7 Cheap Recipes Straight From The Great Depression (2024)

FAQs

What were common dishes from the Great Depression? ›

Potatoes were also inexpensive and used extensively. Some meals even used both. One of these meals was called the Poor Man's Meal. It combined potatoes, onions, and hot dogs into one hearty, inexpensive dish, which was perfect for the hard times people had fallen on.

A typical Depression-era breakfast consisted of a piece of seasonal fruit, milk and cereal, and eggs or toast with butter. The noon meal was usually a sandwich with salad or some soup. Dinner was meat and veggies, followed by dessert.

Almost all farm families raised large gardens with vegetables and canned fruit from their orchards. They had milk and cream from their dairy cattle. Chickens supplied meat and eggs. They bought flour and sugar in 50-pound sacks and baked their own bread.

Soup kitchens and bread lines were methods of feeding the neediest people in the country during the Great Depression. Run by charities, private companies, and the government, many soup kitchens and bread lines served thousands of people a day.

During the Great Depression preceding the passage of the Social Security Act, "soup kitchens" provided the only meals some unemployed Americans had. This particular soup kitchen was sponsored by the Chicago gangster Al Capone.

From Hunger to Hope. From frozen foods to Jell-O molds, the 1930s and 40s saw a huge upsurge in convenience foods. Building on the popularity of brands like Wonder Bread, Kool-Aid, Velveeta Cheese, and Hostess Cakes, American supermarkets stocked up on mass-produced items.

It was not uncommon for households to not have enough money to buy food. During the Great Depression, honey became an important ingredient because it was versatile, cheap, available, and could be used in many different kinds of dishes.

How hard was it to get food during the Great Depression? ›

Money. During the Great Depression, which occurred from 1929 to 1933, many Americans lost all of their money and were not able to get jobs. Therefore, they were not able to buy food. Since most people did not have enough money to shop for food, there wasn't enough business to keep most of the groceries fully stocked.

Pulses belong to the leguminous crop family and are regarded as "poor man's meat" because they are high in protein, high dietary fiber, and low in fat. They also contain a wide range of minerals. These are abundant in proteins but do not contain complete proteins.

Many farmers not destroyed by the Dust Bowl and the inability to produce anything found that they suffered by falling prices and producing too much. No one could afford their products, and the decreasing demand only continued to lower prices so that even trying to sell was unprofitable.

Poor man's meal is a quintessential Great Depression-era food. Featuring onions, hot dogs, and potatoes, it provided exactly what people wanted during this time: A cheap, hearty meal. The dish is made by frying up cubed potatoes with slices of onion, and slices of hot dog.

Kibble + canned dog foods were introduced made out of dehydrated meat and grain mill scraps. Great Depression (30's - 40's): Canned pet food became 90% of the pet food market.

Roosevelt (1882–1945) changed the Volstead Act (the law enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment) to allow the sale of beer. By December 5, 1933, Prohibition ended. The manufacture, sale, and consumption of all alcohol was again legal. The martini, a co*cktail made with gin, became a popular and legal beverage.

Nuts and seeds.

Walnuts offer high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, which support brain health. Other nuts and seeds such as pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts and almonds are also beneficial because they contain magnesium. This nutrient has been shown to boost levels of serotonin, the “feel-good” brain chemical.

A gourmand, President Roosevelt had a taste for fancy Fifth Avenue foods like pâté de foie gras and Maryland terrapin soup. His menu that day was more humble: deviled eggs in tomato sauce, mashed potatoes and, for dessert, prune pudding.

What did hobos eat during the Great Depression? ›

Perhaps one hobo acquired a few carrots from a charitable person, while another stole an onion off a box car, while another had a few potatoes from a farm he worked on briefly… From this concoction, a “hobo stew,” also known as “Mulligan/Mulligatawney stew” was born and became the traditional food of the hobo.

We had serious deflation in the Great Depression. The consumer price level fell by 25%; wholesale prices fell by 33%.

Rationing affected rural America particularly. The federal government set up a rationing system in 1942 and limited purchases of sugar, coffee, meat, fish, butter, eggs, cheese, shoes, rubber and gasoline.

In 1939, as part of the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt established the first federal food stamp plan. It was intended as a solution to widespread food insecurity and a growing food surplus during the Great Depression. Eligible people would buy orange stamps equivalent to what they would usually spend on food.