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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

Some of my family remember eating road kill because they didn’t want to waste the meat. Nearly every culture has food that to others seems disgusting. I imagine that most of that type of food, when traced back, comes from a period of near famine.


21 posted on 11/18/2011 8:01:49 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: blam

During the Obama Depression, you just take you EBT card to the store and load up on junk food,


22 posted on 11/18/2011 8:03:19 PM PST by The Great RJ ("The problem with socialism is that pretty soon you run out of other people's money" M. Thatcher)
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To: blam

Another reason to pimp my tagline!


23 posted on 11/18/2011 8:03:53 PM PST by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com/)
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To: blam
My father, bless his heart, showed me this wonderful depression meal called 'one eyed sams' http://www.bushcraftusa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49018
24 posted on 11/18/2011 8:03:56 PM PST by Beowulf9
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To: djf

Do you know what can grow and be eaten without a lot of sunshine? I have big trees on my property and the spots that get sunlight get it only for 5 to 6 hours. I really like them but growing food has been a problem.


25 posted on 11/18/2011 8:04:31 PM PST by Bellflower (Judas Iscariot, first democrat, robber, held the money bag, claimed to care for poor: John 12:4-6)
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To: blam
Great grandma told us about Depression meatloaf which was actually oatmeal mixed with lard. Those people today who wail and moan (via Twitter, the internet, etc) on how poor they are. They have no concept whatsoever on what poverty really is.

PhotobucketPhotobucket

but I digress

26 posted on 11/18/2011 8:04:41 PM PST by SkyDancer ('If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate ")
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To: blam
Good to read. Thanks for posting, blam.

I'm on a primal/paleo/whatever diet and eat a ton of eggs and apples. I eat a lot of other stuff, too, but eggs and apples work great for me, are healthy, and are dirt cheap. I'm over 40, and carry absolutely zero extra weight.

My wife is Korean and often will make a simple soup like seaweed, kimchi, or radish and will have it with brown rice. Very healthy and super inexpensive.

27 posted on 11/18/2011 8:05:30 PM PST by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
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To: muawiyah

Excellent! I grew up the youngest of a very large family. It sounds exactly like a dish my mom made us at least a couple times a month. Honesty? I liked it :-). Salt and pepper come in handy and the grease was great on those potatoes. Simple stuff when one doesn’t have much and they are HUN-GRYY! :-). Bless you for giving these families recipes to build strong children and parents.


28 posted on 11/18/2011 8:05:34 PM PST by GOP Poet (Obama is an OLYMPIC failure.)
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To: edpc

We still have what is called chipped beef on toast around the kids. The Army version wasn’t near as good.


29 posted on 11/18/2011 8:05:45 PM PST by JimSEA (The future ain't what it used to be.)
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To: blam

Clara sure uses a lot of cooking oil. Was it not rationed during the depression? I know sugar and some other things was.


30 posted on 11/18/2011 8:05:50 PM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: GeronL

Not the Depression. World War II.


31 posted on 11/18/2011 8:06:28 PM PST by Publius
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To: blam

stir-frying potatoes and hot dogs we still do to this day because its cheap;


32 posted on 11/18/2011 8:06:34 PM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: Vince Ferrer

Dandelions were originally brought to the new world as a food crop.
Ridiculously easy to grow, a perennial that will come back year after year and the bigger it gets, the higher the yield...


33 posted on 11/18/2011 8:06:51 PM PST by djf (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2801220/posts)
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To: blam
To this day, I occasionally enjoy a bowl of bread and milk, a depression-era staple which I picked up from my Dad. Just white bread broken up, sprinkled with sugar (maybe a little vanilla), and doused in milk.

Mrs. LaybackLenny looks at me like I'm from another planet. LOL!

34 posted on 11/18/2011 8:07:05 PM PST by LaybackLenny (All hail Her Royal Highness Sarah, Queen of The Hobbits)
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To: blam

Stone Soup

I was trimming up some vegetables for dinner one night as my grandson watched. I pointed out to him that everything I was putting in the mulch container was edible.


35 posted on 11/18/2011 8:07:17 PM PST by Cold Heart
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To: GeronL

My dad used to put big slices of onion between a couple pieces of bread. He’d eat the whole thing.


36 posted on 11/18/2011 8:07:34 PM PST by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: muawiyah
My favorite (Depression Era) meal that my mother cooked for us for breakfast was, tomato gravy and buttermilk biscuits.
37 posted on 11/18/2011 8:08:00 PM PST by blam
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To: blam
My father had some Depression and then wartime childhood deprivation stories. He didn't bother to tell them, however, because my mother's childhood included 5 years in occupied Holland. Eating tulip bulbs, burning her wooden toys for heat, and the “disappearance” of dogs and cats kind of trumped Dad's sugar-shortage tales.
38 posted on 11/18/2011 8:08:56 PM PST by Dagnabitt (Perry! Our First Special Needs President!)
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To: GeronL
My favorite with hot dogs is champagne:)
39 posted on 11/18/2011 8:08:56 PM PST by Cold Heart
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To: p. henry
My grandmother made sugar sandwiches for the unemployed men who came to the door in Omaha.

That brings back an old memory. I remember my grandmother
telling me pretty much the same thing. She used to put some
cinnimon or other spice on it and butter.

40 posted on 11/18/2011 8:09:15 PM PST by CrazyIvan (Obama's birth certificate was found stapled to Soros's receipt.)
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