carpriver
US Veteran
I read some where that a flour company decided to use colored cloth for there bags to help the people during the depression they could make clothes currents and such.
Depression-era food...
- Thread starter PALADIN85020
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I was born in 1931 and know the eating end of this. Don't remember going to bed hungry but must have. Oh, I could tell some stories, some true & some from my memory bank.
When cleaning out my parents' garage, I not only found balls of string of various strengths, I found one fairly large cardboard box labeled "String Too Short to Save."
keith44spl
Member
Charlie,
I know where them chicken feet have been....scratching under the outhouse.
I don't eat em neither.
Dave
The titles of the cookbooks I mentioned in an earlier is:
Stories & Recipes of the Great Depression of the 1930's by Rita Van Amber. There is a series of 3 but the 1st one is the best.
Another thing my Mother did all of her life was save newspapers, magazines, and brown groceries bags. Why? not really sure but when us girls cleared the farmhouse 10 years ago we filled the county recycling dumpster.
And Christmas wrapping paper and ribbon! I was never allowed to rip open my presents. The pretty paper was carefully folded and saved for the next year.
My parents had it better than many because the farm was debt free. And electricity arrived in the late 1930's. The first thing my Mother insisted on was a real refrigerator. That same fridge was still working in 2009! Can you imagine one lasting for 70 years now? The latch on it broke around 1970 so it was kept closed by a chair for its remaining years.
Frugal was my Mother's middle name with a couple of exceptions during my time growing up (the 50's). We always had the best leather shoes that money could buy.
And traveling to see my older sisters as they married and moved and had families. By the time I was 12 I had been in 15 states plus Cuba & Panama.
Stories & Recipes of the Great Depression of the 1930's by Rita Van Amber. There is a series of 3 but the 1st one is the best.
Another thing my Mother did all of her life was save newspapers, magazines, and brown groceries bags. Why? not really sure but when us girls cleared the farmhouse 10 years ago we filled the county recycling dumpster.
And Christmas wrapping paper and ribbon! I was never allowed to rip open my presents. The pretty paper was carefully folded and saved for the next year.
My parents had it better than many because the farm was debt free. And electricity arrived in the late 1930's. The first thing my Mother insisted on was a real refrigerator. That same fridge was still working in 2009! Can you imagine one lasting for 70 years now? The latch on it broke around 1970 so it was kept closed by a chair for its remaining years.
Frugal was my Mother's middle name with a couple of exceptions during my time growing up (the 50's). We always had the best leather shoes that money could buy.
And traveling to see my older sisters as they married and moved and had families. By the time I was 12 I had been in 15 states plus Cuba & Panama.
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Ziggy2525
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My parents were kids during the depression. When we were kids in the 50's and 60's, a couple times a month we had boiled cabbage, bean soup, and pork sausage for dinner.
I think my parents ate so much boiled cabbage and bean soup as kids they actually liked it.
I think my parents ate so much boiled cabbage and bean soup as kids they actually liked it.
Sistema1927
US Veteran
Some of those are still comfort foods, like cornbread in milk.
In the early 1970's my pastor, who had grown up during the depression, had the tradition of having soup and popcorn after Sunday evening service. This is what his family did when he was growing up. It was an honor to be invited to their house to participate in this feast, one that I was privileged to join several times.
In the early 1970's my pastor, who had grown up during the depression, had the tradition of having soup and popcorn after Sunday evening service. This is what his family did when he was growing up. It was an honor to be invited to their house to participate in this feast, one that I was privileged to join several times.
I'm also a post-World War 2 baby boomer and I can remember doing this too.
THE PILGRIM
Member
I have eaten cabbage my entire life and still love it!
Down South it was mostly overcooked with Salt Pork.
I now steam it undercooked.
Cut the cabbage in bite sizes, put in bowl with salt and small amount of water.
Cover with plastic wrap.
Turn upside down over sink and shake.
You want to wet all the cabbage.
Microwave for 2-3 minutes.
Enjoy!
Down South it was mostly overcooked with Salt Pork.
I now steam it undercooked.
Cut the cabbage in bite sizes, put in bowl with salt and small amount of water.
Cover with plastic wrap.
Turn upside down over sink and shake.
You want to wet all the cabbage.
Microwave for 2-3 minutes.
Enjoy!
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My father was orphaned during the Great Depression, went to high school and at the same time worked 40 hours a week at the A&P to support himself. Dad told me he learned fifty ways to cook potatoes.
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No need to wait on the next Depression!
I'm having a fried baloney sandwich tonight, and I'm thinking about a pot of pinto beans with cornbread this weekend. Good eating!
I'm having a fried baloney sandwich tonight, and I'm thinking about a pot of pinto beans with cornbread this weekend. Good eating!
My parents were born mid 40's, me in 68 and Dad had a good job. Love me some boiled cabbage with a bit of ham as well as grits and eggs (over well). I have a 25 YO nephew who likes a tomatoe samich but I don't know where he came up with it. Had snapping turtle stew once when I was 8 or so, Dad and his cousin picked up a nice sized one from the road side and brought it home. I remember I really liked it. Fried Bologna, o yea.
bushmaster1313
Member
My wife’s grandparents had a small grocery store in a tiny coal mining and farming town outside of Pittsburgh.
Not much money.
But they had food and felt fortunate
My wife’s grandmother would sometimes nurse the babies of women whose milk went dry.
She was healthy of body and mind into her early 90’s. A good woman.
Not much money.
But they had food and felt fortunate
My wife’s grandmother would sometimes nurse the babies of women whose milk went dry.
She was healthy of body and mind into her early 90’s. A good woman.
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DWalt
Member
The frugality of most of those who lived through the Great Depression is absolutely true. My parents were very frugal, and saved most everything that could possibly be used in the future. Nor did they ever buy anything much beyond necessities. If they could do without something they didn't buy it, long after there was no further need to practice such thrift. What I remember the most was my father's attitude toward debt. To him getting into debt was a mortal sin and the pathway to hell and destruction. If he couldn't pay cash (actual greenbacks) for something he wanted, then he wouldn't buy it. His teachings rubbed off on me. As a result I am probably one of a small minority of Americans who never got into debt of any kind - no home mortgage, no car payments, no bank loans, etc. I do have credit cards but strictly as a convenience. They get paid off every month. My wife came from a very poor family who also did without for all of her childhood, so she well understands thrift also. A good thing we are singing the same tune.
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Don’t know if this was a Pennsylvania Dutch thing, or a Depression era set of meals? As a kid we would congregate at my grandmothers house for these and I couldn’t stand either one,,,, Corn Pie and Cabbage Pie! 
She would bake both and the family would gather at her house to eat.
My grandmother won an award for her Cabbage Pie.
As a kid growing up in the 50’s and 60’s we did eat a lot of the items mentioned though.
She would bake both and the family would gather at her house to eat. My grandmother won an award for her Cabbage Pie.
As a kid growing up in the 50’s and 60’s we did eat a lot of the items mentioned though.
bushmaster1313
Member
When I moved out of home I wrecked food I was preparing to the point it could not be eaten.
Did not know what to do with it as I had never seen food thrown away while growing up.
Did not know what to do with it as I had never seen food thrown away while growing up.
mike from st pete
Member
My Grandpa spread duckfat on his bread or rolls.
This thread reminds me of a funny story my late father used to love to tell. It was the mid 50's, discharged from the Air Force at Shaw AFB, married my born and bred South Carolina farm girl mother and took her north. End of the week he was able to buy a steak for dinner. He was relaxing in the living room and smelled something strange, walked in the kitchen and found her cooking it the only way she knew how to cook anything, rolled in flour and deep fried in Crisco. Anyway, I haven't seen any of the southern boys here mention my all time favorite treat dinner when we were kids staying with my grand mother in SC...watermelon and biscuits...melt in your mouth good. She would send us out to pick any melon we wanted while she made a pan of biscuits...a delicious combination, we used to beg her for it.
Ziggy2525
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From what I understand talking with my depression era parents (now deceased), a "wet nurse" was a pretty common thing in the 30's and 40's.
I think if you told today's millennial that someone else was going to nurse their baby, they might have a stroke.
Thanks for the trip down memories lane. My Dad used to make ham hocks and beans and serve it over toast, rice, or mashed potato pancakes.
Today, I made another of his favorites for dinner. Fried green cabbage which dad's mother made with lard. My mom and her mother fried it in bacon fat with or without more bacon. I like to make my version in butter and add Jimmy Dean's Original Breakfast Sausage.
Sweet onion sandwiches or a tomato sandwich (sometimes with bacon) were often found on our plates growing up in the late 40's early 50's.
Today, I made another of his favorites for dinner. Fried green cabbage which dad's mother made with lard. My mom and her mother fried it in bacon fat with or without more bacon. I like to make my version in butter and add Jimmy Dean's Original Breakfast Sausage.
Sweet onion sandwiches or a tomato sandwich (sometimes with bacon) were often found on our plates growing up in the late 40's early 50's.
