https://hooktube.com/watch?v=3OPQqH3YlHA 91 year old cook and great grandmother, Clara, recounts her childhood during the Great Depression as she prepares meals from the era. Learn how to make simple yet delicious dishes while listening to stories from the Depression.
@Neville Telen My parents, married just a few years before the Depression's onset, spoke often of the travails experienced. I was born after the country was rebounding, 1942. How they lived and more importantly ate, during those rough times, i never heard about. My Dad, though, an experienced and skilled Tool & Die Maker, told me as a kid that one year he earned only $135. Frank
During the Great Depression, my stepfather worked as a gofer/mechanic in a bakery working six ten-hour days each week for $12.00. That was enough to support his wife and infant son. When the war got underway he started working as a civilian carpenter/framer for the United States Navy and his pay jumped to $150.00 for a five day fifty hour week with overtime when needed. My parents and grandparents were quite fortunate during the Great Depression. One grandfather was a federal letter carrier and the other was a city fireman. One grandmother trained as a machinist and worked in the war effort and the other owned and operated a small farm. My parents lived and worked on my grandmother's farm. Clara's videos and cookbook are great reminders of those tough times. Clara encouraged people to walk to the local grocery store and buy only what they could comfortably carry home as a way of saving money and staying fit. Good advice!
There are lots more of her videos there on hooktube, and this source has a rep for being anti-censorship (unlike Youtube).
@Nancy Hart , I've bumped into her before reviewing dollar store food. It appears that she is on the right track but I think I'll start with peanut butter and bacon on whole wheat bread. Peanut butter and shredded raw carrot or apple slices is also a good starting point.
My Mom always made the best hot dog and potato stew that we would eat over rice. The gravy in this picture isn't thick enough but it's the closest picture I could find to my Moms's stew. She used a roux to make the gravy. Her hot dog and potato stew was so delicious that I often made it for my own family when my children were growing up and they always loved it too.
Hungarians make a dish with potatoes and sausages but hot dogs cab be used...my mom made it and so did I. It's sautéed onions, peppers a tomato and potatoes and sausage and paprika...delicious. The red color is coming from lots of paprika and not the tomato.
A great bean sandwich starts with homebaked beans or a can of Grandma Brown's on spongy white bread with chopped fresh onions and a squirt of catsup!