My late Dad seems a tad bit older than yours. He married my mother in 1927, lost everything in 29 & 30.
He was in ROTC; served in the Calvary (horses, not armor!) between the wars; CCC, then WPA projects.
Late 30’s, lived in a tent for several months, with three kids & my Mom, until he could get a cabin built in his time off, while working on the Shasta Dam Project’s railroad & highway rerouting.
Civilian heavy equipment operator on the Alcan Highway in WWII.
My sister was born in the cabin; I came at the end of the war.
While growing up, and long after, there was always a deer in the freezer, fruit trees, and a garden in the yard...and at least one or more kids to keep it weeded.
Being construction, there was a fair amount of moving, but circumstances permitting, there was also a chicken yard &/or rabbit hutches.
Later, food banks/pantries were something you volunteered to make deliveries for, not stand in line at.
My dad was born in 1925. I am a late baby boomer (1960)