Grace Mannon Updated: Feb. 21, 2023. Feeding 5 here. I buy rabbits in summer at auction sometimes low as $2 a piece full grown. I also do a lot of my shopping at Aldi or the Amish bents and broken store. In 1937, when the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression, Kraft Foods launched the iconic Mac and Cheese. Hi Geni, oh my gosh, I love your comment! Also, buy meat on sale, we bought 4 turkey s at Thanksgiving. Still pricey but so much better. Thank you for stopping by! 6. Pinterest is AWESOME for helping with recipes! Lets face it those big servings of meat were never good for us anyway. Beef and rice: From Laurie C. - Ground hamburger, mix in beef Rice a Roni, and add a can of corn. I sat down and made a menu up for a whole month (every Wednesday is fish, every Friday is pizza! We call it Eraser Gravy. Ah, soup: the ultimate comfort food. Potatoes are cheap and easy to store, so it's no surprise they showed up on menu home meal plans during the Depression. When I shop, I look for bargains. When I shop, I look for bargains. Our local fruit and vegetable store has bagged produce for $1. She called it Slavic dinner I am not sure if that is its proper name she got the recipe from a family friend (this also freezes for later meals if needed), Hi Pauline, I love your comment about the Slavic dinner! Coarsely chopped cauliflower and sweet onions add a chunkiness to this sauce that feels nearly reminiscent of a bolognese. Linda. salt 1 cup sugar 2 eggs beaten until thick and light 1 Tbsp. Poor Man Chicken Broccoli Casserole. We also shop Aldis, just be careful and know your prices at other stores. It is appreciated. The best ones went for dehydrating and the rest for apple sauce. grinding our own grains, and making yogurt when I remember to, and then remembering to freeze or eat leftovers so we arent throwing food away. 30. A little olive oil and garlic over the pasta toss together, its healthy and filling. Salivating. Ask if you can have them. Our great grandparents had the solution. As each item rings up shell tell the checker the adjusted price, the checker keys it in, no big deal, takes hardly any extra time in line. What do you think? Hi! We raised 2 huge gardens every year. at Aldis! 16. 62. 49. Instead, I make cauliflower rice by grating cauliflower (which I buy on sale) and freeze it in meal size portions. It only takes a couple to go a long way. To save money while feeding 11 people we make chicken and noodles using turkey instead of chicken. Just ideas like I feed my family rice and beans to save money. If I go to my grocery store before noon they put all the products in a cart that is ready to expire. This makes a roux. Saving for us has more to do with how we shop than how we cook. We have started trying to go meatless a few days a week. Sorry, it took me so long to post but Ive been getting in at near midnight all week long. I started growing my own vegetables, spices, and fruits (strawberries, raspberries and I will be adding elderberries this year) two years ago and this will be my 3rd year. I think I could get 5 meals at least for our family of four (although eating is more like 2 1/2 people). I cant remember as a child ever going out to a restaurant. Cornbread/Johnny Cakes. "My large Italian family gathered in the kitchen and tried many ways to prepare Sunday dinner on a tight budget. 08 of 12. We actually ate a lot of beans when I was a kid because they were cheap. Baked bean sandwich. We dont eat a lot of meat we eat 3 eggs a day, we have our own chickens. The only thing you need are apples, sugar, cinnamon, and some butter. 26. Learn to love what you grow. When we have leftover veggies of any kind, if it is not enough for another meal, I freeze them, then add to a bag of other frozen veggies. Some of the things people ate during the Great Depression are things we shun now. Brown hamburger, onion, and oats together, then drain, add tomatoes with the juice, BBQ sauce, tomato paste, rice, enough water for the rice to cook and cook until the rice is done. Give these recipes from . Learn to prepare what you grow. Another great (old) book if you can find it is How to Make All The Meat You Eat Out of Wheat by Shandler (my favorite). We are eating a ton of chicken and pork, cant afford beef muchI got a 3-4 lb pork loin on sale and got like 10 meals out of it (its just 2 of us) cut into chops and a small roast found an organic whole chicken cheaper than the regular, several meals and bone broth from that eating a lot more eggs finding creative ways to stretch out pasta, rice, and potatoes. . This meal was a popular menu item at soup kitchens in the US and was named after President Hoover, the 31st American President who sat in office during the early years of the Depression. Fried rice (leftover rice cooked in bacon drippings with whatever veggies need using up). They didnt sell it in the stores and you had to ask for it. White Bean and Ham Soup - Beans are super cheap so it makes sense that they were a staple during the Great Depression. For that reason, little was ever thrown out. The Great Depression lasted a decade, but its effects changed a generation. These Depression-era recipes are proof that food from the 1930s is worth revisiting. 39. I try to make from scratch all our snack foods like crackers, granola bars, granola, fruit leather(when I find a great deal on fruit), bagels, bread, yogurt, etc. What do you think? In the video below we get to see how they're made from a woman who survived the '30s and loved her mother's baked apples. 1.7 Great Depression Foods - Dandelion Salad. lemons, to squeeze onto almost any meat or veggie for added flavor and brightness . . My Grandmothers died when I was 15 and the other at 16 so I never got to ask them about the depression. 93 year old cook and great grandmother, Clara, recounts her childhood during the Great Depression as she prepares meals from the era. Little greens, a slice of cucumber, few chopped onions, a small grape tomato, and a few carrot curls. In a bowl, whisk the cornmeal, salt, and remaining cup of water together. I also use the big oven app, it has a search function that allows you to put in an ingredient then it will pull recipes with that item. Great Depression Meals-How To Eat For Less Money. Serve the finished product over toast. Alberta Rose. Yummy soups are always good because they are so filling, homemade tomato with saltines. I try to make from scratch all our snack foods like crackers, granola bars, granola, fruit leather(when I find a great deal on fruit), bagels, bread, yogurt, etc. Hope this helps! Fish patties (salmon or tuna, bread crumbs, lemon juice, mustard, onion, egg. Haha This was a great article, as usual. Usually just quoting the policy is sufficient to get the item price matched. We ate lots of beans and Mexican rice. Oxtail: Its the bone of the tail and very tender meat. Also trying to get him over his meat-eating mentality. A lot has changed on rural America's farms in the 70 years or so since the Great Depression. One week it was a dollar off. It stretches the meat, plus oatmeal is good for you! We are all trying to feed our families on a shoestring. Clara Cannucciara was a lovely woman who lived throughout the entire Great Depression. Butter. There is only 2 of us but we do buy flour bulk due to baking. We also CAN our own garden that we grow! My family hasnt noticed. Linda, Hi Alli, its all about saving money on groceries, right??? Too many are used to fast and easy. Ive even made sausage by mixing ground rabbit and pork trimmings which I get from a local butcher for little to nothing price. My mom had to be inventive to feed all five of us. Ham Cups and Eggs. Meat mixed in gravy makes it go farther than chunks of roast for everyone. They foraged. Just freezing fresh foods, chopped, sliced or whatever means never letting it go bad. Ketchup, Mayonnaise or Onion Sandwiches Eggs and milk (hormone free) are less at Aldis! Hi Frank, great comment! We buy meat in bulk, so most of my purchases are for perishables only. If they expire that day or are pre-frozen I cook them and then freeze. (Privacy Policy) *. Milk and eggs are perishable, and unless you lived on a farm, they probably weren't a huge staple in your depression-era kitchen. $4.00 savings! You can make a white sauce with water (to save on milk), once you have a white sauce you can add any seasonings to add flavor and then add something lik. A74-year-old Army veteran told me that when he was growing up in the Carolinas they were dirt poor, so his mother in the morning would mix flour into the eggs to make enough to go around. from Julia's Simply Southern. 1.4 Great Depression Foods - Mock Apple Pie. Thank you for your kind remarks. Our goal at Food Storage Moms is to help one family at a time.. For those who think the Spam is too expensive, Check your local Dollar store for Treat It should be right next to the Spam & I cant tell the difference. Those same trimmings go into my deer and goat burger to make a great hamburger for Chili, meatloaf, and spaghetti. But through the years, accurate amounts were noted. Its quite a bit cheaper. We do a lot of these including using beans. A fun and cheap meal are diced potatoes topped with onions, garlic, bacon bits, and cheese! Photo courtesy of A Modern Homestead. Then I dont go back to the store and get caught in oh this is a good deal. We buy wheat berries rather than flour and grind our own. We lived off of home grown fruits and vegs with some meats from farming family. e are eating a ton of chicken and pork, cant afford beef muchI got a 3-4 lb pork loin on sale and got like 10 meals out of it (its just 2 of us) cut into chops and a small roast found an organic whole chicken cheaper than the regular, several. And you dont have to have a paper flyer or ad to prove the sale price! Most of our meals were meatless. Life is good when our belly is full. They are todays meals. When the bag is full, veggies soup! For us, that means buying beef by the 1/4 or 1/2, ordering from Zaycon Foods, using Bountiful Baskets-Co-op,grinding our own grains, and making yogurt when I remember to, and then remembering to freeze or eat leftovers so we arent throwing food away. 12. 1.5 Great Depression Foods - Prune Pudding. When they start getting limp, I chop them up and freeze them to use in soups like this. Its all about saving money. 8. Save the chicken bones and boil them up to make soup stock. 15. I make soup stock out of the icky bits of meat, pan juices, and vegetable cooking water and add some Chinese noodles that only take 2 minutes to cook. 1930's Potato Soup and Biscuits from Everyday Foodie. We had a large family of 10 people, so each meal had to be extremely cheap, and go a long way. Our parents use to use their green stamp books to save. From budget-friendly meat dishes to vegetable soups and stews, these dishes are comfort food that your family will enjoy. Then serve a small salad about a cups worth. Food not only had to be cheap, but it had to be filling. Even squirrels and rabbits were consumed .The people of the Depression Era were struggling to buy food, so foraging was a good way to help put food into their family's mouths. She finds amazing deals at some of these different stores. Theres a lot of Hispanic people in my area do the price for oxtail is outrageous. 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