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Health See other Health Articles Title: This Is What People Ate When They Had No Money During The Depression If you've ever visited anyone's house for dinner and a big, sloppy "secret family recipe" dish is flopped down in front of you, chances are high that the messy goodness could have originated from the Depression era. Families were taught to creatively stretch out their food budgets and toast, potatoes and flour seem to be the popular, inexpensive ingredients. Expensive meat was typically eaten only once a week. Some foods were invented during the Depression, such as spam, Ritz crackers, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Kraft macaroni and cheese, according to livinghistoryfarm.org. We've compiled some simple, easy recipes from 90-something Clara who shares her childhood dining memories during hard times. They may help you save money during our own Recession. Go out and pick your own flowers for the Dandelion salad What's better than a meal that's basically free? "It's a good meal to have during the Depression because it's free and it's good for you. The good ones look like a nice flower. Nothing is broken," Clara said. First, you pick the dandelions, take out all the roots and keep the leaves. Also, take out the flower. You don't eat the flower. Next, you have to wash them very good because "they're full of dirt." Clara lets them soak for about an hour before rinsing them several times. Then, she adds some lemon juice, olive oil and a little salt. Baked Apples were the perfect cheap dessert during hard times Wash and core a couple of apples. Then, mix 4 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon together. Put the sugar and cinnamon mix into the hallow middle of the apple and place a thin slice of butter at the bottom to keep the sweet mix from spilling out one end. Next, place in a pan and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes. You can add a little water at the bottom of the pan so the apples don't burn. Finally, enjoy a cheap, sweet Depression-era dessert! For bread that becomes too hard to eat, cook it First you slice up the pieces of hard bread and place it on a dish. Clara advises to sprinkle a couple of drops of water over the bread. Then add some olive oil and a pinch of salt. While you're doing this, boil some water. When the water comes to a boil, pour some over the pieces of bread until it softens. Now mash the bread until it soaks up all the water. Add more salt if you'd prefer. The Poorman's Meal consists of good, cheap ingredients Since potatoes and hot dogs were cheap, a lot of them were eaten during the Depression, Clara said. First, peel and cube the potatoes. Next, slice up some onions and put them in the pan with the potatoes. Add some oil. Clara says to judge for yourself how much to put in. Then, just fry them. Let potatoes brown slowly. You can add a little water so the potatoes will soften up more easily. When the potatoes are properly cooked, add slices of hot dogs. Again, judge for yourself how much to put in. Finally, add a couple of tablespoons of tomato sauce if you'd like. Every Sunday, the Depression breakfast is served On Sundays, Clara's family would eat a "Depression breakfast," which included sugar cookies and coffee. To make the sugar cookies, beat three eggs in a bowl and mix them with three-fourths cup of sugar. Add about one and a half cup of flour and mix well until you can't see the flour anymore. Then, add a pinch of salt. Next, sprinkle some flour on a cutting board, roll the flour on the board and cut them up. Put them on a pan to place in the oven. No grease it needed for the pan. Cook on 350 degrees F until the cookies are a golden brown. Clara enjoys dipping her cookies in coffee. More pasta, potatoes and onions Pasta with Peas is a "very simple dish, it's very tasty and it's good for you," Clara said. First, you peel and dice a potato. Then, dice some onions and fry them with the potato and some olive oil in a pan. Now, simply add a can of peas, two cups of water and a pinch of salt and pepper. When the broth comes to a boil, add the uncooked pasta and stir everything together. Now you can finish cooking the dish by boiling it or letting it cook by itself with the stove off and a lid on the pot. "In the Depression, we would turn off the gas and let it cook by its own heat. So we would save gas. Anything to save anything," Clara says. Finally, add some tomato sauce and grated cheese on top. Make some Italian ice for those really hot days with no air conditioner "During the Depression when the hot weather came, we used to really suffer because we couldn't use a fan or anything because we wanted to save money. So we suffered the heat whenever it came." Italian ice kept Clara cool in the hot weather during her childhood. Mix two cups of water with half a cup of sugar and heat on high. Stir often to melt the sugar and when it completely dissolves, take the sugar water off the stove to cool for about 15 minutes. Place the contents in the freezer for about an hour, then take it out and stir. Do this every hour for about four to five hours. With every hour that passes, it'll become more difficult to stir. EXTRA: If you'd like, you can add lemon or lime flavoring by squeezing a wedge of lemon and lime for each serving. Or you can add vanilla extract to a serving for a vanilla flavor. Garnish with mint leaves. Egg drop soup served over bread is the quintessential comfort meal "During the depression, everything had potatoes. Now you can see why we would buy a whole bag of potatoes," Clara said. First, peel and dice a potato and onion. Then, place on a stove to brown with some olive oil. Add some bay leaves and salt and pepper. After it browns, add a half pot of water and a little more salt and pepper. Wait until the broth boils before adding some eggs. You can choose to scramble or drop the whole eggs in. When finished, add some cheese, if desired. Clara enjoys her egg drop soup served over some toasted bread. Fried Parmesan eggplant is a classic, easy-to-prepare meal "Eggplant was cheap so we had eggplant. My father was out of work over six weeks. Good thing we had a garden." Clara cuts her eggplant into about quarter of an inch slices and places them in a skillet with plenty of oil. Once the oil starts to bubble, the pan is ready for frying. After both sides are fried to a golden brown, add tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. Stuffed artichokes to light up a Depression holiday Clara's family would have stuffed artichokes for the holidays. First, cut off the thorns and the bottom so that the artichokes stand upright. Then open up the leaves and stuff the openings with a mix of bread crumbs, salt, pepper and garlic. Next, place the artichokes in a pot and fill it halfway with water and let it boil on high heat. After it boils, switch to low heat to allow the artichokes to simmer. Finally, drizzle olive oil on top. And other things people ate... Creamed chip beef is easy, filling and pretty cheap to make, hence, it was a popular dish during the Depression Allrecipes.com replicates this dish with two tablespoons of butter, two tablespoons of flour, one-and-a-half cups of milk, eight ounces of dried beef and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Simply melt butter before adding flour to form a roux over medium heat. Then whisk in milk slowly and stir on medium-high until it thickens. Wait until it boils before stirring in beef and cayenne. And to keep with the theme of Depression-era meals, serve this dish over toast. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
#1. To: X-15 (#0)
Hot dogs????? They have to be kiddin me. Meat????? Such was for rich folks.
When I was growing up, we were so poor that we rarely ever ate red meat. In fact about as close to meat we ever ate was a turkey at Thanksgiving. That was consider what rich people ate. And that was expensive. We survived on baloney and egg sandwiches, hot dogs and tuna fish. Since steak was expensive in our household, I never ate such a delicacy until age 17 1/2 at a fine restaurant as a treat by my aunt. From that time on, I made certain to not ever start raising children in such impoverished conditions. I made a pact with myself that I would marry well and make damn certain the children I produced lived well too. I would not ever subject my children to such poor conditions. I know about poverty very very well. My mom always said I was selfish to think such thoughts but I'm sorry. I simply refuse to marry and raise a family like how I was raised. I would want my children to be happy and know that they were indeed cared for as for their future.
Rose - had that thinking prevailed over time, 95% of us would not be here today. There's no warranty, or guarantee, or return by date, attached to us.
There's no warranty, or guarantee, or return by date, attached to us. Yep, and about 65 percent are on government handouts. When I was growing up, we never lived on handouts at all. Nobody knew that when I went home, there was hardly any food in the house. And true, there are no warranties but you do have some control over yourself (like p control for us gals) and choices you make of them (such as your choice in partners and in economic social standing). My aunt taught me practical sense in that you don't have families when you don't have money in the bank. And because women are the bearers of children, they should be selective in choosing a mate. It's not only practical but makes sense. Because not only does it make sense but when you bring children into this world, its not just about you or your mate anymore. It's called the family unit. And those children need love, kindness, affection, and a future.
People were having children long before there were banks, and successfully rearing them. Most of we here wouldn't be, if there had to be fat bank accounts; I certainly wouldn't. If you wait for the "perfect parent" profile scorecard to be properly filled, likely you'll be barren forever. That would be a real shame.
Well, like I said, my experience in living in poverty taught me well. It's something I would not ever want my offspring to endure. That for them to endure is what would be a real shame. The U.S. is supposed to be the richest country in the world yet few would ever realize that we have hunger in the U.S. You would think that those children who lived during that hunger depression years would learn something. And that is that if you can't afford to feed your baby, then don't have them. That's what makes sense to me. I don't care about some "biological clock" and I don't let some clock dictate my life. Let it tick away. I'm not listening. I think practical logical sense. Money makes sense to me. Children come later. Their future is what is important to me. When it comes to starting families, I don't like to gamble. I prefer security; an investment into their future.
I wish you the best, in whatever it is that you hope to have and find.
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