'Freeze-dried food and the new frugal frontier'

from latimes.........

"Not unlike the generation that survived the Great Depression and spent the rest of their lives pinching pennies, some middle-class Americans have developed a sense of thrift that is lasting even as the economic crisis loosens its grip. The so-called Great Recession was declared officially over last fall, yet consumer confidence — or lack of it — remains consistent with an economy in deep trouble".



"The people at the top of the ladder were hardly affected, but the people in the middle got squeezed. They got scared. So many middle-management jobs have disappeared, there is no place to move up," said James Tillotson, professor of food policy and international business at Tufts University in Boston. "They walk the grocery aisles with little adding machines."...........read more here