28 Surprisingly Delicious Great Depression Recipes You Should Try - Page 2 of 2 (2024)

FAQs

What were great depression meals? ›

Many cheap foods still common among the poor today made their debut during the Depression: Wonder Bread (1930), Bisquick (1931), Miracle Whip (1933), and Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup (1934). Ragu spaghetti sauce, Kraft mac-n-cheese, and Hormel Spam all appeared during the Roosevelt Recession in 1937.

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

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

Depression Cooking is a zine of easy recipes designed to make mealtime a little easier, in the no-nonsense sense of the word, for depressed humans like me. It demonstrates one of the many lessons that I've learned during COVID: that we can care for one another without being physically present.

Big families could be fed with soups from leftover meats, beans, and home-grown vegetables. Homemakers made many varieties of soup from available foods. The results included split pea, chicken-rice, potato-onion, bean, hamburger, and all vegetable. Dumplings were a filling addition to complement the soup.

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

At this time popcorn was often a breakfast food, eaten from a bowl with milk just as we eat cereal today. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, popcorn's popularity as an everyday snack food started to grow. It was a fun and thrifty snack for families who could afford few luxuries.

Many people turned to newly developed, mass-produced processed foods like canned meats, corn chips, and fruit-filled cakes [1].

Hobo meals usual consist of meat and lots of veggies. Then they are wrapped up and cooked in the coals. The steam that gets locked in the foil cooks the food, and it stay moist and flavorful. This is my new twist on the traditional Hobo Meal – Sweet and Sour Meatball Hobo Meals.

What did the homeless eat in the Great Depression? ›

Hoover Stew

The ingredient list consists of macaroni noodles, hot dogs, corn, and canned tomatoes. The dish received its name after being common within homeless shelters or shantytowns, nicknamed Hoovervilles. Hoovervilles got their name from the president at the time of the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover.

Despite the many predictions that hobos would soon be a thing of the past due to the reduction in railroad lines, the faster diesel trains, and few jobs for seasonal workers, hobos still exist today. Some still engage in the dangerous and illegal practice of hopping freight cars; others drive the roads.

Cassava is often called a "poor man's crop" due to its widespread cultivation in developing countries, particularly in Africa, Asia, and South America, where it serves as a staple food for many people with limited resources.

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

Sugar and coffee had already been rationed; now meats, fats, and canned foods were added to the list. This article from Life magazine prepared consumers for what was coming. America's canned foods are world's best and most abundant, but now they must be rationed so that civilians may have an adequate and equal supply.

People on relief purchased orange stamps equal to their normal food expenditure; for every $1 in orange stamps purchased, they would receive 50 cents worth of blue stamps. Orange stamps could be used to purchase any food item, but blue stamps were restricted to buying food deemed surplus by the Agriculture Department.

The history of soup kitchens in America can be traced back to the year 1929 with the effects of a growing depression. When soup kitchens first appeared, they were run by churches or private charities and served mostly soup and bread. Soup was economical because water could be added to serve more people.

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