Transcription
People have eaten whatever they could find to survive, but some of history's most ingenious meals have been completely forgotten. While others were so bizarre, they deserve a second look. From creative wartime rations to surprisingly resourceful recipes, we're uncovering them all today.
Starting off our list, we have squirrel stew, something that was actually extremely common to be witnessed during the Great Depression. Now, you don't really need me to tell you that all we associate with the depression is, basically, a chronic state of financial doomsday. What you might not know is that people reacted to the circumstances they were in by picking up some interesting skills. Among berries, mushrooms, and wild game, people also began to hunt for squirrels. Yep, all those post-apocalyptic thrillers got something right: in times of dire need and stress, people definitely do turn to squirrels.
Making squirrel stew was not something that had gotten popular just in rural areas and the outskirts of civilization in America; it was also something that had begun to become popular in urban areas as well. But really, one has to ask, how does a squirrel taste? The stew that people would make back then was as "Poor Man's food" as you could get, so we're really just working with the barebones flavor of the meat itself. Most people described squirrel meat as being mild, salty, and tender, but not overly gamey. So I think, as far as taste goes, it passes.
Now, I'm not really too, too sure what you've heard about hardtack, but as far as do-it-yourself crackers go, this one is pretty hard to beat. Take some water, salt, and flour—which people have been finding substitutes for since my great-grandmother was alive—and just a little bit of patience, and you can make a pretty long-lasting cracker. It's a wonder what a basic combination of pantry staples can do for you. This is something that's been common information among soldiers, sailors, vagabonds, and traveling nomads alike. Hardtack is something that has deep roots across most periods of American history; premodern times, one fine example of that is the Civil War, since it was something soldiers ate and relied on because it was so easy to carry around. One downside of it, though, was that, uh, it happened to be so hard that you had to pretty much soak it in something each time before you could take a bite, so they'd have to keep water handy. Another one was that they seemed to attract worms. But hey, for food that is probably actually worth less than some dirt, I think you can't really do much better than this.
Now, hobo stew, on the other hand, was this Depression-era classic that every worker, farmer, and struggling citizen was well acquainted with. This one has the usual culprits, too: a bunch of vegetables that you barely foraged, scraps of meat you've been holding on to for weeks now, and whatever bits of canned goods you have left, all put into a pot and roasted over a warm fire. It was something that emphasized not needing any fancy kitchen tools or appliances, like a stove or oven. A lot of homeless culture was dependent on recipes like hobo stew, which could be made with pretty much anything. See, back then they also used to keep fires going all the time to help shelter from the harsh temperatures, and nowadays you have a lot of anti-homeless architecture, so it's not so common, but railway tracks used to be full of people cooking up this stew. Unemployed workers from the Depression, the Dust Bowl, and people struggling with the inflation from the war were all pretty familiar with it, too. It's an easy stew that adapts to pretty much whatever you have in your bag, and the recipe is less fixed ingredients than just having a pot and some fire.
Bread and drippings were pretty much the same food that you scrape together and barely assembled with whatever bits were available to call it a meal, or at least something that could resemble one. See, a lot of the names for these things, like bread and drippings or hobo stew, they're just regional nicknames that manage to stick. The idea has been floating around across not just America, but a lot of parts of the world. This one typically did a bit better in Uncle Sam's backyard because it happened to rely on the Old Reliable, namely bacon grease, and as you know, we're nothing as a country if not a land full of people who have a deep-rooted appreciation for bacon. Plus, throw in some beef drippings, lard, or just a little bit of canned beef if you can spare it, and you have yourself a pretty decent meal. People coming back from a long day at the factory or laborers who were picking up work around town wherever they could would, would usually come back to this, and it was a pretty decent way to keep your wallet and your health in check. You got fat, protein, and carbs all in one, and there were worse things to eat in the name of preserving money than bread and some beef with a little bit of grease on it. You might be surprised to find out that some people actually put sugar in there, though, and some diners would serve drippings toast with a bit of sugar on the side as a cheap breakfast, apparently. It really took.
Now, see, next to corn and bacon, you pretty much have potatoes as the only valid contender for being the nation's best friend as far as food is concerned. When haven't potatoes been there for us? And if you want to talk about how they help save money, let me introduce you to potato cakes, which were really just one of the best ways to repurpose leftovers that you could ever come across. The last thing you want to do when finances are running tight is be wasting food, right? Wasting any kind of bread, meat, curry, gravy, potatoes—anything. Well, not only were these bad boys ridiculously easy to grow just about everywhere across the nation, they also happen to be stupidly versatile and adaptable to your situation. Don't have an oven? No need. What people would do is take leftover mashed potatoes and just repurpose them by making potato patties and essentially just make pancakes out of them. They were served in diners, homes, restaurants, breakfast clubs, and a lot of other places as a really economical breakfast. You throw in some maple syrup and apple slices, and you have yourself a full meal. Really, I'm really not overselling you on the whole versatility thing; potatoes have a stacked resume, and I mean stacked.
Boiled cabbage and potatoes was literally another commonly used way of repurposing potatoes or just making something out of a very limited supply of ingredients. Boiled cabbage and potatoes is one of the most fundamental and economical meals across all of American history, especially among people that come from humble backgrounds and tight-knit communities. It's a dish that consists entirely of potatoes and cabbages being boiled together with some added seasonings and fat. And in fact, most people would grow their own cabbage and potatoes, even in cities, thanks to things like Victory Gardens. If you did have that kind of convenience and you could manage to grow your own produce, you could essentially have one meal free if you added this to your regular routine. Just a little bit of meat helped a lot with this as well; as if families could manage to afford some, they would usually throw in some ham, hawk, bacon, or pork for a little smidgen of flavor. It was still pretty good on its own, though, and it's something that lasted the populace for a good amount of time throughout both World Wars and the Depression. You know, they even used to use wilted cabbage for it because the mentality back then was to waste absolutely nothing.
Now, American goulash is a pretty decent distance away from the Hungarian counterpart, but it's at least something you can definitely rely on when you're in a bit of a tight pitch as far as money is concerned. It's this ultra-cheap meal that can be made entirely in one pot, and it has some pretty basic stuff. This is definitely pushing the definition of what it means to be "Poor Man's food," though, because let's be honest, who fits the definition of in poverty and has macaroni and ground beef lying around? I think this is more for middle-class or working-class households that manage to find themselves in the occasional tough spot; at least that's how recent times would have you think of goulash. If you start going back far enough into our history, though, it makes sense why this was considered "Poor Man's food," and it makes more sense when you consider that neither macaroni nor beef were even close to being financially stressful purchases. Hungarian goulash was a paprika-heavy beef stew, but the standards for what was considered an authentic rendition got looser over the years. It started to become known by different names, too. In the South, they called it slumgullion, and as people started to make it with canned ingredients, the original Hungarian roots got more and more diluted while it became more and more affordable as a meal.
Dandelion green salad is a classic example of how stressful situations can bring out skills you didn't know you had. Now, the practice of foraging is something that goes all the way back to early settlers and Appalachian families who were heavily dependent on what they could scrape up in Nature's backyard. If you went to Pennsylvania in the '50s, it was a pretty common salad there, too, and dandelion actually used to be sold throughout the 20th century in a lot of supermarkets. So let's just say it's not too far off to say that this salad has been a mainstay. See, the thing about it is that it's pretty hard to beat; dandelions aren't the kind of plant you really have to try to find. They're easily available, and you barely have to look further than your own backyard to find some, so that makes them free, easy to cook, easy to find, and not too bad to eat. Now, how do you really compete with that? As far as nutrition goes, this is a good example of a nepotistic baby. It takes just a little bit of vinegar, salt, and an egg to really make it look like you got some takeout, too, when all you did was go plant picking for like 20 minutes.
Cornbread and milk is pretty much what you would expect. Hey, let's say you want breakfast, and you really aren't feeling the typical routine of toast and some sugar. You want something sweeter, softer, a bit more gentle on the taste buds and stomach. Cornbread is something that people just happen to have laying around. You know, it's like that one resident rat that never manages to leave the building, only this time it's a lot more homely and tolerable. With cornbread and milk, all you really do is just crumble it into a bowl and then douse the whole thing in milk, and then you just get to eating it. It's a lot like soggy cereal, and it's a pretty good way to repurpose some bread and make sure none of it goes to waste. Most people in the South liked theirs with buttermilk, but a lot of people in urban cities often just win some syrup or molasses for a more sugary punch.
Now, who doesn't love themselves a good peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich? As far as breakfast classics go, this one's the undisputed heavyweight champion of them all. For centuries and centuries, since time immemorial, peanut butter and mayo sandwiches have been the shoulder we've been collectively crying on as a nation. Whether it's a kid that's dreading math for their first period, an accountant that really isn't looking forward to crunching numbers for the 756th Monday in a row, or a tired housewife who just wants to make herself an easy meal for once, peanut butter and mayo sandwiches are something that fit everyone's shoes. They're dirt cheap, take nothing to make, and you can get kids hooked on them—at least until their 17th birthday before they start asking for some protein for breakfast regularly. You know, though, historically they started becoming popular through the Depression. I mean, they had always faded in and out of time, but they started to become a mainstay that would basically be the first answer off the top of your head thanks to the Depression. It was one of the only times where butter had become so expensive that toast actually became unrealistic for a lot of people as a breakfast. The United States government also had it as a staple in most relief programs and food drive efforts, so a lot of people got too used to relying on brands like Hellmann's and Duke's to get by because they couldn't even get butter anymore.
Bean and weenie casseroles—same deal. They're these one-pot meals that got really hot in the middle of the toughest times that have ever been recorded in American history. I'm talking real survivalist stuff, the kind of things you hear about when your parents try to tell you how easy you have it. This one here was basically the only way most families got to enjoy the classic and timeless comfort of a casserole. It was a baked dish that was basically just canned beans, some kind of sauce or starch—usually potatoes—and some hot dogs, and it had been a mainstay of economical cooking throughout most of the 20th century. See, hot dogs were a reliable, affordable, and available source of protein, and fresh meat was something that people were fresh out of thanks to the war rationing; every last scrap of it. Canned beans, on the other hand, were a pretty decent substitute for traditional protein sources, and casseroles were a way for families to stretch ingredients and feed every mouth in the home. Depression-era recipes stayed pretty self-contained to the time they were born in, but in the '60s, this casserole got brought back—half out of nostalgia and half because boxed baking mixes and canned soups went together like bread and butter.
Strangely enough, rice and raisins were a bit different; they weren't really as preferred as casseroles, but they definitely got the job done. It was a dish you made when you had a craving for something sweet and you couldn't even begin to afford the first ingredient on the list for a simple cake. In most places, like Pennsylvania Dutch kitchens, it was something that people saw plenty of throughout the week. How could they not? How do you really get cheaper than rice, raisins, and some milk thrown in together to make something that vaguely resembles the texture of pudding with the consistency of porridge? I mean, sure, a lot of people in the Southern and Midwestern parts of the country were used to that kind of thing; you know, you had your Amish, you had your Jewish folks, but still, most people associated raisins with different kinds of desserts entirely, so it took a while to warm up to this, but hey, it was something that people thought was comfort food back in the day, and it definitely made a lot of room for rice pudding to get cozy up in people's dessert preferences later on.
Cabbage was something that was just as much of a team player as potatoes. You could have cabbage and noodles, too, if you felt like you had more than your fair share of starch. People used to call it "hooki" in Eastern European circles. Funnily enough, it's something that was popular in Europe, too. The trick this time is to just take some egg noodles, onions, and fried cabbage and put it all together. It's something that was really dominant throughout the Appalachian region. Lots of people who had cultural ties to recipes like this growing up, such as Slovak, Polish, and Hungarian folk, were pretty fond of it. Plus, the way a lot of these immigrant communities worked, whatever knowledge they had of their homeland's food, they would often share it with the crowd and enrich the country that way. It got really popular at church potlucks, too, one of the biggest reasons being that it had no meat, so it was always incredibly easy to make.
You can't be more of an open book than Depression-era ketchup spaghetti. It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like, and what you see is indeed what you get: you cook some spaghetti and you toss it with ketchup this time around instead of your usual marinara sauce. Families that were struggling with their finances during the Great Depression and World War II would rely on dishes like this, especially when canned sauces were either just not that common or they lived in areas where it wasn't as available. Ketchup was a pretty good alternative to an otherwise expensive tomato sauce, and ketchup spaghetti became something that people loved thanks to how it only managed to use two ingredients, both being really cheap. I'm sure some of you have even had this as school lunch or dinner, or both in a row. Plus, soldiers during World War II—you might not believe it—but a lot of the ones that got stationed in places like Japan and the Philippines would eat this. Nowadays, some people still make it as a retro throwback, but back then it was pretty standard "Poor Man's food."
See, it doesn't matter if your wallet's looking thin, and you could go for three horses; work is work, and that's why people had large sandwiches. You had to have something to get you through the day, and there was nothing that was as high in calories or as cheap as a large sandwich. It was a simple enough sandwich that just had rendered pork fat and some onions or sugar. Lard happened to be a decent deal—more affordable than margarine and butter, too—meaning that it became a real mainstay for low-income families. It gave a lot of manual workers some energy that they needed to keep earning a fair day's pay, and you know, nutrition can really be something that gets locked behind a pay wall. It might be something that goes over our heads, but the way we eat really is a blessing. A lot of people couldn't afford the finer, cleaner, and healthier ingredients that would constitute a healthy diet. It meant that they had to rely on things like this, even though eating that much lard for so long did have its own consequences on a lot of folks. But hey, what can you do? Those lights have to stay on somehow, consequences be damned.
When you hear the words "meatless meatloaf," it kind of makes you think what kind of oxymoron you're really dealing with here. I mean, it's kind of like saying a waterless river, right? How does that really work? Well, during the Depression, that rationing I was talking about—the one where the government kept all the nice little tenderloins and filet mignon to themselves—well, that got so bad that basically meat was largely unavailable, as in people seriously couldn't guarantee that they would have any kind of meat at all unless they could hunt it. Home cooks started to cope with the protein drought by coming up with food like meatless meatloaves, which was basically just mock food culture at its finest. It used fillers that were pretty good at filling, and that was typically just stuff like beans, breadcrumbs, potatoes, mushrooms, and other things that could mimic the texture and flavor of meat. Ground meat was too expensive, and people began to start making things like peanut, cornmeal, and lentil loaves. I mean, yeah, lentil loaves—it really was a thing. I couldn't imagine it, but hey, it might just be worth a shot.
Hushpuppies sound really cute at first, and when you look at them, that notion only gets enforced even harder. These deep-fried cornmeal fritters have a way of being perfectly crispy on the outside, with a shimmering golden to complement that, and being as tender and smooth as butter on the inside. This is as much of a Southern classic as you'll ever find, so much so that I'm not really even sure how this ever went out of style. I know people in some corners of the South still make it, but it's definitely the one dish on the list that fits the bill the best. This is authentic "Poor Man's food." Cornmeal was so inexpensive and available, especially in the South, where most places sold wheat flour just for a few more cents. Hey, it may not seem like much, but adjusting for inflation, it would mean something to you, too. Hushpuppies were, like anything else on this list, they made the best use of a lot of cheap ingredients that you could find in just about any grocery store. Frying a bit of all of those together and combining it into one singular dish meant that things like hushpuppies were a great way to pass the days by. Lots of people have considered where these originated from; some claimed that Confederate soldiers active in the Civil War were responsible for popularizing fried cornmeal balls, whereas others claimed that Cherokee and Creek tradition had references of similar corn cakes. Either way, these rock.
Shepherd's pie is one that needs no introduction. You've all seen those layers of ground meat and had enough of those vegetables to last you a lifetime. I don't need to give you the rundown on this. What I might need to tell you is that, strangely enough, this isn't an American original at all. In fact, it's something that was brought over to the country by Irish and English immigrants who had come and made their homes in New England, Pennsylvania, and other parts of the Midwest. During the Depression, immigrant communities like these became pillars of the country because they were sharing recipes like shepherd's pie, and many families actually weren't familiar with the dish at all.
All I know, it seems like it has been around forever, but it took a while for it to have the reputation it does. People thought that the potential it had for being made with more fillers than meat meant that it could be a great pie to fall back on in tough times, and it made a return 30 years after the Depression, too, when TV dinners made it a hot thing again. But it definitely wasn't considered "Poor Man's food" by then, nor is it considered that now. The shepherd's pie of those times looked drastically different than our own, and they took a lot less liberty with their ingredients, too.
I'm not really stopping the cabbage circus anytime soon, by the way. If you weren't tired of it before, I'll definitely test your patience with cabbage and bacon grease. Can you imagine what boiling cabbage and bacon grease is like? Because if not, I'm about to paint a very vivid picture. The texture of the bacon grease really solidifies the cabbage. What's usually a soft, soft but crunchy vegetable that feels awfully light on the way down turns into an extra crispy, extra crumbly, deep-fried meal that pushes far above its god-given weight when it comes to how filling it is. Plus, bacon grease was free to a lot of people; it was just the byproduct of making bacon. And again, the mentality was to not waste anything, especially in times where terms like "Poor Man's food" were commonly being thrown around. It stretched a small head of cabbage into something that was somewhat fit to be a meal. So, despite how it was lacking any real flavor profile or enjoyment, people sucked it up and ate it anyway.
But out of all the cabbage recipes so far, this is one I can happily say good riddance to. Water pie. Yep, that's it; that's the whole thing. A pie actually made of water. No, it's not a crust filled with water that's been somehow baked to look like a pie. It's a Great Depression-era recipe. Again, you'll find some real out-of-the-box, unorthodox stuff if you go through the Depression. This one really tested the limits, even for that time period, which is saying something. Either way, water pie was really just a dish made out of sugar, flour, and butter, or butter substitutes, in hot water. The idea was to make a pie that had a custard-like filling, and water was supposed to replace milk in the equation. You just took an unbaked pie crust, usually made with lard or some other shortening-based crust, and then poured in all the aforementioned pie ingredients and stirred it ever so gently. You'd bake it at the usual temperature, and voila, your water pie is essentially done. The reason it worked is because the flour worked as a thickener, giving it a pudding-like feel, but really, this was a pie in name more than it ever was in practice.
Sugar sandwiches are also pretty on the nose. You take some white bread, you slap some sugar on it, or some margarine, lard, or butter, whatever you manage to have that day, and then you just eat. All the better if you can toast it up on a pan or an actual toaster, because then you really have yourself a decent sandwich. Now, none of that really sounds like a recipe or a meal you put effort into, right? But think for a second about what the category of food this video is about really entails. A lot of the times, people that were regularly having what could be considered "Poor Man's food" honestly didn't have enough to spare for an actual well-rounded meal. And hey, that's definitely no news to you. But what might be interesting, interesting is that the meal that got took the most hits was always breakfast. People couldn't do without their dinner, and they definitely couldn't do without their lunch, else those midday shift breaks would be draining instead of refreshing, and then how would you go to work? But see, breakfast, now breakfast was something people could cut corners with. Still, folks tried what they could with sugar sandwiches. Couldn't always spice it up too much, but sometimes a little honey, a little jam, some cinnamon, it would go a long way to making things less boring.
If you turn the page over to the soup side of things, you'll find that we have some pretty interesting specimens. One of those was cracker soup, or otherwise known as "poor man's soup," and it was essentially just a no-nonsense dish that was made using hot water, butter, some pepper, bouillon if you could spare it, and some saltine crackers. It wasn't even something most people would call soup on one of their worst days, but the kind of days people were living when they had food like this were a lot nastier than any definition of "worst" they could cook up. Speaking of cooking things up, this was actually something that got popular in the military, too, specifically because it required nothing to cook. Hey, it wasn't just something that the military happened to enjoy; a lot of families actually thought that cracker soup made for some pretty good sick food. It was light on the stomach, couldn't do anything to you that wasn't already happening, and it was, was pretty refreshing if you had a nasty congestion. Despite the fact that it has practically zero nutritional value, something about it—maybe the placebo, maybe the hot water—felt awfully refreshing.
Horman's pasta is actually a really ingenious dish, on top of being really inexpensive. The idea was to make a pasta that worked like a lot of these other recipes in that it could adapt to whatever you had on hand. Pasta was a shelf-stable that was also cheap, and it barely cost a few cents per packet, so it became a go-to for a lot of families. In this pasta, people threw in breadcrumbs, which was supposed to be a substitute for cheese, but like, let's be honest here, even if you try some good old-fashioned perspective-changing, this doesn't really hit even close to the same way cheese does. Next, you had garlic, onions, and red pepper flakes, which, believe it or not, actually make for a pretty nice combination, even if it is an awfully simplistic one. This is something you would see a lot more often out in the street of, let's say, New York or Chicago. It's what families ate when they could never afford actual pasta because either the meat made it too expensive or the sauce was too imported and therefore just had to be overly expensive. People don't really make this anymore because one of its biggest benefits—that it takes no time to make—is something you can easily find with pre-made pastas available in stores now, and those taste a lot better. It was still a good soldier for its time, though.
Cornbread is a God's gift. You can spin it a thousand different ways, and people will eat it up like it's God's last gift to Earth each time. It really just speaks to its own raw talent, honestly. One of the best pairings you had for it was cornbread with blackstrap molasses. This is a true Southern survival meal, and it makes ample use of everything you would find in the area. You might be wondering what's so different about these molasses that they deserve their own label. You see, blackstrap molasses are pretty much what happens as a side effect of sugar production, and sugar making is something the South is deeply acquainted with. Where does that leave us? With a lot of blackstrap molasses. Now, unlike cracker soup, this was a dish that actually had an incredible amount of nutrition for how bare bones it was. Molasses and cornbread have long been a tradition passed down by sharecroppers of all backgrounds across the country, but it was things like this that really solidified them as a crucial pair of America's lore. People thought these were medicinal, too. A lot of folks believed in the ability of these molasses to help prevent anemia, which I'm not too sure why, but maybe some of you with a more medical background can help me out with that one. It's not something you'd find today, but hey, I'm sure someone still makes it out of nostalgia.
Rice and vinegar is a pretty low-cost meal that takes nothing and works to make rice a bit more interesting than it would be on its own. It's like Ted and Barney from *How I Met Your Mother*; one of them just works better when it has the other one to bounce off of, and we all know who Barney is here. Anyway, it's an idea that we pretty much got from Southeast Asian immigrants and people who were coming in from China and Japan. It was a lot more common for them to eat rice, and just rice with nothing else, as a full meal. Now, this was something that took Americans a lot of getting used to, but with enough vegetables leftover, a wallet that's screaming bloody murder, and a stomach that's boring even louder, everyone's standards make room for the unfamiliar sooner or later.
Vinegar pie is the rather odd dish on this list that proves that, at times of desperation, anyone will eat anything. Vinegar pie started spreading infectiously out of states like Pennsylvania in the start of the 1930s and tops even dandelion salad when it comes to being budget-friendly. All you would need is an open crust, vinegar, sugar, and some eggs to create this unique pie. To cover the mediocre taste, people would coat the crust with a meringue. It was an affectionate treat to bring in case of a celebration and was easy to make if you had a sweet craving. The dish was also pretty delicious if you were able to get over the sour vinegar taste and focus on the meringue. People really wanted a sweet treat at the end of a hard week spent cutting corners and working long hours; small joys like vinegar pies were what kept people sustained.
If you believe that eating insects is a modern sustainable practice, you are wrong. In the Dust Bowl, crispy fried grasshoppers were not a joke; they were a staple food during the poor harvests and when meat was hard to come by. Farmers looked to the hordes of grasshoppers feeding on the crops—talk about revenge dining. Hunting grasshoppers was a family event, and when you had gathered enough grasshoppers in a bucket, then the cooking process started. They were washed, marinated, and then fried to a crisp golden brown. The result: a crunchy snack that contained protein and was not too shabby if one didn't consider what they were consuming. Grasshoppers are, in fact, a form of superfood as they contain high protein, iron, and good fats. The Dust Bowl families were not consciously trying to innovate, but they were able to feed themselves in a way that many others could not. Also, if you fry anything, it automatically becomes at least 50% tastier, doesn't it? Nowadays, insects are being considered as a source of food, but in the past, crispy grasshoppers were a means of feeding oneself.
So, for onions stuffed with grape nuts, you needed nothing that fancy, not even a lot of seasoning outside of your basic salt and pepper. All you needed was 1 1/2 cups of pork sausage meat, some melted fat, ketchup, and if you could spare some strips, then bacon, of course. The key player, grape nuts, would come later when the onions would be chopped, chopped, and diced, mixed with the sausage and the other ingredients. This was then baked for around 40 minutes, and the outcome was a resounding yes from everyone at the dinner table. Dishes that were simple but incredibly effective at filling everyone and leaving them with a happy smile were the Holy Grail of the 40s and 50s.
Back in the day, when you were out of just about everything except sugar, flour, and fruit, a vinegar cobbler was your only option. No surprise that it was also known as one of the famous desperation pies. Desperation pies are pies in American cuisine made using staple ingredients like butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and any other ingredients that cooks had on hand to complement them or substitute for ingredients that were out of season or too expensive. These pies were more common before refrigeration and canned pie fillings and during times of hardship like the Great Depression and rationing of World War II when fresh fruits were hard to come by. People turned to vinegar to mimic the tartness of fruits like apples and lemons. This cobbler used a mixture of vinegar, sugar, and spices to create a filling that, when baked, tasted surprisingly similar to a fruit cobbler. Instead of chunks of fresh apples, those on a budget would use apple cider vinegar to fake the acidic taste. The crust was made from basic pantry staples like flour, sugar, and butter or lard. The dish reportedly tasted like a custard made from salt and vinegar chips—a rare dessert that leaves the roof of your mouth tingling.
Hoover Stew was one of those dishes that anyone could afford to make, so it is no wonder that the stew was a common item in the Great Depression. Hoover stew had two signature traits: it could feed the whole family, and you could have the dish without exceeding the monthly budget. As for the recipe, the dish involved using scraps and leftovers to increase savings and recycling. In a time when households could not afford a lot, you did not need many spices, and you could easily use leftover meats. In an America where banks were going bankrupt and the job market was hopeless, the stew was a welcome addition; obviously, it would be a popular choice among many households, as our older viewers might still remember. Fortunately, as economic stability came back, Hoover stew went away from tables in favor of more flavorful and varied stews.
When life hands you a cow but almost nothing else, you cook the cow's brains. Fried cow brains, or calf's brains if you want to sound a bit more gourmet, was a Dust Bowl specialty, not because people wanted to eat it, but because they had to. They were not fastidious in the past; when you had to fight for your life, you ate everything that was on the animal. Now I know that fried cow brains may sound like something that shouldn't even be considered food, let alone something that might be considered delicious. For this dish, brains were washed in water or milk, dredged in flour, and fried until brown and crispy. Consider them as the first-generation chicken nuggets, if chicken nuggets had a soft core and came with a helping of angst. The flavor? It was mild, almost buttery, and that was the reason why nobody fled from the dish when somebody served it. Cow brains, fried, were dense in nutrients, especially protein, and thus a good meal during famine. While nowadays people might shudder at the thought of consuming brains, in the past it was simply Tuesday's supper. And hey, if you put some gravy on top, it might just seem like you're eating gourmet food.
If people can make an entire fake fish filet and still be pretty satisfied with it, then other meaty wonders like liver definitely are not too far off the horizon. And chopped liver substitute would eventually prove that right. Something that became incredibly popular in the war-torn landscape of America because all it took was some onions, green lentils, walnuts, and salt and pepper. You had to make a paste out of it to get the texture of chopped liver down, and in terms of taste, this was a completely new experience, yet a significantly cheaper and easier one. It was much easier to get ingredients like these than good-quality liver back then, and a lot of citizens stuck with this recipe even after the dust settled because they liked how healthy of an alternative it was.
Up next, we have a dish that was all about making the most out of simple ingredients: spaghetti, boiled carrots, and white sauce casserole. It can be argued that Eleanor Roosevelt did the best she could during the Great Depression. The first lady promoted dishes to encourage savvy homemakers, such as a casserole made from spaghetti, boiled carrots, and a simple white sauce of milk, flour, salt, and butter. The spaghetti had to be cooked for 25 minutes; the idea was to get the noodles mushy so they paired nicely with the boiled carrots and a penny's worth of creamy sauce. The result: a vehicle for nutrition and nutrients. Families loved this dish because it was versatile and could easily be modified based on what was available. It was a great way to fill up hungry bellies without breaking the bank. It still makes a pretty delicious meal for potlucks, so if you want to impress everyone with something easy to whip up, the spaghetti, boiled carrots, and white sauce casserole will do.
Then came the cornmeal mush, joining pies and on the list of economically sensible lunches. When times are tough, porridges become a very enticing meal, as affording bacon strips or other meats for breakfast was out of the question. Even if you got cheap beef jerky, you did not know if it was good and clean meat, and typical American breakfasts like grilled bacon and eggs were losing popularity due to price constraints. People needed their 7 a.m. nutrition, so cornmeal mush, an incredibly healthy dish, became popular. Topping the cornmeal with maple syrup, or in some cases a thick sausage gravy, elevated it in the taste department. It was not much of a fan favorite, though, because the mush did not last long after the economy settled. Once people could afford better, they definitely went back to their regulars.
If you believe that using every part of the animal is a modern concept, you are mistaken. Dust Bowl families were not sparing any part of the pig, including the snout. Pig snouts, breaded, might sound like something you dare a friend to eat, but during the Great Depression, it was a delicacy. When meat was a rare commodity, the snout was a cheap source of something meaty, chewy, and quite palatable. The snouts were washed, cooked until soft, and then breaded before being deep-fried to golden brown. The result: a crispy, crispy outside and a very tasty meat on the inside. Well, yes, the texture may have been somewhat unusual, but when you are hungry, you don't mind. Real quick, if you're loving this content as much as we loved making it, hit subscribe to stay connected and help us reach even more amazing folks like you. To Dust Bowl families, pig snouts, breaded, were not just edibles but a way to pay tribute to every pound of what little they had; no part was wasted. While such meals ensured that scarcity became resourcefulness, nowadays breaded pig snouts can be found only in some culinary forums, but they are, are a vivid example of how people tried to feed themselves when there were no chips but snouts. Would I try it? To put it in perspective, if my grandma was to prepare it with a wink and a smile, I'd be willing to take a bite, indeed. When you survive, you become brave and perhaps a little curious. But would you try it? Leave us the answer in the comments [Music] below.
Ever thought you would have a casserole with no meat in it? An economy loaf is just that, and we could not have named it better if you put a gun to our head. Using potatoes, peas, flour, eggs, and some basic seasoning, this was a loaf made entirely of alternatives to meat. So, for vegans, it is a recipe to keep in mind throughout the ages, but in the rationing-ridden times of World War II, it was a godsend to have this quick and easy loaf. It was even popular enough to be in cookbooks like *The Modern Hostess*, even its special patriotic edition. Roosevelt's presidency really saw some gems, right?
The Great Depression might not have the most appetizing recipes, but the era did give the world the Kraft macaroni and cheese dinner in 1937. Kraft heard about a salesman for the Tenderoni macaroni company of St. Louis going rogue and selling his noodles with packets of Kraft grated cheese attached. They hired the man to promote the concept and started selling it to cash-strapped Americans at a low price of 19 cents for four servings. Some variations of this comfort food even included cooked vegetables or even a can of tuna. It was a great way to feed the family without spending a lot of money, and it quickly became a favorite for kids and adults alike. Even today, it remains a beloved comfort food.
Boiled carrot sandwiches were created from the weird culinary gap left by increasing prices and thinner savings accounts. Like we said, people wanted vegetables that ticked the cheaper and tastier most boxes for them; however, even that was getting tough. Some of the worst stretches of the Great Depression left people with frustrations and creativity alike. Whipping up dishes like this was common, and the boiled carrot sandwich definitely stayed during the time because of its simplicity. Americans love a good sandwich, and they adore an easy-to-cook filling. Boiled carrot sandwiches definitely met most of the criteria. As roasting cheese to create an open-face sandwich was a popular choice, suffering the same fate as other dishes on this list, the boiled carrot sandwich eventually died out as economic growth increased in America.
If you always believed that only the drippings can be used to make gravy, then you are wrong. Blood gravy was a Dust Bowl staple that created a meal from the most unappetizing of ingredients: animal blood. Sound intense? It was, but back then, farmers couldn't afford to waste a single drop—literally. Blood gravy was produced by drawing fresh blood from animals, particularly pigs or cows, and then mixing it with flour, milk, and spices to make it into…
A thick paste that was served as a relish, served over biscuits or potatoes. It was rather tasty and rich in nutrients, which came as a complete shock during a period when people suffered from a lack of iron. Blood gravy was, in fact, a sort of multivitamin. This dish was both a product of ingenuity and the expenditure of a considerable amount of effort. Getting the blood was not easy, but the meal was filling.
For today's food lovers, it may be hard to swallow, but blood-based recipes are not something new to the culinary world. Since there is blood pudding from Sweden and dinuguan from the Philippines, would you try it? Seriously? I can take it if it's presented on a fluffy biscuit and if it's well seasoned. I might be willing to try it. Dust Bowl cooks were masters of turning nothing into something, and blood gravy is a perfect example of that adage. [Music]
People that grew up during World War II will know that mixing sawdust with bread to fortify it, so that your supply would last twice as long, is not quite the urban myth it is made out to be today, but rather a sad fact of a dark time that people would prefer to leave in the past. This was something born purely out of necessity and a lack of basic necessities like flour, since it was becoming so scarce. Across America, people's supplies of bread were running out fast, and often bread was the only thing families had to eat. Too, with even that comfort gone, people took to mixing sawdust, which you could even taste in the bread in some cases. It made the bread go bad faster, such as when people used too much of it, but in most other applications of this technique, it worked as a filler when nothing else could be used as one. This would also set up a trend of consuming fiber in the '70s, even though most companies used cellulose fiber that was made from sawdust, so it actually does have quite a history in America.
Who says you need apples to make an apple pie? Not the Depression-era folks, that's for sure. This mock apple pie was a genius hack that used Ritz crackers as the crust and a sweet, sticky filling made from sugar, cinnamon, and water. It was a budget-friendly dessert that satisfied the sweet tooth without the need for expensive or hard-to-find ingredients. Plus, it was a great way to use up those stale crackers lurking in the back of your pantry. The Ritz mock apple pie became a Depression-era favorite, despite the fact that it was a pastry impostor. How did it work? The aromatic mixture of sugar, cinnamon, butter, lemon juice, and crackers combined to convince the taster's senses that the pie actually tasted of apples. Mock apple pie actually dates to the mid-1800s, during the winter time when apples were scarce and dried apple stores were used up. Inventive home cooks would instead use soda crackers or stale bread. The more modern Ritz cracker version came about in the 1930s.
Egg drop soup, for some rural folks, was a show of a chef's skill. In 1930s America, the soup became a beloved soup of the masses who were struggling to make an honest paycheck. Bread from last night and eggs beaten so thoroughly that the preparation itself doubled as a forearm workout resulted in an incredibly rich soup. Sometimes, if a home cook felt particularly fancy, they would have chicken, either boiled or shredded, in the mix. Using the chicken stock was also a common way to not let anything go to waste, since getting the most bang for your buck out of poultry became a habit of everyone. Most would just have this with eggs and throw in some ginger, chives, and olives or anchovies. We would definitely like to see this make a comeback with a less cost-oriented version that really explores the dish.
Yes, you heard it here first: skunk stew. Even when the Dust Bowl left dinner plates empty, people were not the only ones who could not escape being eaten; not even skunks. Now, before you start gagging, let me explain. Skunks were not the preferred source of protein, but when resources were scarce, the farmers made do with whatever they could hunt down. Cooking skunk stew was not for the faint-hearted. First, you had to "deskunk" the skunk; it was mandatory to have the scent glands removed unless one wanted the house cleared faster than a tornado. After washing, it was cooked with whatever vegetables and spices were available. The result: a rather soft and gamey meal that was palatable, though not one that would make me eagerly look forward to the next meal. Skunks may sound like the butt of some jokes, but these animals were a good source of protein when all else was scarce. And can you imagine, a skunk was not as smelly as other wild games like raccoon or possum. Talk about a back-handed compliment. While skunk stew appears to be the epitome of the "challenge accepted" food that is po po today, for the survivors of the Dust Bowl, it was a symbol of survival. They made desperation into dinner, as they say. Where there is life, there is a chance to live, and sometimes to live, you have to eat the wild, literally.
Mock cuisine in general really saw its heyday during the harsh times of rationing, especially with all the things that were famously eaten before times got so bad, like brains. People wanted more of their favorites, even if they had to compromise in some way, and things like mock brains would become really popular as a result. Known for being quite heavy on the seasoning and being laced with fat, they incorporated basic spices like hickory smoke, paprika, and garlic. People would typically have it with a tomato sauce if they could spare the ingredients, and it definitely scratched that itch that lots of us meat lovers were having around the nation.
Who would have thought that weeds could be a meal? Well, during the Great Depression, dandelion greens were a common sight on dinner tables. This vitamin-packed ingredient was foraged by Italian immigrant women in New York City. These bitter leafy greens were rich in vitamins and minerals, making them a nutritious addition to any meal. People would often sauté the greens with a bit of bacon or lard, garlic, and onions to balance out the bitterness. They could also be used in salads or added to soups and stews. So, if you ever spot dandelions growing in your yard, remember that they're not just weeds; they're a delicious and nutritious green that can be enjoyed in a variety of ways. Just make sure they haven't been treated with any chemicals before you eat them.
Potato pancakes are one that we are very sad to have seen fade away from the arsenal of home chefs. Pancakes made with mato or applesauce, topped with garlic or fried onions, made for such a mouthwatering meal. Low-income households back in those times were struggling to buy produce; farmers' markets were uniformly unaffordable for middle-income households due to creeping inflation. People needed a vegetable that was cost-appropriate and easy to make in batches. Enter the potato pancake, which revolutionized the breakfast scene in a struggling time. As times improved, people slowly started going to more fancier and creative breakfasts, unfortunately leaving simpler dishes behind. Potato pancakes took a backseat in the face of changing food and economic trends, friends, but anyone from the era will rave to you about the godsend these were.
What's for dinner? Oh, just a small something that came in from the backyard. Yes, the tumbleweed casserole was a real dish during the Dust Bowl, which just goes to show you that when the going gets tough, the tough make casseroles out of tumbleweeds. Tumbleweeds, those rolling shrubs of the Wild West screen, are actually technically, or at least partially, edible. Not fancy for the tongue, but we are hungry to the bone, let's give it a try. Edible. The process began with the boiling of the tumbleweed leaves to reduce their coarse feel and also to reduce the bitterness of the leaves. Then they'd get layered with whatever ingredients were available; maybe some scraps of meat, potatoes, or canned goods if you were lucky. The result: a surprisingly substantial, earthy-flavored casserole that was as much about sustenance as it was about taste. Tumbleweed is very fibrous and even has a few vitamins in it, so it wasn't the worst thing to eat when fresh greens were scarce. Moreover, tumbleweeds were free and easy to come by—nature's grocery store, if you will, though you'll never see it on the dinner table. Tumbleweed casserole represents Dust Bowl endurance. Would I eat it? Well, I'd need a serious pep talk and a lot of seasoning, but hey, if the tumbleweed can take the hot winds, then it shouldn't be a problem on my plate.
Shortages were extremely common right up to before Pearl Harbor and especially after it. This is what led to things like Walton pie dominating the mainstream, even though the dish would probably not see the light of day in normal circumstances. It is just that things like pies, loaves, pizzas, etc., had all become unattainable desires that were out of the public's grasp, more or less. Something had to be done, though, because not only did people need to be fed, they needed to be reminded of why eating good food is one of life's best joys. A hot, nice meal can do so much for a person's soul in times of conflict and uncertainty, and Walton pies, despite being made entirely out of vegetables, not only gave your body the health boost it needed, but they felt comforting to share with your family.
Another meatless option, lima bean and peanut loaf, was a creative way to get your protein during the Depression. It's made by combining cooked lima beans, peanut butter, and breadcrumbs to form a loaf. The result was a savory loaf with a nutty flavor and a satisfying texture. It was an excellent meatless option for families looking to stretch their food budget, plus it was a great way to use up leftover beans and peanuts, ensuring nothing went to waste. Lima bean loaf allegedly tastes a bit like falafel but is best with lots of highly seasoned gravy. This dish might sound a bit unusual, but it was a creative solution to a common problem: getting enough protein without emptying their pockets.
Mock apple pie is another delicious dessert that clicked with masses across the nation during rough times. As apples were getting expensive, people were looking for cheaper alternatives; that is when the mock apple pie entered. Resemblance is one thing, but if the pie looks and tastes like it, then it might as well be an apple pie. Created using cheap and the nation's favorite Ritz crackers, mixing those with some vanilla syrup, sprinkle some lemon and cinnamon to create a perfect home-baked pie fit to rival apple pie. The Depression era onwards really saw an explosion in its popularity. We cannot really blame people either; fresh, juicy apples were in hot demand and short supply. The pie was just as cheap as Hoover stew and easy to make. Nowadays, of course, you would not find this in houses you go to, despite it being popular enough that Ritz had instructions on the back of the box on how to make it.
Don't underestimate the versatility of cotton. It is not only used to produce clothes. When the Dust Bowl hit, farmers learned that they could take cotton seed—no joke, it's a byproduct of cotton cultivation—and make a loaf of something that could be eaten. Cotton seed loaf was the ultimate frugal meal. The idea of turning what was essentially waste into the main course. Cotton seed was poisonous and had to be cooked to remove the poison; then it was ground and then added to flour, water, and whatever spices and leftovers people had. It's sort of like a meatloaf's distant relative, only there is no meat and, well, there's not a whole lot of taste. The loaf was heavy, tough, and by no means delicious, but it was quite healthy to sustain the people. The idea was not entirely radical; cotton seed is very high in protein, and since it was already being fed to animals, it was only a short jump to try it out on humans. Spoiler alert: they could, but at the cost of a little pain. When the options are between cotton seed loaf and nothing, then the cotton seed loaf does not look too bad at all. Moreover, it is a good lesson on how people have to exist with what they have, even if what they have is cotton.
Uh, no, this isn't a prank; there really was a dessert called sawdust pie, and people really did make it during the Dust Bowl, and yes, sawdust was used. Cottage cheese being used as a substitute for meat is another factor of cooking that you probably never thought was possible but is actually well documented. Even the Department of Agriculture agrees that is a pretty rocking substitute for meat as it contains a lot of protein, and when you need to get your macros in on a budget, you cannot be complaining about the source. Sure, everyone would love to fulfill their battle-action protagonist fantasies of chowing down trays and trays of meat, but we only need so many grams of protein in a day to make a bulk. Dry curd cottage cheese, especially, contains more protein per pound than beef or lamb, and only chicken and veal beat it at that game.
It seems there is a lot of cooking know-how that can be picked up from Americans living in those times. So, peanut butter stuffed baked onion might sound strange, but trust me, it's worth a try. We're taking a whole onion, hollowing it out, and stuffing it with peanut butter; then we're going to bake it until the onion is caramelized and sweet. It sounds like an odd pairing, but the salty, creamy peanut butter and the sweet onion actually complement each other really well. This dish was a unique way to combine protein and vegetables. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it was a clever way to make a filling meal out of inexpensive ingredients. Plus, onions were a staple in many households because they were stored well and added flavor to almost any dish. It was one of the more outlandish food recipes to come out of the Great Depression, and food historians Andrew Coe and Jane Ziegelman, authors of *A Square Meal*, are certainly no fans, so am I.
Dandelion salad might sound like a fairy-tale-like name for an incredibly frugal but delicious meal. By now, you might have noticed the scavenger vibe in terms of ingredients of the dishes so far. People making anything out of whatever they had on hand. Economic downturns often feature lifestyle changes, and the Great Depression was no other, sending people on a scramble to find and eat anything. Dandelion salad took scramble seriously, as the meal involved finding and foraging dandelions. He would cut out all the roots, flowers, and waste to make the dressing for a very healthy salad. For people, especially those on a diet and a budget, this was a godsend. For a garnish, all people would usually put on it was lemon juice and olive oil, a dash of salt, and you were good to go at basically no cost.
You might think that boiled animal hooves are something that only a survivalist would eat, and indeed, during the Dust Bowl, they were the only thing keeping some families going when meat became unaffordable and gelatin packets were a luxury. Hooves came in handy, literally and metaphorically. Animal hooves, preferably cow or pig, were used and boiled to make a broth that was as useful and as ugly-sounding as it can get in our ears today. The long cooking process tenderized collagen present in hooves and made it into a natural binder for soups, stews, and even sweets. Yes, you heard it correctly: desserts. Gelatin from hooves was the secret behind the wobble in aspics, jellies, and custards. This was not about getting by; it was about getting the most out of each part of the animal. Hooves, cooked, were a rich source of protein and minerals and were a great food source during the lean periods, and even though they were not the most attractive, they ensured that bellies were filled and bodies were built. Today, such concepts as boiling hooves may cause some people to have goosebumps; however, in those days, it was business as usual. Dust Bowl meals were about subsistence, and at times, subsistence entails getting creative with what is available.
"Hoof bubble and squeak" was something that completely fit the situations most people would find themselves in during the war because this dish is all about the leftovers. Usually, Sunday dinner's leftovers would be used in a bubble and squeak to make sure nothing went to waste. Plus, people would definitely take that sentiment to heart when it came to holiday dinners where there were enough things left to constitute at least two or three meals the next day. Usually, this dish is made with potatoes and cabbage and is fried, so it goes properly and amazingly with some potato flatties or other items on the list. Maybe you can take a note from people's books the next time you think you have nothing to eat but plenty of things still left in the fridge.
Prune pudding was one of the more niche dishes that were created during the Great Depression. What really was surprising was that prune pudding extended to the upper royalty as well, since even prominent VIPs would also be real low-budget with how they eat. Prune pudding became very popular as a result of the efforts made by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who would serve prune pudding at White House functions. It stained the White House's culinary track record, sure, but earned massive points with the struggling American people. For being made of such a simple ingredient and some syrups of your choice, it was definitely one of the tastiest and cheapest meals to come home to. That wraps up the list of foods that supported poor people back in the day. Comment which food you like the best, and don't forget to like and subscribe.