs.

The government cheese program didn't start until a couple years or so after the divorce, but my then Mom was not on her feet yet, and we were struggling — especially since she had two teenage boys to feed, with the expected huge appetites.

She had always done a good job keeping food on the table, and we never really went hungry. But I'll tell you, after we started getting the cheese, it took a lot of pressure off.

We could just reach into the refrigerator and make a cheese sandwich. That was a big deal! The cheese wasn't really bad if you melted it. Kind of like Velveeta, as in easy melting. Not gourmet, but filling and full of calories and protein.

I remember it fondly!

Mom was really good disguise it for lunches, by the way. Nobody would suspect The Spanish Inquisition, errr ... the government cheese, if it were just another part of a sandwich.