When you drain the pasta, keep the water and use it instead of adding plain water. The pasta water has some flavour in it, but more importantly it has starch in it from the pasta. That's some extra calories, which is important if you are trying to stretch the meal around a lot of people.
I agree with using pasta water but not all of it. A cup or two is enough, and you can use the rest for other stuff too. Too much starch like that and you start to feel sick and your pasta gets all congealed and weird.
A pot of rice or pasta makes the basis of two meals, one from the drained pasta, and a second from the pasta left in the pot with the pot water; just add leftovers and dump cans of stuff in. One pasta pot i get compliments for is the some of the pasta and water, add one can of cheap meat and bean chili, add cans of beans, corn (I drain out the water), tomatoes, green beans, carrots, and what leftover vegetables from the fridge.
it also allows the sauce to stick to the noodles and stuff because starch is like a glue ... better binder is flour ... but yes NEVER toss out the pasta water it makes the best broth
Growing up in the mountains of Kentucky, my grandmother would make "Goulash." It was in no way actual goulash. It consisted of a diced onion, minced hamburger, elbow macaroni and ketchup. Brown the onion and meat, cook the pasta, then mix everything together and add enough ketchup so that it wasn't a dry nasty mess. Young me loved it
That Actual my kids and I would like! We like stuff like that,even tho it sounds weird to others. You should make it and add some other stuff to it.reinvent your moms recipe .😇
My wife moved out, and the kids and I need to live on half the income but the same old mortgage. I’m looking for ways to cut expenses, and one is food. Our middle class menu is now a working class menu. I just made this, and the kids loved it. I threw in a dollop of lard for calories and more flavor. I am following this channel now. Thanks for the idea!
@@jakesmall8875 he's already paying for a mortgage on the house he is already living in. plus, he would also have to take the risk of finding a new job.
2020 was the worst year for the USA since the Great Depression. People are out of work, starving and homeless without much desperately needed government support. History never repeats, not really, but it absolutely does rhyme, and right now, we have need of these desperation tactics again.
@@dashiellgillingham4579 These days, I'm not even sure if the qualifier "since the great depression" applies. Things might be better on paper in some areas but reality tells a completely different story when accounting for how the numbers are obtained.
These low-cost meals are so apropos for these times. There are so many people out of work and out of money. I truly appreciate that you show meals that can feed several people for not much money. Thanks Larry!
I got a letter from my insurance company saying they were billed for me having corona virus from a clinic I have never been to so even if it is real they lie about the numbers I also know several people that did go to the doctor for other things and the doctors just added corona as a diagnosis with no testing for un related issues so there is some food for thought 🤷♀️
I'm 68 yrs old. When I was a kid, my dad would make this and called it Hobo Stew. He didn't cook too often, bit when my mom was out of town or incapacitate. we loved his Hobo Stew.
I am the same age. When my dad was still in the Navy we were on a really tight budget. My mom, instead of making this, would make hot dogs, fried potatoes and onions. She would then make what we called ranch stew, which was somewhat similar to this except we had hamburger meat. Also Salmon cakes.
Sadly the great depression today is in the head so the government need to pay people so they can feed themselves and their families but they are depressive people so cheap cooking is not on their menu's. Is incredible what you can do with 5 dollar's.
I know this came out during the pandemic but it almost feels like we need this video now more than ever. I went to the store the other day and spent $50 on groceries for a week, got in my car, and burst into tears because that was all I had. A can of beans or a thing of frozen veggies runs almost $2 in some stores when I could have sworn a year or two ago dry goods like beans and pasta were often under $1. It's a miracle to find anything under a dollar anywhere, and milk and eggs can easily run you $5 or more each. I'm only 24, single, and working on climbing out of debt, and my $15/hr job that would have felt like wealth to me just a year ago is barely enough without overtime. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to feed a family right now. Anyway, enough of my whining. I hope that all doesn't sound entitled. To be totally fair, a lot of my troubles are my own fault and come from being a naive kid with no financial literacy, but inflation is really kicking people's asses right now. I just wanted to say your videos mean a lot and they're really helping me through a tough spot. I imagine I'm not the only one either.
You're definitely not imagining things. It is reality, so no shame in crying or venting about the fact that commodities are jacked up. Sure, there are others who will always be worse off than us, but it doesn't mean you're not struggling there. Thankfully, creativity still persists and people are kind enough to share in on unique ways of how to stretch your dollar further. Keep your head up and if/when things improve again, carry the wisdom you garner from this period of time with you throughout life.
You're not alone Hun! The struggle is real for many right now & yes grocery shopping has brought me to tears! Stay strong my young friend & know you're in my thoughts!
Im a 50 year old man who’s doing ok, but your message alone brings me to tears. I hate this. It also makes me angry - and I know getting political will make at least half the people angry no matter what one says, but … and I say this as a bipoc Canadian - get your Democrats out! …but regardless of your political ideology, hang in there everybody.
My family went from owning multiple businesses to not being able to eat 3 meals a day. Sometimes, we only eat once. The job loss mixed in with the inflation is too much. I have been living off $1.29 macaroni, $1.39 loaf of bread and using whole milk for the macaroni instead of butter. This is our life. Ironically, my grandparents fed an entire neighborhood daily during the Great Depression. Everyone came to their house for a meal daily because they were one of the rare ones fortunate to have jobs. They fed the neighborhood mostly potatoes and bread with lard. I'm contemplating some potato dishes now. Good luck and just know soon all of America and the world will be in our shoes. The system reset is all by design.
You are most definitely not imagining things! Everytime I go to the store I scratch my head thinking "I know this was cheaper just a few visits ago!" It makes you feel like your going crazy. I have this fear that since we're paying for these expensive groceries now why would corporations lower them back to their original prices? I mean greedy companies are nothing new. Does anyone have any takes on that? I used to be able to get a cart decently full of groceries for $100 now I can't even get more than a half a cart for that.
My grandfather (grew up through the depression) helped raise me. He was the most resourceful man I've ever met. He could make anything from anything. He put macgyver to shame.
@@renastone1270 They were a different breed back then. Tough, no nonsense, people. Both the men and the women. My grandfather lied about being 18 (he was 16), so he could fight in WWII. A poor farm boy from Oregon became a pilot in the army air Corp, and fought in Guadalcanal and the south Pacific theater.
@@renastone1270 Right. They were upset they couldn't volunteer, and go fight the axis across the globe. When I was 16, I know I wouldn't have wanted to do that. Hell, 20 years later I still would prefer not doing that. Even those that didn't or couldn't fight still helped the effort back home.
Recommendation: if rice or pasta is going in the sauce, skip the boiling separate step. Allow the pasta or rice to absorb the sauce or broth and the flavor along with it. This will keep the pasta/rice from being as bland. Also the starch from the pasta will thicken the sauce. You do have to mind the liquid level as it absorbs to make sure the food does run dry, and burn, or not cook all the way leaving it chewy. In a survival scenario those calories from the starch are pure energy, and if water is inz short supply you just saved some of it.
Note to all making this dish for only 1 person: DO NOT mix the entire bag of macaroni into the soup. Cook it separately according to how much you would like to eat at that time. Overnight macaroni will just absorb all the water and inflate it, making it too soggy. Thanks for the recipe!
Rinse the macaroni in cold water immediately after draining it; that will stop the cooking. Then it won't restart absorbing liquid unless you bring it up to boiling temperature. This also works when making pasta salads.
@@jimmygreenspan8832 my grandpa and my father had been through hard times, they used to have porridge instead of rice for a long time. Maybe nutrition is not more than rice but it filled more belly.
Id get a 1$ bag of lentils and 2$ worth of onion and garlic then boil it with salt and pepper as my college food source, that 1$ 1 pound bag lasts a few days so ye
If you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend “Great Depression Cooking” with Clara. Unfortunately she passed away about 8 years ago but, thankfully, she recorded some great videos about the meals she used to cook back in the depression. I’ve tried some of her recipes and they are quite good and very filling. It’s awesome, to me at least, that someone who lived through that time was still with us long enough to have a UTube channel.
Clara is awesome. Buy her cook book for even more great things! I wish I would have done something similar with my last grandmother. She was very smart but her body failed her. She died last year at 91
As I was watching this, a year and a half after posting, I decided to do a running tally of the current cost of ingredients. It came to $4.72 or $0.59 per serving. Still an extremely viable option for those with depression level income. :) Thank you for sharing. It gave me some great ideas for making similar dishes.
2 years after the posting of this video, the running tally is now $6.28 or about 79 cents a serving. This is in Northern Indiana pricing, I would hate to see what these ingredients would cost in California.
This gets a major upgrade if you throw the hot dog in a pan to brown it first and butter the bread and toast it in the pan next to it, then melt the cheese on the warm bread so it sticks to the hot dog when you roll it up
My brother is a chef and he says you should ALWAYS stir for about 15 to 30 sec to work off some starch so it wont all stick together or stick to your pan.
You should always give them a quick stir occasionally while cooking, because if they stick together during cooking, they'll be unevenly cooked. A wooden spoon is your friend.
A small change one could make is to reserve 1-2 cups of the pasta water to replace the clear water you add later. The starch in it should help with thickening the broth a bit.
Yes! But at 79, I've been reduced to no nitrates, low salt. But I still do grab one anyway. You only live once!! Almost as good as drinking milk from the jug. With the refrigerator door open! Wheee
Growing up on a dirt farm in Washington state (50s/60s) we were too poor for hot dogs so most of what we had was raised on the farm. That meant that things such as store-bought things like macaroni, spaghetti and rice were considered luxury items that we didn’t get more than once or twice a month. Our version was to start with a couple onions (almost everything started with onions) which would get sautéed in lard. If there was any meat scraps left in the fridge those would go in but most of the time it was around 1/2-3/4 lb of hamburger (just enough to flavor it a little. Then there were a few scoops of home canned tomato paste, quart jar of undrained corn and in the summer/fall mom would toss in cubed zucchini since we were always trying to use that up. Then the macaroni would be added. This was enough to feed us 6 kids plus parents. If some of the kids up the road wandered down (alcoholic parents) mom would toss in a quart of green beans to stretch it a little further. That plus home made bread which mom baked once a week would keep us happy and full.
I can relate. I had divorced parents and lived with the alcoholic dad ( my drug addict mom left when we were little) and my dad did tree trimming and sold firewood in the winter to get by. After beer money and weed etc. not much left for food so we ate whatever my dad could get for how ever many days but I remember back the you could get 4 loaves of bread for 1.00 and that blows my mind today. We ate potatoes a lot, beans, cabbage, oats, big pots of things like potato soup and beans for days were just how it was and I was just happy I had something to eat. I swore my kids would never know what that felt like! Thank goodness they ever have. We did get free lunch so we had that meal we could count on during the school year, it’s so vitally important that kids have a good school lunch as it may be the only well rounded meal they get each day! I would love to see schools that could provide a meal like that over the school breaks for families in need.
@@notasb4 yes, my mother was a functional alcoholic meaning she did what she had to before she would drink. Fortunately she brewed or fermented most of what she drank. Growing up in that environment blesses you with lots of stories. But in spite of that, she always made sure we had a roof over our heads and food in our bellies.
@@janedoe3095 I learned a great deal indeed and as a parent raising my own I’m certain times were very difficult for my parents as they didn’t have the resources we now have, I don’t feel they knew near as much about addiction and treatment, the family and what that environment can do to children etc. I don’t have my father anymore, I feel like he did the best he could do at the time with the limited knowledge he had and the difficulties he was faced with. I’m glad your mother always had her children as her priority.
Stewed tomatoes... My Dad who grew up during the great depression would often heat up a can of stewed tomatoes and put a tablespoon of white sugar over them as a snack...they were delicious, still have them from time to time myself
My version of this includes the following: 1 pound of pasta (any kind works, but elbows seem traditional) 1 pound of chopped hotdogs 1 large yellow or purple onion, chopped as you like. 1 tablespoon (or more, if you like) of minced garlic 1 can of condensed tomato soup (no water needed). I sometimes substitute tomato paste; the variety with basil, garlic, and oregano. Grated cheese (or shredded, if you prefer). I like "The Stinky Three" (Asiago, Parmesan, and Romano) bacon fat (or salt pork fat) . Saute the onions and hot dogs in the bacon fat. In a separate pot, cook the pasta and drain when done. Add the onions, hot dogs, and soup to the pasta, stirring until well mixed. If you didn't use tomato paste or flavored tomatoes, add whatever herbs and seasonings you like. Top with the cheese and enjoy. This used to be one of my Sunday evening "comfort" meals. I even had a couple nights when I was so hungry that I ended up saying, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" . Other (optional) items are canned tomatoes, either in place of the soup or tomato paste, or to augment it; diced bell peppers; RoTel tomatoes with diced green chilies (for some heat); and if you don't want hot dogs, find yourself some of the fattiest salt pork, cut it into cubes, fry it (using the grease afterwards to cook the onions and peppers), and add the fried salt pork at the very end, so it stays crispy. . My mother and father both were born just prior to the Depression (my father in 1926 and my mother in 1928). Also, my next door neighbor was from that time period as well. Both had large families (I'm the youngest of 9 and my neighbor had 7 kids and was widowed). One of my neighbor's economy meals was to cook up 5 pounds of pasta in an old washtub, adding just butter, salt, and pepper, if she had nothing else.
My dad grew up in an orphanage during the depression and I remember him telling me how he would eat nothing but hoover stew from months at a time sometimes. He even fixed it for us a couple of times. This pretty much is the same recipe except he added onions and used stewed tomatoes.
This kinda reminds me of the dish I made which my buddies named "Nuclear Waste". End of the month , no money , so I pulled out the big pot and cleaned out the pantry . Canned veggies , soup , pasta or rice , whatever I had went in the pot . Add hot dogs and jalapeños and bake a can of biscuits . Everybody made fun of it but nobody turned it down ! Love the channel 👍👍
It's practically pasta e fagiol' (literally pasta and beans). Any Italian that grew up financially challenged would recognize this. Only we make it soupier (no corn, maybe carrot, celery, onion) and would use a different pasta shape and sausage or maybe just a beef or pork bone for flavor. Serve it with bread and it will carbo load a whole family with leftovers !
Thai here, sausage as you know it are not cheap here but bologna, chicken cocktail sausage and frankfurter are plentiful, same for spring onion and yellow onion, and main type of beans around here are long beans and sweet peas sold in pods. Would that work with this dish? By the way, do you think many of those American Italian dishes were invented by immigrants trying to make do when traditional ingredients weren't there until after the War? Heck, we common Thais did not know what pasta was until the G.I. brought them over during the Vietnam War.
@@thanakonpraepanich4284 Hi there! Yes I do think that the immigrants used what ever reasonable substitutions they could find in America to make a filling soup. I know my own family made substitutions when ingredients weren't available or were too expensive. I love Thailand! I visited in the 90s. Spent a decent amount of time in Chanthaburi and Bangkok. A pork bone and some minced pork would work nicely in this. You can add any vegetable you like- peas, long beans, cabbage are nice. You can also add cooked black beans or azuki beans if you want more protein. You can really add anything that you like and it will be good.
My grandma used to make this with chicken or sausage to make it "fancy". I never realized that this was a recipe from the Great Depression, it was just something that my grandma cooked. She also had a twist where she would throw a bunch of different canned veggies into a pot along with some chicken stock and the macaroni and called it veggie stew.
Always stir your noodles... That's how you keep them from burning and sticking to the pan, and macaroni noodles definitely tend to stick together when cooked without stirring
My grandmother lived through the Depression and it changed her life. she never forgot it and lived her life extremly thrifty. She was an AMAZING baker though. Thanks for making this video, people who lived through that time were HARD! Maybe we can all get something uplifting from this
My grandparents lived through the depression and would never waste a thing. Grandma used everything, bones from roast chicken for soup stock, every part of the pig, even pigs feet and etc.... she called some depression food. Sometimes you got to be grateful for all the things we have because we live in America.
@@samanthafahrney @ My Uncle and my grandfather. My uncle had 1000s of $ in quarters and change. My grandfather (mom's side.) Ran a racket with deposit 5 cent cans and aluminium recycling. He to died kind of wealthy without really knowing. $1000s- $10k stuffed in mattresses and storage cans!
The same, in Iowa, almost 60 years ago, Gramma's goulash...stewed tomatoes, ground beef, onion, macaroni, and a slice or two of kraft american cheese. Still one of my favorite meals
My bro in law makes goulash similar to that only he uses a jar of spaghetti sauce and adds in some canned green beans along with the meat and pasta and other ingredients.
There are a lot of Depression Era foods like this, our Grandmothers had no choice but to learn how to stretch a dollar. My Grandma made many meatless dishes that were surprisingly good, she made mostly soups though, because the ingredients were pretty much whatever you had on hand, and she made enough to feed an army.
It's still rather common in the third world. My grandmother has raised three entire generations, by doing virtually the same. Suffice it to say, there are certain combinations that make for some good soups.
@@ah-ss7he They really didn't have processed food back then except maybe canned soups. My Grandmother made everything from scratch, bread, noodles, and all of her soups were made from scratch. She lived to the age of 86, so I guess she led a pretty healthy life.
When I was in college, you filled your belly however you could. There was an Aldi nearby and when items reached their expiration date, they sold them for almost nothing. It was the first thing I did when I got there. A can of baked beans for .25 cents? So beans and weenys for dinner that night! You can come up with some crazy combinations trying not to starve
Canned food can last for decades, an expiry date of 2 or 3 years is half the time it's still good - as long as it's not getting puffy or really dented that is. If you really looked around you'd probably find stores that just throw out their old food, like the ol' _freegans_ do. Really have to be careful with stuff that's unsealed though, or actually going/gone bad...
@@skyeblue5669 I am not going to hold that against the current generation. I refuse to be the "....well, I had to walk 5 miles to school each day, uphill in snow when I was a kid..." or of course the "get off my lawn" guy. No one had any kind of smart phone technology of any sort prior to 1990. And there are many who don't have those luxuries today even. Yes, many do. But I know a family that eats Kraft Mac & Cheese twice a day so they have full bellies. What bothers me are the ones who are buying steak and lobster with their food stamps and driving home in their Lexus. People taking advantage of the system and making it harder for people who need it to get it.
@@user-ut9ln4vd5m I agree on the printed date on cans, and consider it a "best by" date. Being careful is very important, you don't want a poor choice to make you or your family sick from a bad can or jar. I've found using your nose is a good detector of spoilage, but it isn't foolproof. Cooking your recipe good and hot can do well to destroy food borne bacteria. I would pass on unsealed canned goods. Best of luck!
Canned food, without any damage will usually last twice as long as the date claims. It's more of a marketing gimmick to keep "more products" selling. No companies want products to "last for years" because they can't make money. It's why they tell us that a can of green beans in water/salt will expire in 2 years & you'll have to buy a different can. The United States prides it self on "shelf stable" food. If you want to eat always fresh.. you will be paying a high premium & have to do some serious traveling. Even in the "fresh" section of grocery stores.. it's not really the freshest. It's disgusting how much food is wasted & how world hunger is still a thing.
One time when I was in college I was flat broke and the only thing in the fridge was a jar of mustard. Ate the whole thing! One of the best "meals" I ever had! Yum!
I think your recipes are absolutely fantastic! My husband and I are starting to struggle with the inflation, but a lot of "cheap" recipes out there are just cheap and nasty. Thankyou for your recipes!
I spent years making Hoover Stew without even knowing that the dish had an actual name or the history behind it... Only differences are that I keep the pasta water and use peas instead of beans.
That's the beauty of making soup like that, you don't even need to read the labels on the cans. Grab five or six cans at random, dump them in a pot and bring to a simmer. You got soup.
I've cooked on a shoestring for decades and there's always something new to try. I have a lot of recipes that I never thought of sharing, but I always incorporate all 4 food groups in every meal I make and I just never considered that someone else might like them. After watching your video, I feel inspired to share them in the hope that others might enjoy them as well. Thank you for that.
My kids love this one: 2 boxes of Kraft Mac n Cheese, a bag of mixed frozen veggies, and a pack of sausage. Make the Mac N Cheese as directed. Slice and sear the sausage in a pan, then add the frozen vegetables and cook until ready. Combine into one pot and serve. Helps get kids to eat their veggies.
My mom makes a nice meal using canned tomato sauce, milk cream, fresh onions, cilantro, cooked pasta and hot dogs (sometimes she used sardines too). It tastes delicious.
Frozen vegetables have little to no nutritional value whatsoever, so kids aren’t really’’getting their vegetables’’ ,lol. You need to read up on what nutrition is.....
@@papermoon4129 Oh yeah cus freezing someone takes 100% of the nutrients out of something. Makes perfect sense to me. "Frozen is a great, healthy alternative to fresh, especially if your fresh produce isn't so fresh anymore," says Dr. Michelle Hauser, a clinical fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School and a certified chef and nutrition educator. "But if freshly picked produce is easy for you to come by, then it may be slightly higher in nutrients than its frozen counterparts." Key word SLIGHTLY higher. Maybe you take that stick out of your ass and quit being passive aggressive over youtube comments for an ego boost. You aren't better than anyone else because you only eat fresh veggies.
I just made this tonight because it looked so good I HAD to try it!! I have to say, this is one of the most amazing "simple" meals i have EVER eaten!!!!! I used one can of italian style tomatoes, and one can of tomatoes with green chili and it adds such a nice kick of spice!! I also fried my hot dogs and that was a good idea because it added a whole new dimension of flavor!! at first it does seem bland, but it's actually GREAT! Thank you so much !!!!
1:50 Yes you are, stirring the noodles not only helps it to cook faster and more evenly, it also prevents the noodles at the bottom from burning and sticking to the pan.
My parents weren't rich but my brother and I were never hungry. They grew up in the depression and knew how to get the most out of a dollar. Even when money was short my mom would always buy a bag of potatoes and onions. I love fried potatoes and onions.
And always have leftovers. Better than the first time. I am amazed at how many people I know do NOT keep leftovers. What a terrible waste of good food..
@WWEG1WGA i could tell my mom to cook me something else, but nothing taste better than a hot cup of ramen in my opinion, there’s one time i have some slice beef to go with it, but i make an excuse to not eat that and just eat the ramen with nothing, i eat them so much it’s hard to go on a day without one cup lol
Same here, I'm actually cooking something similar to that but with a fancy natural casing smoked sausage, trying to enjoy it while I still have money to spare, but I'm pretty sure it would be just as tasty and filling with a package of good ole dogs for less than half the price when the poo poo finally hits the fan.
Same here,ever eat eyeball tacos?. I'm not joking here,you get the eyeballs of a cow,bull or horse and just mash it until it's a slimy paste and put the slop on a tortilla with the works and chow down. My folks are Mexican native and I had to eat that whenever I'd visit my abuelo because he's an old school hardcore rancher who says "fast food is for soft which folk"
@@vladimir-savage72 soft rich folks you mean, that kinda gross though, eating eyeballs. I'm poor and barely eat fast food but i'd never eat eyeballs, maybe out of desperation for food i'll eat them but that's it.
Same, honestly. People always think of the arts and sciences when it comes to human ingenuity, but seemingly never when it comes to things like this, when you have practically nothing but have to find a way.
I’ve always called them “poverty meals” but I think I like “struggle meals” better. To remind me of how my elders struggled to put food on the table, and how much love it shows. I believe my folks could have made a meal out of anything really. We were taught to gratefully and graciously eat anything set in front of us. And I also realize the value of having a garden, making use of everything, and canning and preserving foods.
4:30 here here! Used to love it as a kid. Hell! I made one sliced sausage inside of peanut butter sandwich with nuts. But, now I don’t anymore because it felt different. I finally know how to make a big meal now thanks to you and family. When ever I come back to work, my brother and sis ask what’s for dinner
My grandma raised 9 children, teens., during the depression. This looks a lot like Saturday lunch. Since we are Mexican American rice snd beans were a huge part of the family diet. Thanks for the reminder huu is w families always help each other and somehow get by.
Well, that makes sense. I think the going rate for restaurant food is basically 3x the cost of raw materials plus a few bucks extra. So if it costs $3-4 for the ingredients, then there you go. Don't know why I felt the need to explain this but yeah
Finally decided to give this a go. It didn't look too appealing while cooking, but it just goes to show that you don't judge by appearances. I, the person, really enjoyed this! Thanks for putting this recipe out there. This will be a regular now!
@@itiswhatitis141 I don't see how this couldn't be nutritious or what this has to do with liver. It's vegetables, meat, and pasta. I really don't know what else you would need to add. Sure, it's stretched with the pasta. But that's how you have to live when you're poor.
"Two vast and unstirred noodles lie in the desert, whose frown, wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command which those passions read, The dryness that mocked them and the broth that fed, And on the cheese crust these words appear: Should've mixed them noodles, ye mighty, I want a divorce. Nothing besides half-eatan cup noodles 'round that colossal wreck, the lone and level sands stretch far beyond."
"dont stir the uncooked macaroni" is like saying dont stir all the ingredients you added before the macaroni. "it will just get mixed later" stirring the noodles while cooking will only help them cook more evenly by being exposed to more hot water
It's just basic knowledge tho, poor or not, most normal people stir their noodles lol. The ones on the bottom of the pan won't get stuck and burn if you stir it
I always stir mine as well but I have heard that stirring them releases more of the starch into the water which causes more of the noodles to stick together
When I was a kid, my mom would occasionally make "macaroni and tomatoes" which was a jar of home canned tomatoes and juice with cooked elbow macaroni. You can season to taste with anything you have in your spice cupboard. That bowl full of macaroni and tomatoes will always be a fond memory I had growing up.
Watching this video reminded me of your same tomatoes and macaroni. I now realize it was one of the depression era meals my mom grew up with and fixed for us in the 50s and 60s. Did your family do a "depression salad" and the only "dressing" was the juice from the chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper? It is still my fav.
My grandma always made "Steak, Noodles, and Tomato". Basically one of her depression-era dishes. Basically, you use leftover roast or steak cut into chunks and stew it in a pan with cans of stewed or diced tomatoes, or fresh tomatoes from the garden if you had any. Then you ladle it over egg noodles, or whatever noodles you have on hand. Done. Salt and pepper if you have it and you can add sauteed onion and garlic and thyme--maybe a bay leaf. Most people didn't have the money for all kinds of spices or extras so all you need is leftover beef, tomatoes, and noodles. My mom always made it simple but added salt and pepper and I loved it as a kid. If you got a loaf of French or Italian bread and some butter the meal goes a long way, for your whole family. Theoretically, you could use chicken or pork too. My grandma didn't like pork though.
Keeping a good supply of seasonings will make any meal you make that much better and help avoid food fatigue if you really only have a couple of pantry items. Beans and rice can be quite boring after eating them so much. Consider soy sauce, ramen noodles, garlic, salt and pepper, oregano, etc. Whatever your favorites are. Hot sauce and Worchsire sauce also amazing additions.
When I was a kid we'd go to my grandma's after school of course this was when Grandpa was still around he used to wear put his hot dogs on a fork and grill them over the stove because it was gas and that's the only way to go
When I moved out at 19, I didn't know how to cook so I began experimenting. I came up with "stuff," as I call it. Browned ground beef, tomato sauce or stewed tomatoes, and whatever veggies I had--onions, peppers, carrot, whatever. Top with cheese to serve. Pretty darn tasty.
sometimes the best meals you come up with is when you get creative and throw things together. once i added sour cream to my tomato sauce to make it stretch a little further and it was absolutely delicious.
I'm 53, know how to cook well, have enough money and STILL do this! It's my experimental meals. Some are great. Some not so much but it's a wonderful way to play in the kitchen.
I've been there. I recollect a bad time years ago having to feed two people and three dogs, keep the utilities from getting shut off, with a tiny amount of money coming in. Needless to say there was a lot of beans and other odds and ends getting cooked in the crock pot. We didn't eat in style, but we never missed a meal.
I've noticed during my 92 year lifetime that the worse off people are financially, the more dogs they seem to have. It costs the same to feed a 60 pound dog as to feed a 60 pound child.
I had depression era grandparents.. 4 of them and both families were Midwest farmers. What you made here I grew up on.. and elbow Mac goulash. My absolute favorite comfort food. Hi to everyone in the upper Midwest ! Thanks great recipe
When I was growing up my Mom would make what we dubbed "Primordial Soup (or Stew)". This was back when Carl Sagan was popular in the 1970's. It had some fried hamburger, beans, stewed tomatoes, corn, and green beans in a skillet. She'd add seasoning to taste. We'd have that with some rice. That was a good dollar stretcher, and very tasty way to feed a family of six.
Rice and pasta are great meal "stretchers," adding to something to stretch it out further than the meal without it so it can fill more bellies. My mom used to do it with chili, and homemade chili just isn't the same without it. In fact, whenever I make my own chili in the slow cooker, I cut open a boil-in-bag of rice and stir in the rice into the chili for the last 10 minutes of cooking. When I turn off the cooker, I let the chili "rest" (basically letting it cool down enough to eat without burning my mouth) for about 10 minutes. This extra 10 minutes also gives the rice some time to soak up some flavor from the chili.
@@mrs.hatfield1451 My dad occasionally felt like cooking to give my mom a break, and he'd make what he called Camper's Stew. Naturally, when we actually went camping he was called upon to make it then. My Hobo Stew: 1 lb hamburger 2 cans Bush's Baked Beans 1 1/2 cups chopped onions 1/2 cup chopped bell peppers salt & pepper to taste ketchup & mustard to taste Brown hamburger in a large stew pot, adding salt & pepper; drain grease. Add both cans of beans, onions, and peppers; stir well. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with biscuits or on toast. Quick and easy.
@@tubularfrog No problem. I like sharing my recipes. Another few that are just as easy: Burger SOS 1 lb hamburger 1 envelope sausage gravy mix (the white kind) milk (enough to make the gravy) 1 cup chopped onions 1/2 cup peas & carrots salt & pepper to taste Brown hamburger in a large stew pot, adding salt & pepper; drain grease. Add the other ingredients. Follow the directions on the gravy envelope. When the gravy reaches the desired thickness, serve on toast. Personally, I cut open a boil-in-bag of rice, dump it in when there's still 10 minutes of cooking time left, stir it in well. Mushroom & Burger Casserole 1 lb hamburger 2 cans cream of mushroom soup 1 cup chopped onions 1/2 cup peas & carrots salt & pepper to taste Brown hamburger in a large stew pot, adding salt & pepper; drain grease. Add the rest of the ingredients; stir well. Pour the mushroom "glop" into a large roasting pan (like you would use to make lasagna). Bake at 400F for 30 to 40 minutes. Serve with bread. Personally, I cut open and dump a boil-in-bag of rice into this before baking so the rice can cook in the moisture of the soup (doing this makes it Kitty Litter Casserole, lol). Englishman's Lunch 1 English muffin thin-sliced roast beef (like you'll find at a deli) 2 slices American cheese 1 Roma tomato, sliced 1 small onion, sliced 1 envelope mushroom gravy Prepare the gravy according to the directions on the envelope. Split the muffin and toast it. Place the muffin halves on a microwave safe plate. Pile high the beef slices on each half. Place some tomato and onion slices on each half. Place a slice of cheese on each half. Microwave on high for 60 to 90 seconds so that the cheese melts down over everything. Serve with gravy poured over the top. Alternatively, use thin-sliced turkey, Swiss cheese, and turkey gravy. Christmas Candlesticks 1 can sliced pineapple bananas maraschino cherries whipped cream (I use Cool Whip) Place a slice of pineapple on a saucer. Peel a banana, cut it in half, and cut off the rounded tips. Place a banana half in the hole in the pineapple slice. It should just fit, and the pineapple will help it stand upright. Attach a cherry to the top of the banana with a toothpick. Artfully apply the whipped cream to the side of the banana and pineapple. The pineapple slice is the candleholder. The banana is the candle. The cherry is the flame. And the whipped cream is melted wax. The number of bananas, cans of pineapple, and cherries are determined by the number of people to serve.
so happy to see you are uploading more again! would love to see you do a 3-course budget meal using only dollar store ingredients. it would be a bit of fun if you got your wife to buy things so you have to make something on the spot (i.e. how i tended to cook while at university!).
47 going on 48 and still eating weiners straight from the package. I love it still. I even eat them frozen straight from the freezer. Love your recipes! Brings back a lot of good old memories.😊
Used to go to my sister-in-law's father's house, which was across the road in Crosskeys, Virginia. He grew up in West Virginia and as the old saying goes, was so poor they didn't know there was a depression. Despite being poor, they always fed anyone who came to their house. So whenever anyone went to his home he would cook them something to eat, despite being in his mid seventies. Often it was hotdog soup, just the same dish as in this video. The other thing he often made was SOS with chipped beef.
I remember SOS. My mom made creamed chipped beef in white sauce added can peas and put it on toast. Is that what you guys had? Think I'll make it again.
My grandmother told me something similar. When you were already dirt poor, and mostly self-sufficient from the farm, you didn't really feel the Great Depression.
Yah - my family is from Oklahoma - my grandfather was a bum that rode the railroads and did odd jobs in the 20's - and after he got married in the 30's was a sharecropper - mostly on land owned by his cousins or his wife's relatives - literally, in Oklahoma, things were so hard they didn't notice that the Depression had started - my father grew up in that time - and he said, things were hard, but they never went to bed hungry - they knew there were people in this country that went to bed hungry - but they never did - it may have been nothing more then beans and fried potatoes and cornbread that they had to eat - but they always had enough of it -
You wouldn't cook that much any more; only one company still making dried chipped beef and the price is about $3.50 an ounce.... over $50 a pound. But shaved roast beef at the deli and dice or simply shred and cook cheap ground beef.
@@JimForeman It's funny how things that used to be poor people's food are now a luxury item, ox tail, corned or chipped beef, etc. Store bought chipped beef is to spendy to buy but a good way of preserving a lot of meat quickly is corning it. If one shoots a moose or a couple of caribou then I usually corn some, and that is close enough to the chipped beef.
Hotdogs were a must have choice during the Great Depression, especially with meals like the poor mans meal. (And Larry yes I did actually eat hotdogs out of the package when I was very little, The hotdogs are already cooked in the factory so it was safe.
Three common mistakes when cooking pasta that drastically affect the end result: Not enough water, not salting the water and NOT stirring the pasta regularly while it's cooking. The bottom of the pot is hotter than the water which can cause the pasta to overcook & stick.
4th common mistake: throwing out the pasta cooking water. The starch in the water can be good for extra calories as well as to thicken the sauce to give it extra body.
You don't need to add salt to the water, not until you're flavoring it. It doesn't do anything toward the cooking of it. As long as you stir regularly, you'll be fine.
When I was at uni, I would make a really hearty stew kinda thing with chicken. The recipe calls for: 2 X chicken breasts, diced 1 X can of cannelloni beans 1 X can of black beans 1 X can of kidney beans 1 X large can of diced tomatoes I would brown the chicken then add it all into my beans / tomato base with whatever seasoning I had and cook until the chicken was done. For serving I would place the concoction onto pasta. It was a cheap, incredibly nutritious meal that kept me going when I lived on basically nothing lol
Just a hint: if you're finishing the chicken with a braise, you want dark meat, not the breast, if you have a choice. Thighs just get more tender and juicy when braised, while breast meat gets a dryer and dryer texture the longer it sits in the liquid. At this level, price is going to be your real determining factor, which is why I said "if you have a choice", but if that choice is there and the price makes sense, go for the thigh.
Chicken chili, if you put chili seasonings in it. Here's a one pot variant 2 chicken breast in 4 cups of water, boil for 20 minutes. Take chicken out, add in 2 cups of rice, cook for 20 minutes until water is absorbed. While rice cooks, shred the chicken breasts. When the rice is done, add 1 can of evaporated milk, and 1 can of a cooking soup (like cream of mushroom) Bring back to a boil, then enjoy. Leftovers get warmed in the oven or microwave. You can make your own cooking soup if you want - much less expensive.
My dad spent a lot of time teaching me what was and what wasn't edible. We lived in the tall grass area of Texas where I also learned how to shoot wild game like prairie chicken and cottontail rabbits with my .22 rifle. Then the dust bowl days came, wiping out the tall grass and nearly all the small game disappeared.
Stirring actually prevents clumping of pasta together, where you have under cooked bits where they stick together. I've actually had some under cooked spots if I didn't give it a stir in the first minute (clumps of elbows or shells), but once it gets back up to a roiling boil, after the first stir, it doesn't clump anymore. As for stewed tomatoes, I can't have tomatoes anymore (or potatoes, eggplant or peppers) as they are members of the nightshade family and produce a toxin called solanine that I am sensitive to and can mimic arthritis in my joints. Green peppers, eggplant and tomatoes that were picked green are very much likely to trigger joint pain within 30 minutes of eating. The green on potato skins is solanine - a toxin. Red dried chilis have very little solanine, as solanine levels drop as the fruit ripens as it's a toxin to deter animals from eating the fruit before it's ripe, so I do allow a little bit of ketchup and red chili powder and red chili sauces in my diet (as the fruit is ripe when processed), but no more fries, mashed potatoes or baked potatoes, and pizzas I get with pesto. Now, if you want ot stretch and add more flavor, when you have a leftover chicken carcass, save in the freezer. When you have a few, boil them to make stock, then use the stock to add to the stew for more flavor and also a little bit of extra protein.
Since you're sensitive to solanine which is the green stuff on potatoes, you could make your own fries and make sure they're thoroughly washed, peeled and de-starched & I don't think you'd have a problem
My grown daughter asked me once why my pasta doesn't stick. I told her to stir it as soon as you put it in the water. Then laughed because I thought it was a no brainer.
@@snoopdoggthecertifiedg6777 Well, there is solanine is small levels in potatoes, even if they are not green. If I eat potatoes regularly, the solanine builds up. I don't eat potatoes, but when I let myself have potatoes for dumplings I make at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I boil and peel the potatoes before ricing, and I'm okay having potatoes a couple times a year. But continued eating of potatoes, even if boiled and peeled, the levels build up then my knees just have a general dull ache and are stiffer. So as a general rule, I just avoid potatoes anyway.
@@elizabethstump4077 That’s incredibly interesting. Well, I’m sorry you can’t have potatoes frequently, as they’re delicious- is there anything you use in place of them? Also, is there any way you can get like instant potatoes that have been “de-solanined” for lack of a better word?
@@snoopdoggthecertifiedg6777 I eat rutabegas and turnips instead, when I do stews, and fries are fried and not good for me, so better for my weight to not eat fries. As for a baked potato, I'll have a sweet potato (which is a member of the morning glory family) with some maple syrup or brown sugar, and I've heard I can substitute roasted rutabega or celery root for mashed potato, and will be trying that soon. When I eat out, I'll substitute noodles or rice for a starch instead of potatoes, or beans or veggies or mac & cheese.
I'd keep the water you cooked the pasta in to use in your cooking (or use it on your garden) if you were really struggling for calories/joules. Pan frying the tomatoes also helps to add flavour, just as you suggested for the frankfurters. All the extra flavour you can add in by the cooking method will help. For those who are short of vegetables, you could possibly forage some dandelions (be careful where you collect them from) to add to the mix to extend it. Always check the "bargain bins" in your supermarket if they still have them for cans of suitable foods to add as meal extenders. Don't forget the good old fashioned dumplings for your soups and stews to help fill hungry bellies. Cheap desserts were also featured if they had the means to make them. Like golden syrup dumplings with milk to pour over. Make your own golden syrup if you would like it to be cheaper and replace the dumpling/pudding batter with a dough made from flour, baking powder, one tablespoon of cooking oil of your choice, one dessertpoon of sugar (maybe a little more for chocolate dumplings) and some water to mix. The golden syrup sauce to cook the dumplings in should be made from equal amounts of golden syrup and white sugar dissolved in some boiling water. Cook the dumplings in the boiling syrup sauce on the stove top in a good sized saucepan with the lid slightly ajar. Serve warm with milk, ice-cream, whipped cream, or custard. You can also add cocoa to the dough and replace the golden syrup with cocoa powder to make a chocolate dumplings in chocolate sauce. It depends on what you can afford and what you have on hand. I have also used the same dough to make scones and pizza. Whatever you need it for, it will work.
THANK YOU Wolfe Pit for these recipes! My parents were both born in 1916 so they lived through the Depression. My mother's parents owned a neighborhood grocery store and she started to work there when she was about 9. Her parents worked out payment arrangements with their customers and suppliers as cash was scarce. They were absolutely heartbroken with the part of the New Deal that dealt with food supply and price controls. On the farms and ranches, cows' milk was poured into the dirt rather than sold, cattle were slaughtered and left to rot, and crops were tilled into the ground and left in the fields to rot. Grannie and Mom cried as they told me that they would have been happy to go and get that food themselves and distribute it to their customers whose children were getting skinnier and skinnier. But they were prohibited by the New Deal provisions to do that. For my dad and his family the Depression came early. He was the youngest of 6 kids and his dad was an only sometimes house painter. His beloved mom died when he was about 7 and his stepmom would often make him go for 3 days without food. When he did eat, a meal could be one piece of bread with a half teaspoon of peanut butter. As their lives progressed, I appeared on the scene as their only child. Did the Depression have effects on their lives? I think so but not really adversely. They were not at all adventurous with food as that could wasteful. Leftovers were few and also considered wasteful. Our relationship with food was that we enjoyed shopping together with a big haul on the civil service monthly payday and then fill-in days as necessary. Impulse purchases were few and far between. We always bought the top quality name brand products - quality over quantity. I chose to be the cook and my parents did the wash and dry - no machines - as it gave them an opportunity to talk about their day. There were lots of foods that my parents did not like so I ended up with a pattern of food prep that worked for us. It consisted of an entree, a starch, a vegetable, sometimes bread, sometimes dessert. The entree was beef, cheese, pasta, soup, or bacon based. [NO chicken, fish, turkey, pork. The beef was ground round or a 1 to 1.5 lb Tbone that was well done and cut into 3 or 4 pieces, one piece per person.] The veggie was fresh or frozen (no cans) carrots, corn, broccoli, or squash. The starch was potatoes, rice, homemade biscuits or rolls. When we had dessert it was ice cream, cake, or pie. My dad was not overweight until I begged him to give up smoking after 40 years of smoking since he was 10 years old. [He was able to bum cigs from friends and that helped his hunger pangs.] In WWII cigs were provided to soldiers and EVERYONE smoked during the 1900's, 10's, 20's, 30's, 40's. 50's, 60's, 70's, until it started to abate. He developed heart disease, lost weight after heart bypass surgery by Dr. Denton Cooley, and died in 1985. The doctors told me that 40 years of smoking took many years of his life away but quitting and then losing weight gave him a few back. My mom stayed slim throughout her life but lots of little problems (as her doctors called them) took her away from this earth in 1989. Her only food vice was two banana splits a few times per year. One piece of shopping advice from my mom - don't buy the first item in line on the shelf. Do a search and find the item with the latest expiration date.
Martha Welch thank you kindly for your story. I was fascinated from beginning to end. We often don’t think how hard it was for people and the details get lost like your parents having a chance to talk while washing their clothes. We definitely take things for granted now such as the amount of food available to us. Thank you again for your input and I enjoyed reading a part of your life story.
@@susan2514 I don't recall ever getting a YT notification that you had replied. Just today this video appeared in my YT offerings and I rewatched it. I scrolled down in the comments and there was my "War and Peace" length comment followed by your reply. Please accept my apology for not thanking you earlier, especially because your reply was so heartwarming. I was fortunate to have my maternal grandparents live with my parents and me until their death. They and my parents were older than most of my contemporaries families and had been through the American experience of starting from scratch in a career of their own choosing, gaining an economic foothold, going off to wars, disease, the Depression and other economic downturns, recovering from wars, seeing atrocities, raising kids to be better educated and get better jobs, buying a home, facing deaths. You know - LIFE. I enjoyed hearing their stories because sometimes it's helpful to know where we've been to know where we're going. I hope that you and your family are doing well and will continue to do so. And, thank you again for your thoughtful reply!
Reminds me of when my dad would throw leftovers into a frankenstein amalgamation and called it ghetto slop. It was hit or miss, but as a kid I didn't care- I was just glad to eat!
Bubble-&-Swig fritters (I think it’s known as Bubble-&-Squeak in the UK) was our equivalent; whatever leftovers there were, with a simple batter, shallow or dry-fried- & if we didn’t eat them all, they were kept for lunch &/ or dinner the next night - oh, the days & days where we dreamed of eating something else...
I used to make freezer stew. I put all my leftovers in a big plastic container in the freezer. When the container was full I dumped it in a big pot and heated it up. It was always different and always good
I was raised on a farm where we raised about everything we ate, I loved macaroni with Mom's canned tomatoes cooked with them. It was a side dish and nothing else in them. They started their marriage in the Depression era. They told me all about it and always were frugal even when they did not have to be in their later years.
By the time you add the beans, corn, and hotdogs, it's not really a depression meal any more. Tends to be on the fancy side. The real deal is macaroni with stewed tomatoes. It doesn't taste all that great, but it will keep your belt buckle from rubbing against your back bone.
Great job on the video. I always loved hot dogs and still do. I lived with my grandparents for many years. She was an adult during the great depression. She never got over that time period. She used everything until nothing was left of it.
Living in the Netherlands on a small budget, this recipe comes out a bit pricier than 4 dollars, though i am getting it from the nearest supermarket, and i'll guility admit that the hot dogs and corn alone are already half the amoutn of that. mostly the hotdogs. though they're the brand ones, and actually a pack of 8 vs. the smaller cheap ones that i know for a fact taste like bloody cardboard. i'm definitely gonna be making this pan though cause it's a damn good dish even for just under a tenner. and living by myself a single pan like that i could easily eat for 3 days or something Thanks for the recipe !
I find that just one sliced hot dog can flavor a lot of pasta. You could get the more expensive hot dogs, use half the amount for this dish (four dogs) or even less.
We use spam. I prefer treat but my girlfriend always says we can afford the spam now... My thought... Well maybe I liked the taste more when we couldn't!!
I do not believe for a second that all that is for under $4. The price of everything is jacked up many times over and even if you go to a dollar store you cant get all that for the price limit. Maybe if all this food was months old expired stuff prepared to be tossed, potentially invaded by rodents/insects and cleaned before the video i might believe the price. But in that case you have disease to worry about.
Inflation is a beast. I just went to the regular grocery store here in the Fort Worth, TX area and purchased all generic ingredients and this still came out to $6.05 (comment made Nov 15, 2021).
Not surprised I have been doing alot of the grocery shopping and majority of the cooking. We finally finished the basement and have a much larger basement pantry. Now I am stocking it with various items for months now rather than buying all at once. I have noticed the prices are rather sharply going up. Yes I am prepping by doing this and no I am not doing so for a zombie apocolaypse. But with current shortages in the supply chain and or a unexpected financial setback. It wouldn't hurt having like a few months worth of food on hand. Just been scouring the internet for recipes to make things from scratch rather than already made. It can be a huge money saver as compared to ordering out all the time.
That’s probably because you didn’t go to Walmart. Everything he used is still the same price in my area (NC 1/28/22) except for the Gwalney hot dogs which aren’t sold at our Walmart. The closest comparable product sold is BarS classic franks at $1.00 per 8ct/12oz.
I remember in the 1950s going to the Swedish deli with my Nana. The butcher(and owner) would give me a raw hot dog or potato salad to keep me busy. My father traveled across the country in 1936. He learned to make "Mac Pot". It was a pot of macaroni with a couple of cans of Campbell's Pepper Pot soup mixed in. We used to make it on Boy Scout camp outs. It was very popular with my patrol. Good video. Good Luck, Rick
When i was a kid we had what we called eternal soup, basically a large saucepan with whatever vegetables we could get or grow, just aded more as the level went down.
Back when I was living on 90 dollars a month or less for food, i remember baking pizza dough like crazy. I always made it from. Scratch and freezed my portions. I learned how make multiple things from the dough, pizza, donuts, garlic knots, pretzels....that's what I survived on ❤️ it was awesome!
@@5roundsrapid263 I've seen a few of his recipes that remind me of that book. I make stone soup every time I make carcass soup (lately out of rotisserie chicken).
One of my grandmothers took that "stone soup" bit seriously and literally boiled rocks she got from the dog's pooping area in a pot and served it to me in a bowl... I had to eat boiled poop-stone water... Being raised right I didn't question it besides in my own head and did my best to scoop the water out with an over-sized spoon dodging the rocks as I could... yes the bowl still had stones in them... God my childhood was full of weird bullshit...
My family called it tomato soup and noodles and I asked for it 5 days out of the week as a child ‘ loves it so much that I learned to make it myself. Elbow noodles and Campbell’s tomato soup.
We called it macaroni and tomato sauce. We didn't have corn or beans in ours. Just macaroni, tomato sauce (no chunks) and hot dogs. Later we added parmesan and the last thing we introduced to the recipe was Old Bay seasoning. We still eat it. Not out of necessity but as a comfort food.
If you ever have left over Mac and Cheese, The next day add a can of Campbell's tomato soup to a "Cool Whip" sized bowl of bowl of mac and cheese, that is so good on a cold day!
i love cannellini beans in white chicken chili, i love stewed tomatoes, i love cold hotdogs plain or with peanut butter on bread, beanie weanies are my favorite, this looks delicious!
My son brought his woman to introduce us before they married. I was making what we kids called "Mom's 'end of the money'" meals-- this recipe I just learned as Hoover Stew. OK. What's in a name, I ask... anyway, she loved it. My son grew up on it at home and at aunts and uncles homes -- Mom never made it after we kids left home-- and between them, the entire pot full vanished in minutes. Shucks-- I didn't get the usual left-overs, which are better the second time around.
After catching COVID, I ran out of dog food. Thankfully I had a few pounds of hot dogs in the freezer. My spoiled pup enjoys them more then his raw meat diet. He is my service dog and I didn’t think they’d be good for them. But 4 weeks later, he is okay.
I've been told by vets that hot dogs can cause pancreatitis in dogs so unless you have nothing else to feed them I wouldn't give them hot dogs just to be safe.
glad you made it--- I had it too. For all those out there, Ivermectin is being used successfully now , some are going to court to get it in usa hospitals, but there is ways to get it, on the cheap, and American doctors on the front lines have a app ------ just putting this out there, we still have people getting it
I remembered this video from a while back today after realizing that I had having some easy ingredients around the house, so I decided to try a somewhat different version of what was shown here. Instead of pasta, I used a bunch of leftover cooked long grain rice that I had taken home from a Saturday lunch we had at work. I also used canned Green Beans instead of Cannellini Beans since I wanted some more vegetables in my stew. Finally, I used the same seasonings you did but also added some Smoked Paprika and crushed Red Pepper for some extra kick (I like spicy foods a lot). Other than what I mentioned, everything else was the same as what was used in the video. After everything was done, the final product was honestly really good. I probably would've preferred the pasta instead of rice, but since the rice was free and I had a bunch of it leftover I figured that was a perfect reason to use it here. Naturally, more of the liquid got absorbed by the rice than it would've by any pasta I would've used but it was still a nice experience considering how cheap the overall product was. Thanks for being an inspiration for my dinner tonight as well as a few of my lunches at work for next week.
We regularly have a meal called what was left over casserole. We were a Navy family and I had to watch every penny spent. My 3 sons called me the casserole queen. My kids are all grown up now but they still remember my creative casseroles. 😁 I also fed several other children from our neighborhood when the boys were little. I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone going hungry so my home often resembled a soup kitchen. Military families struggle far more than people would think.
And I thank you for your service and open kitchen. I'll bet those neighborhood boys remember you .ps: I believe EVERY person should serve 2 years in the military in America. Makes responsible, capable people out of the whole lot of us.
@@karentate9114 Agree, as long as medical condition and physical/mental capacities are considered. Everyone should serve. Everyone shouldn't do the exact same thing.
@@chilliecheesecake You know who else is vegetarian and for animal rights? Adolf Hitler. Does it mean every single vegetarian is nazi? Dude, please. A bit more attention to your argumentation. Yes, north korea has an obligatory conscription. Doesn't mean every single country having it would become as this one.
@@chilliecheesecake pretty sure conscription has been a part of every major conflict the US has ever experienced but lets not let facts get in the way of your valid and equal opinion
I finally got around to trying to Hoover stew recipe. I think I made a little less than you did with 8 ounces of elbow macaroni. I let my wife try some and she did not think it was all that great at first, but after it had been sitting around soaking up the juices, she had it several hours later and she thought it was great. Using Walmart prices from online I was able to make probably six servings for about $2.65. I did not use the whole recipe you did, so half a package of Bar S hotdogs at Walmart is $.50, 8 ounces of elbow macaroni, big box of Walmart pasta is $.33, 1can kidney beans $.68, petite diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil, $.64, and a can of corn $.50. I did use some broth which I would highly recommend, along with garlic powder and Italian seasoning, which I would encourage on a budget to get one of each from the dollar store. In place of canned broth, you can use a bullion cube or even a seasoning package from Ramen noodles. I think the secret is not to eat it right away, add water as necessary, but add a some seasoning, salt, pepper, something. Stewed tomatoes probably would add more flavor.
My mother used to make this but she'd use chicken bits instead of hotdogs, when she stopped making it, I realized we weren't poor anymore
ROFL
well atleast it doesnt taste like shit
@@2p19 no it was amazing, especially with chicken broth powder
Lol when we were poor my mom made rice cereal everyday
@@germsslick8625 wat
When you drain the pasta, keep the water and use it instead of adding plain water. The pasta water has some flavour in it, but more importantly it has starch in it from the pasta. That's some extra calories, which is important if you are trying to stretch the meal around a lot of people.
True pasta water is great def helps thicken sauce with the starch
I agree with using pasta water but not all of it. A cup or two is enough, and you can use the rest for other stuff too. Too much starch like that and you start to feel sick and your pasta gets all congealed and weird.
I had the same thought, i allways use the pasta water for sauce as well, as it adds texture.
A pot of rice or pasta makes the basis of two meals, one from the drained pasta, and a second from the pasta left in the pot with the pot water; just add leftovers and dump cans of stuff in.
One pasta pot i get compliments for is the some of the pasta and water, add one can of cheap meat and bean chili, add cans of beans, corn (I drain out the water), tomatoes, green beans, carrots, and what leftover vegetables from the fridge.
it also allows the sauce to stick to the noodles and stuff because starch is like a glue ... better binder is flour ... but yes NEVER toss out the pasta water it makes the best broth
Growing up in the mountains of Kentucky, my grandmother would make "Goulash." It was in no way actual goulash. It consisted of a diced onion, minced hamburger, elbow macaroni and ketchup. Brown the onion and meat, cook the pasta, then mix everything together and add enough ketchup so that it wasn't a dry nasty mess. Young me loved it
That Actual my kids and I would like! We like stuff like that,even tho it sounds weird to others.
You should make it and add some other stuff to it.reinvent your moms recipe .😇
We here in eastern europe eat goulash all the time
We had something like that, except canned tomato in place of ketchup and a can of peas were also added.
Yeah my mema called it goulash that’s exactly what I was gonna say lol from OKLAHOMA
We had a version of goulash too. I don't remember what all was in it, but we had it a lot lol and I'm from Arkansas.
My wife moved out, and the kids and I need to live on half the income but the same old mortgage. I’m looking for ways to cut expenses, and one is food. Our middle class menu is now a working class menu. I just made this, and the kids loved it. I threw in a dollop of lard for calories and more flavor. I am following this channel now. Thanks for the idea!
I’m sorry, I’d suggest downsizing and moving so a state with cheaper cost of living
The middle class doesn't exist. You're either working class or not working class.
Best of luck
@@jakesmall8875 he's already paying for a mortgage on the house he is already living in. plus, he would also have to take the risk of finding a new job.
@@tamacat920 downsizing would involve selling the house
the algorithm pushing these into my feed doesnt exactly foretell a prosperous future
You eat this stuff you are left with so much money to invest you become a billionaire or something.
You better download as much great depression meals before your wifi gets cut offed
2020 was the worst year for the USA since the Great Depression. People are out of work, starving and homeless without much desperately needed government support. History never repeats, not really, but it absolutely does rhyme, and right now, we have need of these desperation tactics again.
@@dashiellgillingham4579 These days, I'm not even sure if the qualifier "since the great depression" applies. Things might be better on paper in some areas but reality tells a completely different story when accounting for how the numbers are obtained.
Bro same! I don't know how I ended up on this channel. I'm a vegetarian, health focused, leftist anime nerd. What's going on here?!!?!!
These low-cost meals are so apropos for these times. There are so many people out of work and out of money. I truly appreciate that you show meals that can feed several people for not much money. Thanks Larry!
Face diapers and fake viruses are causing that
@@Chilling4Shillings Apparently you haven't lost anyone you love to Covid.
@@robylove9190 Neither have you. You lost them to the flu and underlying health issues. Covid isn't real. It's just the flu with a new name
@@Chilling4Shillings i'm sorry for you, being born with no brain is a very rare disability
I got a letter from my insurance company saying they were billed for me having corona virus from a clinic I have never been to so even if it is real they lie about the numbers I also know several people that did go to the doctor for other things and the doctors just added corona as a diagnosis with no testing for un related issues so there is some food for thought 🤷♀️
I'm 68 yrs old. When I was a kid, my dad would make this and called it Hobo Stew. He didn't cook too often, bit when my mom was out of town or incapacitate. we loved his Hobo Stew.
I am the same age. When my dad was still in the Navy we were on a really tight budget. My mom, instead of making this, would make hot dogs, fried potatoes and onions. She would then make what we called ranch stew, which was somewhat similar to this except we had hamburger meat. Also Salmon cakes.
Sadly the great depression today is in the head so the government need to pay people so they can feed themselves and their families but they are depressive people so cheap cooking is not on their menu's. Is incredible what you can do with 5 dollar's.
Went went to a church who did that stew every year during their festival. Big hit. They used ground beef in theirs.
This made me smile
I can see how this could be a winner for kids, considering its relatively bland. Nothing weird and easy to eat and digest.
I know this came out during the pandemic but it almost feels like we need this video now more than ever. I went to the store the other day and spent $50 on groceries for a week, got in my car, and burst into tears because that was all I had. A can of beans or a thing of frozen veggies runs almost $2 in some stores when I could have sworn a year or two ago dry goods like beans and pasta were often under $1. It's a miracle to find anything under a dollar anywhere, and milk and eggs can easily run you $5 or more each. I'm only 24, single, and working on climbing out of debt, and my $15/hr job that would have felt like wealth to me just a year ago is barely enough without overtime. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to feed a family right now.
Anyway, enough of my whining. I hope that all doesn't sound entitled. To be totally fair, a lot of my troubles are my own fault and come from being a naive kid with no financial literacy, but inflation is really kicking people's asses right now. I just wanted to say your videos mean a lot and they're really helping me through a tough spot. I imagine I'm not the only one either.
You're definitely not imagining things. It is reality, so no shame in crying or venting about the fact that commodities are jacked up. Sure, there are others who will always be worse off than us, but it doesn't mean you're not struggling there. Thankfully, creativity still persists and people are kind enough to share in on unique ways of how to stretch your dollar further. Keep your head up and if/when things improve again, carry the wisdom you garner from this period of time with you throughout life.
You're not alone Hun! The struggle is real for many right now & yes grocery shopping has brought me to tears! Stay strong my young friend & know you're in my thoughts!
Im a 50 year old man who’s doing ok, but your message alone brings me to tears. I hate this.
It also makes me angry - and I know getting political will make at least half the people angry no matter what one says, but … and I say this as a bipoc Canadian - get your Democrats out!
…but regardless of your political ideology, hang in there everybody.
My family went from owning multiple businesses to not being able to eat 3 meals a day. Sometimes, we only eat once. The job loss mixed in with the inflation is too much. I have been living off $1.29 macaroni, $1.39 loaf of bread and using whole milk for the macaroni instead of butter. This is our life. Ironically, my grandparents fed an entire neighborhood daily during the Great Depression. Everyone came to their house for a meal daily because they were one of the rare ones fortunate to have jobs. They fed the neighborhood mostly potatoes and bread with lard. I'm contemplating some potato dishes now. Good luck and just know soon all of America and the world will be in our shoes. The system reset is all by design.
You are most definitely not imagining things! Everytime I go to the store I scratch my head thinking "I know this was cheaper just a few visits ago!" It makes you feel like your going crazy. I have this fear that since we're paying for these expensive groceries now why would corporations lower them back to their original prices? I mean greedy companies are nothing new. Does anyone have any takes on that? I used to be able to get a cart decently full of groceries for $100 now I can't even get more than a half a cart for that.
I’m a noodle stirrer. I’m not a fan of losing noodles to the bottom of my pan, or risking noodle-clumps.
I fucking hate noodle clumps and my dumbass berates myself because I let it get to that stage. :(
You and Wolfe are stirrin' up trouble.
Chuck m in, stir once, and you're good to go for most of the cooking time. Check if it needs a little stir towards the end and done
I'll stir my noodles however I want, and none y'all can stop me, fools.
@@GlareanLiebertine for president.
My grandfather (grew up through the depression) helped raise me. He was the most resourceful man I've ever met. He could make anything from anything. He put macgyver to shame.
My grandparents were the same way. They sure don't make people like that anymore, that's for sure.
@@renastone1270
They were a different breed back then. Tough, no nonsense, people. Both the men and the women.
My grandfather lied about being 18 (he was 16), so he could fight in WWII. A poor farm boy from Oregon became a pilot in the army air Corp, and fought in Guadalcanal and the south Pacific theater.
@@Seth-mu3wo My grandfather did the same thing, only he was 15 and got caught. He was always so angry about that.
@@renastone1270
Right. They were upset they couldn't volunteer, and go fight the axis across the globe.
When I was 16, I know I wouldn't have wanted to do that. Hell, 20 years later I still would prefer not doing that.
Even those that didn't or couldn't fight still helped the effort back home.
Great now I want your grandfather's food and if he'd give to me if I pay him for it that I'd do that!
This guy says "the people" more than the founding fathers did when writing up the bill of rights
Right to bear stewed tomatoes...
He should replace George Washington
I read that as "the foundling fathers" and was momentarily confused lol
@@michael931 Give me stewed tomatoes or give me death!
"..except black people of course"
-the founding fathers, probably
Recommendation: if rice or pasta is going in the sauce, skip the boiling separate step. Allow the pasta or rice to absorb the sauce or broth and the flavor along with it. This will keep the pasta/rice from being as bland. Also the starch from the pasta will thicken the sauce. You do have to mind the liquid level as it absorbs to make sure the food does run dry, and burn, or not cook all the way leaving it chewy. In a survival scenario those calories from the starch are pure energy, and if water is inz short supply you just saved some of it.
Note to all making this dish for only 1 person: DO NOT mix the entire bag of macaroni into the soup. Cook it separately according to how much you would like to eat at that time. Overnight macaroni will just absorb all the water and inflate it, making it too soggy.
Thanks for the recipe!
Rinse the macaroni in cold water immediately after draining it; that will stop the cooking. Then it won't restart absorbing liquid unless you bring it up to boiling temperature. This also works when making pasta salads.
that's what the cooks want for bad time like then, inflated food fills more tummy.
FINALLY the soup hack!!!
@@711jastin I mean it's just absorbing the excess liquid. Not like you're getting more food from nothing.
@@jimmygreenspan8832 my grandpa and my father had been through hard times, they used to have porridge instead of rice for a long time. Maybe nutrition is not more than rice but it filled more belly.
I've made this as a poor student, I thought I was just good at cooking on a budget. Turns out I was reliving the annals of history.
Well, those two things don't cancel out... So nice budgeting.
Id get a 1$ bag of lentils and 2$ worth of onion and garlic then boil it with salt and pepper as my college food source, that 1$ 1 pound bag lasts a few days so ye
I bought one can of the cheapest tomato I can find, and that immediately blew the allotted budget for this meal.
You guys heard about RICE? Its much cheaper.
Anals?
If you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend “Great Depression Cooking” with Clara. Unfortunately she passed away about 8 years ago but, thankfully, she recorded some great videos about the meals she used to cook back in the depression. I’ve tried some of her recipes and they are quite good and very filling. It’s awesome, to me at least, that someone who lived through that time was still with us long enough to have a UTube channel.
That's heartwarming and slightly tragic she passed away though
It was her grandson,Jonathan that thought of filming her..he was very close to her and misses her dearly...
Awww I just discovered her today! I wish I could’ve thanked her while she was here but I’m also glad she was able to make and pass this on to others.
Clara is awesome. Buy her cook book for even more great things! I wish I would have done something similar with my last grandmother. She was very smart but her body failed her. She died last year at 91
I love Clara's channel.
As I was watching this, a year and a half after posting, I decided to do a running tally of the current cost of ingredients. It came to $4.72 or $0.59 per serving. Still an extremely viable option for those with depression level income. :) Thank you for sharing. It gave me some great ideas for making similar dishes.
2 years after the posting of this video, the running tally is now $6.28 or about 79 cents a serving. This is in Northern Indiana pricing, I would hate to see what these ingredients would cost in California.
a depression meal? damn i mean i thought i was just getting fed growing up.
@@JohnDoe-jk3vv probably a bit fresher ingrediants.
Same haha! Fried eggs & potatoes was VERY big at our house as well 2 or 3$ eat for days
When I was growing up this is what rich people ate!
Me too. My mom made this when I was a kid. She was born in 1927.
you must have had a feast! LAUGHS IN POVERTY
One raw hot dog, a slice of bread and a slice American cheese, fold in half. Yes I stir pasta.
@Thomas Hellberg that was good ish
@@joysoyo2416 It was better than the peanut butter by a light year, hehehe.
Same but the sliceof cheese was for weekends when you wanted to spice it up
This gets a major upgrade if you throw the hot dog in a pan to brown it first and butter the bread and toast it in the pan next to it, then melt the cheese on the warm bread so it sticks to the hot dog when you roll it up
The noodles WILL naturally separate, but if you don't stir it they can stick to the pan.
The only downside to stirring is you have to stir xD
Yep, if I don't stir it's basically guaranteeing that there'll be a few burnt macaroni on the bottom when I drain it.
Pasta 101: No stirring means lots of stuck together clumps. Mmmm clumps...
My brother is a chef and he says you should ALWAYS stir for about 15 to 30 sec to work off some starch so it wont all stick together or stick to your pan.
You should always give them a quick stir occasionally while cooking, because if they stick together during cooking, they'll be unevenly cooked. A wooden spoon is your friend.
A small change one could make is to reserve 1-2 cups of the pasta water to replace the clear water you add later.
The starch in it should help with thickening the broth a bit.
Hey, hold on there! Hot dogs right out of the package? As a kid - hell yes! As a 75 year old - hell yes!!
i hope you have a good day today
I used to put it on a fork and cook it on the burner... then I'd get in trouble by my mom for ruining her forks
My 8 year old LOVES cold hot dogs. 🤣 some things do not change!
65 and I still love cold hot dogs. Just had one on Tuesday night!
Yes! But at 79, I've been reduced to no nitrates, low salt. But I still do grab one anyway. You only live once!! Almost as good as drinking milk from the jug. With the refrigerator door open! Wheee
Growing up on a dirt farm in Washington state (50s/60s) we were too poor for hot dogs so most of what we had was raised on the farm. That meant that things such as store-bought things like macaroni, spaghetti and rice were considered luxury items that we didn’t get more than once or twice a month.
Our version was to start with a couple onions (almost everything started with onions) which would get sautéed in lard. If there was any meat scraps left in the fridge those would go in but most of the time it was around 1/2-3/4 lb of hamburger (just enough to flavor it a little. Then there were a few scoops of home canned tomato paste, quart jar of undrained corn and in the summer/fall mom would toss in cubed zucchini since we were always trying to use that up. Then the macaroni would be added. This was enough to feed us 6 kids plus parents. If some of the kids up the road wandered down (alcoholic parents) mom would toss in a quart of green beans to stretch it a little further. That plus home made bread which mom baked once a week would keep us happy and full.
I am from Spokane, where you from?
I can relate. I had divorced parents and lived with the alcoholic dad ( my drug addict mom left when we were little) and my dad did tree trimming and sold firewood in the winter to get by. After beer money and weed etc. not much left for food so we ate whatever my dad could get for how ever many days but I remember back the you could get 4 loaves of bread for 1.00 and that blows my mind today. We ate potatoes a lot, beans, cabbage, oats, big pots of things like potato soup and beans for days were just how it was and I was just happy I had something to eat.
I swore my kids would never know what that felt like! Thank goodness they ever have. We did get free lunch so we had that meal we could count on during the school year, it’s so vitally important that kids have a good school lunch as it may be the only well rounded meal they get each day! I would love to see schools that could provide a meal like that over the school breaks for families in need.
@@notasb4 yes, my mother was a functional alcoholic meaning she did what she had to before she would drink. Fortunately she brewed or fermented most of what she drank. Growing up in that environment blesses you with lots of stories. But in spite of that, she always made sure we had a roof over our heads and food in our bellies.
@@janedoe3095 I learned a great deal indeed and as a parent raising my own I’m certain times were very difficult for my parents as they didn’t have the resources we now have, I don’t feel they knew near as much about addiction and treatment, the family and what that environment can do to children etc. I don’t have my father anymore, I feel like he did the best he could do at the time with the limited knowledge he had and the difficulties he was faced with. I’m glad your mother always had her children as her priority.
Respect to your Mim for taking care of the neighbor kids, that's pretty sweet.
Stewed tomatoes... My Dad who grew up during the great depression would often heat up a can of stewed tomatoes and put a tablespoon of white sugar over them as a snack...they were delicious, still have them from time to time myself
Momma did exactly this and added broken up dry bread, called it bread stew. It was a great meal for our family.
my grandpa called it tomato and bread pudding.
I make a dish with stewed tomatoes & crushed Crackers & Sugar& Butter.& Bake 25 minutes.Real Good!
Does it taste like ketchup?
My mom made stewed tomatoes in a frying pan, with a bacon strip or two...we ate it over rice with fresh baked biscuits....delicious!
My version of this includes the following:
1 pound of pasta (any kind works, but elbows seem traditional)
1 pound of chopped hotdogs
1 large yellow or purple onion, chopped as you like.
1 tablespoon (or more, if you like) of minced garlic
1 can of condensed tomato soup (no water needed). I sometimes substitute tomato paste; the variety with basil, garlic, and oregano.
Grated cheese (or shredded, if you prefer). I like "The Stinky Three" (Asiago, Parmesan, and Romano)
bacon fat (or salt pork fat)
.
Saute the onions and hot dogs in the bacon fat. In a separate pot, cook the pasta and drain when done. Add the onions, hot dogs, and soup to the pasta, stirring until well mixed. If you didn't use tomato paste or flavored tomatoes, add whatever herbs and seasonings you like. Top with the cheese and enjoy. This used to be one of my Sunday evening "comfort" meals. I even had a couple nights when I was so hungry that I ended up saying, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!"
.
Other (optional) items are canned tomatoes, either in place of the soup or tomato paste, or to augment it; diced bell peppers; RoTel tomatoes with diced green chilies (for some heat); and if you don't want hot dogs, find yourself some of the fattiest salt pork, cut it into cubes, fry it (using the grease afterwards to cook the onions and peppers), and add the fried salt pork at the very end, so it stays crispy.
.
My mother and father both were born just prior to the Depression (my father in 1926 and my mother in 1928). Also, my next door neighbor was from that time period as well. Both had large families (I'm the youngest of 9 and my neighbor had 7 kids and was widowed). One of my neighbor's economy meals was to cook up 5 pounds of pasta in an old washtub, adding just butter, salt, and pepper, if she had nothing else.
Perfect!! For a change to this, leave out the hot dogs & add some canned tuna (in oil) drain some oil into the pasta water while cooking.
My dad grew up in an orphanage during the depression and I remember him telling me how he would eat nothing but hoover stew from months at a time sometimes. He even fixed it for us a couple of times. This pretty much is the same recipe except he added onions and used stewed tomatoes.
Bless your dad
@@nicolelovesjesusgod7673 how about Mohammed
@@abdullayaser700 no, i don't think so
@@abdullayaser700 uh. What do you mean?
Ps: im a muslim
This kinda reminds me of the dish I made which my buddies named "Nuclear Waste". End of the month , no money , so I pulled out the big pot and cleaned out the pantry . Canned veggies , soup , pasta or rice , whatever I had went in the pot . Add hot dogs and jalapeños and bake a can of biscuits . Everybody made fun of it but nobody turned it down ! Love the channel 👍👍
Reminds me of power outages in the south after a hurricane. Clean out the iceboxes and make a stew feast on the outdoor stove !
Gotta start making biscuits. Looks easy, use a cast iron deep dish pan as mimi oven. PTL
I’m about to do this. Thanks for the idea.
I do that when a unexpected bill or something comes, it usually comes out good.
Fun fact : Australia does not have Biscuits in a can that we cook in ovens that look more like scones to us .
It's practically pasta e fagiol' (literally pasta and beans). Any Italian that grew up financially challenged would recognize this. Only we make it soupier (no corn, maybe carrot, celery, onion) and would use a different pasta shape and sausage or maybe just a beef or pork bone for flavor. Serve it with bread and it will carbo load a whole family with leftovers !
Thai here, sausage as you know it are not cheap here but bologna, chicken cocktail sausage and frankfurter are plentiful, same for spring onion and yellow onion, and main type of beans around here are long beans and sweet peas sold in pods. Would that work with this dish?
By the way, do you think many of those American Italian dishes were invented by immigrants trying to make do when traditional ingredients weren't there until after the War? Heck, we common Thais did not know what pasta was until the G.I. brought them over during the Vietnam War.
@@thanakonpraepanich4284 Hi there! Yes I do think that the immigrants used what ever reasonable substitutions they could find in America to make a filling soup. I know my own family made substitutions when ingredients weren't available or were too expensive.
I love Thailand! I visited in the 90s. Spent a decent amount of time in Chanthaburi and Bangkok. A pork bone and some minced pork would work nicely in this. You can add any vegetable you like- peas, long beans, cabbage are nice. You can also add cooked black beans or azuki beans if you want more protein. You can really add anything that you like and it will be good.
My grandma used to make this with chicken or sausage to make it "fancy". I never realized that this was a recipe from the Great Depression, it was just something that my grandma cooked.
She also had a twist where she would throw a bunch of different canned veggies into a pot along with some chicken stock and the macaroni and called it veggie stew.
Always stir your noodles... That's how you keep them from burning and sticking to the pan, and macaroni noodles definitely tend to stick together when cooked without stirring
My grandmother lived through the Depression and it changed her life. she never forgot it and lived her life extremly thrifty. She was an AMAZING baker though. Thanks for making this video, people who lived through that time were HARD!
Maybe we can all get something uplifting from this
Mine too. She would wash, and reuse sheets of aluminum foil.
She made the best chocolate chip cookies!
My grandparents lived through the depression and would never waste a thing. Grandma used everything, bones from roast chicken for soup stock, every part of the pig, even pigs feet and etc.... she called some depression food. Sometimes you got to be grateful for all the things we have because we live in America.
My Uncle Ray, R.I.P. .... Also lived through the great depression era....As well as the child slave labor/textile era. Where kids quit school to help the family make ends meet...Worked in slave labor factories (U.S. jobs...Now in China...With Slave labor....) practically chained to the machines...1 lbs block of Hershey's chocolate bar cost ©.25 ...They sometimes received like a free comb from some of the factories they worked at...Super right....
Mine too. When she died, we had to check every single book page and coat pocket because she would hide money there.
@@samanthafahrney @ My Uncle and my grandfather. My uncle had 1000s of $ in quarters and change. My grandfather (mom's side.) Ran a racket with deposit 5 cent cans and aluminium recycling. He to died kind of wealthy without really knowing. $1000s- $10k stuffed in mattresses and storage cans!
The same, in Iowa, almost 60 years ago, Gramma's goulash...stewed tomatoes, ground beef, onion, macaroni, and a slice or two of kraft american cheese. Still one of my favorite meals
We still eat that now but without the cheese. 😃
My bro in law makes goulash similar to that only he uses a jar of spaghetti sauce and adds in some canned green beans along with the meat and pasta and other ingredients.
my mother used to make this but she used boxed macaroni and cheese. it is so good that i make it myself as a comfort meal to this day.
Same. But Velveeta.
@@misst1586 i bet that's real good.
Sad to say this but the struggle is real, again! Many people are struggling at the moment and recipes like this will definitely be helpful.
There are a lot of Depression Era foods like this, our Grandmothers had no choice but to learn how to stretch a dollar. My Grandma made many meatless dishes that were surprisingly good, she made mostly soups though, because the ingredients were pretty much whatever you had on hand, and she made enough to feed an army.
It's still rather common in the third world. My grandmother has raised three entire generations, by doing virtually the same.
Suffice it to say, there are certain combinations that make for some good soups.
Soup is the most efficient way to make meals. It captures all the juices and nutrients.
How were your grandparents health wise? Just wondering bc ppl say the cheaper processed food makes us sick.
@@ah-ss7he They really didn't have processed food back then except maybe canned soups. My Grandmother made everything from scratch, bread, noodles, and all of her soups were made from scratch. She lived to the age of 86, so I guess she led a pretty healthy life.
@@cunard61 yeah I guess I was wondering about the carbs as well. She lived a long live! Was she slim?
Kielbasa instead of hot dogs would really bring this to another level.
Kidney beans instead of canellini beans
No!
@@cleaner817 maybe
@@BushBoy_7567 perhaps?
@@cleaner817 please?
When I was in college, you filled your belly however you could. There was an Aldi nearby and when items reached their expiration date, they sold them for almost nothing. It was the first thing I did when I got there. A can of baked beans for .25 cents? So beans and weenys for dinner that night! You can come up with some crazy combinations trying not to starve
Canned food can last for decades, an expiry date of 2 or 3 years is half the time it's still good - as long as it's not getting puffy or really dented that is. If you really looked around you'd probably find stores that just throw out their old food, like the ol' _freegans_ do. Really have to be careful with stuff that's unsealed though, or actually going/gone bad...
@@skyeblue5669 I am not going to hold that against the current generation. I refuse to be the "....well, I had to walk 5 miles to school each day, uphill in snow when I was a kid..." or of course the "get off my lawn" guy. No one had any kind of smart phone technology of any sort prior to 1990. And there are many who don't have those luxuries today even. Yes, many do. But I know a family that eats Kraft Mac & Cheese twice a day so they have full bellies. What bothers me are the ones who are buying steak and lobster with their food stamps and driving home in their Lexus. People taking advantage of the system and making it harder for people who need it to get it.
@@user-ut9ln4vd5m I agree on the printed date on cans, and consider it a "best by" date. Being careful is very important, you don't want a poor choice to make you or your family sick from a bad can or jar. I've found using your nose is a good detector of spoilage, but it isn't foolproof. Cooking your recipe good and hot can do well to destroy food borne bacteria. I would pass on unsealed canned goods. Best of luck!
Canned food, without any damage will usually last twice as long as the date claims. It's more of a marketing gimmick to keep "more products" selling. No companies want products to "last for years" because they can't make money. It's why they tell us that a can of green beans in water/salt will expire in 2 years & you'll have to buy a different can. The United States prides it self on "shelf stable" food. If you want to eat always fresh.. you will be paying a high premium & have to do some serious traveling. Even in the "fresh" section of grocery stores.. it's not really the freshest. It's disgusting how much food is wasted & how world hunger is still a thing.
One time when I was in college I was flat broke and the only thing in the fridge was a jar of mustard. Ate the whole thing! One of the best "meals" I ever had! Yum!
I think your recipes are absolutely fantastic! My husband and I are starting to struggle with the inflation, but a lot of "cheap" recipes out there are just cheap and nasty. Thankyou for your recipes!
I spent years making Hoover Stew without even knowing that the dish had an actual name or the history behind it... Only differences are that I keep the pasta water and use peas instead of beans.
That's the beauty of making soup like that, you don't even need to read the labels on the cans. Grab five or six cans at random, dump them in a pot and bring to a simmer. You got soup.
Each stir infuses the dish with just a little more love.
Good content😁💙
Don't talk nonsense here, Sheila. 😂
I've cooked on a shoestring for decades and there's always something new to try. I have a lot of recipes that I never thought of sharing, but I always incorporate all 4 food groups in every meal I make and I just never considered that someone else might like them. After watching your video, I feel inspired to share them in the hope that others might enjoy them as well. Thank you for that.
Please do, that would be wonderful
Please share! Thank you!!
Pls do, patty 🙏 💗
Thank you man, I made this dish today and it was even better than I expected! This video saved my life, literally. :)
My kids love this one: 2 boxes of Kraft Mac n Cheese, a bag of mixed frozen veggies, and a pack of sausage. Make the Mac N Cheese as directed. Slice and sear the sausage in a pan, then add the frozen vegetables and cook until ready. Combine into one pot and serve. Helps get kids to eat their veggies.
My mom makes a nice meal using canned tomato sauce, milk cream, fresh onions, cilantro, cooked pasta and hot dogs (sometimes she used sardines too). It tastes delicious.
Frozen vegetables have little to no nutritional value whatsoever, so kids aren’t really’’getting their vegetables’’ ,lol. You need to read up on what nutrition is.....
@@papermoon4129 Oh yeah cus freezing someone takes 100% of the nutrients out of something. Makes perfect sense to me. "Frozen is a great, healthy alternative to fresh, especially if your fresh produce isn't so fresh anymore," says Dr. Michelle Hauser, a clinical fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School and a certified chef and nutrition educator. "But if freshly picked produce is easy for you to come by, then it may be slightly higher in nutrients than its frozen counterparts." Key word SLIGHTLY higher. Maybe you take that stick out of your ass and quit being passive aggressive over youtube comments for an ego boost. You aren't better than anyone else because you only eat fresh veggies.
hmmm get your serving of veggies next to your processed pasta and powdered cheese topped off with mystery meat sausage how healthy
I pit mixed vegs in everything. Canned or frozen. I never have freezer room, always have cans of mx vegs. Very versatile.
I just made this tonight because it looked so good I HAD to try it!! I have to say, this is one of the most amazing "simple" meals i have EVER eaten!!!!! I used one can of italian style tomatoes, and one can of tomatoes with green chili and it adds such a nice kick of spice!! I also fried my hot dogs and that was a good idea because it added a whole new dimension of flavor!! at first it does seem bland, but it's actually GREAT! Thank you so much !!!!
1:50 Yes you are, stirring the noodles not only helps it to cook faster and more evenly, it also prevents the noodles at the bottom from burning and sticking to the pan.
Man I am struggling right now and I appreciate this more than you know.. God bless...
My parents weren't rich but my brother and I were never hungry. They grew up in the depression and knew how to get the most out of a dollar. Even when money was short my mom would always buy a bag of potatoes and onions. I love fried potatoes and onions.
And always have leftovers. Better than the first time. I am amazed at how many people I know do NOT keep leftovers. What a terrible waste of good food..
thats comfort food
This might be a depression era recipe, but I eat like this now. I was brought up to eat what is available or starve!
@WWEG1WGA i could tell my mom to cook me something else, but nothing taste better than a hot cup of ramen in my opinion, there’s one time i have some slice beef to go with it, but i make an excuse to not eat that and just eat the ramen with nothing, i eat them so much it’s hard to go on a day without one cup lol
Same The great depression never left rural oklahoma anyhow
Same here, I'm actually cooking something similar to that but with a fancy natural casing smoked sausage, trying to enjoy it while I still have money to spare, but I'm pretty sure it would be just as tasty and filling with a package of good ole dogs for less than half the price when the poo poo finally hits the fan.
Same here,ever eat eyeball tacos?. I'm not joking here,you get the eyeballs of a cow,bull or horse and just mash it until it's a slimy paste and put the slop on a tortilla with the works and chow down. My folks are Mexican native and I had to eat that whenever I'd visit my abuelo because he's an old school hardcore rancher who says "fast food is for soft which folk"
@@vladimir-savage72 soft rich folks you mean, that kinda gross though, eating eyeballs. I'm poor and barely eat fast food but i'd never eat eyeballs, maybe out of desperation for food i'll eat them but that's it.
I love struggle meals. I love the evolution of them over history.
Same, honestly. People always think of the arts and sciences when it comes to human ingenuity, but seemingly never when it comes to things like this, when you have practically nothing but have to find a way.
Woah I've seen you in 3 videos lmao
If you haven't seen it yet, there's a channel of someone cooking what they used to have/cook during the great depression.
I’ve always called them “poverty meals” but I think I like “struggle meals” better. To remind me of how my elders struggled to put food on the table, and how much love it shows. I believe my folks could have made a meal out of anything really. We were taught to gratefully and graciously eat anything set in front of us. And I also realize the value of having a garden, making use of everything, and canning and preserving foods.
@@theafellacomposer I loved that channel, I was sad when she passed away.
4:30 here here! Used to love it as a kid. Hell! I made one sliced sausage inside of peanut butter sandwich with nuts. But, now I don’t anymore because it felt different. I finally know how to make a big meal now thanks to you and family. When ever I come back to work, my brother and sis ask what’s for dinner
My grandma raised 9 children, teens., during the depression. This looks a lot like Saturday lunch. Since we are Mexican American rice snd beans were a huge part of the family diet. Thanks for the reminder huu is w families always help each other and somehow get by.
This 47 cent meal straight up looks like the $10 minestrone from olive garden, but with hot dogs. Probably tastes better too
Well, that makes sense. I think the going rate for restaurant food is basically 3x the cost of raw materials plus a few bucks extra. So if it costs $3-4 for the ingredients, then there you go. Don't know why I felt the need to explain this but yeah
Olive Garden is like Italian fast food vs. the real deal.
Please try the pasta, it has an excellent profit margin. BAM!
@@Tommymad1 This costs close to nothing for restaurants because they buy in bulk from suppliers.
@@georgemanize no he absolutely nailed it. 3x the cost is usually the model. You simply haven't even considered peoples salaries and rent.
Finally decided to give this a go. It didn't look too appealing while cooking, but it just goes to show that you don't judge by appearances. I, the person, really enjoyed this! Thanks for putting this recipe out there. This will be a regular now!
When I looked up the recipe, I found this stew was actually extremely nutritious, despite looking unappealing.
I don't want to eat something that's designed to clean toxins out of your body.
@@itiswhatitis141 I don't see how this couldn't be nutritious or what this has to do with liver. It's vegetables, meat, and pasta. I really don't know what else you would need to add. Sure, it's stretched with the pasta. But that's how you have to live when you're poor.
It actually looks pretty good. Probably could do with some more seasoning, but if you're on a budget, you make do.
My granpappy used to say "Any man that doesn't stir his noodles is a damn fool."
"Stir the noodles bro." -Abraham Lincoln
My pappy said "Son, you're gonna drive me to drinking if you don't stop driving that hot rod Lincoln."
"Stirring noodles is evil" Kim Jong Un
"Two vast and unstirred noodles lie in the desert,
whose frown, wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command which those passions read,
The dryness that mocked them and the broth that fed,
And on the cheese crust these words appear:
Should've mixed them noodles, ye mighty, I want a divorce.
Nothing besides half-eatan cup noodles 'round that colossal wreck,
the lone and level sands stretch far beyond."
I pity the fool that don't stir his noodles!
"dont stir the uncooked macaroni" is like saying dont stir all the ingredients you added before the macaroni. "it will just get mixed later" stirring the noodles while cooking will only help them cook more evenly by being exposed to more hot water
Yeah, but it doesn't really feel like "poor food" if you don't have poorly cooked macaroni.
@@wyssmaster facts
It's just basic knowledge tho, poor or not, most normal people stir their noodles lol. The ones on the bottom of the pan won't get stuck and burn if you stir it
No disrespect to your method, but I'm just saying I've never cooked noodles without stirring them. Guess I wasn't raised that "poor" 🤷🏻♂️
I always stir mine as well but I have heard that stirring them releases more of the starch into the water which causes more of the noodles to stick together
When I was a kid, my mom would occasionally make "macaroni and tomatoes" which was a jar of home canned tomatoes and juice with cooked elbow macaroni. You can season to taste with anything you have in your spice cupboard. That bowl full of macaroni and tomatoes will always be a fond memory I had growing up.
Watching this video reminded me of your same tomatoes and macaroni. I now realize it was one of the depression era meals my mom grew up with and fixed for us in the 50s and 60s. Did your family do a "depression salad" and the only "dressing" was the juice from the chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper? It is still my fav.
@@lesliegierke6456 Depression salad? How about with dressing from the jar a sweet pickles?
My grandma always made "Steak, Noodles, and Tomato". Basically one of her depression-era dishes. Basically, you use leftover roast or steak cut into chunks and stew it in a pan with cans of stewed or diced tomatoes, or fresh tomatoes from the garden if you had any. Then you ladle it over egg noodles, or whatever noodles you have on hand. Done. Salt and pepper if you have it and you can add sauteed onion and garlic and thyme--maybe a bay leaf. Most people didn't have the money for all kinds of spices or extras so all you need is leftover beef, tomatoes, and noodles. My mom always made it simple but added salt and pepper and I loved it as a kid. If you got a loaf of French or Italian bread and some butter the meal goes a long way, for your whole family.
Theoretically, you could use chicken or pork too. My grandma didn't like pork though.
I made a similar dish but also added browned ground beef and onions, cubes of cheese and some thyme, then baked in oven for 20-30 minutes or so.
My grandma made a similar dish using rice instead of macaroni. Loved it!
Keeping a good supply of seasonings will make any meal you make that much better and help avoid food fatigue if you really only have a couple of pantry items. Beans and rice can be quite boring after eating them so much. Consider soy sauce, ramen noodles, garlic, salt and pepper, oregano, etc. Whatever your favorites are. Hot sauce and Worchsire sauce also amazing additions.
When I was a kid we'd go to my grandma's after school of course this was when Grandpa was still around he used to wear put his hot dogs on a fork and grill them over the stove because it was gas and that's the only way to go
We did that too. Also, we used to make s'mores over the stove. 😎
Sounds cozy
oh god, that's giving me flashbacks
My father would do something similar with ice fishing heaters and kielbasa when we went ice fishing on Lake Erie.
My mom hated when I did that, but it sure improved the taste of the dog.
I just got here and this dude is so wholesome. "Do you, the people, like stew tomatoes?"
I like them fresh unless it's chili then that tastes amazing.
This meal doesn't look so bad, it actually looks appetising
Looks alot better than when I was in college and tried to make spaghetti out of top Ramon and catch-up packs.
@@JohnGalt916 LOL I remember them days
Looks good
Stumbled across your channel and tried this recipe tonight. The whole family enjoyed it and had 2 bowls each. Thank you so much.
Damn for a poor man's meal this actually looks pretty damn good. Gonna make this just because.
When I moved out at 19, I didn't know how to cook so I began experimenting. I came up with "stuff," as I call it. Browned ground beef, tomato sauce or stewed tomatoes, and whatever veggies I had--onions, peppers, carrot, whatever. Top with cheese to serve. Pretty darn tasty.
sometimes the best meals you come up with is when you get creative and throw things together. once i added sour cream to my tomato sauce to make it stretch a little further and it was absolutely delicious.
I'm 53, know how to cook well, have enough money and STILL do this! It's my experimental meals. Some are great. Some not so much but it's a wonderful way to play in the kitchen.
I would eat that.
Gosh
Im glad I grew up with youtube
There's literally enough recipes to fill an entire library
So there's no chance im ever having a nasty meal
@@lizzielouuu92 that's what Mexicans do to Mexican spaghetti
I've been there. I recollect a bad time years ago having to feed two people and three dogs, keep the utilities from getting shut off, with a tiny amount of money coming in. Needless to say there was a lot of beans and other odds and ends getting cooked in the crock pot. We didn't eat in style, but we never missed a meal.
I've noticed during my 92 year lifetime that the worse off people are financially, the more dogs they seem to have. It costs the same to feed a 60 pound dog as to feed a 60 pound child.
Well we had the dogs before the rough patch and after we worked our way clear, so I can't say much either way about that hypothetical correlation
I had depression era grandparents.. 4 of them and both families were Midwest farmers. What you made here I grew up on.. and elbow Mac goulash. My absolute favorite comfort food. Hi to everyone in the upper Midwest !
Thanks great recipe
With how things are going lately, we'll all be back to eating meals like this out of necessity in like five more years.
I grew up poor... So i was doing this before hand... But i really started doing it again in 2020.
Five? That's generous. I grew up poor, so I'll be fine. But a lot of people today won't be able to cope... Too entitled.
Many people today don't know how to survive on a limited budget both young and old a like.
I'm actually eating ramen right now and thinking it's gourmet
@@BlankName88 They'll learn.
When I was growing up my Mom would make what we dubbed "Primordial Soup (or Stew)". This was back when Carl Sagan was popular in the 1970's. It had some fried hamburger, beans, stewed tomatoes, corn, and green beans in a skillet. She'd add seasoning to taste. We'd have that with some rice. That was a good dollar stretcher, and very tasty way to feed a family of six.
Rice and pasta are great meal "stretchers," adding to something to stretch it out further than the meal without it so it can fill more bellies.
My mom used to do it with chili, and homemade chili just isn't the same without it.
In fact, whenever I make my own chili in the slow cooker, I cut open a boil-in-bag of rice and stir in the rice into the chili for the last 10 minutes of cooking. When I turn off the cooker, I let the chili "rest" (basically letting it cool down enough to eat without burning my mouth) for about 10 minutes. This extra 10 minutes also gives the rice some time to soak up some flavor from the chili.
We called it pirate stew." Mom had started work, after 10 years a stay at home. Poor dad, he made it fun though.
@@mrs.hatfield1451
My dad occasionally felt like cooking to give my mom a break, and he'd make what he called Camper's Stew.
Naturally, when we actually went camping he was called upon to make it then.
My Hobo Stew:
1 lb hamburger
2 cans Bush's Baked Beans
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
salt & pepper to taste
ketchup & mustard to taste
Brown hamburger in a large stew pot, adding salt & pepper; drain grease.
Add both cans of beans, onions, and peppers; stir well. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve with biscuits or on toast.
Quick and easy.
@@jimgilbert9984 Reading that is making me hungry. Thanks for the recipe!
@@tubularfrog
No problem.
I like sharing my recipes.
Another few that are just as easy:
Burger SOS
1 lb hamburger
1 envelope sausage gravy mix (the white kind)
milk (enough to make the gravy)
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup peas & carrots
salt & pepper to taste
Brown hamburger in a large stew pot, adding salt & pepper; drain grease. Add the other ingredients. Follow the directions on the gravy envelope. When the gravy reaches the desired thickness, serve on toast.
Personally, I cut open a boil-in-bag of rice, dump it in when there's still 10 minutes of cooking time left, stir it in well.
Mushroom & Burger Casserole
1 lb hamburger
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup peas & carrots
salt & pepper to taste
Brown hamburger in a large stew pot, adding salt & pepper; drain grease. Add the rest of the ingredients; stir well. Pour the mushroom "glop" into a large roasting pan (like you would use to make lasagna). Bake at 400F for 30 to 40 minutes. Serve with bread.
Personally, I cut open and dump a boil-in-bag of rice into this before baking so the rice can cook in the moisture of the soup (doing this makes it Kitty Litter Casserole, lol).
Englishman's Lunch
1 English muffin
thin-sliced roast beef (like you'll find at a deli)
2 slices American cheese
1 Roma tomato, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
1 envelope mushroom gravy
Prepare the gravy according to the directions on the envelope. Split the muffin and toast it. Place the muffin halves on a microwave safe plate. Pile high the beef slices on each half. Place some tomato and onion slices on each half. Place a slice of cheese on each half. Microwave on high for 60 to 90 seconds so that the cheese melts down over everything. Serve with gravy poured over the top. Alternatively, use thin-sliced turkey, Swiss cheese, and turkey gravy.
Christmas Candlesticks
1 can sliced pineapple
bananas
maraschino cherries
whipped cream (I use Cool Whip)
Place a slice of pineapple on a saucer.
Peel a banana, cut it in half, and cut off the rounded tips. Place a banana half in the hole in the pineapple slice. It should just fit, and the pineapple will help it stand upright.
Attach a cherry to the top of the banana with a toothpick.
Artfully apply the whipped cream to the side of the banana and pineapple.
The pineapple slice is the candleholder. The banana is the candle. The cherry is the flame. And the whipped cream is melted wax.
The number of bananas, cans of pineapple, and cherries are determined by the number of people to serve.
so happy to see you are uploading more again! would love to see you do a 3-course budget meal using only dollar store ingredients. it would be a bit of fun if you got your wife to buy things so you have to make something on the spot (i.e. how i tended to cook while at university!).
47 going on 48 and still eating weiners straight from the package. I love it still. I even eat them frozen straight from the freezer.
Love your recipes! Brings back a lot of good old memories.😊
Used to go to my sister-in-law's father's house, which was across the road in Crosskeys, Virginia. He grew up in West Virginia and as the old saying goes, was so poor they didn't know there was a depression. Despite being poor, they always fed anyone who came to their house. So whenever anyone went to his home he would cook them something to eat, despite being in his mid seventies. Often it was hotdog soup, just the same dish as in this video. The other thing he often made was SOS with chipped beef.
I remember SOS. My mom made creamed chipped beef in white sauce added can peas and put it on toast. Is that what you guys had? Think I'll make it again.
My grandmother told me something similar. When you were already dirt poor, and mostly self-sufficient from the farm, you didn't really feel the Great Depression.
Yah - my family is from Oklahoma - my grandfather was a bum that rode the railroads and did odd jobs in the 20's - and after he got married in the 30's was a sharecropper - mostly on land owned by his cousins or his wife's relatives - literally, in Oklahoma, things were so hard they didn't notice that the Depression had started - my father grew up in that time - and he said, things were hard, but they never went to bed hungry - they knew there were people in this country that went to bed hungry - but they never did - it may have been nothing more then beans and fried potatoes and cornbread that they had to eat - but they always had enough of it -
You wouldn't cook that much any more; only one company still making dried chipped beef and the price is about $3.50 an ounce.... over $50 a pound. But shaved roast beef at the deli and dice or simply shred and cook cheap ground beef.
@@JimForeman It's funny how things that used to be poor people's food are now a luxury item, ox tail, corned or chipped beef, etc. Store bought chipped beef is to spendy to buy but a good way of preserving a lot of meat quickly is corning it. If one shoots a moose or a couple of caribou then I usually corn some, and that is close enough to the chipped beef.
Hotdogs were a must have choice during the Great Depression, especially with meals like the poor mans meal. (And Larry yes I did actually eat hotdogs out of the package when I was very little, The hotdogs are already cooked in the factory so it was safe.
Me too but I also am no longer a huge hotdog fan, except for Dirt Dogg.
@@Dragonborn-dc4uj what the fuck does rap have to do with hotdogs
@@Dragonborn-dc4uj Ohhh lol sorry I thought it mightve been a brand or something.
@@Dragonborn-dc4uj Dirt Dog is a hot dog restaurant.
@@thelonelyfry I think you guys are talking about different things. (If we are having a argument I’ll delete the comment)
Three common mistakes when cooking pasta that drastically affect the end result: Not enough water, not salting the water and NOT stirring the pasta regularly while it's cooking. The bottom of the pot is hotter than the water which can cause the pasta to overcook & stick.
This guy has a degree in pasta
4th common mistake: throwing out the pasta cooking water. The starch in the water can be good for extra calories as well as to thicken the sauce to give it extra body.
@@maximgun3833 did you reply to a pasta tutorial comment at 2:15am?
You don't need to add salt to the water, not until you're flavoring it. It doesn't do anything toward the cooking of it. As long as you stir regularly, you'll be fine.
@@aewtx If you salt the water it will flavor the pasta as it softens / cooks. It reduces the amount required afterwards.
LOVE these quick, cheap, tasty meals. THANK YOU
When I was at uni, I would make a really hearty stew kinda thing with chicken.
The recipe calls for:
2 X chicken breasts, diced
1 X can of cannelloni beans
1 X can of black beans
1 X can of kidney beans
1 X large can of diced tomatoes
I would brown the chicken then add it all into my beans / tomato base with whatever seasoning I had and cook until the chicken was done.
For serving I would place the concoction onto pasta.
It was a cheap, incredibly nutritious meal that kept me going when I lived on basically nothing lol
Just a hint: if you're finishing the chicken with a braise, you want dark meat, not the breast, if you have a choice. Thighs just get more tender and juicy when braised, while breast meat gets a dryer and dryer texture the longer it sits in the liquid. At this level, price is going to be your real determining factor, which is why I said "if you have a choice", but if that choice is there and the price makes sense, go for the thigh.
Where I live, chicken breasts are the most expensive cut. Thighs are a much better buy.
@@maggiesmith856 Drum sticks even more so
Chicken chili, if you put chili seasonings in it.
Here's a one pot variant
2 chicken breast in 4 cups of water, boil for 20 minutes.
Take chicken out, add in 2 cups of rice, cook for 20 minutes until water is absorbed.
While rice cooks, shred the chicken breasts.
When the rice is done, add 1 can of evaporated milk, and 1 can of a cooking soup (like cream of mushroom)
Bring back to a boil, then enjoy.
Leftovers get warmed in the oven or microwave.
You can make your own cooking soup if you want - much less expensive.
@@maggiesmith856 No more meat on the breast better buy.
My grandmother grew up in the in the 1930s. She could make a salad out of the plants growing wild. Wish I go back and learn from her.
My dad spent a lot of time teaching me what was and what wasn't edible. We lived in the tall grass area of Texas where I also learned how to shoot wild game like prairie chicken and cottontail rabbits with my .22 rifle. Then the dust bowl days came, wiping out the tall grass and nearly all the small game disappeared.
Dandelions
There's people who can teach you how to do that. Check with local universities and agriculture for your county.
Stirring actually prevents clumping of pasta together, where you have under cooked bits where they stick together. I've actually had some under cooked spots if I didn't give it a stir in the first minute (clumps of elbows or shells), but once it gets back up to a roiling boil, after the first stir, it doesn't clump anymore.
As for stewed tomatoes, I can't have tomatoes anymore (or potatoes, eggplant or peppers) as they are members of the nightshade family and produce a toxin called solanine that I am sensitive to and can mimic arthritis in my joints. Green peppers, eggplant and tomatoes that were picked green are very much likely to trigger joint pain within 30 minutes of eating. The green on potato skins is solanine - a toxin. Red dried chilis have very little solanine, as solanine levels drop as the fruit ripens as it's a toxin to deter animals from eating the fruit before it's ripe, so I do allow a little bit of ketchup and red chili powder and red chili sauces in my diet (as the fruit is ripe when processed), but no more fries, mashed potatoes or baked potatoes, and pizzas I get with pesto.
Now, if you want ot stretch and add more flavor, when you have a leftover chicken carcass, save in the freezer. When you have a few, boil them to make stock, then use the stock to add to the stew for more flavor and also a little bit of extra protein.
Since you're sensitive to solanine which is the green stuff on potatoes, you could make your own fries and make sure they're thoroughly washed, peeled and de-starched & I don't think you'd have a problem
My grown daughter asked me once why my pasta doesn't stick. I told her to stir it as soon as you put it in the water. Then laughed because I thought it was a no brainer.
@@snoopdoggthecertifiedg6777 Well, there is solanine is small levels in potatoes, even if they are not green. If I eat potatoes regularly, the solanine builds up. I don't eat potatoes, but when I let myself have potatoes for dumplings I make at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I boil and peel the potatoes before ricing, and I'm okay having potatoes a couple times a year. But continued eating of potatoes, even if boiled and peeled, the levels build up then my knees just have a general dull ache and are stiffer. So as a general rule, I just avoid potatoes anyway.
@@elizabethstump4077 That’s incredibly interesting. Well, I’m sorry you can’t have potatoes frequently, as they’re delicious- is there anything you use in place of them? Also, is there any way you can get like instant potatoes that have been “de-solanined” for lack of a better word?
@@snoopdoggthecertifiedg6777 I eat rutabegas and turnips instead, when I do stews, and fries are fried and not good for me, so better for my weight to not eat fries. As for a baked potato, I'll have a sweet potato (which is a member of the morning glory family) with some maple syrup or brown sugar, and I've heard I can substitute roasted rutabega or celery root for mashed potato, and will be trying that soon. When I eat out, I'll substitute noodles or rice for a starch instead of potatoes, or beans or veggies or mac & cheese.
I'd keep the water you cooked the pasta in to use in your cooking (or use it on your garden) if you were really struggling for calories/joules. Pan frying the tomatoes also helps to add flavour, just as you suggested for the frankfurters. All the extra flavour you can add in by the cooking method will help. For those who are short of vegetables, you could possibly forage some dandelions (be careful where you collect them from) to add to the mix to extend it.
Always check the "bargain bins" in your supermarket if they still have them for cans of suitable foods to add as meal extenders. Don't forget the good old fashioned dumplings for your soups and stews to help fill hungry bellies. Cheap desserts were also featured if they had the means to make them. Like golden syrup dumplings with milk to pour over. Make your own golden syrup if you would like it to be cheaper and replace the dumpling/pudding batter with a dough made from flour, baking powder, one tablespoon of cooking oil of your choice, one dessertpoon of sugar (maybe a little more for chocolate dumplings) and some water to mix. The golden syrup sauce to cook the dumplings in should be made from equal amounts of golden syrup and white sugar dissolved in some boiling water. Cook the dumplings in the boiling syrup sauce on the stove top in a good sized saucepan with the lid slightly ajar. Serve warm with milk, ice-cream, whipped cream, or custard. You can also add cocoa to the dough and replace the golden syrup with cocoa powder to make a chocolate dumplings in chocolate sauce. It depends on what you can afford and what you have on hand. I have also used the same dough to make scones and pizza. Whatever you need it for, it will work.
This meal is called : All I found in kitchen.
I would consider it a form of goulash.
@@logik316 That's my favorite recipe.
Isn’t it “everything but the kitchen sink?”
THANK YOU Wolfe Pit for these recipes!
My parents were both born in 1916 so they lived through the Depression. My mother's parents owned a neighborhood grocery store and she started to work there when she was about 9. Her parents worked out payment arrangements with their customers and suppliers as cash was scarce. They were absolutely heartbroken with the part of the New Deal that dealt with food supply and price controls. On the farms and ranches, cows' milk was poured into the dirt rather than sold, cattle were slaughtered and left to rot, and crops were tilled into the ground and left in the fields to rot. Grannie and Mom cried as they told me that they would have been happy to go and get that food themselves and distribute it to their customers whose children were getting skinnier and skinnier. But they were prohibited by the New Deal provisions to do that.
For my dad and his family the Depression came early. He was the youngest of 6 kids and his dad was an only sometimes house painter. His beloved mom died when he was about 7 and his stepmom would often make him go for 3 days without food. When he did eat, a meal could be one piece of bread with a half teaspoon of peanut butter.
As their lives progressed, I appeared on the scene as their only child. Did the Depression have effects on their lives? I think so but not really adversely. They were not at all adventurous with food as that could wasteful. Leftovers were few and also considered wasteful. Our relationship with food was that we enjoyed shopping together with a big haul on the civil service monthly payday and then fill-in days as necessary. Impulse purchases were few and far between. We always bought the top quality name brand products - quality over quantity. I chose to be the cook and my parents did the wash and dry - no machines - as it gave them an opportunity to talk about their day. There were lots of foods that my parents did not like so I ended up with a pattern of food prep that worked for us. It consisted of an entree, a starch, a vegetable, sometimes bread, sometimes dessert. The entree was beef, cheese, pasta, soup, or bacon based. [NO chicken, fish, turkey, pork. The beef was ground round or a 1 to 1.5 lb Tbone that was well done and cut into 3 or 4 pieces, one piece per person.] The veggie was fresh or frozen (no cans) carrots, corn, broccoli, or squash. The starch was potatoes, rice, homemade biscuits or rolls. When we had dessert it was ice cream, cake, or pie.
My dad was not overweight until I begged him to give up smoking after 40 years of smoking since he was 10 years old. [He was able to bum cigs from friends and that helped his hunger pangs.] In WWII cigs were provided to soldiers and EVERYONE smoked during the 1900's, 10's, 20's, 30's, 40's. 50's, 60's, 70's, until it started to abate. He developed heart disease, lost weight after heart bypass surgery by Dr. Denton Cooley, and died in 1985. The doctors told me that 40 years of smoking took many years of his life away but quitting and then losing weight gave him a few back. My mom stayed slim throughout her life but lots of little problems (as her doctors called them) took her away from this earth in 1989. Her only food vice was two banana splits a few times per year.
One piece of shopping advice from my mom - don't buy the first item in line on the shelf. Do a search and find the item with the latest expiration date.
Martha Welch thank you kindly for your story. I was fascinated from beginning to end. We often don’t think how hard it was for people and the details get lost like your parents having a chance to talk while washing their clothes. We definitely take things for granted now such as the amount of food available to us. Thank you again for your input and I enjoyed reading a part of your life story.
@@susan2514 I don't recall ever getting a YT notification that you had replied. Just today this video appeared in my YT offerings and I rewatched it. I scrolled down in the comments and there was my "War and Peace" length comment followed by your reply.
Please accept my apology for not thanking you earlier, especially because your reply was so heartwarming. I was fortunate to have my maternal grandparents live with my parents and me until their death. They and my parents were older than most of my contemporaries families and had been through the American experience of starting from scratch in a career of their own choosing, gaining an economic foothold, going off to wars, disease, the Depression and other economic downturns, recovering from wars, seeing atrocities, raising kids to be better educated and get better jobs, buying a home, facing deaths. You know - LIFE.
I enjoyed hearing their stories because sometimes it's helpful to know where we've been to know where we're going.
I hope that you and your family are doing well and will continue to do so. And, thank you again for your thoughtful reply!
Reminds me of when my dad would throw leftovers into a frankenstein amalgamation and called it ghetto slop. It was hit or miss, but as a kid I didn't care- I was just glad to eat!
Lol we make something called ghetto mac which is just hotdogs or ground beef in macaroni and cheese.
Bubble-&-Swig fritters (I think it’s known as Bubble-&-Squeak in the UK) was our equivalent; whatever leftovers there were, with a simple batter, shallow or dry-fried- & if we didn’t eat them all, they were kept for lunch &/ or dinner the next night - oh, the days & days where we dreamed of eating something else...
I used to make freezer stew. I put all my leftovers in a big plastic container in the freezer. When the container was full I dumped it in a big pot and heated it up. It was always different and always good
I once heard a French chef refer to this as Garbage Soup.
We call it "kitchen sink soup": everything is in there but the kitchen sink!
I was raised on a farm where we raised about everything we ate, I loved macaroni with Mom's canned tomatoes cooked with them. It was a side dish and nothing else in them. They started their marriage in the Depression era. They told me all about it and always were frugal even when they did not have to be in their later years.
By the time you add the beans, corn, and hotdogs, it's not really a depression meal any more. Tends to be on the fancy side. The real deal is macaroni with stewed tomatoes. It doesn't taste all that great, but it will keep your belt buckle from rubbing against your back bone.
@@clarencegreen3071 My mom always made home canned tomatoes with dumplings--yummy
Great job on the video. I always loved hot dogs and still do. I lived with my grandparents for many years. She was an adult during the great depression. She never got over that time period. She used everything until nothing was left of it.
Living in the Netherlands on a small budget, this recipe comes out a bit pricier than 4 dollars, though i am getting it from the nearest supermarket, and i'll guility admit that the hot dogs and corn alone are already half the amoutn of that. mostly the hotdogs. though they're the brand ones, and actually a pack of 8 vs. the smaller cheap ones that i know for a fact taste like bloody cardboard. i'm definitely gonna be making this pan though cause it's a damn good dish even for just under a tenner. and living by myself a single pan like that i could easily eat for 3 days or something Thanks for the recipe !
I find that just one sliced hot dog can flavor a lot of pasta. You could get the more expensive hot dogs, use half the amount for this dish (four dogs) or even less.
Substitute hotdogs for any cheap meat
Die van de jumbo smaken wel goed
We use spam. I prefer treat but my girlfriend always says we can afford the spam now... My thought... Well maybe I liked the taste more when we couldn't!!
I do not believe for a second that all that is for under $4. The price of everything is jacked up many times over and even if you go to a dollar store you cant get all that for the price limit. Maybe if all this food was months old expired stuff prepared to be tossed, potentially invaded by rodents/insects and cleaned before the video i might believe the price. But in that case you have disease to worry about.
Inflation is a beast. I just went to the regular grocery store here in the Fort Worth, TX area and purchased all generic ingredients and this still came out to $6.05 (comment made Nov 15, 2021).
Thats almost DOUBLE!! WTF?!
Write back next year.
Not surprised I have been doing alot of the grocery shopping and majority of the cooking. We finally finished the basement and have a much larger basement pantry. Now I am stocking it with various items for months now rather than buying all at once. I have noticed the prices are rather sharply going up.
Yes I am prepping by doing this and no I am not doing so for a zombie apocolaypse. But with current shortages in the supply chain and or a unexpected financial setback. It wouldn't hurt having like a few months worth of food on hand. Just been scouring the internet for recipes to make things from scratch rather than already made. It can be a huge money saver as compared to ordering out all the time.
Likely doubled again now in 2022 pack of hotdogs a month ago was 5 dollars
That’s probably because you didn’t go to Walmart. Everything he used is still the same price in my area (NC 1/28/22) except for the Gwalney hot dogs which aren’t sold at our Walmart. The closest comparable product sold is BarS classic franks at $1.00 per 8ct/12oz.
I remember in the 1950s going to the Swedish deli with my Nana. The butcher(and owner) would give me a raw hot dog or potato salad to keep me busy. My father traveled across the country in 1936. He learned to make "Mac Pot". It was a pot of macaroni with a couple of cans of Campbell's Pepper Pot soup mixed in. We used to make it on Boy Scout camp outs. It was very popular with my patrol. Good video. Good Luck, Rick
Hope you and yours are doing ok, sir. Thanks so much for the mind relief in these annoying times
When i was a kid we had what we called eternal soup, basically a large saucepan with whatever vegetables we could get or grow, just aded more as the level went down.
My grandmother made that but called it "slumgulion"
@BarbaraChalker slumgullion! Haven't heard that in years, but that's what my mom called unsavory characters, not a savory stew😄
Hiiii karens
My dad was a hobo and they put what they could get in a pot for hobo stew
I've been making a lot of calzones lately. Pizza dough is dirt cheap to make and you can stretch it as much as you can imagine for the filling.
I buy bags of pizza flour& make them.
Try biscuits out of the can....they make perfect quick calzones!!
Back when I was living on 90 dollars a month or less for food, i remember baking pizza dough like crazy. I always made it from. Scratch and freezed my portions. I learned how make multiple things from the dough, pizza, donuts, garlic knots, pretzels....that's what I survived on ❤️ it was awesome!
That’s a lot of calories
My mom made this but used egg noodles instead of macaroni. I loved it as a kid and still cook it at least once a month.
When I read to my children 25+ years ago... we read a book called Stone Soup. I think you would like it.
I grew up reading that book, too. In fact, it’s the first thing I thought of when seeing this video!
@@5roundsrapid263 I've seen a few of his recipes that remind me of that book.
I make stone soup every time I make carcass soup (lately out of rotisserie chicken).
I remember that book! My class read it in 2nd or 3rd grade.
One of my grandmothers took that "stone soup" bit seriously and literally boiled rocks she got from the dog's pooping area in a pot and served it to me in a bowl... I had to eat boiled poop-stone water... Being raised right I didn't question it besides in my own head and did my best to scoop the water out with an over-sized spoon dodging the rocks as I could... yes the bowl still had stones in them...
God my childhood was full of weird bullshit...
ua-cam.com/video/pphUfE0ERt0/v-deo.html
My family called it tomato soup and noodles and I asked for it 5 days out of the week as a child ‘ loves it so much that I learned to make it myself. Elbow noodles and Campbell’s tomato soup.
I grew up on this! If things were going well we'd also add ground beef in.
Add American cheese mixt until cheese is melted and u have Mac and cheese
We called it macaroni and tomato sauce. We didn't have corn or beans in ours. Just macaroni, tomato sauce (no chunks) and hot dogs. Later we added parmesan and the last thing we introduced to the recipe was Old Bay seasoning. We still eat it. Not out of necessity but as a comfort food.
If you ever have left over Mac and Cheese, The next day add a can of Campbell's tomato soup to a "Cool Whip" sized bowl of bowl of mac and cheese, that is so good on a cold day!
Danielle Even loves her noodles 🍝
Your cooking channel is the best! You're legitimate, and eat what you make.
i love cannellini beans in white chicken chili, i love stewed tomatoes, i love cold hotdogs plain or with peanut butter on bread, beanie weanies are my favorite, this looks delicious!
My son brought his woman to introduce us before they married. I was making what we kids called "Mom's 'end of the money'" meals-- this recipe I just learned as Hoover Stew. OK. What's in a name, I ask... anyway, she loved it. My son grew up on it at home and at aunts and uncles homes -- Mom never made it after we kids left home-- and between them, the entire pot full vanished in minutes. Shucks-- I didn't get the usual left-overs, which are better the second time around.
My grandma called it slumgullian.
@@hairywitch4063mine did, too.
After catching COVID, I ran out of dog food. Thankfully I had a few pounds of hot dogs in the freezer. My spoiled pup enjoys them more then his raw meat diet. He is my service dog and I didn’t think they’d be good for them. But 4 weeks later, he is okay.
We used to use hotdog pieces as treats at the dog shelter but some dogs don't like them. Most like cheddar cheese though...
@@michael931 I've been told by vets that hot dogs can cause pancreatitis in dogs.
I've been told by vets that hot dogs can cause pancreatitis in dogs so unless you have nothing else to feed them I wouldn't give them hot dogs just to be safe.
glad you made it--- I had it too. For all those out there, Ivermectin is being used successfully now , some are going to court to get it in usa hospitals, but there is ways to get it, on the cheap, and American doctors on the front lines have a app ------ just putting this out there, we still have people getting it
Watching this reminded me of the children's story Stone Soup, which was a favorite book growing up.
Omg! Someone else knows this story😁 I love that story
I remember that too!
I remembered this video from a while back today after realizing that I had having some easy ingredients around the house, so I decided to try a somewhat different version of what was shown here. Instead of pasta, I used a bunch of leftover cooked long grain rice that I had taken home from a Saturday lunch we had at work. I also used canned Green Beans instead of Cannellini Beans since I wanted some more vegetables in my stew. Finally, I used the same seasonings you did but also added some Smoked Paprika and crushed Red Pepper for some extra kick (I like spicy foods a lot). Other than what I mentioned, everything else was the same as what was used in the video. After everything was done, the final product was honestly really good. I probably would've preferred the pasta instead of rice, but since the rice was free and I had a bunch of it leftover I figured that was a perfect reason to use it here. Naturally, more of the liquid got absorbed by the rice than it would've by any pasta I would've used but it was still a nice experience considering how cheap the overall product was. Thanks for being an inspiration for my dinner tonight as well as a few of my lunches at work for next week.
We regularly have a meal called what was left over casserole. We were a Navy family and I had to watch every penny spent. My 3 sons called me the casserole queen. My kids are all grown up now but they still remember my creative casseroles. 😁 I also fed several other children from our neighborhood when the boys were little. I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone going hungry so my home often resembled a soup kitchen. Military families struggle far more than people would think.
And I thank you for your service and open kitchen. I'll bet those neighborhood boys remember you .ps: I believe EVERY person should serve 2 years in the military in America. Makes responsible, capable people out of the whole lot of us.
@@karentate9114 You know who else has obligatory military conscription? North Korea
@@karentate9114 Agree, as long as medical condition and physical/mental capacities are considered. Everyone should serve. Everyone shouldn't do the exact same thing.
@@chilliecheesecake You know who else is vegetarian and for animal rights? Adolf Hitler. Does it mean every single vegetarian is nazi?
Dude, please. A bit more attention to your argumentation. Yes, north korea has an obligatory conscription. Doesn't mean every single country having it would become as this one.
@@chilliecheesecake pretty sure conscription has been a part of every major conflict the US has ever experienced but lets not let facts get in the way of your valid and equal opinion
I finally got around to trying to Hoover stew recipe. I think I made a little less than you did with 8 ounces of elbow macaroni. I let my wife try some and she did not think it was all that great at first, but after it had been sitting around soaking up the juices, she had it several hours later and she thought it was great. Using Walmart prices from online I was able to make probably six servings for about $2.65. I did not use the whole recipe you did, so half a package of Bar S hotdogs at Walmart is $.50, 8 ounces of elbow macaroni, big box of Walmart pasta is $.33, 1can kidney beans $.68, petite diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil, $.64, and a can of corn $.50. I did use some broth which I would highly recommend, along with garlic powder and Italian seasoning, which I would encourage on a budget to get one of each from the dollar store. In place of canned broth, you can use a bullion cube or even a seasoning package from Ramen noodles. I think the secret is not to eat it right away, add water as necessary, but add a some seasoning, salt, pepper, something. Stewed tomatoes probably would add more flavor.
I like how the Wolfe pit educates people on how some don’t have enough to eat as much as they want or even eat at all
Love stewed tomatoes. I loved hot dogs right out of the package, especially the ones in the natural casings, that "popped" when you bit them.