What are some good depression-era recipes?

I was born right after the Great Depression (or right during the end of it, depending on who you ask). My parents were dirt poor so even though the Depression was "officially" over, we still struggled. These are recipes my mother used. You might want to substitute the lard. Back then that's all we had or we occasionally had Oleo (margarine). No one even heard of olive oil. If you lived on a farm or in the suburbs (like we did) you raised your own chickens & had eggs. Folks in the city couldn't get hardly anything & most ate in soup kitchens. We ate a lot of eggs & fried chicken (fried in an iron skillet in lard). Most everything folks had back then they raised (you had to ring the neck of the chicken & clean the chicken -- a really icky job) or grew in gardens or fields so food was very fresh & had no preservatives. No one had fancy seasonings back then, just salt & pepper. For lunch we ate a lot of tomato & onion sandwiches & avocado sandwiches because we grew tomatoes, onions & we had a large avocado tree. Sugar was hard to get. So wherever you see sugar in the recipe, I think mom used Karo Syrup.

Milk Bread (served for supper as the main course when times were really bad and we had nothing else to eat, especially if all our chickens had died and it would be a while before we could get more chickens)

1-2 slice bread

sugar or honey (to taste)

milk (a bowl full)

Warm up a bowl of milk.

Set aside.

Toast your bread and put butter on it if you can get the butter or use oleo.

Tear up the toast and drop it into the warm milk.

Dunk, dunk.

Sprinkle it with sugar or drizzle it with honey.

Eat.

Boiled Turnips (we had lots of meatless meals and often had turnips for supper and also boiled turnip greens)

Turnips

Butter

Salt

Pare the turnips and cut them in slices from half to a whole inch thick.

Set to cook in boiling water without salt.

When nearly tender add salt to taste and cook until tender.

Serve with butter or oleo, or, drain carefully, then mash, add salt and butter or oleo and stir over the fire until very hot and serve as a mashed vegetable.

Turnip Greens

To each 1/2 gallon of water, allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt; turnip-greens.

Wash the greens well in two or three waters, and pick off all the decayed and dead leaves; tie them in small bunches, and put them into plenty of boiling water, salted in the above proportion. Keep them boiling quickly, with the lid of the saucepan uncovered, and when tender, pour them into a colander; let them drain, arrange them in a vegetable-dish, remove the string that the greens were tied with, and serve.

Dandelion Greens

Yeah, we ate weeds. We'd go out in the front yard and pick the dandelions and boil up the greens and eat them for supper.

Dandelions, washed and leaves separated.

Water

Salt

Butter or oleo

Vinegar if desired

Gather fresh dandelion greens early in the spring before the blossoms open. They are very bitter if too much matured. Wash well, discarding all damaged leaves, unopened buds are alright to cook.

Cover halfway with water and cook until tender. Serve hot with butter/oleo and salt, vinegar if desired.

Also: Open dandelion blossoms can be washed, dipped in a batter and deep fried in lard.

CAUTION!!!! Just make sure if you do eat the dandelions out of your yard that your yard hasn't been sprayed with any chemicals like pesticides!!!!

Sweet Milk Griddle Cakes (served for breakfast and supper as a main course)

3 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk (you can use up to 2 cups)

2 tablespoons lard, melted

Combine all dry ingredients and sift.

Beat eggs, milk and melted lard together.

Add dry ingredients and beat thoroughly.

Place batter in a pitcher.

Pour on a hot greased griddle to form cakes. Griddle until done and serve.

Spaghetti (served as a main dish for supper)

5 quarts water

1 lb spaghetti noodles (see recipe for noodles below)

1/2 bushel of tomatoes (about 26 lbs.)

6 garlic cloves (minced garlic)

6 med. onions, chopped

1 c. chopped parsley

1/2 c. packed brown sugar (if you can get it, back then brown sugar was hard to get)

1/4 c. sugar

3 tbsp. oregano leaves

2 tbsp. basil

1 tsp. pepper

10 pt. jars or 5 qt. jars

Cut off stem ends and cut tomatoes into large chunks. Heat tomatoes to boiling; stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer 15 to 30 minutes until tomatoes are very soft, stirring occasionally. Fill mixing bowl 3/4 full with cooked tomatoes at a time – hand blend with egg beater until tomatoes are very juicy but not pureed. Into large bowl press tomato through sieve - discard seeds and skins.

Boil water, drop spaghetti noodles into water and boil for 8 minutes or until tender. Put spaghetti in serving bowl and pour tomato sauce over it.

Navy Bean Soup (served as the main course for supper)

2 packages dried navy beans

1 medium onion (minced)

2-3 stalks celery (diced)

1-2 carrots (grated or finely chopped)

2/3 cup catsup or homemade tomato sauce (or more)

1 cup chopped celery

1 clove of chopped garlic

salt and pepper

water

Soak beans overnight according to package directions.

Pour off extra water.

Add water to about 2 inches or more over the beans (depending on how"soupy" you want it).

Throw vegetables in the pot with all the other ingredients.

Bring to a boil, then simmer until the beans are tender---the longer the better. Serve with homemade Hominy Corn Bread (see bread recipe below).

Chop Suey (served as a main course for supper)

1 tbsp. blackstrap molasses

1 c. sliced onion

1 c. shredded celery

1 of assorted vegetables, whatever you have growing in the garden or field

Fry vegetables in lard until almost done. Add a little water, a pinch of pepper, a tablespoon of sugar to taste. Simmer on low heat uncovered 15 minutes. Mix a little flour with a tablespoon of blackstrap molasses separately in 1/2 cup water. Add blackstrap molasses mixture to above ingredients and bring to boiling point. Serve over noodles. (see recipe for noodles)

Home Made Noodles

1 cup, plus 1 rounded tablespoon flour

2 tablespoons milk

1 egg, plus 1 yoke

1/2 teaspoon salt

Broth from chicken

On a bread board or in a large bowl, make a mound of the flour with a hollow in the middle. Beat milk, eggs, and salt together with a fork. Place in the hollow spot. Mix together from the outside in toward the center until you have a stiff dough. Let set for 5 minutes or so, no longer than 10 minutes, then roll out in two batches, as thin as you can. Keep flouring the dough as needed to keep dough from sticking to rolling pin. Roll up very tightly. Slice the rolled dough into thin strips. Separate at once and hang over a broomstick, or spread out on a table. Let dry 2 hours. Ten minutes before serving, drop into gently boiling broth, stirring constantly so that the noodles do not stick together. Noodles will be ready to serve when no longer doughy the clinging flour on the noodles will thicken the broth.

Hominy Corn Bread

1 cup hominy

1 tablespoon lard, melted

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Combine hominy, lard, eggs, and milk. Add cornmeal, salt and baking powder. Let stand 5 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon more of milk if desired. Pour into large lard greased pan and bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes or until a deep golden brown.

Homemade Bread

Makes 2 small round loaves

1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees F)

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal, plus 2 to 3 tablespoons cornmeal for pans

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter or lard or oleo

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup cool water

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup rye flour

2 to 2 1/4 cups bread flour

1. Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water and let sit for 5 minutes until the mixture is slightly thickened.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the 1/4 cup cornmeal, brown sugar, salt, and butter (or lard or oleo) with 1/2 cup boiling water. Stir in 1/2 cup cool water. Let sit until lukewarm (110 degrees to 115 degrees F).

3. With a large wooden spoon stir in the dissolved yeast. Beat in the whole-wheat and rye flours, mixing well. Stir in enough of the bread flour to make a soft dough. Knead 10 to 12 minutes by hand on a floured surface. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl (grease with butter or lard or oleo), turning to grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap (mom used cloth); let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

4. Punch the dough down and divide into 2 equal pieces. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

5. Grease and sprinkle two 9-inch pie plates or a baking sheet with cornmeal. Shape each dough piece into a round loaf and place in the pan(s). Cover with plastic wrap (mom used cloth); let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

6. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

7. With a sharp knife slash the top of each loaf in a decorative pattern.

8. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until the loaves sound hollow when gently tapped. Remove from the pan (s) and cool on wire racks.

Update: I forgot to mention we ate a lot of collard greens, black-eyed peas, grits, porridge (oatmeal) and rutabagas. Not enough room here to add these recipes.

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Depression Free Method?

I'm not sure if this is from the depression or WW2. I suspect the latter. But, when I was given this recipe years ago the lady who passed it to me said I could use melted bacon grease and melted shortening instead of cooking oil. I've only made it with oil. My impression is that she'd used melted bacon grease or lard because her family butchered a hog or two every year.

NO No Cake

1 1/2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 teas salt

1 teas baking soda

1 Tablespoon vinegar

1 teas. vanilla

1/2 cup oil

1 cup cold water

Sift dry ingredients into an 8 X 8" cake pan. Make three holes in the the flour mixture. Put vanilla in the first hole, vinegar in the second hole and oil in the third hole. Pour cold water over all. Mix well. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Serve plain or with a frosting.

This is not a 5 star cake in my book but I still make this once in a while.

Edit: I've always had a vegetarian night on our weekly menu.

Things like corn fritters, zucchini fritters and a good potato salad make a fine main course along with lima beans and cantaloupe or jello with fruit for dessert.

I didn't see anyone mentioning beans My Grandma ( born in 1903) told me she would make a pot of beans for dinner and lunch the next few days this is her recipe 1 lb dry beans (great northern, pinto, any she could find) soak over night in cold water drain and rinse put beans in large soup pot with 8 cups water 1 onion diced a carrot diced and either 1/2 lb bacon or ham or if you don't have that a ham bone or soup bone (she would save the bones from hams in the freezer or buy soup bones from the butcher for very little money) and 2 tsp salt simmer for at least 3 hours check season depending on meat you may need more salt when beans are almost tender you can add 1 large potato cubed if you have it also we would eat this when I was a kid topped with ketchup and corn bread on the side when she cooked she would tell me stories about what it was like when she was young everyone had a garden they called them Victory Gardens during the war it was your patriotic duty to grow your own so that the country surplus could go to the boys at war you didn't have sugar you used molasses and honey to sweeten things she never stopped being frugal at 73 she still canned veg and fruit and made preserves taking the cast offs from the local farmers market and nipping every last morsel of usable food off the bruised over ripe pieces

Onion sandwiches, cold bean sandwiches, mashed potato sandwiches and then the ever popular jam sandwich....Two pieces of bread jammed together.

Wild game and home produce rounded out the bill of fare.Pressure cooking the cheapest cuts of meat made it very edible. Canning today is no cheaper than buying canned goods but the flavor is better when home grown, and it will last just as long and you KNOW whats in it.

No Sure Jel? Use green fruit of the same variety you are making jam for or even us a few slices of green apple. Fruit pectin is from unripened fruit and that will jell the jam pretty good.

Fried pork rinds....the real ones and fry them until you have what is know as "cracklins" very bad for a heart healthy diet but does give a person needed fats when times are very lean. Also have the rendered fat and lard for "butter". A lard sandwich was quite popular in my mom's youth.

Baking soda for tooth paste also very popular then and freshened the breath.I try to keep a file of all the "old timey" foods just in case common foods get scarce.Pair that with a book on wild edible foods and wild game and you have about all you need.

With every day pass, our country is getting into more and more trouble. The inflation, unemployment and falling value of dollar are the main concern for our Government but authorities are just sleeping, they don’t want to face the fact. Media is also involve in it, they are force to stop showing the real economic situation to the people. I start getting more concern about my future as well as my family after watching the response of our Government for the people that affected by hurricane Katrina.

According to recent studies made by World Bank, the coming crisis will be far worse than initially predicted. So if you're already preparing for the crisis (or haven't started yet) make sure you watch this video at http://www.familysurvival.tv/ and discover the 4 BIG issues you'll have to deal with when the crisis hits, and how to solve them fast (before the disaster strikes your town!) without spending $1,000s on overrated items and useless survival books.

Find a pre-1960 Joy of Cooking, there are recipes in there from the depression era. Also, the Grange cookbook from the Bicentennial year.

My father often ate bread torn up and soaked in milk, or good ol' grits or hominy.

Grow a garden, if you can, but hand dig it and use seeds, not transplants.

Learn to cook with dry beans.

Stock up on canned cream of whatever soups during sales- they can be made to go a long ways when combined with noodles.

Definitely learn to make soups from scratch.

I'm just glad that I live where I can hunt my own food if necessary. As I sometimes do anyway. Squirrel, rabbit, deer, dove, pheasant, quail, and fish are provided by "Mother Nature." Grew up eating this menu anyway. But I might draw the line at baked possum. However, when I was a kid, there was NOTHING wasted. Garden in the summer. Woods in the fall and winter. And preserved food all the time. Tasted mighty fine.

The depression was a great source of conversation for my mother (born in 1925) grandmother and her 7 sisters, and I remember many of the shocking tales of poverty and despair that they told. My mum often relied upon depression era survival tactics and would thank god again and again for the freezer that they did not have back then. Soups and stews (beans were cheap!) fortified us when times got lean. I was a child in the 70s, and a trip to the butcher for bones was a weekly adventure. We always kept a garden, and recipes were full of whatever veggies we had on hand. We also made something called chew bread that could be savory or sweet - it was easy with few ingredients, you could add fruit or vegetables to it, and it was delicious. We canned and pickled everything. Jams and jellies, applesauce, peaches, tomatoes, beets; many preserves were stored in the cool dark pantry in the basement. I treasure the time spent in the kitchen with my mother, grandmum, and aunts. =)

We seniors have the time to go fishing, and take the grand kids along for fun. At the end of the day, a platter full of fried fish, some greens and baking power biscuits make a great supper for very little money.

Hard times challenge us to be creative and find ways to make a little go a long way. Kids make the experience fun. Fortunately, they never feel poor if they are doing something fun like fishing.