Poor man's foods

[revolver59]

Dad was a hard worker, a shoe maker, and Mom was a housewife, cook, and of course our best friend. We never had much, but we had love, care, and always had a roof on our heads, (Nothing fancy), but always clean, food on our table, again (Nothing fancy), but we liked it, and it was tasty, and the proper clothing.
We couldn't afford some of the fancy foods, like steaks, or the more expensive meats, and delicacies others could, but we had things like liver, kidneys, tongue etc... you know the lesser expensive meats, canned corned beef, bologna, we lived by a lake, so we always had some kind of fish, and grew most of our vegetables. I still love eating all of this stuff, but it seems like most people think that all of these foods that I mentioned are gross, and something that they would never eat. I wonder if they would feel the same way if it would have been all they could afford, just like we did!!

 

[Bill Bates]

My wife makes great liver and onions and it is hard to beat a tongue sandwich; but I digress. There are things I miss, like chipped beef in white sauce on toasted bread (SOS), I'm not sure you can even buy chipped beef now. Heck, fresh liver and tongue are hard to find in the grocery store.

I remember eating lots of mutton and lamb because beef was too expensive. Now you never see mutton for sale. Lamb is shipped from the other side of the world and makes steak look cheap. How the world changes.

All of that makes me think I need to ask momma to make liver and onions this weekend.

 

[DWalt]

I didn't come from a poor family, but far from wealthy. My parents grew most of their own vegetables (not too many do that anymore), and we had both cherry trees and apple trees for making pies, jelly, etc. Far more fruit than we could ever use, most went to waste. We also had a grape arbor, mainly for jelly and wine. Lots of the produce was canned in Mason jars. My mother and grandmother did the canning. I don't think too many do that either in today's world. My grandfather usually made cherry wine from the cherries. Every year my dad would hire a man with a two-horse team to plow our garden, which was about a half-acre.

We didn't have steak very often but had ham and sausage frequently. And always chicken. My father kept a small flock of chickens for both meat and eggs. He was pretty good at shooting a hen in the head from the back porch with a .22 for Sunday dinner. He didn't like to chop their heads off. But it didn't bother my German grandmother to do it. We also ate a lot of bologna - not always as sandwich meat. My mother had many ways to fix it. The local general store had great bologna - nothing like the tasteless pre-packaged bologna available today. The storekeeper would slice it from a long roll, as much as you wanted, as thick as you wanted. Most of our meat came from the local slaughterhouse. They had a retail meat store in the front with about a half-dozen meat cutters working there, most of whom were missing fingers. Nothing was pre-packaged. It was cut from sides of beef and pork the way you wanted it, and weighed and wrapped in brown paper. While my mother bought the meat, I'd go in the back and watch the workers slaughter cows, pigs, turkeys, rabbits, whatever animals they had. Sort of gory, but it didn't really bother me at the time - except for killing calves and lambs. I didn't like that and wouldn't watch. I still will not eat veal or any form of lamb.

My favorite foods were my mother's Navy beans and cornbread, also kale with potatoes and polish sausage. Porkchops with potatoes and sauerkraut was also great. She made her own sauerkraut and pickles also in big stoneware crocks. She was also good at making liver with potatoes fried in bacon grease.

In many ways, it was a much better time.

 

[mtgianni]

We grew most of what we ate and ate good beef as well as garden veggies. The "cereals" I ate growing up were cracked wheat boiled and add milk and sugar or for a treat rice and raisins with milk. Ice cream was one of our few luxuries.

 

[pawngal]

I grew up on a farm so there was always plenty of food. I miss beef heart and tongue. Did get a beef tongue several several weeks ago, not cheap now! $6.00 a pound. Haven't seen a beef heart in years but deer heart covers that. Pork & lots of chicken, huge garden & orchard with apples, plums, cherries and apricots. And my Dad fished when ever he had time. We had Farmers Market on our farm long before anyone ever heard that term used. And I forgot the fresh honey. Didn't have any dairy cattle so milk & butter came from the store. That and the staples for baking, coffee, orange juice, peanut butter, oatmeal, and my Dad's corn flakes were about the only other store bought groceries. My mother canned and/or froze most anything edible. My parents were married & started farming at the height of the depression so they really knew how to squeeze the pennies.

I thought we were poor but we weren't.

 

[rwsmith]

We visited a friend in the country for Thanksgiving...

...I mean REAL country, and they had a very hard time when he was growing up. His mother was upset that he brought city folks to their humble abode. When she started serving the table she put down corn, and beans and all kinds of vegetables and said, "I'm afraid it's not much." I told her, "Mrs. H_____, if I ate like this every day I probably wouldn't be as sick as I am."


PS: As far as my own home life went, we didn't have any extra anything and I wore the old clothes and all that jazz, but my Mom was home full time and I'd take the food over any restaurant around. Then, I had friends over from the projects and they thought we were rich. So everything is relative.
Clothes, food and a roof over your head is more than a lot of people in this world have got.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

About 20 years ago, there was a man at our church, that would buy his state hunting license and a deer tag. He would go late to the big groups of hunters and fill 2 or three coolers with deer hearts, livers and tongues. He would bring the most wonderful meat dished to the Church potluck dinners, but most people wouldn't eat his food. Some of the most wonderful cold tongue sandwiches I have ever had! (My dad made good ones, but not as good a Scotts.)

At our house, we had Apple trees, a few pear trees, a large strawberry patch, a few grape vines, and acres of wild blackberries. We made pies, juice, jams, jellies and apple cake. We grew tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, spinach, boc-choy, snap peas, green beans, radishes, onions, and shallots. All summer we ate well, then canned, and froze produce.

Our kids went to a small private Christian school, and for parent-teacher conferences, Diane would make Blackberry or Cherry pies, one for each of the 4 teachers and one or two for the office staff. Every year at Christmas, there would be a pint jar of jelly or preserves for each teacher in the school (about 24 teachers and administers).

My kids say to me, "We didn't know we were poor growing up." I tell them, We weren't! We didn't have cable TV or the Big Screen TV,s We never bought a brand new car or van, but you kids got to play every day in a wide open yard. You got an education, as good or better than the best private academy in Central, Ohio. And most importantly, you had a mom at home with you, and latter waiting at home for you, every day!

The kids grew up knowing how to work, clean, garden, and be thankful! Because of the skills learned at home and a good education they; have never suffered from poverty, know how to make do, and have been sought after by employers. Once they have a job, they are on time and industrious! AND the most important part of maturing, they are teaching their children to be the same!

When we all raise our families correctly our communities and our nation benefit! (and some of us eat pretty well doing it!)

Ivan

 

[twodog max]

Growing up we always had a big garden and my mom canned a lot. We picked berries and some fruit and it was canned and made jelly with it. Ate fish whenever we could catch some and a plenty of rabbits and squirrels. These days being retired the wife and I have a small garden and berry patch. We planted several apple trees and started getting apples this year. Our cherry, peach and pears have not done as good. Droughts have made it tough. We eat deer several times a week and love it. I always put 4-5 deer in the freezer and process my own. Free range organic meat I say. We enjoy the simpler home done life.

 

[Arik]

Dad was a hard worker, a shoe maker, and Mom was a housewife, cook, and of course our best friend. We never had much, but we had love, care, and always had a roof on our heads, (Nothing fancy), but always clean, food on our table, again (Nothing fancy), but we liked it, and it was tasty, and the proper clothing.
We couldn't afford some of the fancy foods, like steaks, or the more expensive meats, and delicacies others could, but we had things like liver, kidneys, tongue etc... you know the lesser expensive meats, canned corned beef, bologna, we lived by a lake, so we always had some kind of fish, and grew most of our vegetables. I still love eating all of this stuff, but it seems like most people think that all of these foods that I mentioned are gross, and something that they would never eat. I wonder if they would feel the same way if it would have been all they could afford, just like we did!!

No way man, I love those foods. I'll admit I'm not too big on cow tongue but liver, kidneys, hearts, chicken feet, cured pig fat, ....love it!

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[Arik]

Heck, fresh liver and tongue are hard to find in the grocery store.

.

Find an international market. If you live in an area with a large Asian or Eastern European community they will have one of their supermarkets somewhere near by
Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[BearBio]

Growing up, we ate mostly ground beef. Sometimes pork chops. Canned corn beef made into hash. Dad wouldn't eat fish or chicken (I think his dad killed a pet chicken when he was a child). Lots of casseroles. Dad was a milk delivery man (wholesale)=delivered to places like Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, big hotels along Pacific Coast Highway. So we got out-of-date milk, ice cream, cheese and butter. Come Christmas, he might get a gift of some steaks, or maybe even a lobster. We'd get something made with round steak twice a month or so (around paydays)=also, would go out for Italian or burgers on payday night. Ate lots of Mexican food (basic tacos & enchiladas & chili), burgers, spaghetti, etc.

When I went back to school after a 30 year hiatus, my wife said my job was to go to school==THAT was my job! We had an elk, a big mulie from Wyoming, a wild hog and some pheasant and quail. Lived on that for over 2 years (supplemented by another hog and mulie).

While in grad school, I would work on my thesis and then watch TV in the afternoon, mostly the Cooking Channel. Learned a lot from Emeril and Mario! We actually gained weight although I spent two semesters chasing my bears all over Angeles Forest collecting feces and positional data.


My paternal grandfather worked as a camp cook (and hunter) for logging camps in the Pacific Northwest. Grandma baked. The other Grandmother was an "Oakie" and Cherokee/Chickasaw. Lots of boiled rice, cornmeal mush (I still love fried mush but the wife hates it!). Maternal grandma raised Boysenberries, peaches, kumquats, apricots and had a small veggie garden. Paternal grandma raised onions and root veggies and kept them in a root cellar/crisper (Remember those?)

Did you know corned beef and cabbage is not Irish? Irish ate bacon and cabbage. When they came here, they couldn't afford bacon, so they acquired a taste for corned beef (and other brisket) from Jewish immigrants. In Ireland, bacon was a poor man's food (The higher up on the animal, the better the cut of meat! Ever hear the expression "Eating high on the hog"?)

Vacations, we still try to bring back some stuff for the freezer. One year we brought back about 10 lbs of "hucks" from Montana. One year was 13 albacore and some dorado from Baja. This year we brought back ~150 lbs of halibut from Kenai.

My mom wouldn't eat salmon because she ate so much of it growing up during the Depression.

 

[joeintexas]

I remember our oldest son saying at dinner, " no way will I eat anything that came out of a cows mouth, I'll just have a couple of eggs." I explained the production end of an egg to him.

 

[dusty3030]

Good memories. Makes me think of my paternal Grandmother. She could make anything taste good. Came to Arkansas in a mule drawn wagon with her family from Oklahoma during the depression to pick cotton because they were starving. Raised 11 kids on a farm in the Mississippi river delta region. She would cut up a couple of red link hot dogs into little slices and boil it in sauerkraut. I don't know what else she put in it, have never been able to recreate it. It was a dish for children but a heaping of it along with a piece of cornbread and a generous portion of blackeyed or purple hull peas and some milk was delicious. We didn't know it was a way to feed a table full of kids for pennies. Attached is a picture of her and a picture of my Grandfather with a deer (he is on the right).

 

[BearBio]

Forgot a few staples:

Red beans and ham or navy/limas and ham.

Fried bologna or fried Spam (I HATE those to this day!).

Mac and cheese=not as a side dish but main dish.

Processed canned ham=like Spam but not as salty.

Dad liked chipped beef on toast==bought jarred chipped beef.

 

[walter o]

You folks realize that you are all talking about fancy rich folks food now days .Served in some of the fanciest up scale eatery's in the country We were just ahead of other people they finally caught UP

 

[Drm50]

Our family still had 1 foot in the farm when I was a kid. We lived
in a small rural town. Uncles still farming so there were always
shares on Steers, Hogs, sheep. All the vegetables and fruit were
canned, as well as some meat. When the wild berries and such
were ripe, they were gathered. Everyone did their share.
A lot of the things that are in big style now, were very cheap, even in the store. Chicken Wings, Bottom Ribs, the things they
peddle now for as much as a steak. I did the same thing when
the kids were little, always had a few steers and hogs. Big gardens. Kids grew up and we kind of drifted away from that.
Now family buys a steer, hog and has it butchered. Then we
divide it up. We still don't buy much meat from the store. I miss
Butchering or own stock- but not the work, there ain't no free
lunch.

 

[Bro. Dave]

My mom grew up in Arkansas and although I grew up pretty solidly middle class, a cast iron skillet and bacon grease were essential elements of our cuisine. Our motto was: if it is good, fry it in bacon grease and it will be better. That went for meat and most vegetables (okra, squash, potatoes, etc.)

She also made what she called "hot water cornbread" which seemed to be pretty much just corn meal (maybe some baking powder?) and salt, into which enough boiling water was poured to make a hush-puppy type consistency. She would pat these out by hand and fry in the ubiquitous bacon grease. I still remember eating them and seeing the imprint of my mom's fingers in the patties.

We ate lots of chicken, pork, and beef, but lamb/mutton never crossed our threshold. I think my Dad must have been served mutton while in the Army and never wanted to see it again. The TV cooking shows make lamb chops look so good, but I can't choke one down.

Those cast iron skillets and bacon grease added to growing up Baptist (Motto: if you feed them, they will come) contributed to my "ministerial profile" (round).

 

[arjay]

Beef tongue,pickled herring,landjaeger,all sorts of cheeses,lamb...
Ma had eaten too much rabbit during the war due to rationing,was not interested in my hunting prowess atall! Dad,on the other hand,had been very poor as a young man during the depression and would eat anything."Dad,that's spoiled!"
"Ach,it's fine!"

 

[ACP230]

I lived on an island in the south Pacific as a kid.
Dad taught at an agricultural school for part of the time
and we had lots of stuff from the garden there. Also cooking
bananas that were growing almost wild.

Of course, even in the tropics the garden doesn't produce all the time.
We also relied on food shipments from the coast. They came by
plane and when the weather turned nasty the planes didn't fly.
I don't like squash (except for crook necks). Mom told me once
that almost all we had to eat for about two weeks at the school was
squash.

At another station we had an orange tree in the front yard. The
"oranges" were green even when ripe. The ants in the tree were
orange. Had a roseapple tree behind the house. Dad had pigs and
chickens on the place and there was fish for sale fairly often at the
harbor. No squash, squash, squash there.

Mom made lamb stew fairly often after we moved into town.
The supply house gave away what they called "lamb flaps" for free.
Mom put cabbage, onions, potatoes, and black peppercorns in the stew.
I make a good lamb stew, sometimes, but it's not as good as mom's was.

 

[Lee's Landing Billy]

Had an X-wife that served the same meal everyday...cold shoulder and hot tongue!