Meals of the Depression

Ever wonder what they ate during the depression? Here is a list that is clipped from another site. I have eaten some of what is listed below. Have you?

Milk toast

Chipped beef on toast

Cucumber and mustard sandwiches

Mayonnaise sandwiches

Ketchup sandwiches

Hot milk and rice

Turtle/tortoise

Gopher

Potato soup – water base, not milk

Dandelion salad

Lard sandwiches

Bacon grease sandwiches

Sugar sandwiches

Hot dogs and baked beans

Road kill

One eyed Sam – piece of bread with an easy over egg in the center

Oatmeal mixed with lard

Fried potatoes and hot dogs

Onion sandwich – slices of onion between bread

Tomato gravy and biscuits

Deep fried chicken skin

Cornbread in milk

Gravy and bread – as a main dish

Toast with mashed potatoes on top with gravy

Creamed corn on toast

Corn mush with milk for breakfast, fried corn mush for dinner

Squirrel

Rice in milk with some sugar

Beans

Fried potato peel sandwiches

Banana slices with powdered sugar and milk

Boiled cabbage

Hamburger mixed with oatmeal

American cheese sandwich: ‘American’ cheese was invented because it was cheap to make, and didn’t require refrigeration that may or may not exist back then.

Tomato gravy on rice

Toast with milk gravy

Water fried pancakes

Chicken feet in broth

Fried bologna

Warm canned tomatoes with bread

Butter and sugar sandwiches

Fried potato and bread cubes

Bean soup

Runny eggs with grits

Butter and grits with sugar and milk

Baked apples

Sliced boiled pork liver on buttered toast (slice liver with potato peeler)

Corn meal mush

Spaghetti with tomato juice and navy beans

Whatever fish or game you could catch/hunt

Tomato sandwiches

Hard boiled eggs in white sauce over rice

Spam and noodles with cream of mushroom soup

Rag soup: spinach, broth and lots of macaroni

Garbanzo beans fried in chicken fat or lard, salted, and eaten cold

Popcorn with milk and sugar – ate it like cereal


Could you stomach these Great Depression meals? - Survival Mom

 

When I wanted an after dinner snack/dessert my Mom always served up saltines in milk, a recipe from her Grandma.

*eat fast because it gets soggy real quick.

 

I ate several of those as a child in the 50's. My grandparents on my fathers side were preppers by design and frugal tendencies. They had one garden for the home, and one for sales at a roadside produce stand. They canned and had a cold cellar. This grandfather never touched alcohol. My grandparents on my mothers side had more children than they could support at times and farmed them out to relatives as indentured servants more or less. These were the older children in their teens. Some were pulled out of school to accomplish this. For some of them, it did not serve them well to advance their futures. These grandparents couldn't be said to be preppers as they barely eked by. The dominate male of the second group also abused alcohol as did several of his children later in life. Only one of those children still lives; an uncle 8 years my senior. I reflect on all this myself, maybe not often enough.

 

I will admit without shame that I love fried bologna. I grew up poor.

@tacmotusn my step dad was farmed out as a child. He came from a big family and he lived in another town working on a farm for room and board. Few of his siblings had the same deal.

 

From someone who lived through the depression, but I will warn you that Clara will capture your heart. Great Depression Cooking - YouTube

 

Sort of looks like my grocery list, are we having a depression?

 

I am pretty sure she has a book or two out as well. Just tried to quickly lay hands on them, failed, but found these. "Stories and recipes of the great depression", by Rita Van Amber, volumes 1 thru 5, and "Possum Living", by Dolly Freed. These as well would serve you well to read or have in your Library

 

My mother, her older sister, and moms younger sister all were farmed out. Some of them at times not even to other relatives. I think my grandfather showed a distinct preference to the 4 male offspring, not that it did much of a positive influence on their lives. I could tell tales, but I love and respect my Uncle who still lives and will leave sleeping dog alone. My mother and her younger sister were free spirits and strong women. Crossing them was like messing with a mamma grizzly. The were unique and legendary in their own right.

 

I've eaten at least half of those listed, as well as many things not listed, like rattlesnake, frogs. Crayfish. My grandfather lived through it, and every meal was usually soup and bread. He grew to hate soup and bread, and once things improved, he swore off both, and never ate either one again. For me it was fried bologna sandwiches every morning for breakfast. To this day, the smell alone will chase me out of the house. (I can't stand it)

 

@BTPost maybe I should try glazing our Spam. I have it, don't really like it so I guess I need to get creative just in case I ever need to eat it.

I notice from the list that they would put most anything on bread and call it a sandwich.

BTW- roadkill? I do wonder how you determine if it is edible or not.

 

Fresh is the best criteria, but if it passes the smell test, can probably be cooked to a safe degree.

 

Moto, you can get on a roadkill list with your sheriff's office, and a fresh hit deer will get you a phone call and free meat. I know several folks on that list.

 

This is a 21 year old news clip, Varney Is Really A Hillbilly, Says Road Kill Pretty Good - Orlando Sentinel but if fresh road kill is good enough for Jim Varney, well we only live once.

 

Spam is good. Eaten it since I was a kid.
I'll have the Spam, eggs, bacon and spam please.

C'mon you knew someone was gonna post it.

Few people might admit this but when I was homeless in my youth I had to resort to eating road kill a couple times. A nice little beaver or woodchuck with a broken neck was a good find. If its not drawing files, its fresh. However if its squashed flat or swelled up pass it by. Anything found in the heat of the day I'd pass also.

You'd be surprised at what you'll be willing to eat when you've had no food for a couple days.

Make all the jokes you want about eating beaver, its actually pretty good.

Nowadays I just trap me one every once in a while for dinner.

 

spam is every were in guam !!! on menues in resturans
they serve it on sushi and any other way they can fix it and it sells like hot cakes!!!