My parents werent cheap, just frugal. We had a small farm so we grew our own vegetables. My parents had a root cellar and stored winter vegetables, like onions, cabbage, carrots, beets, potatoes, turnips. And my mother canned a lot of stuff. She had a hand operated canner. And she baked her own bread and pastries, made soups, stews, etc. We also had our own meat. Stretching a penny was wise in those days. My dad was a beekeeper and was licensed to sell honey. We werent poor but were definitely were not quite middle class. They immigrated to Canada in later life and what they accomplished with the little they started with was amazing.