Who was saying the blackout was for a month?????

And if in extreme poverty, you don't eat much meat, it's mostly eggs (years ago when they were cheap). Fresh meat was always an "it's on sale because it's expiring today" event that you'd buy as much as you can and then piece out to freeze for later while eating a bit that same day. Most of the time it was cheap canned meats you'd have coupons for ideally of you wanted meat, and you wouldn't eat the whole can at once.

Water??? Really?

I mean, maybe you had a good intention, but you clearly have no idea what poverty is like. When you're that poor you don't buy water, you get what's on tap - even if it smells strongly of bleach.