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This Is What People Ate When They Had No Money During The Depression
TBI ^ | 11-18-2011 | Vivian Giang

Posted on 11/18/2011 7:47:54 PM PST by blam

This Is What People Ate When They Had No Money During The Depression

Vivian Giang
Nov. 18, 2011, 12:25 PM

Image: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection

If you've ever visited anyone's house for dinner and a big, sloppy "secret family recipe" dish is flopped down in front of you, chances are high that the messy goodness could have originated from the Depression era.

Families were taught to creatively stretch out their food budgets and toast, potatoes and flour seem to be the popular, inexpensive ingredients. Expensive meat was typically eaten only once a week.

Some foods were invented during the Depression, such as spam, Ritz crackers, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Kraft macaroni and cheese, according to livinghistoryfarm.org.

We've compiled some simple, easy recipes from 90-something Clara who shares her childhood dining memories during hard times. They may help you save money during our own Recession.

Click here to see what people ate>

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cookery; depression; egginanest; food; recession; recipes
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To: blam

Buttermilk biscuits and tomato gravy was close to a delicacy at out house and not just when we were poor. It is good.

Mother used to fry potatoes then pour flour on the whole mess and it was really good. Probably not that good for you tho.


61 posted on 11/18/2011 8:18:11 PM PST by yarddog
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To: Beowulf9

I bought three of those frying pans and a boiling pot at a garage sale today...for almost nothing.


62 posted on 11/18/2011 8:19:44 PM PST by blam
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To: Slump Tester

Onion sandwiches - especially if made with Vidalia or Walla Walla Sweet Onions and mayonaise - are delicious.


63 posted on 11/18/2011 8:19:56 PM PST by achilles2000 ("I'll agree to save the whales as long as we can deport the liberals")
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To: GeronL

Another story from “Reminisce”. A guy and his friend were starving during the 30’s. They went into a diner and told the owner that they had 5 cents between them. The cook grumbled and then served them a piece of toast with a dollop of mashed potatoes and gravy on top. He claimed it was the best meal he ever had.


64 posted on 11/18/2011 8:22:45 PM PST by boop ("Let's just say they'll be satisfied with LESS"... Ming the Merciless)
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To: doc1019

I have a friend who grew up on a turkey farm during the depression. He’s much older now but still can’t eat turkey,


65 posted on 11/18/2011 8:23:40 PM PST by ladyjane
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To: NVDave

I mentioned crawdads on another thread the other day, very easy to catch if you’re up to getting a little wet.

And most static water has some form of bluegill or crappie type fish. They can be a bony mess, but if you can work your way around the bones, they are just as nutritious if not more than tuna or salmon. Amazingly easy to catch, some will even hit a bare hook.

If you have a can of white corn, small trout will hammer a kernel of white corn on a hook. But game depts frown on using corn because the trout can’t digest it properly, or so I’ve been told...


66 posted on 11/18/2011 8:24:37 PM PST by djf (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2801220/posts)
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To: SkyDancer

I was seriously thinking that these kids are what kids in this country are going to be looking like if we don’t get Obama & his “ruin America” agenda out of here in 2012.


67 posted on 11/18/2011 8:24:52 PM PST by MissMagnolia (Obama 2012: Debt Man Walking.)
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To: doc1019

I have a friend who grew up on a turkey farm during the depression. He’s much older now but still can’t eat turkey,


68 posted on 11/18/2011 8:25:01 PM PST by ladyjane
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To: LaybackLenny
We used to have that! Funny you still partake. :-). I can just see the look on Mrs. LaybackLenny's face. (generally speaking of course.)

My mom also cut up bananas (very thin slices as there were so many of us and not so many bananas.), sprinkle with powdered sugar and pour milk over it.

It was sweet and creamy and it was goooood!

69 posted on 11/18/2011 8:25:09 PM PST by GOP Poet (Obama is an OLYMPIC failure.)
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To: JimSEA

The military had a special name for that. I’ll leave that name for you to find but shingle is part of it.


70 posted on 11/18/2011 8:25:14 PM PST by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: Cold Heart

was champagne hard to get in the depression? lol


71 posted on 11/18/2011 8:25:16 PM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: JSteff
"put a slice of cheese on it and set a tent of aluminum foil over it for about a minute." been thinking of trying cheese, wasn't sure how and this is the perfect way! thanks for the suggestion!
72 posted on 11/18/2011 8:26:02 PM PST by Beowulf9
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To: SamAdams76

Well..ok , but I like to add a bit of white wine , chopped capers , and herbs .


73 posted on 11/18/2011 8:26:11 PM PST by katykelly
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To: Bellflower

“Do you know what can grow and be eaten without a lot of sunshine?”

Broccoli, lettuce or any type of leafy greens, probably green beans, snow peas, most beans or peas, most anything that grows underground like carrots, beets, radishes, potatoes, ginger root or horse radish,


74 posted on 11/18/2011 8:26:13 PM PST by keats5 (Not all of us are hypnotized.)
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To: doc1019

My dad, the youngest in the depression, raised chickens. One was a pet, or a fighting rooster or something.


75 posted on 11/18/2011 8:27:05 PM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: p. henry

Your grandmother was a good woman :-).


76 posted on 11/18/2011 8:27:16 PM PST by GOP Poet (Obama is an OLYMPIC failure.)
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To: blam
didn't live during the depression but i ate a lot of Grandma's dandelion salad summers as a kid growing up and one year when things were hard, sometimes supper was cream corn on toast...

at least it wasn't turnips and rutabagas

77 posted on 11/18/2011 8:28:11 PM PST by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: yarddog

sad story. probably typical of a lot of families in that era.


78 posted on 11/18/2011 8:28:45 PM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: LaybackLenny

My grandma would pour her warm sugared tea over her toast.


79 posted on 11/18/2011 8:29:30 PM PST by keats5 (Not all of us are hypnotized.)
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To: blam

I remember often having buttered cornbread in a glass of milk for supper in ‘44’. We were blessed. We had a cow.


80 posted on 11/18/2011 8:29:59 PM PST by DonnerT (American Autumn)
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