Hi, I tried quite a few like potato pancakes and depression cake. I had mock apple pie growing up. Depression recipes have always interested me and I tried some before the pandemic. But they were especially useful during it. I tried several others from the “Great Depression Cooking” with Clara videos and a depression cookbook my friend loaned me. I made cookies, scrambled eggs made to stretch by adding crumbled saltines etc. I still use some. If anyone is curious about the recipes, I suggest they try a few.
Hello, My father was born in California and is 96 years old now. He had 6 siblings and my Grandmother fed her family of 9 very cleverly during the depression. My father had creamed chipped beef regularly. During the pandemic I enjoyed trying depression recipes when my usual food items were not always available. I felt I was learning a lot from their example. I admire the ingenuity of people who made the most of what they had during difficult times!
I definitely agree! As a retired senior. I'm getting $50 of free mostly canned goods because of my Aetna Medicare Advantage (which I never requested but definitely get a kick out of and am grateful for). I'm enjoying adding these things to my pantry and experimenting with canned salmon, ham, corned beef, spam, tuna, mackerel, and some different canned fruits. We sure did have chipped beef on toast when I was a kid; my dad always joked about it and enjoyed. I've seen chipped beef, corned beef, ham, chicken and turkey packets that are cheap, and it's not hard to do a simple gravy or make a cold salad dish with the canned meats/fish. I make a simple pie or shortcake with the canned fruits. Always gives me very pleasant memories of my grandmothers. One died fairly young, the other lived to be 96 and loved canned ham. I loved hanging out in their homes when I was a kid; they lived nearby us. I hardly ever eat out anymore, fast food or restaurants), even though I can afford to. The last few times, I thought what I bought was just lousy for the elevated prices (McDonald's and Bob Evans food).
I remember back in 1970s. I had a pink pair of shoes I dearly loved. But,of course over time,they got holes in the top. I went to my mother sewing box,threaded a needle like I saw her do and sewed up the holes. I was very proud of my work,but the soles on the inside had holes too. I went back to elementary school and told a friend about what I did. She was impressed and she told her grandmother about it. Well, the grandmother obviously lived through the great depression and she told me her Grandma wanted to see the shoes. At the end of the day, her Grandmother picked her up from school and I showed her the shoes she had a huge smile on her face when she saw my shoes. I told her that the inside soles were getting holes. She promptly instructed me that when I get home, to get some cardboard, trace my feet, cut them out and the put them in my shoes. I did that and the shoes were fixed. Another memory of this girl whose name I have long since forgotten, her father came to pick her up,of course he admired my shoes. I mentioned we were taking a trip to San Francisco. He said,oh yeah? Why are you going there and I told him the same answer my father gave me when I asked..... My Dad says he wants to go to San Francisco to see the hippies.....he laughed his head off..
My mother grew up poor in rural Tennessee and would make boiled cabbage and potatoes with a side of cornbread made in a cast iron skillet for us in the 1970's! I miss that food and her! Love you mom!
Still one of my favorite meals! I was born in the 80s and this was a staple meal along with SOS. My kin are also from where your mom grew up. Did y'all also eat a mess of butter beans (sometimes with pork or ham depending on how tight things were) with corn bread as a meal? My husband is from the Midwest and cannot wrap his head around the fact that a bowl of beans or cabbage with corn bread or corn pone is considered a meal lol.
Had all these foods growing up. My mom grew up during the depression and never gave up her depression era frugality. 🤣. Didn’t have carrot sandwiches but had bean sandwiches. Still put beans in my soup. And milk toast? We called it French toast. My fav was creamed chip beef. What a fun video.
When the new potatoes were late in the season, Granny would slice them thin and fry them with onions. Cornbread made with home churned butter milk, a chicken from the coop fried in tallow....food was so good!
We had creamed dried beef on toast when I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s. The small glass that the dried beef came in was recycled as a juice glass. My favorite breakfast in college before heading to clinical for my nursing degree was creamed dried beef on toast. It kept you warm in the snowy cold winters of Niagara Falls, NY where I went to school.
I also grew up in the 60s and 70s. I was able to get chipped beef in gravy on toast and I loved it. I really don't understand why so many people vilify it. It was warm, delicious and filling.
I was born in 62..soon to be 62 in September..my father was a hunter and fisherman...we didn't let anything go to waste...ate squirrels, ground hog ,deer, rabbit, even turtle soup...we regularly had sardines in a tin and salmon in a can...had lots of catfish and trout...Thank-you dad for keeping us all fed and alive ..miss you...and mom a great cook with ❤️ love.
I'll be 62 in November. Being raised on a farm, we had lots of food, with most of it grown by us. We had cattle, chickens, pigs, and with a 180 of bush and fields, and river, we had wild game including fish, moose, rabbit, and partridge. Our table was always full. I remember being the last kid to have jeans in school, but everthing I got was good quality. My dad & mom are now 84 & 83. They both get a thrill when us kids cook historic family favorites. In our family then and now, the cast iron seldom cools for more than a day.
So is wacky cake which is basically the same thing as depression cake. My brother in law made one of those many many years ago and it was way after the depression.
My dad used to throw all his leftovers in a pot and call it "swamp" lol he grew up in the great depression and we didn't waste anything. He created some amazing new dishes that way ❤
My dad's recipe for haluski for anyone who wants it: 1 16oz bag wide egg noodles 1 cup salted sweet cream butter 1 large cabbage (roughly chopped) 2 large onions (diced) black pepper to taste Cook noodles according to package directions. Stir fry all together until golden brown and cabbage is cooked through. Serve with sour cream and unsweet applesauce. This version we typically use as a side dish. And we add kielbasa and bacon if it is for a meal and use a little of the fat from the meat to help fry the mix. I introduced my husbands family to it and now my husband asks for it at least once or twice a month and more often if we find meat on sale. Its very much still a very common household dinner for a lot of people. We often made it for large family gatherings along with a crockpot with a large pork roast, sauerkraut, sweet onions, green apple, kielbasa, hot dogs, brown sugar and served with mashed potatoes.
@@donnalynnmcclary8027 Did you know the Argentinan housewife sees tinned corned beef as fit only for dog food. They have an abundance of beef farms there , steaks virtually grow on trees !.
Mom was all about navy bean, spaghetti and chicken and rice. My older brother hated them equating it with being poor, I still love them, especially the chicken and rice.
Not all of these have disappeared. Potato pancakes are still very much a thing. So is cabbage and noodle stir fry. Egg drop soup is popular at Chinese restaurants under its more common name, egg flower soup. Potato soup, bean soup, and corned beef hash are less common, but they're still around. Most American diners with soup on the menu will have potato soup and bean soup on the menu rotation.
I still eat more than half of these dishes on a somewhat regular basis: egg drop soup, hash (I like roast beef best), apple Betty, beans & greens, potato pancakes (I like apple sauce & sour cream on mine), chipped beef on toast, got thru college on "tube steaks & rubber bands" (hot dogs & elbow noodles, see Hoover stew), grits (ground hominy) every Saturday, squirl stew (I use rabbit) every Fall. A real depression recipe is Sauerkraut Cookies: meant to emulate chocolate coconut macaroons, they were egg less cookies with powdered cocoa & the "coconut" was well drained (patted dry) finely chopped sauerkraut (only worked on a texture level).
Egg drop soup is definitely still popular in asian cultures! I mean it’s such a comforting meal. Usually people would add corn or crab keat to it bc why not. Also isn’t milk toast just… french toast?
@@burpaleeseLooks like French Toast to me. Had it every Saturday morning while growing up. If you add flour to tge egg & milk batter, you get French Toast that you can eat with butter and syrup, like pancakes. My Yugoslavian grandmother made them that way.
My mouth is watering, and I feel like a child watching my mom cook again. She could use ingredients to make stuff I never heard of. She’d make potato pancakes with leftover mashed potatoes and make them real thin so they got crunchy. Served with ketchup it was like loaded fries without the mess!
My mom also made potato pancakes out of leftover mashed potatoes! I don’t know how she ever made enough for a family of 6. Us younger kids would eat them as fast as she could make them. More often than not - they’d still be so hot we’d burn our mouths. 😊 My younger brother & I still make them for our fams. I do think the shredded potatoes would be a good fresh base. I like them prepared like that at restaurants.
I found my grandmother’s depression cookbook about fifty years ago. I made a depression cake. It had a few other ingredients in it. I remember it was very heavy and expensive. How times had changed. It did fill and I suppose that was the point.
Way to undermine the severity of the Great Depression. Get over yourself. The current economic climate is not even remotely equivalent to the Great Depression, despite the ineptness of Biden/Harris administration.
Cornmeal mush= polenta my grandma apparently would put the leftovers in empty cans put in the refrigerator and slice and fry the next morning, these slices were treated as pancakes.
My mom talked about her mom having just corn mush to eat. Also just lettuce with hot grease poured on it. This depression era will be like none other before it and not like it in the future. HELP US LORD JESUS!!@@FixinToFish
My Granms made it at least twice a month. Both my Grandparents laugh at me because, I either used my Grandpa's own honey when he kept a beehive, then later as an adult, I switched to syrup. They kept telling me that's not pancakes. My Grandparents lived to be in their 90s. I'm can remember her making a white icing similar to the chocolate icing. I loved and miss it because store bought icing used to make me sick growing up. And she made a Chow Chow, that took my middle sister and over 20 yrs as adults to eat up. She canned alot. They canned her own garden tomato juice she used with her macaroni. She could count on me to finish up. She made a German potato salad that I don't see anyone making anymore. It wasn't hot. She used Russet potatoes, boiled with their skins on, then while hot, after she drained the water off, she rinse them slightly with cold water, just abit and trimmed the skins off. I help her several times and my hands were always unhappy to pick them up. Shed chopp up green peppers, slice theradishes, dice either 1 or 2 small pickles in it. I do recall her taking a teaspoon of the pickle juice as well into it. My middle sister says she used a little ketchup with her mayo, to make the mustard taste but I disagree I remember using a salad mustard you bought in the stores, I can't find anymore like a either a table or teaspoon with her mayo, mixing it well then mixing it into the potato salad. Most here in Tenn., like their boiled eggs chopped or sliced in their potato salads but Grams would make Deviled Eggs and put them on top of her potato salad. I can still make the devil eggs but can't seem to get her mustard dressing down. I miss her Chow Chow, can't find it. I believe she used onions, shedded cabbage, green beans, corn not sure if the spices they'd been mild my Grandpa couldn't eat spicy food. The cabbage was pickled. Both her and my Mom would take ceramic jars, in those they would shred so many cabbage heads, stuffed as much they could then be a white vinegar ratio with water, then they put cheesecloth over the top and tie it on tight enough to hold it on and then let them sit, since we didn't have inside pets, they only had to watch curious children wanting to help check to see if when the cabbage had pickled enough. I think that was the secret now to her Chow Chow taste. Growing up, I was the tomgurl, I refused to help in the kitchen, I rather be up in their 50ft white pine trees crown, reading a good book . My Grandparents figured I'd fall eventually so he cut the limbs above his 5'6" height but I figured out I could climb a few others and cross over farther up the trees limbs to get to the older trees. I did learn how to garden though then. They allowed me to have my own flower and herb gardens. I was always into wood management. I created mini ponds and with us advice and he gave me a hack saw, encouraged me to prune his apple trees, telling my Grand might as well let her do some work, can't keep her out of the trees. Later in my 30s I started to want to cook her recipes. By then she was in her late 70s. So I lost some opportunities to learn some of the recipes then she told me she'd made some variations up, and never wrote them all down, so I don't have another favorites- her popcorn balls she make every Halloween. Older neighborhood kids would love them enough to go home make another costume just to back for seconds but she knew the boys well enough later I dated one, and she tell on him when we get together. So, alot the others I heard of tried a couple myself. Now that groceries prices again so high, I think alot of us are going to be or already learning incentive ways our grandp, and great grandparents did. Not every grandparent had large families. But they knew how to stretch their dollars and do things even while I was growing up, that I find so helpful today, with pets. They taught us how to be reliant. And to keep practicing cooking, she'd say and so when you get in your 60s your food taste like mine. I finding that to be untrue like hers. But, I'm not afraid to experiment and eat/and try to cook foods from other cultures and regions of our country. Thanks other commenters recipes as well UA-cam.
We just had them with syrup, usually Karo dark syrup because we couldn't afford 'the fancy stuff'. With 7 large eaters in the family, we would take turns grating the potatoes on an old box grater. By the time we had enough potatoes grated, we would end up with grayish pancakes, but I still remember them fondly.
THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH. You just provided me with the recipes that I love but have missed since my mom and granny died. Given the rising cost of everything, these foods may just save my budget.
Chipped beef on toast was called S.O.S: sh*t on a shingle. It was a staple in the military, specifically the Army. It got its memorable nickname because it didn't look all that appetizing. I grew up on it and still make it to this day. I'm 60 and momma was born in 1917. She lived through a lot and raised my sister and I as a widow.
Apple Brown Betty, or as it is known in my family, Apple crisp, is still a much fought for treat at my family events. It's simple and yummy and much easier to make than a pie.
Made this as a dessert for a group at Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. Very well received!! Got recipe from a Fanny Farmer cookbook that I've had for 30 years.
Hello again, I will have to ask my Father about Hoover stew. I do know my grandfather worked on the Hoover Dam during the depression. He was willing to do most anything to support his family during the depression and appreciated having a job. My father said he would come home every few months to spend time with his family.
In Indiana my mother made some of these foods during the 50s and 60s when I was growing up: chipped beef on toast which we called dried beef gravy; cornmeal mush was served with butter, not syrup; hominy was a regular side dish; potato pancakes, too. Monday (wash day) was beans and cornbread, usually with chunks of ham. One of my favorites was potato soup. Mother used only potatoes, butter, milk, salt and pepper. I'm 76 and I still make all of the above. But I add onions, garlic and heavy cream, with a little flour and sometimes cheese to the potato soup. My mother-in-law added creamed corn, bell pepper and cheese to her chipped beef.
I was born in early 70’s and a lot of those dishes my family made. Many bring back fond memories. Everyone should try them and keep that frugal spirit alive.
I’m 52 and make many of the items in this video. Corn beef hash, bean soup, potato soup, polenta, johnny cakes, potato pancakes… etc. My dad would make dandelion salad or other edible weeds that grew wild on our farm.
The "corn meal mush" recipe made me laugh. I would just call that polenta and it's made by many Italian cooks on the internet. Your Dad sounds like he was ahead of his time with the dandelion salad. Not only inexpensive but extremely healthy, especially for the heart.❤
Chipped beef on toast, (My Mother would not let us say shit on shingle, but that's what it was) Potato cakes, made out of leftover mashed potatoes, bacon grease left over and saved to make gravy and to fry eggs in, peanut butter and margarine sandwiches, the list goes on and on. That's what we ate in the 60s.
My mother was born at the beginning of the Great Depression. When my Dad was starting his own business, Mom used to make spaghetti with slice hot dogs. She used canned beet juice with a little vinger to make pickeled eggs. She also made tomato bread using canned tomatoes and stale bread. It sounds bad, but it tasted really good and the bread didn't have to be tossed out.
There's actually an Italian dish that's basiccaly tomatoes and stale bread; I can't remember the name of it, but it was featured in "Cook's" magazine sometime within the last year or two.
I am 73, grew up on tomatoes and bread and tomatoes and macaroni. Still eat corned beef hash regularly, creamed chipped beef on toast and potato soup are regularly on the menue also.
I was thinking this the whole time watching. You definitely see the meat substitutes that cost more and the limited availability of seasonings but lots of protein and vitamins. Def trying some of them when I get opportunity.
Dandelion salad used the small early leaves as they are less bitter. Potato pancakes you can still order at restaurants. Milk toast was/is made for ppl who were ill. Depression cake is considered vegan cake now. I had potato soup today. Apple BB aka apple crumble. There were more stranger dishes than what you listed.
After the depression a lot of people continued to cook these foods because they had gotten used to eating them. They gradually improved the recipes when better food became affordable such as by adding meats and cheese. They taught the recipes to their kids and grands who still cook them today. We loved hot dog soup where you sliced the dogs paper thin and you combined them with sliced potatoes, onion, a little tomato sauce and seasoned with a pinch of oregano. So good! My grandmother called Hoover stew American Chop Suey and she added a little ground beef. She would make a medium white sauce and combine it with canned salmon and spooned it over toast. Canned salmon used to be really cheap.
Once before my time, there was a teen center in the small town on the river. It had a juke box and two lanes to bowl on. Very popular gathering place where my "Grannie" worked to keep the kids in line and feed them if she had something for them. Once a few kids came back to the kitchen area and told her they were so hungry yet she didn't have anything much to feed them all. She looked around and found a sack of potatoes and a couple of loaves of bread and some mayo. So she made mashed potato sandwiches for them and they were a huge hit! Kids would often ask her to make them after that! She loved to tell me that story. She was my best friend's Grannie and I was kinda accepted as family. Summers when the grandkids weren't able to be there I'd still go see her. She taught me so much about her history and how to cook as well! She made the best cornbread ever with lard. So crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside...made it in her electric skillet. Wish I had one! and her recipe...
Absolutely love this story! Gramas made a lot of history cooking for people. I can still smell my Gramas apple pie baking in the oven and I still love chip beef on toast.
@@lorenrobertson8039 Interesting probably the most popular UK dish in UK before the arrival of the burger and the pizza was a chip butty. Basically chips (French Fries) in a bread roll. Basically a potato sandwich. Still popular today too from UK's Fish & Chip shops.
I still love chipped beef on toast and today Stouffers makes a good frozen one. We ate Pinto Beans with a ham hock or piece of ham bone. Top with raw chopped onion and a shake of Vinegar Pepper Sauce. Corn bread on the side. I still cook like my Mother did in the 40s and 50s and it came in handy during Covid. Look up your Grandma’s recipes and cook some old fashioned comfort food.
The Stouffer’s frozen chipped beef is the inky one I can find unless I’m visiting back I. York, PA! Chipped beef/dried beef (fresh) is very expensive. I won’t touch the stuff that comes in a small jar - way too salty among other reasons! I have a couple packages of Stouffer’s in my freezer right now!!!
I was born in Germany to parents who were both born at the start of WWII and most of these recipes were still in use in the 40s and 50s in Germany due to rationing. - Hoover Stew: I remember my Mum making this, however she would make it the day before and we would eat it as a cold pasta salad the next day. - Egg-Drop Soup: Mum always added with noodles/pasta to help fill it out, and sometimes she would add shredded chicken. - Potato Pancakes: Still big in Germany at markets or just home made. We sometimes had them with sugar sprinkled on top or salt. - Milk Toast: The recipe in this video looks more like French Toast. For us, milk toast was literally toast cut into cubes to act like cereal, then a thick milk concoction similar to runny custard was poured over the top. This was made with melting butter in a pot, adding a little flour as a thickening agent, then milk and sugar. Let it slowly come to a boil and thicken and pour over the milk toast. - Chipped beef: Again, we actually had this cold the next day on bread, similar to a chicken salad sandwich. - Corned Beef hash has various names in other countries. In Australia it's called "Bubble and Squeak" I think due to the sound some of the veggies like peas etc make in the pan when refried the next day. My Mum said in her part of Germany it was called Hoppel-Poppel. Essentially just a combination of leftover meat and veggies refried in lard or butter. One not mentioned here: A delicacy post-war and likely also during the depression was lard/dripping on toast. Meat was in short supply so all the leftover 'fat juices' were retained and spread on bread or toast then sprinkled with salt. Even during my childhood in the 80s, Mum still served this for lunch on occasion.
Cornmeal mush was around long before the depression, of course. Leftover mush was often shaped into cakes and fried. And latkes (potato pancakes)? Staple of all my Jewish friends’ diet. I grew up in the 1960s, so my parents were children of the Depression. My father liked fried weenies, fried bologna, fried Spam and fried canned corned beef hash. But Mother gradually got away from those Depression-era foods. We didn’t waste food in our house, but we ate well.
My father absolutely had to have creamed chipped beef on toast once in awhile. He ate it in the army! I haven't seen those glass jars in years!! I have to look for it!!
I'm 55 and had many of these items growing up, and still regularly prepare potato pancakes with or without onion (a few days ago) and bean soup. I haven't had corned beef hash or chipped beef in a year or so. Seasonally I prepare cabbage, too. Being a culinary coach and gardener, I eat most the foods that have been shown to be healthy, such as the beans, and make my own sauerkraut. Both are great for the microbiome.
Wait - When was I suppose to stop eating potato pancakes, grits, cabbage and pasta, and beans and dabdelion greens? I didnt get tme memo, I have had all 5 in the last 7 days. I guess we are old now I too am 55.
@dieselsvanlifeadventures5800 - I started getting copies of all these recipes in 2006. Pinterest is another good place to find them. However, I have hand written copies too :)
Mom made baked beans for Sunday dinner every week and then we’d take baked bean sandwiches with ketchup for lunch through the week. Cornmeal mush was our breakfast during the week. We always have dried beef in the cupboard. When I make it, I rinse it before I cut it up because it’s pretty salty and then add it in the white gravy. I add a splash of Worcestershire sauce in mine and put it on biscuits.
We used to babysit for a girl in the early 80s. Her grandma shared her potato candy recipe with us then. I wish I had it now because it set me on a path of wanting to cook. It was incredible to know how creative people were back then just to survive but to also give something for their families to smile about with little money. ❤
My dad lived in Washington D.C. during the depression. Grandfather owned his produce market. There was plenty of fruit and vegetables in my family’s home. Grandmother was a fantastic cook.
Did Bubble'n'Squeak ever make it big in USA ? Did in UK. Basically consists of yesterday's mashed potato fried up in lard till crispy , with yesterday's cabbage,onions, or anything else which came to hand, salt & pepper . Something of an acquired taste, but once you get used to it can be quite moreish. Derives its name from the sound it makes cooking in the pan.
@@katherineeckrich2039Yes it does. My Dad referred to it as SOS and I got busted for letting classmates on base know exactly what it meant. Never occurred to me they already knew 😂😂
My dad is 95. I already know how to grow a garden. He already told me about these. The bread lines the potatoes and potato sack dresses. Which my mom wore. He was the second oldest out of 12 kids
My mom said the sacks were print fabric and her mom would make them dresses too. She was the oldest of 5 kid but her mother had 11 brothers and sisters.
I'm from Pennsylvania, and I still eat cornmeal mush, but I make it with milk, butter and nutmeg. So comforting. My parents still eat potato pancakes, still very popular in Pittsburgh, PA, and creamed beef on taost. Actually, quite a few of these are still made in Pennsylvania: cabbage and noodles is a popular Polish dish, and egg drop soup is still found in Chinese restaurants.
My mom and dad both grew up on the Great Depression. I remember that my dad loved chipped beef on toast, corn beef hash and potato soup. My mother would sometime make those dishes for us in the 60's and the 70's.
I love bean soup and egg drop soup. I make my bean soup with ham scraps. The chipped beef on toast is also known as shit on a shingle. It’s pretty much any meat in a white gravy on toast
Tomato gravy is still my favorite type of gravy. I'm southern and many of these dishes never left our tables. I feel like they are part of who I am. I'm making potato soup this week. The pictures made me want tomato gravy over butter milk biscuits. We still eat terribly but we've learned portion control.
I still have my grandmother's recipe for mock apple pie - and my mom would make it sometimes in the 50s, as both she and dad remembered it fondly from growing up in the Depression. Sadly, my mother also made a lot of casseroles with loads of pasta, canned tomatoes, to stretch out ground beef to feed our family of 6. Bless her, she had no clue about seasoning and she always stretched it further by adding celery. To this day I can't eat cooked celery and combine it with pasta.....I'm out the door.
All 4 of my grandparents grew up during the Great Depression. They all kept up with the foods no matter how well they were doing financially because of the constant fear of losing everything again. So even though I’m only in my early 40’s I’ve had many of these dishes.
Many of these recipes are familiar to me as they were staples of my Depression era father's cooking repertoire. Potato soup was one of the first things I learned to cook, after mac and cheese, and something I shared with a hungry classmate one day at college.
I don't know where this guy grew up but we had most of these things -- or very similar -- growing up in the 70s. And everyone in the world still eats potato pancakes and bean soups.
Wait - When was I suppose to stop eating potato pancakes, grits, cabbage and pasta, and beans and dabdelion greens? I didnt get tme memo, I have had all 5 in the last 7 days
@@tomr3422 All citizens of the US should have stopped eating these foods at midnight, December 31, 1939. You will be contacted shortly by the Food & Drug Administration and may receive a fine or, if the transgression is deemed serious, a prison sentence. In the meantime, you are asked to immediately desist from consuming these foods.
Cornbeef hash is still a popular breakfast food in diners across America… I always thought in came from a can but learned to make as an adult… I would say it’s still a thing
I noticed that they way they present making a number of these recipes is much more complex than how they actually were made. As a grandchild of depression era grandparents and being born in 1970, I was still raised on many of these. One of my husband's and our children's favorite to this day is cabbage and noodles. Of course, we eat ours with bacon. Egg drop soup is another simple favorite.
I make 'depression cake' all the time. I've done chocolate, banana, lemon, snickeredoodle, vanilla and gingerbread. It's a versatile base for any flavour combination.
I make it a lot, too. Chocolate is my favorite and it is the BEST chocolate cake! But the recipe I use has vinegar, baking powder, and oil in it (no butter, eggs or milk). And you mix it in the baking pan, so no dishes!
And I still eat bean soup. My Grandma Pearl made a lot of depression foods and taught me how to make these meals to feed my family. Bean soup is my favorite
still make dandelion salad, vinegar pie, potato pancake, prune pudding, cookies etc., so many meals I still love and make. I wasn't even around in the depression days.
My grandfather loved the corn mush stuff! I still remember him eating something like it well into the 90s. I thought it looked gross. Lol. Potato pancakes are similar to latkes,a Jewish food,which my 4th grade teacher brought in when she was teaching us about Hannukah (she was jewish and wanted her Christian raised students to learn,with permission from the parents of course) so if they were anything like the latkes I remember, then I understand why people were upset when they fell out of favor cause yum. 😊
I've made a spread from carrots, seafood seasoning, some other veggies like celery and onions with mayonnaise. It was very popular with foljs about 30 years ago.
My dad grew up poor in a small California town, and I grew up in the 60's loving a few of the meals you covered. But our "milk toast" was nowhere near as extravagant as the one you showed! We toasted a single piece of toast and pushed it down into a bowl. We spooned hot milk over it (made with a little bit of salt and a few ounces of butter melted in it). It was somehow hearty but the butter gave you just a touch of sweetness. We also grew up eating cold leftover pinto beans between 2 pieces of bread, with mustard.
Helloooo potato pancake was a staple in our home paired with canned salmon or mackerel patties. Pinto beans and fried potatoes with sliced tomato on the side or if mom felt like it cornbread. I'm only 67.
That brown betty is also known as apple cobbler. And the potato pancakes are still a huge hit among the Hebrews as it is called "Latka" and would be eaten on Passover (Pesach) during the week of unleavened bread, Feast of Booths (Sukkot) which lasted a week, and Hannukah. And my favorite was and still is the chipped beef on toast, aka SOS. Can do it with chicken or left over turkey.
Our mom often made cream chipped beef on toast. We loved it. Another yummy dish was hash made of leftover beef and potatoes, formed into patties and fried.
When I was a kid in elementary school in the early '50's, the school hot lunch would sometimes be "hamburger gravy", which was what your blibble sounds like. It was probably the best lunch they served. All the kids loved it. I used to make it for my own children in the '70's.
We had potato pan cake the other night. My mom was during the depression and I was born in 1948 so she fix a lot of these meals. cream Chip beef gravy. My kids like a lot of these which some of my grandkids like .homey is something we eat quite often.
My father grew up in Washington state during the depression. He had plenty of vegetables and fish.vThe only questionable thing was rhubarb juice without sugar. Rhubarb grew plentiful. My mother was in the middle of the dust bowl. Very few things grew because the top soil was gone. They often went hungry. Dandelion and squirrel soup was a common meal. If they were really lucky, they would get bread and milk. When the bread became to hard to eat, they would mix it with a little milk and honey. I'm amazed she lived through the depression.
@@danielled1720 'Of Mice & Men' by John Steinbeck has been on the English school syllabus in UK from as long as I can remember. That was my introduction to the 1930s American dust bowl. It's very difficult to teach now to kids who have no comprehension of this state of poverty, but with the current cost of living crisis it may becoming back in fashion !
Mom labeled that “Hoover Stew” as goulash. Fried corn meal mush is still a favorite. As a kid, one of my jobs was gathering dandelion greens. Best ones hadn’t blossomed yet. Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
Many, many years ago my mom was a cook in a restaurant. Her specialty was German sauerbraten done the authentic way. Along with the meat she served fresh made potato pancakes and applesauce. Everyone loved the meal.
Lets see in the past month I've made a version of hoover stew, dandelion salad, potato pancakes, egg drop soup, bean soup, and potato soup. I must live in the great depression or be poor but enjoying good tasting food
You should try the cornmeal mush sliced and fried in butter. Serve with more butter and syrup. Delicious. We also made our potato cakes with left over mashed potatoes with a little flour and an egg if available. 😋😋😋
My great aunt Isabelle used to make some kind of prune/dried fruit "cake", which she served to us kids when we visited. With Moxie. It was like purgatory, visiting Auntie Belle and Aunt Teeny (who wasn't). You kept hoping it would end soon.
My grandmother used to make Corn Meal mush for dinner and then refrigerated the leftovers and made us fried corn meal mush for dinner the next day. Good memories!
Brunswick Stew is still a hot item in North Carolina. So, here, when we say "barbeque ", we're referring to shredded pork and a vinegar based sauce. It's all I've ever known and I adore it! If you hit up a bbq joint here, you'll absolutely be able to get Brunswick stew. It's made with that shredded pork, though, NOT squirrel. Although, my husband grew up in a big family with little money and his dad did sometimes make it with squirrel
Thank you for new ideas! Many of similar dishes are cooked in Russia - for instance, potato pancakes and also cabbage pancakes, dandelion salad etc., and I will try those I just learned from your video
I lived in Wisconsin a few years back on a dairy farm and the old man would make macaroni chili just like that hoover stew but with ground beef . it was good
My mom made the mock apple pie,cbut used saltines. And yes it tasted exactly like an apple pie. Never had a salad. But my mom did deep fried dandelion flower. And they were good. So... What you are calling milk toast we called French toast. Our milk toast was toast. And a milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, mixture that was poured over the toast until saturated to your satisfaction. What you show in your video as milk toast, we always had as French toast, and I don't know anyone in the state of Missouri that would call your milk toast anything but French toast. Corned beef hash was a favorite at home, when mom could afford to get everything to make it. One meal we had on a semi regular basis was macaroni and tomatoes. Mom boiled the macaroni until done and then melted lots of butter in to it and added canned diced tomatoes and a can of tomato soup or sauce/paste. Seasoned only how mothers know how to properly season a good meal. And we all feasted on a low cost delicious meal until we were all full and happy. This video makes me appreciate just how smart my mother was to "know/have learned" all these great meals from her mother. We didn't have much money, but mom always had a meal on the table for us brats. And we loved her for it whether we knew it then or not. Wow the memories keep coming. Apple brown Betty's. Only had these a few times, but remember always liking them. I never cared for potato pancakes. However if they had been done up more like a hash brown patty id probably have eaten everything.
Creamed chipped beef is one of my FAVORITE comfort foods. My dad would make it for dinner sometimes when it was getting late and we needed a quick meal without much effort. I still make it often, especially in the winter when its cold out. It warms up your bones and fills your tummy!!
When I was a kid we went to Arizona to visit relatives we were gone a week my grandma went with us we had a vista cruiser no air conditioning it was awful so hot! When we got back home the grass was pretty long my grandma went out and picked a lot of dandelion leaves I never heard of it I asked my mom if we were poor thinking we spent all our money on vacation and had to eat weeds
Which Depression-era recipes did you ever tried making at home?
Hi, I tried quite a few like potato pancakes and depression cake. I had mock apple pie growing up. Depression recipes have always interested me and I tried some before the pandemic. But they were especially useful during it. I tried several others from the “Great Depression Cooking” with Clara videos and a depression cookbook my friend loaned me. I made cookies, scrambled eggs made to stretch by adding crumbled saltines etc. I still use some. If anyone is curious about the recipes, I suggest they try a few.
Cornmeal mush is still a thing. Ever heard of grits? How about POLENTA? (They even have polenta premade in a plastic tube thingy)
Potato pancakes are delish!!!!! My grandmother made potato pancakes that were absolutely divine!!! I once ate FIVE AT ONE SITTING
Egg drop soup can still be found on most Chinese restaurant menus
Bean soup sounds tasty
Hello, My father was born in California and is 96 years old now. He had 6 siblings and my Grandmother fed her family of 9 very cleverly during the depression. My father had creamed chipped beef regularly. During the pandemic I enjoyed trying depression recipes when my usual food items were not always available. I felt I was learning a lot from their example. I admire the ingenuity of people who made the most of what they had during difficult times!
I definitely agree! As a retired senior. I'm getting $50 of free mostly canned goods because of my Aetna Medicare Advantage (which I never requested but definitely get a kick out of and am grateful for). I'm enjoying adding these things to my pantry and experimenting with canned salmon, ham, corned beef, spam, tuna, mackerel, and some different canned fruits. We sure did have chipped beef on toast when I was a kid; my dad always joked about it and enjoyed. I've seen chipped beef, corned beef, ham, chicken and turkey packets that are cheap, and it's not hard to do a simple gravy or make a cold salad dish with the canned meats/fish. I make a simple pie or shortcake with the canned fruits. Always gives me very pleasant memories of my grandmothers. One died fairly young, the other lived to be 96 and loved canned ham. I loved hanging out in their homes when I was a kid; they lived nearby us. I hardly ever eat out anymore, fast food or restaurants), even though I can afford to. The last few times, I thought what I bought was just lousy for the elevated prices (McDonald's and Bob Evans food).
My Dad called chipped beef meal *hit on a shingle lol
I remember back in 1970s. I had a pink pair of shoes I dearly loved. But,of course over time,they got holes in the top. I went to my mother sewing box,threaded a needle like I saw her do and sewed up the holes. I was very proud of my work,but the soles on the inside had holes too. I went back to elementary school and told a friend about what I did. She was impressed and she told her grandmother about it. Well, the grandmother obviously lived through the great depression and she told me her Grandma wanted to see the shoes. At the end of the day, her Grandmother picked her up from school and I showed her the shoes she had a huge smile on her face when she saw my shoes. I told her that the inside soles were getting holes. She promptly instructed me that when I get home, to get some cardboard, trace my feet, cut them out and the put them in my shoes. I did that and the shoes were fixed. Another memory of this girl whose name I have long since forgotten, her father came to pick her up,of course he admired my shoes. I mentioned we were taking a trip to San Francisco. He said,oh yeah? Why are you going there and I told him the same answer my father gave me when I asked..... My Dad says he wants to go to San Francisco to see the hippies.....he laughed his head off..
More WHOLESOME then ME!
I was SHOPLIFTING like CRAZY .
Ate better than when I was working.
@@kathyracine1903 they usually leave out the i not the s! 3:49
My mother grew up poor in rural Tennessee and would make boiled cabbage and potatoes with a side of cornbread made in a cast iron skillet for us in the 1970's! I miss that food and her! Love you mom!
That's Irish potatoes, add some onion add butter and they are delicious.
Oh man you just made me
Miss boiled cabbage and corn bread so much
Still one of my favorite meals! I was born in the 80s and this was a staple meal along with SOS. My kin are also from where your mom grew up. Did y'all also eat a mess of butter beans (sometimes with pork or ham depending on how tight things were) with corn bread as a meal? My husband is from the Midwest and cannot wrap his head around the fact that a bowl of beans or cabbage with corn bread or corn pone is considered a meal lol.
Had all these foods growing up. My mom grew up during the depression and never gave up her depression era frugality. 🤣. Didn’t have carrot sandwiches but had bean sandwiches. Still put beans in my soup. And milk toast? We called it French toast. My fav was creamed chip beef. What a fun video.
When the new potatoes were late in the season, Granny would slice them thin and fry them with onions. Cornbread made with home churned butter milk, a chicken from the coop fried in tallow....food was so good!
We had creamed dried beef on toast when I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s. The small glass that the dried beef came in was recycled as a juice glass. My favorite breakfast in college before heading to clinical for my nursing degree was creamed dried beef on toast. It kept you warm in the snowy cold winters of Niagara Falls, NY where I went to school.
I also grew up in the 60s and 70s. I was able to get chipped beef in gravy on toast and I loved it. I really don't understand why so many people vilify it. It was warm, delicious and filling.
That was a thrifty treat meal when i was a kid. I still see little jars of the chip beef now and then.
@@cynthiaoconnor7185people vilify things because everyone else does the same, .just sheep following other sheep.
Loved creamed chipped beef on toast. You can jazz it up with herbs, etc.
Same for me, but in Finger Lakes, NY.
My grandparents were sharecroppers in the 30s, these recipes were prepared regularly, so I was accustomed to such meals. No regrets
My mother taught my younger brother how to make egg drop soup and he put eggs in every soup he made and it really was delicious❤ RIP my beautiful Eric
I bet he didn't put bread in it like the video describes.
@@robertsteele474 oh hell no, but chicken! ... soggy bread, oh my.
❤😢
I’m so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing his memory. 💔
This is very common in Italy is called stracciatella minestra
I was born in 62..soon to be 62 in September..my father was a hunter and fisherman...we didn't let anything go to waste...ate squirrels, ground hog ,deer, rabbit, even turtle soup...we regularly had sardines in a tin and salmon in a can...had lots of catfish and trout...Thank-you dad for keeping us all fed and alive ..miss you...and mom a great cook with ❤️ love.
What does squirrel taste like? Always have been curious about them, they’re abundant on my property as well as rabbits.
I'll be 62 in November. Being raised on a farm, we had lots of food, with most of it grown by us. We had cattle, chickens, pigs, and with a 180 of bush and fields, and river, we had wild game including fish, moose, rabbit, and partridge. Our table was always full. I remember being the last kid to have jeans in school, but everthing I got was good quality. My dad & mom are now 84 & 83. They both get a thrill when us kids cook historic family favorites. In our family then and now, the cast iron seldom cools for more than a day.
@@RobinRK1962 sounds like you had an amazing upbringing and equally as well amazing parents. God bless you guys!
@@kennethflores-hv7uf Ty Ken, it was a great time.
@@kennethflores-hv7ufsquirrels eat tree nuts....
Potato pancakes are popular worldwide. Latkes AKA.
Lithuanians still make potato pancakes … I’m 50% Lithuanian and I have eaten it!
Poland also. Placki. Pronounced platz-key. Truly delicious.
@@martybee6701 Now I’m getting hungry … LOL!
Yup. Polish, German, Jewish, Lithuanian, Estonian...all of these cultures and more regularly have potato pancakes.
So is wacky cake which is basically the same thing as depression cake. My brother in law made one of those many many years ago and it was way after the depression.
The "secret" ingredient in mock apple pie was Cream of Tartar. Two teaspoons per pie . . . . That's what creates the apple flavor 😊.
I’ll bet that if apple juice was used in place of water, it would Really taste like apple pie.😋🍎🥧🍏
It does taste like and has the appearance and consistency of real apple pie.
My mom still made this when we were kids and I'm 60 this year.
Thank you 🎉!
love the stuff
My dad used to throw all his leftovers in a pot and call it "swamp" lol he grew up in the great depression and we didn't waste anything. He created some amazing new dishes that way ❤
my dad did this too, but we wouldnt eat it unless it was red!!!
I like that, he sounds really cool
@@what.the... he was an amazing man, he passed in 95. Left me with some wonderful memories. Thank you for the kindness
My GMA called it garbage stew 😂
@chay516 lol that's awesome
My dad's recipe for haluski for anyone who wants it:
1 16oz bag wide egg noodles
1 cup salted sweet cream butter
1 large cabbage (roughly chopped)
2 large onions (diced)
black pepper to taste
Cook noodles according to package directions. Stir fry all together until golden brown and cabbage is cooked through. Serve with sour cream and unsweet applesauce.
This version we typically use as a side dish. And we add kielbasa and bacon if it is for a meal and use a little of the fat from the meat to help fry the mix.
I introduced my husbands family to it and now my husband asks for it at least once or twice a month and more often if we find meat on sale.
Its very much still a very common household dinner for a lot of people. We often made it for large family gatherings along with a crockpot with a large pork roast, sauerkraut, sweet onions, green apple, kielbasa, hot dogs, brown sugar and served with mashed potatoes.
❤Just made it, it's good!
😘have some turkey kielbasa in the freezer rn!!
Thankyou!
Thank you!❤
I still make a version of this, using lots of garlic, and serve with kielbasa. Not as often as I did as a young bride, but as variety.
Corned beef hash and fried eggs is still one of my very favorite meals. I love hominy too.
@@donnalynnmcclary8027 Did you know the Argentinan housewife sees tinned corned beef as fit only for dog food. They have an abundance of beef farms there , steaks virtually grow on trees !.
Yesssss I crave corned beef hash w runny eggs like dailyyy
Growing up, navy bean soup, vegetable soup and potato soups were favorites. Still make them!
Me too.
I like the every bean soup myself. But veggie soup and potato soups are wonderful cold weather soups.
Mom was all about navy bean, spaghetti and chicken and rice. My older brother hated them equating it with being poor, I still love them, especially the chicken and rice.
Still make soups and I absolutely love them.
@@Oldbmwr100rsyour mom was feeding you a bodybuilder diet lol.
Not all of these have disappeared. Potato pancakes are still very much a thing. So is cabbage and noodle stir fry. Egg drop soup is popular at Chinese restaurants under its more common name, egg flower soup. Potato soup, bean soup, and corned beef hash are less common, but they're still around. Most American diners with soup on the menu will have potato soup and bean soup on the menu rotation.
I still eat more than half of these dishes on a somewhat regular basis: egg drop soup, hash (I like roast beef best), apple Betty, beans & greens, potato pancakes (I like apple sauce & sour cream on mine), chipped beef on toast, got thru college on "tube steaks & rubber bands" (hot dogs & elbow noodles, see Hoover stew), grits (ground hominy) every Saturday, squirl stew (I use rabbit) every Fall.
A real depression recipe is Sauerkraut Cookies: meant to emulate chocolate coconut macaroons, they were egg less cookies with powdered cocoa & the "coconut" was well drained (patted dry) finely chopped sauerkraut (only worked on a texture level).
Yeah, as a Jew, hearing latkes as "gone by the wayside" is hilarious
Boiled nettles and potatoes can't go wrong with butter and salt.
Egg drop soup is definitely still popular in asian cultures! I mean it’s such a comforting meal. Usually people would add corn or crab keat to it bc why not. Also isn’t milk toast just… french toast?
@@burpaleeseLooks like French Toast to me. Had it every Saturday morning while growing up. If you add flour to tge egg & milk batter, you get French Toast that you can eat with butter and syrup, like pancakes. My Yugoslavian grandmother made them that way.
Home-made corned beef hash with a couple of poached eggs on top is a real treat!
My mouth is watering, and I feel like a child watching my mom cook again. She could use ingredients to make stuff I never heard of. She’d make potato pancakes with leftover mashed potatoes and make them real thin so they got crunchy. Served with ketchup it was like loaded fries without the mess!
My mom also made potato pancakes out of leftover mashed potatoes! I don’t know how she ever made enough for a family of 6. Us younger kids would eat them as fast as she could make them. More often than not - they’d still be so hot we’d burn our mouths. 😊 My younger brother & I still make them for our fams.
I do think the shredded potatoes would be a good fresh base. I like them prepared like that at restaurants.
I found my grandmother’s depression cookbook about fifty years ago. I made a depression cake. It had a few other ingredients in it. I remember it was very heavy and expensive. How times had changed. It did fill and I suppose that was the point.
These recipes and ways of life are more important than ever as we enter into the next great depression.
It’s coming!
The irony lies in the fact that the ingredients are expensive nowadays. Chipped beef is dear anymore and even beans are going up.
It won't be the same.
Yes, please keep spreading the word young people do not not understand how cheap it is to cook from scratch they don’t even know what scratch means.
@@Gordy-fj1jy oh it’s coming in my grandmother was around to tell me what it was like…!
Cornmeal mush is one of my favorite breakfast items
As fate would have it, we are right back to the depression. I am getting a lot of ideas, thank you!
hardly
It is the 20's after all 🤷
The great depression was from 1929-1941
@@vickik8582 Bidenomics, been to the grocery store lately?
Way to undermine the severity of the Great Depression. Get over yourself. The current economic climate is not even remotely equivalent to the Great Depression, despite the ineptness of Biden/Harris administration.
I'm glad the bean and potato soups are still around. I love those.
I love Hurst HamBeens 15 bean soup. It makes a big pot full and it freezes well.
Bean soups are healthy too. Excellent source of fiber and the legumes have enough iron to be a meat group substitute.
Cornmeal mush= polenta my grandma apparently would put the leftovers in empty cans put in the refrigerator and slice and fry the next morning, these slices were treated as pancakes.
We used to eat corn mush too. We fried it the next day. Good to see someone else knows about it.
So did my mom!! But she never put cheese in it and it wasn’t yellow, it was white. I think she used grits instead.
My mom talked about her mom having just corn mush to eat.
Also just lettuce with hot grease poured on it.
This depression era will be like none other before it and not like it in the future.
HELP US LORD JESUS!!@@FixinToFish
@@Jan-cg4tkAmen my friend.
You can baked on a sheet pan cut into squares served with syrup and jelly for breakfast. You could also put gravy over it. Chicken or sausage gravy
We had potato pancakes every Friday with apple sauce and or sour cream.
That sounds so delicious right now. Haven't had that in years.
My Granms made it at least twice a month. Both my Grandparents laugh at me because, I either used my Grandpa's own honey when he kept a beehive, then later as an adult, I switched to syrup. They kept telling me that's not pancakes. My Grandparents lived to be in their 90s. I'm can remember her making a white icing similar to the chocolate icing. I loved and miss it because store bought icing used to make me sick growing up. And she made a Chow Chow, that took my middle sister and over 20 yrs as adults to eat up. She canned alot. They canned her own garden tomato juice she used with her macaroni. She could count on me to finish up. She made a German potato salad that I don't see anyone making anymore. It wasn't hot. She used Russet potatoes, boiled with their skins on, then while hot, after she drained the water off, she rinse them slightly with cold water, just abit and trimmed the skins off. I help her several times and my hands were always unhappy to pick them up. Shed chopp up green peppers, slice theradishes, dice either 1 or 2 small pickles in it. I do recall her taking a teaspoon of the pickle juice as well into it. My middle sister says she used a little ketchup with her mayo, to make the mustard taste but I disagree I remember using a salad mustard you bought in the stores, I can't find anymore like a either a table or teaspoon with her mayo, mixing it well then mixing it into the potato salad. Most here in Tenn., like their boiled eggs chopped or sliced in their potato salads but Grams would make Deviled Eggs and put them on top of her potato salad. I can still make the devil eggs but can't seem to get her mustard dressing down. I miss her Chow Chow, can't find it. I believe she used onions, shedded cabbage, green beans, corn not sure if the spices they'd been mild my Grandpa couldn't eat spicy food. The cabbage was pickled. Both her and my Mom would take ceramic jars, in those they would shred so many cabbage heads, stuffed as much they could then be a white vinegar ratio with water, then they put cheesecloth over the top and tie it on tight enough to hold it on and then let them sit, since we didn't have inside pets, they only had to watch curious children wanting to help check to see if when the cabbage had pickled enough. I think that was the secret now to her Chow Chow taste. Growing up, I was the tomgurl, I refused to help in the kitchen, I rather be up in their 50ft white pine trees crown, reading a good book . My Grandparents figured I'd fall eventually so he cut the limbs above his 5'6" height but I figured out I could climb a few others and cross over farther up the trees limbs to get to the older trees. I did learn how to garden though then. They allowed me to have my own flower and herb gardens. I was always into wood management. I created mini ponds and with us advice and he gave me a hack saw, encouraged me to prune his apple trees, telling my Grand might as well let her do some work, can't keep her out of the trees. Later in my 30s I started to want to cook her recipes. By then she was in her late 70s. So I lost some opportunities to learn some of the recipes then she told me she'd made some variations up, and never wrote them all down, so I don't have another favorites- her popcorn balls she make every Halloween. Older neighborhood kids would love them enough to go home make another costume just to back for seconds but she knew the boys well enough later I dated one, and she tell on him when we get together. So, alot the others I heard of tried a couple myself. Now that groceries prices again so high, I think alot of us are going to be or already learning incentive ways our grandp, and great grandparents did. Not every grandparent had large families. But they knew how to stretch their dollars and do things even while I was growing up, that I find so helpful today, with pets. They taught us how to be reliant. And to keep practicing cooking, she'd say and so when you get in your 60s your food taste like mine. I finding that to be untrue like hers. But, I'm not afraid to experiment and eat/and try to cook foods from other cultures and regions of our country. Thanks other commenters recipes as well UA-cam.
We just had them with syrup, usually Karo dark syrup because we couldn't afford 'the fancy stuff'. With 7 large eaters in the family, we would take turns grating the potatoes on an old box grater. By the time we had enough potatoes grated, we would end up with grayish pancakes, but I still remember them fondly.
THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH. You just provided me with the recipes that I love but have missed since my mom and granny died. Given the rising cost of everything, these foods may just save my budget.
Chipped beef on toast was called S.O.S: sh*t on a shingle. It was a staple in the military, specifically the Army. It got its memorable nickname because it didn't look all that appetizing. I grew up on it and still make it to this day. I'm 60 and momma was born in 1917. She lived through a lot and raised my sister and I as a widow.
Apple Brown Betty, or as it is known in my family, Apple crisp, is still a much fought for treat at my family events. It's simple and yummy and much easier to make than a pie.
Apple Betty it was called back then in my moms cook book! Still a favorite of mine and I cook it often! 😋
I was going to say the same thing it's now Apple Crisp. Anna In Ohio
Made this as a dessert for a group at Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. Very well received!! Got recipe from a Fanny Farmer cookbook that I've had for 30 years.
We called it Apple cobblers. School menus called it Apple Brown Betty. Now it’s usually apple crisp. Always delicious, especially served warm.
I love anything fruit in the oven under a layer 😂 mouthwatering
Creamed chipped beef on toast was served by my mother in the 50’s and 60’s when I was growing up. It was a cheap meal and we were a big family.
Not now chipped beef is very expensive. I love it but can't afford it. My mom made the best. And my granny made milk pies I miss the good days.
@@dian1711 You got that right, a 5oz jar is $12.99 online so add shipping...Thanks Joe...
We had ours on a baked potato. Beaver Dam, WI
Hello again, I will have to ask my Father about Hoover stew. I do know my grandfather worked on the Hoover Dam during the depression. He was willing to do most anything to support his family during the depression and appreciated having a job. My father said he would come home every few months to spend time with his family.
In Indiana my mother made some of these foods during the 50s and 60s when I was growing up: chipped beef on toast which we called dried beef gravy; cornmeal mush was served with butter, not syrup; hominy was a regular side dish; potato pancakes, too. Monday (wash day) was beans and cornbread, usually with chunks of ham. One of my favorites was potato soup. Mother used only potatoes, butter, milk, salt and pepper. I'm 76 and I still make all of the above. But I add onions, garlic and heavy cream, with a little flour and sometimes cheese to the potato soup.
My mother-in-law added creamed corn, bell pepper and cheese to her chipped beef.
Love potato soup, mom added minced celery
I was born in early 70’s and a lot of those dishes my family made. Many bring back fond memories. Everyone should try them and keep that frugal spirit alive.
I’m 52 and make many of the items in this video. Corn beef hash, bean soup, potato soup, polenta, johnny cakes, potato pancakes… etc. My dad would make dandelion salad or other edible weeds that grew wild on our farm.
The "corn meal mush" recipe made me laugh. I would just call that polenta and it's made by many Italian cooks on the internet. Your Dad sounds like he was ahead of his time with the dandelion salad. Not only inexpensive but extremely healthy, especially for the heart.❤
Very edifying (historically). Thank you. Much respect for people who creatively make do, and remain good humans . God bless us.
Chipped beef on toast, (My Mother would not let us say shit on shingle, but that's what it was) Potato cakes, made out of leftover mashed potatoes, bacon grease left over and saved to make gravy and to fry eggs in, peanut butter and margarine sandwiches, the list goes on and on. That's what we ate in the 60s.
Beans are still cooked in many homes. And, offered in restaurants.
I love beans. Mom always had a pot of beans cooking! She made the best pinto & butter beans!
Yep and lots of stews and soups are great with beans of many kinds in them.
It sure is I make them all the time. Anna In Ohio
My mother was born at the beginning of the Great Depression. When my Dad was starting his own business, Mom used to make spaghetti with slice hot dogs. She used canned beet juice with a little vinger to make pickeled eggs. She also made tomato bread using canned tomatoes and stale bread. It sounds bad, but it tasted really good and the bread didn't have to be tossed out.
There's actually an Italian dish that's basiccaly tomatoes and stale bread; I can't remember the name of it, but it was featured in "Cook's" magazine sometime within the last year or two.
@@carolsabadini2332panzanella! Yum!
My mother is from the South, and she made tomato pie;
she still makes it today.
I still pickle eggs and beets. I have some in the fridge right now. We had hot dogs in everything. Dad called them "tube steaks."
I am 73, grew up on tomatoes and bread and tomatoes and macaroni. Still eat corned beef hash regularly, creamed chipped beef on toast and potato soup are regularly on the menue also.
The depression era foods were healthier than what we eat now.
I was thinking this the whole time watching. You definitely see the meat substitutes that cost more and the limited availability of seasonings but lots of protein and vitamins. Def trying some of them when I get opportunity.
Hmmm?
Dandelion salad used the small early leaves as they are less bitter.
Potato pancakes you can still order at restaurants.
Milk toast was/is made for ppl who were ill.
Depression cake is considered vegan cake now.
I had potato soup today.
Apple BB aka apple crumble.
There were more stranger dishes than what you listed.
Yeah, that depression cake is similar to a keto cake I make with almond flour (no real sugar). It is delicious.
Latka
After the depression a lot of people continued to cook these foods because they had gotten used to eating them. They gradually improved the recipes when better food became affordable such as by adding meats and cheese. They taught the recipes to their kids and grands who still cook them today. We loved hot dog soup where you sliced the dogs paper thin and you combined them with sliced potatoes, onion, a little tomato sauce and seasoned with a pinch of oregano. So good! My grandmother called Hoover stew American Chop Suey and she added a little ground beef. She would make a medium white sauce and combine it with canned salmon and spooned it over toast. Canned salmon used to be really cheap.
Once before my time, there was a teen center in the small town on the river. It had a juke box and two lanes to bowl on. Very popular gathering place where my "Grannie" worked to keep the kids in line and feed them if she had something for them. Once a few kids came back to the kitchen area and told her they were so hungry yet she didn't have anything much to feed them all. She looked around and found a sack of potatoes and a couple of loaves of bread and some mayo. So she made mashed potato sandwiches for them and they were a huge hit! Kids would often ask her to make them after that! She loved to tell me that story. She was my best friend's Grannie and I was kinda accepted as family. Summers when the grandkids weren't able to be there I'd still go see her. She taught me so much about her history and how to cook as well! She made the best cornbread ever with lard. So crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside...made it in her electric skillet. Wish I had one! and her recipe...
Absolutely love this story! Gramas made a lot of history cooking for people. I can still smell my Gramas apple pie baking in the oven and I still love chip beef on toast.
@@lorenrobertson8039 Interesting probably the most popular UK dish in UK before the arrival of the burger and the pizza was a chip butty. Basically chips (French Fries) in a bread roll. Basically a potato sandwich. Still popular today too from UK's Fish & Chip shops.
I still love chipped beef on toast and today Stouffers makes a good frozen one. We ate Pinto Beans with a ham hock or piece of ham bone. Top with raw chopped onion and a shake of Vinegar Pepper Sauce. Corn bread on the side. I still cook like my Mother did in the 40s and 50s and it came in handy during Covid. Look up your Grandma’s recipes and cook some old fashioned comfort food.
The Stouffer’s frozen chipped beef is the inky one I can find unless I’m visiting back I. York, PA! Chipped beef/dried beef (fresh) is very expensive. I won’t touch the stuff that comes in a small jar - way too salty among other reasons! I have a couple packages of Stouffer’s in my freezer right now!!!
@@sandybruce9092Gosh, I thought the saltiness was the best part of it! To this day, I much prefer salty to sweet as a taste.
I was born in Germany to parents who were both born at the start of WWII and most of these recipes were still in use in the 40s and 50s in Germany due to rationing.
- Hoover Stew: I remember my Mum making this, however she would make it the day before and we would eat it as a cold pasta salad the next day.
- Egg-Drop Soup: Mum always added with noodles/pasta to help fill it out, and sometimes she would add shredded chicken.
- Potato Pancakes: Still big in Germany at markets or just home made. We sometimes had them with sugar sprinkled on top or salt.
- Milk Toast: The recipe in this video looks more like French Toast. For us, milk toast was literally toast cut into cubes to act like cereal, then a thick milk concoction similar to runny custard was poured over the top. This was made with melting butter in a pot, adding a little flour as a thickening agent, then milk and sugar. Let it slowly come to a boil and thicken and pour over the milk toast.
- Chipped beef: Again, we actually had this cold the next day on bread, similar to a chicken salad sandwich.
- Corned Beef hash has various names in other countries. In Australia it's called "Bubble and Squeak" I think due to the sound some of the veggies like peas etc make in the pan when refried the next day. My Mum said in her part of Germany it was called Hoppel-Poppel. Essentially just a combination of leftover meat and veggies refried in lard or butter.
One not mentioned here: A delicacy post-war and likely also during the depression was lard/dripping on toast. Meat was in short supply so all the leftover 'fat juices' were retained and spread on bread or toast then sprinkled with salt. Even during my childhood in the 80s, Mum still served this for lunch on occasion.
That stuff you call cornmeal mush is a major staple here in South Africa. We call it mielie meal.
Ons maak putu pap en sous vir n ete.🌹
@@elsabadenhorst9746 I had a bowl for supper a few hours ago. But minus the sous, with milk and sugar! Lovely!
Cornmeal mush was around long before the depression, of course. Leftover mush was often shaped into cakes and fried. And latkes (potato pancakes)? Staple of all my Jewish friends’ diet. I grew up in the 1960s, so my parents were children of the Depression. My father liked fried weenies, fried bologna, fried Spam and fried canned corned beef hash. But Mother gradually got away from those Depression-era foods. We didn’t waste food in our house, but we ate well.
My father absolutely had to have creamed chipped beef on toast once in awhile. He ate it in the army! I haven't seen those glass jars in years!! I have to look for it!!
cant afford it now!
Armour makes it, not cheap.
I'm 55 and had many of these items growing up, and still regularly prepare potato pancakes with or without onion (a few days ago) and bean soup. I haven't had corned beef hash or chipped beef in a year or so. Seasonally I prepare cabbage, too. Being a culinary coach and gardener, I eat most the foods that have been shown to be healthy, such as the beans, and make my own sauerkraut. Both are great for the microbiome.
Anything fermented, Sauerkraut, Kimchi, etc, is a great source of probiotics.
Wait - When was I suppose to stop eating potato pancakes, grits, cabbage and pasta, and beans and dabdelion greens? I didnt get tme memo, I have had all 5 in the last 7 days. I guess we are old now I too am 55.
better start learning these recipes, we gonna need it soon😳
@dieselsvanlifeadventures5800 - I started getting copies of all these recipes in 2006. Pinterest is another good place to find them. However, I have hand written copies too :)
That's why I'm here too.
Mom made baked beans for Sunday dinner every week and then we’d take baked bean sandwiches with ketchup for lunch through the week. Cornmeal mush was our breakfast during the week. We always have dried beef in the cupboard. When I make it, I rinse it before I cut it up because it’s pretty salty and then add it in the white gravy. I add a splash of Worcestershire sauce in mine and put it on biscuits.
I’ve had a bunch of these actually still love eating them
We used to babysit for a girl in the early 80s. Her grandma shared her potato candy recipe with us then. I wish I had it now because it set me on a path of wanting to cook. It was incredible to know how creative people were back then just to survive but to also give something for their families to smile about with little money. ❤
My dad lived in Washington D.C. during the depression. Grandfather owned his produce market. There was plenty of fruit and vegetables in my family’s home. Grandmother was a fantastic cook.
Did Bubble'n'Squeak ever make it big in USA ? Did in UK. Basically consists of yesterday's mashed potato fried up in lard till crispy , with yesterday's cabbage,onions, or anything else which came to hand, salt & pepper . Something of an acquired taste, but once you get used to it can be quite moreish. Derives its name from the sound it makes cooking in the pan.
Never heard of it. Sounds good to me though.
Nah it's not very popular here but you'll find it in communities with a history of a lot of Irish immigrants
My Mother made it occasionally to go with a slice of fried Spam or Corned Beef. Maybe my Dad ate something like that in the war.
That honestly sounds delicious
Just found a new recipe to try. Thanks
My dad made chipped beef on toast but he called it dried beef gravy and we ate it on biscuits. I loved it!
I’m originally from York County, PA and we called it chipped beef gravy! I like it on toast - I cut or tear toast into smaller pieces!
The military had a very unique name for it
@@katherineeckrich2039Yes it does. My Dad referred to it as SOS and I got busted for letting classmates on base know exactly what it meant. Never occurred to me they already knew 😂😂
SoS. Big firehouse meal.
@@katherineeckrich2039 S..t on a shingle!I love it!!!
My dad is 95. I already know how to grow a garden. He already told me about these. The bread lines the potatoes and potato sack dresses. Which my mom wore. He was the second oldest out of 12 kids
My mom said the sacks were print fabric and her mom would make them dresses too. She was the oldest of 5 kid but her mother had 11 brothers and sisters.
I'm from Pennsylvania, and I still eat cornmeal mush, but I make it with milk, butter and nutmeg. So comforting. My parents still eat potato pancakes, still very popular in Pittsburgh, PA, and creamed beef on taost. Actually, quite a few of these are still made in Pennsylvania: cabbage and noodles is a popular Polish dish, and egg drop soup is still found in Chinese restaurants.
My mom and dad both grew up on the Great Depression. I remember that my dad loved chipped beef on toast, corn beef hash and potato soup. My mother would sometime make those dishes for us in the 60's and the 70's.
The vinegar pie with lemon juice and lemon zest instead of vinegar sounds like a delicious desert.
I want to try that and the brown betties.
I love bean soup and egg drop soup. I make my bean soup with ham scraps. The chipped beef on toast is also known as shit on a shingle. It’s pretty much any meat in a white gravy on toast
Tomato gravy is still my favorite type of gravy. I'm southern and many of these dishes never left our tables. I feel like they are part of who I am. I'm making potato soup this week. The pictures made me want tomato gravy over butter milk biscuits. We still eat terribly but we've learned portion control.
I make and eat all of these foods regularly.
Me too.
I am 50. All of my family still make most of these, and you still see them in cafes all over.
I am 77 and my mom said when she was young she ate lard sandwichs .@@christopherseilaff8665
I was just going to say the same thing. I'm 50, and these are things my family make all the time.
Cabbage & noodles is my favorite dish to make
I still have my grandmother's recipe for mock apple pie - and my mom would make it sometimes in the 50s, as both she and dad remembered it fondly from growing up in the Depression. Sadly, my mother also made a lot of casseroles with loads of pasta, canned tomatoes, to stretch out ground beef to feed our family of 6. Bless her, she had no clue about seasoning and she always stretched it further by adding celery. To this day I can't eat cooked celery and combine it with pasta.....I'm out the door.
Back then both of my grandmothers had gardens and fruit trees. Being from Mediterranean and Middle Eastern descent, I never had these foods.
A+ video!
LOVE IT! Awesome Depression-Era foods!
All 4 of my grandparents grew up during the Great Depression. They all kept up with the foods no matter how well they were doing financially because of the constant fear of losing everything again. So even though I’m only in my early 40’s I’ve had many of these dishes.
We eat most of these still. Don’t know how everyone else is eating but we enjoy these dishes.
Many of these recipes are familiar to me as they were staples of my Depression era father's cooking repertoire. Potato soup was one of the first things I learned to cook, after mac and cheese, and something I shared with a hungry classmate one day at college.
I don't know where this guy grew up but we had most of these things -- or very similar -- growing up in the 70s. And everyone in the world still eats potato pancakes and bean soups.
Wait - When was I suppose to stop eating potato pancakes, grits, cabbage and pasta, and beans and dabdelion greens? I didnt get tme memo, I have had all 5 in the last 7 days
@@tomr3422 All citizens of the US should have stopped eating these foods at midnight, December 31, 1939. You will be contacted shortly by the Food & Drug Administration and may receive a fine or, if the transgression is deemed serious, a prison sentence. In the meantime, you are asked to immediately desist from consuming these foods.
@@blinkybli8326 Oh great, not again, I thought after I stopped using agent orange as a lawn additive they would leave me alone. It never ends
Cornbeef hash is still a popular breakfast food in diners across America… I always thought in came from a can but learned to make as an adult… I would say it’s still a thing
I noticed that they way they present making a number of these recipes is much more complex than how they actually were made. As a grandchild of depression era grandparents and being born in 1970, I was still raised on many of these. One of my husband's and our children's favorite to this day is cabbage and noodles. Of course, we eat ours with bacon. Egg drop soup is another simple favorite.
I make 'depression cake' all the time. I've done chocolate, banana, lemon, snickeredoodle, vanilla and gingerbread. It's a versatile base for any flavour combination.
I make it a lot, too. Chocolate is my favorite and it is the BEST chocolate cake! But the recipe I use has vinegar, baking powder, and oil in it (no butter, eggs or milk). And you mix it in the baking pan, so no dishes!
And I still eat bean soup. My Grandma Pearl made a lot of depression foods and taught me how to make these meals to feed my family. Bean soup is my favorite
still make dandelion salad, vinegar pie, potato pancake, prune pudding, cookies etc., so many meals I still love and make. I wasn't even around in the depression days.
My grandfather loved the corn mush stuff! I still remember him eating something like it well into the 90s. I thought it looked gross. Lol. Potato pancakes are similar to latkes,a Jewish food,which my 4th grade teacher brought in when she was teaching us about Hannukah (she was jewish and wanted her Christian raised students to learn,with permission from the parents of course) so if they were anything like the latkes I remember, then I understand why people were upset when they fell out of favor cause yum. 😊
I've made a spread from carrots, seafood seasoning, some other veggies like celery and onions with mayonnaise. It was very popular with foljs about 30 years ago.
I grew up on potato pancakes and dandelion salad. So yummy!
My dad grew up poor in a small California town, and I grew up in the 60's loving a few of the meals you covered. But our "milk toast" was nowhere near as extravagant as the one you showed! We toasted a single piece of toast and pushed it down into a bowl. We spooned hot milk over it (made with a little bit of salt and a few ounces of butter melted in it). It was somehow hearty but the butter gave you just a touch of sweetness. We also grew up eating cold leftover pinto beans between 2 pieces of bread, with mustard.
I’m trying to decide what the difference between French toast and milk toast is… because that is a hugely popular breakfast item
Helloooo potato pancake was a staple in our home paired with canned salmon or mackerel patties. Pinto beans and fried potatoes with sliced tomato on the side or if mom felt like it cornbread. I'm only 67.
That brown betty is also known as apple cobbler. And the potato pancakes are still a huge hit among the Hebrews as it is called "Latka" and would be eaten on Passover (Pesach) during the week of unleavened bread, Feast of Booths (Sukkot) which lasted a week, and Hannukah.
And my favorite was and still is the chipped beef on toast, aka SOS. Can do it with chicken or left over turkey.
Our mom often made cream chipped beef on toast. We loved it. Another yummy dish was hash made of leftover beef and potatoes, formed into patties and fried.
My grandma made blibble. It was ground beef with gravy, with onions & mushrooms, on mashed potatoes.
When I was a kid in elementary school in the early '50's, the school hot lunch would sometimes be "hamburger gravy", which was what your blibble sounds like. It was probably the best lunch they served. All the kids loved it. I used to make it for my own children in the '70's.
That sounds delicious!
That’s pretty much Sheppards pie
If you used noodles instead of potatoes, you’d have beef goulash.💌
We made it with mushroom gravy, served over mashed potatoes, and my family called it "gravel and gravy." It's good stuff!
Still make chipped beef or S.O.S. as we call it and my family love it. Poke salad was a regular at least in the south.
We still have several of these foods, so they haven't disappeared. Brown Betties are still a big thing at cookouts and potlucks in my area.
We had potato pan cake the other night. My mom was during the depression and I was born in 1948 so she fix a lot of these meals. cream Chip beef gravy. My kids like a lot of these which some of my grandkids like .homey is something we eat quite often.
My father grew up in Washington state during the depression. He had plenty of vegetables and fish.vThe only questionable thing was rhubarb juice without sugar. Rhubarb grew plentiful. My mother was in the middle of the dust bowl. Very few things grew because the top soil was gone. They often went hungry. Dandelion and squirrel soup was a common meal. If they were really lucky, they would get bread and milk. When the bread became to hard to eat, they would mix it with a little milk and honey. I'm amazed she lived through the depression.
We used to fill a glass with some sugar pick a stem of rhubarb Duncan in the sugar and eat it.
@@danielled1720 'Of Mice & Men' by John Steinbeck has been on the English school syllabus in UK from as long as I can remember. That was my introduction to the 1930s American dust bowl. It's very difficult to teach now to kids who have no comprehension of this state of poverty, but with the current cost of living crisis it may becoming back in fashion !
Yes farmers did not understand the methods they used caused the soil to vanish.
@@cherylcastillo7020 Amazing to think isn't it the Native American Indian had that land for centuries and no such problems.
Mom labeled that “Hoover Stew” as goulash.
Fried corn meal mush is still a favorite.
As a kid, one of my jobs was gathering dandelion greens. Best ones hadn’t blossomed yet.
Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
Many, many years ago my mom was a cook in a restaurant. Her specialty was German sauerbraten done the authentic way. Along with the meat she served fresh made potato pancakes and applesauce. Everyone loved the meal.
My favorite German meal my mother would make was German Potatoes, crispy potatoes with sauerkraut onions and bits of bacon. 😊
My grandparents loveeeee bean soup they used to eat it all the Time
Polish pancakes are also called latkes. 7:54
Or they were called platskies English phonetics spelling.
When I was there it was called Placki (platz-key)
@@martybee6701 exactly. Grew up eating them. Now I make them!
I still use some of my grandmother's recipes from the Depression. Eggless Milkless Cookies come to mind.
Lets see in the past month I've made a version of hoover stew, dandelion salad, potato pancakes, egg drop soup, bean soup, and potato soup. I must live in the great depression or be poor but enjoying good tasting food
You should try the cornmeal mush sliced and fried in butter. Serve with more butter and syrup. Delicious. We also made our potato cakes with left over mashed potatoes with a little flour and an egg if available. 😋😋😋
Prune cake was my dad's favorite! It's pretty good. He would often cook up a pot of beans on a Saturday morning and I loved those too.
My great aunt Isabelle used to make some kind of prune/dried fruit "cake", which she served to us kids when we visited. With Moxie. It was like purgatory, visiting Auntie Belle and Aunt Teeny (who wasn't). You kept hoping it would end soon.
My grandmother used to make Corn Meal mush for dinner and then refrigerated the leftovers and made us fried corn meal mush for dinner the next day. Good memories!
Brunswick Stew is still a hot item in North Carolina. So, here, when we say "barbeque ", we're referring to shredded pork and a vinegar based sauce. It's all I've ever known and I adore it! If you hit up a bbq joint here, you'll absolutely be able to get Brunswick stew. It's made with that shredded pork, though, NOT squirrel. Although, my husband grew up in a big family with little money and his dad did sometimes make it with squirrel
Oh my gosh! Potato pancakes are amazing!
I also love potato 🥔 pancakes 🥞😋!
Thank you for new ideas! Many of similar dishes are cooked in Russia - for instance, potato pancakes and also cabbage pancakes, dandelion salad etc., and I will try those I just learned from your video
I lived in Wisconsin a few years back on a dairy farm and the old man would make macaroni chili just like that hoover stew but with ground beef . it was good
My mom made the mock apple pie,cbut used saltines. And yes it tasted exactly like an apple pie.
Never had a salad. But my mom did deep fried dandelion flower. And they were good.
So... What you are calling milk toast we called French toast.
Our milk toast was toast. And a milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, mixture that was poured over the toast until saturated to your satisfaction.
What you show in your video as milk toast, we always had as French toast, and I don't know anyone in the state of Missouri that would call your milk toast anything but French toast.
Corned beef hash was a favorite at home, when mom could afford to get everything to make it.
One meal we had on a semi regular basis was macaroni and tomatoes.
Mom boiled the macaroni until done and then melted lots of butter in to it and added canned diced tomatoes and a can of tomato soup or sauce/paste. Seasoned only how mothers know how to properly season a good meal. And we all feasted on a low cost delicious meal until we were all full and happy.
This video makes me appreciate just how smart my mother was to "know/have learned" all these great meals from her mother. We didn't have much money, but mom always had a meal on the table for us brats. And we loved her for it whether we knew it then or not.
Wow the memories keep coming. Apple brown Betty's. Only had these a few times, but remember always liking them.
I never cared for potato pancakes. However if they had been done up more like a hash brown patty id probably have eaten everything.
My mom's mother used bacon grease instead of butter for macaroni and tomatoes. It was and still is a comfort food for me.
Creamed chipped beef is one of my FAVORITE comfort foods. My dad would make it for dinner sometimes when it was getting late and we needed a quick meal without much effort. I still make it often, especially in the winter when its cold out. It warms up your bones and fills your tummy!!
I couldn't help but notice that those potato pancakes looked eerily similar to hash browns
Yup same thing. Anna In Ohio
When I was a kid we went to Arizona to visit relatives we were gone a week my grandma went with us we had a vista cruiser no air conditioning it was awful so hot! When we got back home the grass was pretty long my grandma went out and picked a lot of dandelion leaves I never heard of it I asked my mom if we were poor thinking we spent all our money on vacation and had to eat weeds