My mother made this horrible lime jello with frozen peas and Mayo and grated carrots. When my siblings and I saw it on the buffet table we would wince ! We ate it because it made her happy! Then one year we confessed , turns out she didn't like it either and was only making because we were eating it , therefore she thought we liked and was making it to make us happy. Bless her heart, RIP .
I can remember my sweet grandmother telling me during the depression, she would boil hickory nuts for oil to season her beans or vegetables, also one person in the community could afford a newspaper, after they had read it it was passed around to everyone. She was always very thrifty. She died at the age of one hundred and one, and I miss her everyday.
I once asked my grandmother about the Depression. She said she read all about in the newspaper. “We were poor before the depression. We were poor during the depression. We were poor after the depression. It made no difference to us.”
Ain't that the darn truth. Also it's even crazier some people were way more worse off than that. We should really all be thankful for the time we live in. We get sick We see a reliable doctor. We get hungry? Door dash hell we even got it where you don't even have to go GET the fucking food. There may come a day where someone says "my God they had it so amazing back then!" When speaking of our Era. Ps what's sad is some of these recipes filled my stomach. Growing up in poverty in alabama
My Granny at 9 years old helped her daddy log, they were dirt floor poor in the Western North Carolina Mtns, their home in winter granny said they'd wake up at times and have snow blown in on their blankets.
There’s actually a channel on UA-cam called cooking with Clara, which featured an elderly woman in her 90s making meals that they would have during the depression. She has passed on now but her videos are still up on the channel
My nana is 101 and I love hearing her talk about the Great Depression and World Wars. She was lucky enough to live on a farm, so her family didn't suffer as much as other people. They also fed people who would come by and need food, then they'd sleep on the back porch and would be gone by morning.
I am 71. In home economics class we made mock apple pie and prune whip. My grandparents were immigrants and were famous for feeding anyone who came to their door. Tina
My dad told me my grandma would make "Imaginary Sandwiches" for him & two older sisters. It was basically just ketchup on bread & u could "Imagine" any other thing u wanted along w/it..
@@anaacosta1941 It was . But then my grandma taught herself how to sew & became so good at it that my grandpa sold her stuff & ended up running a successful textile business ( so it has a happy ending👍)
My great grandmother helped to raise me. She was born in 1905. I always tell people I'm proud to have been raised by depression era folks because I know how to stretch a dollar and to make a meal out of scraps. My favorite meals she made were SOS and Chicken and Dumplings. Although she could take any leftover meat and make a croquette which she would serve with gravy and mashed potatoes. I miss her.
When I got pregnant for the first time, my husband's grandfather made me eat dandelion salad. I asked my OB if it was safe and she told me to eat all of the dandelion salad he could make me. I loved it. He grew up during the depression with 13 siblings. That man could stretch anything.
My grandmother was born in 1927 and grew up during the depression. She was 1 of 7 kids. Her family was share croppers. They ate anything that didn't move fast enough. They grew just about all the fruits and veggies they ate, they had cows, pigs, chickens etc that they could use for food. Canned their own veggies, all of that.
My grandma is Mexican, first generation, and during the Depression she lived with her grandma, her parents, and her five siblings. We still eat some of the things that they did then: oxtail soup and lengua stand out, though we’ve foregone things like lamb’s heads
My mother collected Betty Crocker cookbooks full of gelatin based salads. She was in a social club that met on Saturdays at the member's houses. They all cooked from those books. Oh, the memories!
My dad and his siblings were products of the depression. My grandmother never left the depression in many ways. She saved everything, even the butter wrappers to grease pans with. She could make a good tasting meal out of anything in no time at all.
My grandmother is 94 and still does this as well. Even though she married into a rich family, she never forgot those tough times. She still is very frugal and refuses to waste anything including the plastic cutlery from Wendy's.
My high school english teacher told us her grandmother was also severly affected by the depression. When her grandparents passed she and her sister had to help clean out their basement. According to her they found hundreds of canned/preserved peaches, a dozen gallon jugs of cooking oil, and leakinh tinned/canned foods. Alot of the food was expired and leaking.
I was raised by my gramma who was born in the 50s, so her mom is from the Great Depression. She said her mom used to feed an entire family of 10 with one chicken… only later in life did she realize how amazing that was. As an adult I understand and I’m happy to say they passed on their knowledge 🥰 …you gotta spatchcock the chicken btw, and Dad gets the biggest portion (cuz he works) and the kid’s portion depends on age. Then, you use the spine to make a broth, which you use to cook 2 cups of rice in (stretch it with water and add salt/Misc veg). It’s actually delicious and yummy and just feels like southern soulfood instead of a struggle meal. My dads mom made a lot of cabbage, corn, beans, and meatloaf… but he was an only child so they were relatively “wealthy”
I have an older friend who was the youngest in his family so he always got the feet of the chicken. He had never even eaten any chicken meat till he was older. When he had kids they would have popcorn sundays. And that was all they ate on those days.
My grandparents lived through the Great Depression. I've eaten a few of these dishes. Still eat a few today. I didn't realize milk and Mac and cheese became staples of that Era.
My grandparents, great uncles/aunts have told me horrible stories of going days without eating, living in a neighbor's barn. And all of them to this day still under eat, stock pile on can goods freeze everything, and we've found hundreds of dollars in shoe boxes, desk draws, etc
Yeah...I have noticed that people who had deprived childhoods often grow up to be hoarders. I have observed this same sort of behaviors in people who survived the Depression and in refugees from Vietnam and various other conflicts.Sometimes their children and grandchildren pick up the habit too...my mother is a terrible hoarder, and constantly skimped on my food and clothing as a kid and bragged about how little she and her sisters made do with growing up with parents who survived the Depression in a town where the local library only had about a dozen books that were considered suitable for girls.
I do all the above. I consider myself a prepper. When the pandemic made going to the store an act of foolhardiness or bravery, I had all I needed to be safe and comfy. My storage of consumables seems like only being responsible to me. I have taught my children and grandchildren the same. Trusting the trucks will always arrive at stores that only have a 3 day supply for the entire population seems absurd to me.
An old family recipe from the Great Depression was what we called "Poor Man's Pot". It was a casserole made with alternating layers of slice potatoes and sliced onions. Then you added a little milk. If you had it, you sprinkled a little cheese on top, then you baked it. We ate that at least once a week growing up.
I am one of those real humans, who buys the chipped beef (yes, they still sell it) and make it from scratch... maybe 1-2 times a year, because I *like it*.
My mother said her family lived on corn meal mush and there was constant economic insecurity. My father said that sometimes parents went without eating so that the children could eat. He was very emotional telling me what it was like and said we must never let it happen again.
Before the pandemic, around 10% of American households were food insecure. During the pandemic, 25% of American households experienced food insecurity. Guess we kinda dropped the ball on that one.
Jesse Martin I’m afraid we’ve let it happen again. Unless our pantry’s are well-stocked and we have seeds and the knowledge to grow food we’re going to get hungry.
My husband tells a similar story about being the 12th child to a coal miner. Mom would fix dinner and put it on table. Mom and dad would go in the other room because there was not enough for them to eat and not to take the meager meal from the children. He said they were always hungry.
I asked my great-grandma, who was born in 1920 (she's dead now), how life was living through the great depression and she said "Son, my whole life was a great depression."
My grandma said she never knew about the depression. They just kept farming like normal. They had a cow, 2 mules, some pigs, and some farmland for peanuts, cotton, and corn
My great grandmother(born in1896) had a depressing life, she went through the spanish flu, depression era, lost 2 children, a son who died at 16 from a burst appendix, and a daughter 9,from scarlet fever. They never had enough money, and when I think about all she went through,I want to cry!
That generation couldn't catch a break. It was grueling poverty as children, so they usually didn't get much school. It was menial, low wage jobs from there. As young adults, WWII filled their lives. If they were lucky to survive and get past all that, they MIGHT with heroic effort become lower middle class. Just as they began to recover from WWII, here came Korea, and many that saw WWII first hand, had to go to Korea. By the time they were in their mid 40s, they might become lower middle class struggling to care for their kids on low wages. The tragedy of children unable to go to school (often abandoned to the streets or orphanages) sentenced them to lifeong hard work, poverty, and psychological trauma. The only other generation of child that experienced this life altering childhood and constant hardships throughout life is maybe the children of the Civil War...on both sides and of both races. The southerners didn't really begin to recover until just before the depression, and it all just started again.
Thanks for the video! 😁If I could just add a tiny precision: it was not Thomas Jefferson himself who came with mac and cheese in the U.S. but it was his enslaved chef, James Hemings. Indeed, after visiting Europe in the 1780s, Jefferson fell in love with this dish. After coming back to the U.S, he held big receptions where was served the famous mac and cheese cooked by James Hemings who succeeded to recreate the recipe that Jefferson adored.
My Grandmother NEVER let me forget about the Depression. Anytime I didn't want to finish anything, she was quick to remind me that people would have been happy to have what I didn't want. At the time I thought it was annoying, but looking back I'm glad she did. Lesson; be thankful for EVERYTHING you have, because there is ALWAYS someone less fortunate.
My Grandma saved all leftover and made a pie with them once a week. She made a gravy, added leftovers and baked in a pie shell. Delicious and different every week. She had a pot on the stove she boiled meat bones,potato skins, the ends of carrots and celery etc. She used the broth to season cooking and make gravy. When the depression was over she continued to have her pot going and poured the broth in her garden. Nothing went to waste.
@@sammyjo8109 I think this country would be in a much better place if most people were that way. We as Americans are spoiled, and waste so much that just doesn't need to be wasted. Especially with the overwhelming homeless population we have.
@@justinhall2711 I remain a penny pincher LOL. My mother taught me to make a weekly menu based around what was on sale and what I had in the pantry. That saved a lot of money. My daughters continue that in their homes.
Unfortunately, than can cause those of us not starving to be part of the clean plate club & overeat. Better to teach taking smaller portions & adding another if still hungry--but they had good motive.
When I grew up we didn't have much. During the summer an old farmer we knew would drive around and sell his produce every Saturday. My mom would buy green tomatoes from him. That night we would have fried green tomatoes and cornbread for supper. We all loved it. To this day I still love fried green tomatoes.
I didn’t live during the depression, but we grew up rather poor. A LOT of the meals in this video are things my mother made for us. The “goulash” of noodles, ground meat, and tomatoes, sh*t on a shingle, mulligan stew, hotdogs in everything, Kraft dinner with fried potatoes (for days! Lol), it’s all a part of my childhood and honestly it’s my comfort foods!!
My great grandma told me about the great depression. She lived on a farm with a garden,pigs,cows,and chickens so she had no struggles with food. But she almost lost her farm. Thank god for family,almost all of them moved into the family house to help with farm work and income. I'm so proud of my family
My dad was little during the depression and he said he didn't know anything about the depression because I guess they raised a big garden and maybe their own meat and my dad said his dad would bring people off the street and feed them. My grandpa was a preacher. I watched a video of my dad talking a little about it. I didn't see it until after he passed so I couldn't ask him anything more about.
@@conleykat that's amazing! Alot of the farmers really didn't struggle when it came down to eating,but financially it was hell from what my grandma said. Glad you were able to get some information from your dad though
@@anelablanchard7720 Yes it is and I'm glad I did too. I need to transfer the video from vhs to dvd. I have some more home videos and my granddaughter's ultra sound video to have transferred too. I forgot I had videos of my kids when they were younger.
My mom told us during the depression her parents rented out the town home and moved out to a family member's farm, where all the relatives had gathered and lived together till the depression ended. She said they would put the chicken eggs in the spring water to keep them fresh. That was their refrigeration!
Technically the Great Depression started because of the stock market crash of 1929. So, most of the Great Depression happened in the 1930s. So be prepared for your 30s 😀
My grandma, who died of covid last may, lived through the depression. She used to make these little balls she called wedding cakes. They were flour and peanuts (or whatever nuts you could get) and the tiniest bit of powdered sugar (again, if you could get it). It was cheap and simple but I always loved them, they had a light nutty taste that was actually a lot sweeter than you'd expect. I'm of Irish descent and grew up very poor so I have a lot of memorized recipes from her, but I recently found the wedding cake recipe written on a card in some of her documents. Miss you, Granny
Publish a small book of your family recipes! The online sites make it easy! Submit a PDF and a price you are willing to Split with company providing the needed bandwidth, processing! Doesn't have to be War and Peace! Just know you can't get $10 for 6 pages either
My sister in law still makes what I refer to as SNOWBALLS. They might be called wedding cakes but the exact same recipe…with powdered sugar on the outside.
When I was a little kid in the 70s, my grand parents and great grand parents never talked about their childhood or young adult years in the depression or war years. I never could understand them and their love of food. They lived for it..Some of it quite wierd. All I learned was nothing made an old person more upset than a little kid who is a picky eater, complaining about the food put in front of them or the need to clean your plate even if you was full..wasting food was a no no. You were forced to sit at the table untill everything was eaten . Like I said , nothing was explained or taught to me and my cousins. It was : just eat and keep your mouth shut. I didn't learn until much later what they went through and lived without. I went without solid food one summer for almost two months. It was then that I learned what hunger really is and how it alters your sense of taste and your mindset. Looking back on them almost half a century later, I am grateful. I tell young people today that they may one day face going without and gladly eating things they would otherwise never touch much less taste. That all this food they see could one day be gone easily..My grandparents called my generation spoiled back then..now I know what they mean. Be grateful for the food God puts in front of you.
I would always beg my grandparents to tell me stories about when they were young, and I was disappointed & mystified because they never would. When I learned more history, I understood their reluctance better. My grandparents never scolded me for not eating all my food. Whatever I left on my plate, they'd gladly eat.
I have a feeling within next few years things are going to get bad again and we all will be having to learn to live the in the depression Era. Thankfull my grandparents taught my parents and they taught us how to survive,etc. We live in small.rural area and we still make some of these recipes as it's normal food around here.
OMG! I remember when one of my teenage brothers said out loud, "This is disgusting." Bad idea, dad pick up his plate and said "if you're not going to eat it you're going to wear it." A plate piled high with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, veg, all drenched in plenty of gravy, up sidel down on top of his head!
Can you imagine what your grandparents & my great grandparents would think of kids my childrens ages? How easy they have it? How lazy & weak they are (with some exceptions)? 32 & 23?? They have eaten sh__it on the shingle & mulligan stew, without the tobacco & belly lint!! And we know we are guilty of making them sofy, by buying everything they "demanded?"
My father grew up during the depression and his father was better off than some because they were able to raise their food but he told the story of his father building him a little wooden car and he played with it all morning instead of doing his chores. When his mother called everyone to lunch my daddy only had a pine cone on his plate. His father explained that if he didn’t do his work he wasn’t going to eat. Needless to say my father carried that work ethic all his life. My grandparents were 45 and 52 years old when my daddy was born so he was very precious to them. But work was work.
My grandma fed 5 people with two eggs and grilled onions. She was actually a good cook, but sometimes they didn’t have enough food. She still Shared what she had
My Grandmother used to make dandelion green salad once or twice a week in the summer. She had an abundance of dandelions growing in her back yard ( over 2 acres of them ). She would rinse the leaves and tear them in pieces. Then add chopped fresh tomatoes, onions & cucumbers from her garden and top it with homemade hot bacon dressing. It was absolutely delicious !!!!
@@AK-jt7kh Yes she was, she lived through the great depression and learned how to make do with whatever she had all while tending to 7 children !!! Unfortunately none of those children are still with us, my youngest Aunt passed in February, she was 89.
My grandparents were married as teenagers in the beginning of the depression. Their first house was an old chicken coop on my grandpa's parents farm. They cleaned it out, fixed it up and lived in it for a few years. My grandma said they could lie in bed and see the stars through the cracks in the walls. She lived to 96 and lived on her own until age 95, carrying her own firewood and continuing to tend a vegetable garden until she was forced to move into a home. The depression gave her an iron will and a survivor spirit. They don't make them like that anymore.
There's a slight side note here that Jello was actually considered something to show off because it required Refrigeration to preserve and set so electricity and Refrigeration being two of the most scarce of things in the Dust Bowl it was reserved solely for those that can afford to set their jello
For my Momsie (1932-2020) no holiday meal was served without Jello, even now as a vegetarian, I will hunt down a vegetarian version just to “complete” holiday meals. In the 60s line with pears was a big deal and Cool Whip later on....
@@auspiciouscloud8786 There's something called agar agar that's a lot like gelatine but it's a compound made from red seaweed. I wonder if you could use that?
My granny raised me. She was a simple lil mountain granny. She had these senior TV dinners that they delivered to the senior citizens. She never had sweets except oatmeal cream pies I still to this day refuse eating them. Well they also sent dried prunes. I didn’t know what the hell a prune was or what they do to u! I loved them they were so good so I put a bunch in a bowl and sat down in front of the tv. Well after eating a bunch she asked me what I was eating. When I said prunes she started laughing eyes all big with surprise. She said “u are gonna be glued to the toilet tomorrow” she wasn’t lying 🤣🤣🤣 being the type person who can’t use but my own bathroom I had to miss school the next day. That was one of her fav stories to remind me of and always made her laugh so much.
Ironically for me my grandparents had tons of plum trees I used to climb and eat those plums all the time dozens at a time and they never had an effect on me I didn't have to go to the bathroom after eating a lot of plums let alone prunes ... sorry to hear that about you....
When I was growing up I ate whole boxes of prunes because they were so good. I never knew (until I was grown) that people typically ate those for their bowel health. They never affected me that way.
Is that a surprise? Millions of stupid people crap out even dumber children, all while demanding the little dregs be recognized for their genius and contributions to society. The politicians elected and paid by those parents naturally capitulate. Enjoy those participation trophies.
My grandmother (born in 1908) said that the whole time she was pregnant with my aunt (born in 1935) that about all she had to eat was oatmeal. My aunt seemed healthy enough and eventually earned a master's degree and was a high school history teacher for many years.
Yes you can have healthy babies even on a very limited diet...I suffered from HG and held next to nothing down. I vomited even when my stomach was empty, meaning I puked up stomach acid and yellow/green bile. I lost a ton of weight. I was terrified my baby would be unhealthy....he came out weighing 9 lbs, 6 oz and 22 inches long 😂
you know what?!? that reminds me of the time my mother would tell us all about how they ate bread sandwiches and tap water cereal. and then last week i went to dollar general to get trash bags bc i used em all.
My grandma lived in england during this. She still microwaves ketchup and water,says it's soop?? She also told me a story about how she bought a few different apples to make a pie, but she decided to plant the seeds and profited by giving them to my dad and uncle to sell at school. When she turned about 45/50 she started making orange marmalade she forgot about her lesson about apples and threw the peels and seeds out into the composter. About a month later there were about 30 little orange trees.she remembered what happened and so cleared up some land and planted them separately. All of the trees are still there and yes nana still be making a mean jar of jam :::)))
Precious story. The older generation's should be respected for their perseverance and ability to provide the essentials in life to their families.. God bless you all!!
When I was a young musician in Chicago back in 1969, I tried to make Ketchup spaghetti... just spaghetti with ketchup mixed in... not so good. So I lived off the alternative - boiled garbanzo beans marinated in oil, vinegar, chopped onion and sprinkled with some crushed oregano. It kept me alive...
Your video reminds me of an old saying, "Hunger makes the best gravy." So these dishes sound weird and are not very tasty but if you are hungry enough, they will save your life.
My grandma passed down the recipe for hobo stew to me, except we call it cowboys dream. Potatoes, carrots, corn, green beans, peas, browned ground beef, cooked in tomato juice with celery salt and pepper. I still make it for dinner in the winter sometimes. It’s actually delicious. And you can use canned potatoes and canned mixed vegetables if you need to make it faster/cheaper/easier
my Mom was a Depression Era Baby so she brought a lot of those foods to our table, Macaroni and tomato juice, home made pasta, boiled potatoes in every form, meatless meals, hot dogs were very cheap, hamburger was not. I still like chili con carne and macaroni - chilimac. fried potatoes and pork'n'beans, good simple eatin'
MACARONI AND TOMATO JUICE!!! I thought that was a wired thing my family did, guess Great Grandma was from that era. We like to our shredded cheese in ours.
my grandparents grew up during the depression and my grandmother never forgot what it was like. She would rinse out Ziploc baggies as long as they never had meat in them. She would grease pans with butter wrappers she saved in the freezer. She made pretty much anything from scratch. They also had a garden and gram would can everything she could, from vegetables to fruit. I learned how to be thrifty from watching her when I was growing up. I actually will rinse and reuse Ziploc baggies and I use butter wrappers to grease pans with :D Unfortunately gram has been gone for 26 years but I still do a lot of things like she did including making a lot of things from scratch
@@kellyhoward6941 Where I live nobody had ziploc bags lol. In a communist country that was like some alien technology. We brought our sandwiches to school wrapped in paper or tin foil. Looking it up, ziploc was invented in 1968 so Americans didn't have them either during the depression era. Also it was meant to be reusable. Not reusing them after storing raw meat in them is reasonable tho.
@@CsImre Huh, I didn't realize ziplocs came to be that early, thought it was at least a decade later. Very true on not reusing raw meat holders! I only wash & reuse ones that have no-fat stuff in 'em & nothing icky. I may be near-broke, but food poisoning isn't worth a few cents.😅🤢🤢
I reuse plastic sandwich bags, too. Also, I keep and reuse glass jars that I bought salsa, spaghetti sauce, etc. They make great containers for leftovers and can be put in the freezer. Clean up is easy - my dishwasher!
I dont think people realize how bad the great depression really was. More than 1000 people committed suicide and hundreds of others died from starvation or couldn't get any medication for their illnesses. It was a terrible time and time that should be remembered and respected.
@@sherbetlemons unfortunately helplessly checking out doesn’t do any good either; opting not to vote is still a vote; doing something is better then doing nothing. Anyway ...
It's amazing what is taken for granted these days, I grew up sometimes living with my Grandparents on my father's side of the family and their families ( my Grammy's 11 surviving brothers and sisters and my Papa's 13 ) and they left a huge impression on me. They were born before or during the great depression and were raised on farms not far away from each other. I learned a lot from all of them, how to cook, how to work, how to be an adult, family values, the value of money, and how to judge people by the content of their character. Everyone has something to contribute, and the merits of your actions far outweigh the words you speak.
@@elizabethyoung4469 I had no idea about it’s history and was always confused why they called it SOS. I just knew it tasted good. The Marine Corps still serves sausage or meat gravy with everything. It’s cheap and always goes great smothered on everything.
I grew up eating peanut butter onion sandwiches. I lived with my grandparents, my grandma being born in 1937. She would eat them, and I wanted to eat what she ate lol. I pretended to like it as a bonding thing, and then eventually acquired a taste for it. I still to this day eat peanut butter and onion sandwiches, and I still get funny reactions from people 😂
@@clu1632 I don’t think I would ever combine those lol. I love pickles, but never sandwich pickles. I prefer Dills. I never get pickles on my sandwich.
@@shieh.4743 Especially grilled cheese and onions on white buttered bread AND a side of tomato soup with lots of saltines broken up in it. Love it now and then.
my grandmother lived through the great depression and my favorite thing she made is something i rarely, if ever, see anyone mention- chocolate gravy. Sounds awful, but honestly, it was something all of us looked forward to more than almost any other meal she cooked because it was a rare treat. it was her way of being able to give her kids something sweet using ingredients she always had.
My Grandmother was a depression Era kid. She always asked for extra ketchup packets at restaurants (to take home). I asked her why once as a child. She td me because during the depression they would make ketchup soup. Who knew...my grandmother was a prepper! She did this until her passing in the late 2000's! She never wanted for food or soup since I knew her, so she didn't HAVE to keep the habit, but she did! And that tells you how deeply the depression affected people...and I never saw her make & eat ketchup soup either...
I agree i grew up in a poor home due to my mother being very rebellious an we had to deal with homelessness an not having food an bread an salt were goods at some point i realized i wanted change, tbh i prayed everyday an one day we got a call that we got a place right before Christmas. It was honestly the only thing i wanted since friends in my school bullied me over being homeless
@@tazmycreations9185 You probably meant to say that your friends were teasing you about being homeless, because why the hell would you be friends with your bullies?? Glad to hear that your life has taken a turn for the best though.
My parents were from the depression era as well. I hate to admit it I take extra packets of ketchup to take home as well. Old habits can be generational!
My mother lived through the depression and had rather a hard time of it. Large family, small income, even some stories of malnutrition sores among the little ones. During some of the better times she described a rare treat, snow ice cream. Snow they had plenty of . . . in a square baking pan, powder snow, sugar, cream and perhaps vanilla combined to make this thrifty dish.
I’ve turned all 3 of my granddaughters on to Snow Cream. They live in Colorado so no shortage of snow there! I like it best with evaporated milk, sugar & vanilla. We all love it-there’s nothing better!
I always loved cooking with my grandma, who lived through the Great Depression. She did a lot of baking with Crisco, and always had a backyard garden, berry bushes, and an apple tree. She canned everything, and frequently made vegetable pot pies (crust made with Crisco, of course). Then she'd take the scraps of pie dough and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on them and bake them for treats. She never wasted anything!
My grandmother made those cinnamon/sugar sprinkled pie crust strips also!! Loved those! We would eat them warm out of the oven. There were never any leftover for the next day!
I'm from western Canada, my father used to serve 'depression supper' as basically a macaroni cassaeole with cheese and two pieces of bacon on top. I bet it cost something like $3 to make and fed our whole family. He had it as a kid during the depression himself.
"Government cheese" was plentiful according to my mom, who would go down to the Navy docks where sailors would give her food leftover from a voyage. I grew up eating a lot of wartime and depression-era foods.
Here in Denmark we have something called “sylte”. It’s shredded pigs meat in gelatin with different spices. It’s a Christmas stable and it is commonly eaten on rye bread maybe with some spicy mustard on top. I really like it.
@@fredrickmarsiello4395 Polish, eh? I bet all European pork-eating countries have something similar. Made with the particularly delicate and tasty meat on the pig's head, and turned into an "ost" through pigs' natural gelatin. Eaten with pickled beets!
I could see how a peanut butter stuffed onion could potentially be good if you added ginger and soy sauce to it. Lots of Asian dishes combine peanuts and onions, so it's not that far off.
My grandparents were share croppers in south Mississippi. It had to come from there if you want to eat it! They got an apple each, & some nuts each Christmas. 12 kids is a lot to feed! Lol
My mother has told me horror stories about some of the aspics and congealed salads that her parent's generation made. Apparently, there was a tomato aspic that grandma thought was the height of class for lodge meeting pot lucks that could stun a charging rhino. But there was great food that came out of that time as well. Mom.s parent's had some small acreage, not enough to really make a living on, but they had big gardens, fruit trees, raised their own meat and eggs. It was simple country cooking but dinner came out of the garden/arbor/henhouse/orchard the day that you ate it. The food was fresh and clean, and they would take their peaches down to the Columbia to trade for Salmon that had literally just been pulled out of the water by native fisherman. You don't have to worry about farm to table if the table is already on the farm.
That’s how my mother and my grandparents made it through rationing during the War. You couldn’t trade your food legally, but mum said they ate well in a time of National strife.
Dandelion leaves are actually quite delicious, in greece we boil them and eat as a side with meats and so on, often eat it with feta cheese too and other things
I ate a lot like this growing up. Both my great grandparents grew up in the Great Depression. My great father until the day he died (September 2019) refused to put any money he made in the bank. My great grandmother( died in January 2017)would always can and preserve anything she could.
Yeah I bet that would be a hard mentality to get out of. My great aunt always saved and reused things most people wouldn't aluminum foil, zip lock bags, and the sacred tradition passed down through all Midwestern families, one big walmart sack stuffed full to bursting with other walmart sacks. She also would save and eat leftovers alot longer than is probably advisable but I get it an experience like that sticks with you.
My grandmother talked about her mother making mock apple pie using zucchini, which could be grown in any backyard. Peeled, seeded, and cut into apple shapes, mixed with apple pie spices and you couldn't tell the difference since zucchini almost has no flavor and takes on the flavors you mix with it. We like it so much, I still make it to this day in 2021.
My family makes just as many zucchini loaves as banana loaves and they're delicious. You're right, zucchini doesn't alter the flavor at all, great vehicle for spices.
My dad was born in '52 and had ten siblings. Macaroni with hotdogs and a can of diced tomatoes is still one of his favorites. Thanks a million for another awesome video WHC!
My grandparents were loggers in the north during the depression, winters were rough, but there was always plenty of food in the woods in the form of deer to hunt.
This reminded me of Clara's Great Depression Cooking channel here on UA-cam. That sweet lady warms my heart everytime and her stories of that era are wonderful. Glad her memories can live on.
I had a dinner party a few years ago and my dinner guests remarked on the delicious "poverty food" I was serving. They wanted to know which cookbook I used. I was just preparing dishes I grew up on.
Eleanor Roosevelt was such an amazing woman! I love her! Let's just ask ourselves which first ladies would be like her and eat poor food while in the White House and which first ladies wouldn't give a fuck and would eat rich food while in the White House.
I learned to economize from my mother who grow up during the depression. I think the enemy today is fast food and dine in restaurants. One day after paying $10.00 at McDonalds for a meal for myself I realized I could have bought a loaf of bread, a large pack of bologna, two pounds of bananas, a large bag of store brand potato chips and a 12 pack of store brand cola for the same $10.00. It is just as fast to make bologna sandwiches as it is the go through a drive thru. I was able to have 5 lunches with what I bought.
I live near Bologna and it’s always funny to read about that type of food, especially because I think it’s a sort of less rich mortadella, probably an Italian immigrant work. Maybe particularly fitted for this video!
@@sammyjo8109 They cost about the same already rotisseried, and sometimes less than a raw chicken depending on the store. That was one of the very first money saving tips I ever learned!
I think you should a whole weird history video on the Great Depression itself. What led to it, it’s repercussions to this day etc Could start with how the end of the First World War brought about the roaring 20’s in the US and how it all ended in Black Thursday in 1929.
My mom grew up in the depression and loved dandelion salad. When I was a kid I was so confused - we're going to eat weeds? My Dad laughed and said they are tasty - and the only thing that makes them a weed is they grow without any help from us :)
In Greece boiled weeds (mainly dandelion but a few others as well) with olive oil and lemon juice is part of traditional cuisine and a tasty healthy salad that people enjoy to this day. You just need to know what weeds to pick because most kinds are way too bitter.
The very "weeds" they say we should cut out our lawns are the same ones that have great healing power. Makes you wonder why they promote to get rid of them.
@@tam5949 facts my grandma always goes foraging for weeds and makes teas and stuff for my grandpa and idk how it happened but his diabetes is going away
What I learned from my grandparents about surviving the Great Depression served me well in college, and now during the pandemic inflation. Lots of beans, rice, pasta, a little bit of olive oil, salt, herbs & spices, and whatever veggies I could either grow in pots on the patio or get on sale/clearance at the grocery store. A whole chicken could last me a month, including making a broth from the carcass (frozen leftovers of course).
It's amazing how far just some simple meal budgeting and knowing how to cook can save people so much money! I know some people who didn't learn how to even do basic cooking till they were almost 30! (I am not not talking making some gourmet meal I mean like they couldn't even follow a recipe or make pasta for crying out loud!) I can easily make and freeze black bean and rice burritos for less than a dollar a burrito versus paying $10 a meal or more on take out!
I thought I was the only one who could make a store bought rotisserie chicken last so long. Chicken and rice, chicken salad sandwiches, chicken soup and chicken broth. Cat food too. After that poor little six dollar foul is finally gone..... I crave a fat juicy steak! 😋
You boiled the living right out of all of it. not much left to eat in terms of nutes really. Id rather just eat its ingredients raw. Slice the potato thin, salt and oil. eat the carrots blabla.
Here in Germany dandelion is still eaten in salads, even with nettle and daisy. I also think during the second world war they made coffee substitute out of Wildflowers because coffee wasn't readily available
I remember watching one episode of that show. Susanne Crough was one of the children. She informed her aunt that they were vegetarians and Eleanor started to cook some mac and cheese and the other children told her Susanne was lying. The youngest was a cute little five year old Vietnamese girl the family adopted and she told her aunt that she ate hot dogs when she was living in the orphans home. That's all I can remember except the nephew slept with a teddy bear and his cousins, Eleanor's children made fun of him.
I grew up during the 60’s. I seem to remember this depression pie showing up at least a few times/year as an adult. My aunt always baked blueberry pie from the blueberries we picked from the bush in the yard. It was the best pie in the world!
There is actually another classic of the era "spaghetti omelette' with leftover spaghetti and onions if you had some fried up. I STILL make this sometimes. Comfort food.
@@katla_phc I'm Jewish and grew up with 'Matzoh Brei' made in a lot of butter and with some fried onions or else made sweeter and served with strawberry jam.
When I was in university, I made the Ritz mock apple pie when that recipe came out in 1991. My roommates could not believe it was not made of apples. It was really good!! I was willing to give it a go bc I had heard stories of my great aunt had made Ritz mock apple pie during back in her heyday. Thanks for the video!! ❤️🇨🇦
It was a "thing" in the late '50's and early '60's. My mother, my aunt, my neighbor, my grandma all made it. It's good because of the sugar and milk, but sooner or later you realize you aren't tasting apple anywhere. ;-)
A decade ago I was visiting my mother's home for Christmas, and she asked me if I wanted a glass of milk with my dinner (I was 35 at the time). "No thank you, I actually don't really drink milk." She was flabbergasted.
I don't drink Holestien milk, it is bitter, with huge undigestible globules, the Homigazed milk was drinkable, and Jersey/Gurnesy milk smaller globules and sweeter.
My grandparents ate onion sandwiches and oatmeal, along with "home brew". They stuck it out, and never turned to "relief" as it was called then. They raised chickens and gardened, and when my grandfather got called back to the railroad in 1938 (after an 8 year furlough) he never turned down overtime. Both lived into their nineties and were married over 70 years. As a side note- they had no use for FDR.
My grandma grew up during the great depression. She had a pet rabbit. One day she came home to no rabbit and her mom cooking. She skipped out on dinner that night.
I can't imagine the dialogue that ensued "Sweetie, if it makes you feel any better, Mr Fluffles will always be in your heart, but also in your stomach"
My mom makes a jello salad sometimes. Cool Whip, cottage cheese, a strained can of crushed pineapple, and powdered strawberry jello mixed together and left to sit for a few hours in the fridge. She also sometimes replaces the pineapple with canned mandarin oranges. Both taste great!
Dandelion! The whole plant is edible ,so why do they call it invasive ? The roots of the plant r also good for the dirt and the bees love them the flowers* too. So why does everyone pull them out the ground n throw them away...you can also make a tea . A salve and a skin cream there's so much. We need more dandelion activists
This video makes me appreciate what I have now. I know my grandparents and great grandparents suffered through so much during the depression, and told me about many of these foods.
I was born after the Depression but towards the end of the pay period, we would have a dinner consisting of bologna cut into small squares fried with butter and onions. Then my mom would add a glass of water and put on a lid to make the sauce. Dipping rye bread in the sauce completed the meal. I actually kind of liked it.
My mom had a meat grinder that clamp to the counter top (I have it now but don't use it due to hygiene reasons). She. Everything with bologna! Meat loaf, sandwich spread, potato soup, SOS. I loved the bologna and dill pickle sandwiches on homemade bread.
When my grandma was a kid during the Great Depression, they always made “cracker dressing”, which has been in my family for years to this day. Crumbled up saltine crackers, a little bit of chicken broth (they made it homemade), boiled eggs sliced up in small bits from their chickens and a yellow onion they grew from the garden!! It’s so good.
When I was a child, my grandma had me and my sister pick dandelions outside her house and we came back with them and she used them to cook dandelion stew for us. I always thought it was weird, but after watching this video, it makes sense now.
Personally, I like raw dandelion greens in a salad. I think they taste like spinach. Since I don't like cooked spinach, I probably wouldn't like cooked dandelion.
I grew up in the Midwest with parents who were children of the Great Depression. Saturday noon lunches were often macaroni and cheese (homemade or Kraft), grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup, or chipped beef in a white sauce over homemade biscuits. The chipped beef one was my favorite. My father didn’t cook very often, but before my sister and I were old enough to cook, if my mom was gone at a meal, he would sometimes fry bologna. First, he would make a slice from the center to an outside edge to make sure that the bologna would lie flat while cooking.
My great gramma taught me how to make "Depression Burgers". You beat eggs and add Italian/seasoned bread crumbs until it is formable(like a potato pancake) You shape it into a pattie, fry it, slap a piece of cheese on it, no bread. They are actually good. We always made them after we breaded smthg we were frying and I liked them better than wtvr it was that we were making. My kids love them and it is definitely a oomfort food for me :)
*i ate those. but they were made a little differently when i was a kid. egg and breadcrumb were used to batter eggplant and my grandmother would add the leftover egg to the breadcrumb and fry it into cakes. they really are delicious.*
@@thelmadunn7598 Oh I remember making stone soup in school! I think I was in 1st grade which would have been in 1982. I had completely forgotten about that until I read this comment. What a nice memory!
Both of my parents went through the great depression. My mom could make a great meal out of just about anything. We ate horse meat a couple of times. . We bought cracked eggs from a local egg farm. We ate S O S quite a bit growing up. I remember some jello salads too but they were good. Chopped apples and nuts in one. Seems like there was another one with cranberries that we had for Christmas. Good times!
My mom was born in 1918 but when I was a kid she fixed cold potato and mustard sandwiches. Onion slices on white bread and Milk toast. I loved milk toast with butter and salt and pepper, but some people didn't know what I was talking about. Interesting. . . I didn't know it was depression food..
My stepfather showed me about crushing saltine crackers in a bowl and putting a little milk and that was your 🥣 cereal for breakfast if you are lucky you can have a little sugar to counteract the salt
My parents grew up during the depression. They often spoke of their sparse bland diet. My mom would make dishes from that area, vinegar pie she called poor man’s pie and catch all soup. The soup was made by combining all leftovers into a pot of chicken stock. Nothing went to waste in my mom’s kitchen
My mom still to this day keeps a container in the freezer that she tosses leftover veggies into. Once a month she makes "garbage soup". Doesn't sound yummy, but it sure is!
@@annefine7135 On Sunday evenings my Mom would just gather up all the leftovers from the week and make a "hobo" type soup. There could be almost anything in it but it always tasted good with grilled cheese sandwiches.
My grandmother and her siblings grew up in the Great Depression and they would have loved any of the foods in this video. They were very young, and sent out into the swamp to gather food daily. It got worse as time went on, and her older brothers and sister were sent to the Peterboro Orphanage, where they were rented out to local farms to do field work, or work in the mills. The plus side for me is that I know how to be self sufficient and not waste anything.
My mother made this horrible lime jello with frozen peas and Mayo and grated carrots. When my siblings and I saw it on the buffet table we would wince ! We ate it because it made her happy! Then one year we confessed , turns out she didn't like it either and was only making because we were eating it , therefore she thought we liked and was making it to make us happy. Bless her heart, RIP .
Lol! I think every family has something similar 😆
@@lapislazarus8899 Yep!
@@lapislazarus8899
Your family similar? Tell us? 🥴
Yikes! 🤢
COMMUNICATION!! COMMUNICATION!!
LOL!
I can remember my sweet grandmother telling me during the depression, she would boil hickory nuts for oil to season her beans or vegetables, also one person in the community could afford a newspaper, after they had read it it was passed around to everyone. She was always very thrifty. She died at the age of one hundred and one, and I miss her everyday.
BRILLIANT GRANNY YOU HAD LOVE😘
WoW 101 what a blessing.
@EfU UTube this is so true
101? God bless her! It was probably all that thriftiness and hard work that helped contribute to her longevity.
Ila Craft, wish we could ALL live as long as your grandma.
I once asked my grandmother about the Depression. She said she read all about in the newspaper. “We were poor before the depression. We were poor during the depression. We were poor after the depression. It made no difference to us.”
Ain't that the darn truth. Also it's even crazier some people were way more worse off than that.
We should really all be thankful for the time we live in.
We get sick We see a reliable doctor. We get hungry? Door dash hell we even got it where you don't even have to go GET the fucking food.
There may come a day where someone says "my God they had it so amazing back then!" When speaking of our Era.
Ps what's sad is some of these recipes filled my stomach. Growing up in poverty in alabama
My Grandpa never got over the depression. That's all he talked about. But he did cook some good food.
My Granny at 9 years old helped her daddy log, they were dirt floor poor in the Western North Carolina Mtns, their home in winter granny said they'd wake up at times and have snow blown in on their blankets.
My husband when he was a toddler had to eat flies as there was no food.
My grandmother told me the exact same thing
There’s actually a channel on UA-cam called cooking with Clara, which featured an elderly woman in her 90s making meals that they would have during the depression. She has passed on now but her videos are still up on the channel
Clara is superb.
I bought Clara's book as a gift for my eldest grandchild.Perhaps it will help in this times.
I loved/love Clara!
I LOVE CLARA!!!!!!!i listen to her just to hear her talk......my cyber grandma🥰
Yes yes Beautiful lady 👑🙏🏼✨❤️
My nana is 101 and I love hearing her talk about the Great Depression and World Wars. She was lucky enough to live on a farm, so her family didn't suffer as much as other people. They also fed people who would come by and need food, then they'd sleep on the back porch and would be gone by morning.
That's beautiful!
Have you watched Great Depression cooking the woman is gone now but her grandson has posted videos
that would be claras kitchen... shes great
@@fokiat thanks for sharing
really old people are the greatest people. I'd kill a baby over an old person any day.
I am 71. In home economics class we made mock apple pie and prune whip. My grandparents were immigrants and were famous for feeding anyone who came
to their door. Tina
71? Wow I bet you got some stories old timer.
Beautiful
Wow i love stories from grandmas and grandpas 😁
What did you use in mock apple pie??
Oh! crackers and lemon juice??
My dad told me my grandma would make "Imaginary Sandwiches" for him & two older sisters. It was basically just ketchup on bread & u could "Imagine" any other thing u wanted along w/it..
That’s so sad bro
@@anaacosta1941 It was . But then my grandma taught herself how to sew & became so good at it that my grandpa sold her stuff & ended up running a successful textile business ( so it has a happy ending👍)
So my depression meal is imaginary sandwiches.
I heard them called wish sandwhiches. As in you have two slices of bread and wish there was something between them.
@@bluishwolf ua-cam.com/video/Hz0UvIZw-Y0/v-deo.html As heard in Rubber Biscuit by The Chips.
My great grandmother helped to raise me. She was born in 1905. I always tell people I'm proud to have been raised by depression era folks because I know how to stretch a dollar and to make a meal out of scraps. My favorite meals she made were SOS and Chicken and Dumplings. Although she could take any leftover meat and make a croquette which she would serve with gravy and mashed potatoes. I miss her.
@jasonvoorhees5640 bro did not have to say this 💀
When I got pregnant for the first time, my husband's grandfather made me eat dandelion salad. I asked my OB if it was safe and she told me to eat all of the dandelion salad he could make me. I loved it. He grew up during the depression with 13 siblings. That man could stretch anything.
💖👍🤍🌼
What would dandelion salad look like? 🤔
Yeah dandelion, nettle soup, blackberries etc so much outside to eat.
How can I make it?
That salad is amazing and is big here in NYC
My grandmother was born in 1927 and grew up during the depression. She was 1 of 7 kids. Her family was share croppers. They ate anything that didn't move fast enough. They grew just about all the fruits and veggies they ate, they had cows, pigs, chickens etc that they could use for food. Canned their own veggies, all of that.
Healthier people for sure!
My grandma is Mexican, first generation, and during the Depression she lived with her grandma, her parents, and her five siblings. We still eat some of the things that they did then: oxtail soup and lengua stand out, though we’ve foregone things like lamb’s heads
@@irisespindola2868 wealthier
@@irisespindola2868 prolly dead by 50 like most ppl from the era, but tell yourself what you need to
My mother collected Betty Crocker cookbooks full of gelatin based salads. She was in a social club that met on Saturdays at the member's houses. They all cooked from those books. Oh, the memories!
My dad and his siblings were products of the depression. My grandmother never left the depression in many ways. She saved everything, even the butter wrappers to grease pans with. She could make a good tasting meal out of anything in no time at all.
My grandma taught me to save butter wrappers too.
@@ashleyscanlan9535 Everybody did. It worked far better than using anything else including your hand.
My grandmother is 94 and still does this as well. Even though she married into a rich family, she never forgot those tough times. She still is very frugal and refuses to waste anything including the plastic cutlery from Wendy's.
My high school english teacher told us her grandmother was also severly affected by the depression. When her grandparents passed she and her sister had to help clean out their basement. According to her they found hundreds of canned/preserved peaches, a dozen gallon jugs of cooking oil, and leakinh tinned/canned foods. Alot of the food was expired and leaking.
My grandmother always took jelly packets and butter pats 😂
I was raised by my gramma who was born in the 50s, so her mom is from the Great Depression. She said her mom used to feed an entire family of 10 with one chicken… only later in life did she realize how amazing that was.
As an adult I understand and I’m happy to say they passed on their knowledge 🥰
…you gotta spatchcock the chicken btw, and Dad gets the biggest portion (cuz he works) and the kid’s portion depends on age. Then, you use the spine to make a broth, which you use to cook 2 cups of rice in (stretch it with water and add salt/Misc veg). It’s actually delicious and yummy and just feels like southern soulfood instead of a struggle meal.
My dads mom made a lot of cabbage, corn, beans, and meatloaf… but he was an only child so they were relatively “wealthy”
My mom had a meat grinder and everything went through it. I especially liked the "Boulogne" meat loaf.
Your mom so smart.
I have an older friend who was the youngest in his family so he always got the feet of the chicken. He had never even eaten any chicken meat till he was older. When he had kids they would have popcorn sundays. And that was all they ate on those days.
My grandparents lived through the Great Depression. I've eaten a few of these dishes. Still eat a few today. I didn't realize milk and Mac and cheese became staples of that Era.
@@Power_Glove my grandma is only 60
@@Power_Glove well I'm 40 so my parents are baby boomers... 🤔🤷♀️
Milk and Mac and cheese is a staple according to my 6yo!😁
@@annabailey4165 Jesus my grandma is 90. I’m 23. My oldest brother is 52....
whelp im in that boat too. i didn't know alot of these were great depression foods xD especially the last one which i think was my fave
My grandparents, great uncles/aunts have told me horrible stories of going days without eating, living in a neighbor's barn. And all of them to this day still under eat, stock pile on can goods freeze everything, and we've found hundreds of dollars in shoe boxes, desk draws, etc
You made me think a lot. Thanks for sharing. My grandfather did all of the things you mentioned except for under eating, but his offspring do.
Yeah...I have noticed that people who had deprived childhoods often grow up to be hoarders. I have observed this same sort of behaviors in people who survived the Depression and in refugees from Vietnam and various other conflicts.Sometimes their children and grandchildren pick up the habit too...my mother is a terrible hoarder, and constantly skimped on my food and clothing as a kid and bragged about how little she and her sisters made do with growing up with parents who survived the Depression in a town where the local library only had about a dozen books that were considered suitable for girls.
I do all the above. I consider myself a prepper. When the pandemic made going to the store an act of foolhardiness or bravery, I had all I needed to be safe and comfy. My storage of consumables seems like only being responsible to me. I have taught my children and grandchildren the same. Trusting the trucks will always arrive at stores that only have a 3 day supply for the entire population seems absurd to me.
@@emmaaguila4502
When my grandfather tells us grandkids (43, 42, 39, 35) that "we don't know how good we got it" he ain't lying
My grandma was born in 1919 and passed away at 90. She was the same way. I didn’t realize why that was until I was older.
An old family recipe from the Great Depression was what we called "Poor Man's Pot". It was a casserole made with alternating layers of slice potatoes and sliced onions. Then you added a little milk. If you had it, you sprinkled a little cheese on top, then you baked it. We ate that at least once a week growing up.
Sounds like Pam Haggerty which is a meal from the North East of England. It’s delicious!
Scalloped poatoes, what it sounds like.
Scalloped and au gratin potatoes. Those are actually traditional French dishes and never go out of style they are cheap and good.
Mmm scalloped potatoes. Love it!
potatoes with onions is so simple but soooo good
Creamed chipped beef is still a thing. Stouffers makes it and I know actual humans who buy it with real money and eat it.
Done right, it can be really delicious.
Why you say it like that 😂
@@EBchain That the way I mean it.
I am one of those real humans, who buys the chipped beef (yes, they still sell it) and make it from scratch... maybe 1-2 times a year, because I *like it*.
I love it 🤣
This whole time I thought I was being creative, turns out I was just poor...
😂😂😂😂😂
Same
Me in university 🥲
No shit eh hahaha
Necessity is the mother of invention! Sometimes the best dishes come from the humblest of ingredients. Cook on, Creative One!
My mother said her family lived on corn meal mush and there was constant economic insecurity. My father said that sometimes parents went without eating so that the children could eat. He was very emotional telling me what it was like and said we must never let it happen again.
That’s wat my grandma called it with butter and syrup yum
Jesse. My dad said the same thing .
Before the pandemic, around 10% of American households were food insecure. During the pandemic, 25% of American households experienced food insecurity.
Guess we kinda dropped the ball on that one.
Jesse Martin I’m afraid we’ve let it happen again. Unless our pantry’s are well-stocked and we have seeds and the knowledge to grow food we’re going to get hungry.
My husband tells a similar story about being the 12th child to a coal miner. Mom would fix dinner and put it on table. Mom and dad would go in the other room because there was not enough for them to eat and not to take the meager meal from the children. He said they were always hungry.
I asked my great-grandma, who was born in 1920 (she's dead now), how life was living through the great depression and she said "Son, my whole life was a great depression."
My grandma said she never knew about the depression. They just kept farming like normal. They had a cow, 2 mules, some pigs, and some farmland for peanuts, cotton, and corn
My great grandmother(born in1896) had a depressing life, she went through the spanish flu, depression era, lost 2 children, a son who died at 16 from a burst appendix, and a daughter 9,from scarlet fever. They never had enough money, and when I think about all she went through,I want to cry!
My grandmother (1929-2014) was literally a child of the Great Depression, she was two weeks old when the Depression started.
That generation couldn't catch a break. It was grueling poverty as children, so they usually didn't get much school. It was menial, low wage jobs from there. As young adults, WWII filled their lives. If they were lucky to survive and get past all that, they MIGHT with heroic effort become lower middle class. Just as they began to recover from WWII, here came Korea, and many that saw WWII first hand, had to go to Korea. By the time they were in their mid 40s, they might become lower middle class struggling to care for their kids on low wages. The tragedy of children unable to go to school (often abandoned to the streets or orphanages) sentenced them to lifeong hard work, poverty, and psychological trauma. The only other generation of child that experienced this life altering childhood and constant hardships throughout life is maybe the children of the Civil War...on both sides and of both races. The southerners didn't really begin to recover until just before the depression, and it all just started again.
Your grandma sounds awesome
Thanks for the video! 😁If I could just add a tiny precision: it was not Thomas Jefferson himself who came with mac and cheese in the U.S. but it was his enslaved chef, James Hemings. Indeed, after visiting Europe in the 1780s, Jefferson fell in love with this dish. After coming back to the U.S, he held big receptions where was served the famous mac and cheese cooked by James Hemings who succeeded to recreate the recipe that Jefferson adored.
Yes. I just heard about James and I think a book is being written about him.
My Grandmother NEVER let me forget about the Depression. Anytime I didn't want to finish anything, she was quick to remind me that people would have been happy to have what I didn't want. At the time I thought it was annoying, but looking back I'm glad she did. Lesson; be thankful for EVERYTHING you have, because there is ALWAYS someone less fortunate.
My Grandma saved all leftover and made a pie with them once a week. She made a gravy, added leftovers and baked in a pie shell. Delicious and different every week. She had a pot on the stove she boiled meat bones,potato skins, the ends of carrots and celery etc. She used the broth to season cooking and make gravy. When the depression was over she continued to have her pot going and poured the broth in her garden. Nothing went to waste.
@@sammyjo8109 I think this country would be in a much better place if most people were that way. We as Americans are spoiled, and waste so much that just doesn't need to be wasted. Especially with the overwhelming homeless population we have.
@@justinhall2711 I remain a penny pincher LOL. My mother taught me to make a weekly menu based around what was on sale and what I had in the pantry. That saved a lot of money. My daughters continue that in their homes.
That's true. A lot of people are not as lucky as we are so we have to be so grateful for what's given to us.
Unfortunately, than can cause those of us not starving to be part of the clean plate club & overeat. Better to teach taking smaller portions & adding another if still hungry--but they had good motive.
When I grew up we didn't have much. During the summer an old farmer we knew would drive around and sell his produce every Saturday. My mom would buy green tomatoes from him. That night we would have fried green tomatoes and cornbread for supper. We all loved it. To this day I still love fried green tomatoes.
That sounds so delicious!
@@bonniehowell9206 It was delicious. I think that having so many meatless meals is why I am a vegetarian.
There’s a really good movie called Fried Green Tomatoes 😊
@@lefeuviolet I remember that movie
I 💜 fried green toms
The comments are just as interesting as the video. I love reading the stories about grandparents recipes.
Me too!!
I agree
Sames
Yes. Agree.
Agreed. I love learning about ways people survived and innovated in their daily lives in the past.
I didn’t live during the depression, but we grew up rather poor. A LOT of the meals in this video are things my mother made for us. The “goulash” of noodles, ground meat, and tomatoes, sh*t on a shingle, mulligan stew, hotdogs in everything, Kraft dinner with fried potatoes (for days! Lol), it’s all a part of my childhood and honestly it’s my comfort foods!!
I’m sorry
All are familiar to me. I can just about remember the taste of SOS. One of my dad's favorites from the Navy during WWll.
I thought shit on a shingle was something my grandpa made up on his own. The more you know
I still make a lot of those !! Reminds me of my great granny when I eat them !!!
And potato hash
My great grandma told me about the great depression. She lived on a farm with a garden,pigs,cows,and chickens so she had no struggles with food. But she almost lost her farm. Thank god for family,almost all of them moved into the family house to help with farm work and income. I'm so proud of my family
My dad was little during the depression and he said he didn't know anything about the depression because I guess they raised a big garden and maybe their own meat and my dad said his dad would bring people off the street and feed them. My grandpa was a preacher. I watched a video of my dad talking a little about it. I didn't see it until after he passed so I couldn't ask him anything more about.
@@conleykat that's amazing! Alot of the farmers really didn't struggle when it came down to eating,but financially it was hell from what my grandma said. Glad you were able to get some information from your dad though
@@anelablanchard7720 Yes it is and I'm glad I did too. I need to transfer the video from vhs to dvd. I have some more home videos and my granddaughter's ultra sound video to have transferred too. I forgot I had videos of my kids when they were younger.
My mom told us during the depression her parents rented out the town home and moved out to a family member's farm, where all the relatives had gathered and lived together till the depression ended. She said they would put the chicken eggs in the spring water to keep them fresh. That was their refrigeration!
The 1920s my 20s
🤝
The great depression
That's sad but true.☹
Technically the Great Depression started because of the stock market crash of 1929. So, most of the Great Depression happened in the 1930s.
So be prepared for your 30s 😀
Honeybunch MEATALICA INTENSIFIES
Ah yes, the Happyn't
💀 damn... It really do be like that sometimes
My grandma, who died of covid last may, lived through the depression. She used to make these little balls she called wedding cakes. They were flour and peanuts (or whatever nuts you could get) and the tiniest bit of powdered sugar (again, if you could get it). It was cheap and simple but I always loved them, they had a light nutty taste that was actually a lot sweeter than you'd expect. I'm of Irish descent and grew up very poor so I have a lot of memorized recipes from her, but I recently found the wedding cake recipe written on a card in some of her documents. Miss you, Granny
You should publish the recipe sometime, for preservation sake. But only if you're up for it!
I think that 'Wedding-Cakes' recipe, might possibly, have originated from Italy, using chestnut flour.
Publish a small book of your family recipes! The online sites make it easy! Submit a PDF and a price you are willing to Split with company providing the needed bandwidth, processing! Doesn't have to be War and Peace! Just know you can't get $10 for 6 pages either
My sister in law still makes what I refer to as SNOWBALLS. They might be called wedding cakes but the exact same recipe…with powdered sugar on the outside.
Sad how he died😢😢😢😢
When I was a little kid in the 70s, my grand parents and great grand parents never talked about their childhood or young adult years in the depression or war years. I never could understand them and their love of food. They lived for it..Some of it quite wierd. All I learned was nothing made an old person more upset than a little kid who is a picky eater, complaining about the food put in front of them or the need to clean your plate even if you was full..wasting food was a no no. You were forced to sit at the table untill everything was eaten .
Like I said , nothing was explained or taught to me and my cousins. It was : just eat and keep your mouth shut. I didn't learn until much later what they went through and lived without. I went without solid food one summer for almost two months. It was then that I learned what hunger really is and how it alters your sense of taste and your mindset. Looking back on them almost half a century later, I am grateful. I tell young people today that they may one day face going without and gladly eating things they would otherwise never touch much less taste. That all this food they see could one day be gone easily..My grandparents called my generation spoiled back then..now I know what they mean. Be grateful for the food God puts in front of you.
I would always beg my grandparents to tell me stories about when they were young, and I was disappointed & mystified because they never would. When I learned more history, I understood their reluctance better.
My grandparents never scolded me for not eating all my food. Whatever I left on my plate, they'd gladly eat.
I have a feeling within next few years things are going to get bad again and we all will be having to learn to live the in the depression Era. Thankfull my grandparents taught my parents and they taught us how to survive,etc. We live in small.rural area and we still make some of these recipes as it's normal food around here.
OMG! I remember when one of my teenage brothers said out loud, "This is disgusting." Bad idea, dad pick up his plate and said "if you're not going to eat it you're going to wear it." A plate piled high with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, veg, all drenched in plenty of gravy, up sidel down on top of his head!
LOL Growing up, my parents would have been even more angered by the food dumping. So wasteful and careless regard for the food. 😂
Can you imagine what your grandparents & my great grandparents would think of kids my childrens ages? How easy they have it? How lazy & weak they are (with some exceptions)? 32 & 23?? They have eaten sh__it on the shingle & mulligan stew, without the tobacco & belly lint!! And we know we are guilty of making them sofy, by buying everything they "demanded?"
My father grew up during the depression and his father was better off than some because they were able to raise their food but he told the story of his father building him a little wooden car and he played with it all morning instead of doing his chores. When his mother called everyone to lunch my daddy only had a pine cone on his plate. His father explained that if he didn’t do his work he wasn’t going to eat. Needless to say my father carried that work ethic all his life. My grandparents were 45 and 52 years old when my daddy was born so he was very precious to them. But work was work.
My father was 55 when I was born in 73. He was born in 1918 served during ww2. The stories I heard growing up.
@Jan Blackman - that is a precious story, thanks for sharing it!
My grandma fed 5 people with two eggs and grilled onions. She was actually a good cook, but sometimes they didn’t have enough food. She still Shared what she had
@k2 That says something about today's society
@k2 same
@@Jp-to5uk what does that say? That we eat more?
@@-criedjupiter-8464 That we eat way more than we need.
@@Jp-to5uk oh
My Grandmother used to make dandelion green salad once or twice a week in the summer. She had an abundance of dandelions growing in her back yard ( over 2 acres of them ). She would rinse the leaves and tear them in pieces. Then add chopped fresh tomatoes, onions & cucumbers from her garden and top it with homemade hot bacon dressing. It was absolutely delicious !!!!
Its a wonderful plant. Very good for the liver. Recommended if you have liver issues. Very healthy.
I think they should sell them in supermarkets.
@@SI-ln6tc try Harris teeter
@@SI-ln6tc I’ve seen dandelion tea at the stores
Your granny was a resourceful asf woman
@@AK-jt7kh Yes she was, she lived through the great depression and learned how to make do with whatever she had all while tending to 7 children !!! Unfortunately none of those children are still with us, my youngest Aunt passed in February, she was 89.
My grandparents were married as teenagers in the beginning of the depression. Their first house was an old chicken coop on my grandpa's parents farm. They cleaned it out, fixed it up and lived in it for a few years. My grandma said they could lie in bed and see the stars through the cracks in the walls. She lived to 96 and lived on her own until age 95, carrying her own firewood and continuing to tend a vegetable garden until she was forced to move into a home. The depression gave her an iron will and a survivor spirit. They don't make them like that anymore.
There's a slight side note here that Jello was actually considered something to show off because it required Refrigeration to preserve and set so electricity and Refrigeration being two of the most scarce of things in the Dust Bowl it was reserved solely for those that can afford to set their jello
For my Momsie (1932-2020) no holiday meal was served without Jello, even now as a vegetarian, I will hunt down a vegetarian version just to “complete” holiday meals. In the 60s line with pears was a big deal and Cool Whip later on....
@@auspiciouscloud8786 There's something called agar agar that's a lot like gelatine but it's a compound made from red seaweed. I wonder if you could use that?
@Kushtopha Gelatin is made from collagen derived from the skin, bones, and connective tissue from animals.
@@peggyarnold4333 Yes it is. There is also a vegetarian version. Agar-agar.
Also, gelatin was actually very expensive and hard to obtain until the easily 20th century
My granny raised me. She was a simple lil mountain granny. She had these senior TV dinners that they delivered to the senior citizens. She never had sweets except oatmeal cream pies I still to this day refuse eating them. Well they also sent dried prunes. I didn’t know what the hell a prune was or what they do to u! I loved them they were so good so I put a bunch in a bowl and sat down in front of the tv. Well after eating a bunch she asked me what I was eating. When I said prunes she started laughing eyes all big with surprise. She said “u are gonna be glued to the toilet tomorrow” she wasn’t lying 🤣🤣🤣 being the type person who can’t use but my own bathroom I had to miss school the next day. That was one of her fav stories to remind me of and always made her laugh so much.
Ironically for me my grandparents had tons of plum trees I used to climb and eat those plums all the time dozens at a time and they never had an effect on me I didn't have to go to the bathroom after eating a lot of plums let alone prunes ... sorry to hear that about you....
I live in the APPALACHIAN mountains now
@@moccamecca5593 Some people intestines get reeeaally loose from the fiber :D
When I was growing up I ate whole boxes of prunes because they were so good. I never knew (until I was grown) that people typically ate those for their bowel health. They never affected me that way.
I feel this man running this account can teach us more than the American school system
You're just listening now...
Already has
Because he doesn’t have to follow the guidelines of all the tests.
@@Elizabeth-nt7uq exactly... not till I left school that I finally realize i like learning.
Is that a surprise? Millions of stupid people crap out even dumber children, all while demanding the little dregs be recognized for their genius and contributions to society. The politicians elected and paid by those parents naturally capitulate.
Enjoy those participation trophies.
My grandmother (born in 1908) said that the whole time she was pregnant with my aunt (born in 1935) that about all she had to eat was oatmeal. My aunt seemed healthy enough and eventually earned a master's degree and was a high school history teacher for many years.
Oatmeal is an important part of the ODSP diet ❤️
Now we know how much whole grains are important for our hearts 💕.
@angeladouglas7561 and it's very good for you,too . Excellent antioxidant..😊 and what is " odsp", btw?
Yes you can have healthy babies even on a very limited diet...I suffered from HG and held next to nothing down. I vomited even when my stomach was empty, meaning I puked up stomach acid and yellow/green bile. I lost a ton of weight. I was terrified my baby would be unhealthy....he came out weighing 9 lbs, 6 oz and 22 inches long 😂
you know what?!? that reminds me of the time my mother would tell us all about how they ate bread sandwiches and tap water cereal. and then last week i went to dollar general to get trash bags bc i used em all.
My grandma lived in england during this.
She still microwaves ketchup and water,says it's soop??
She also told me a story about how she bought a few different apples to make a pie, but she decided to plant the seeds and profited by giving them to my dad and uncle to sell at school.
When she turned about 45/50 she started making orange marmalade she forgot about her lesson about apples and threw the peels and seeds out into the composter.
About a month later there were about 30 little orange trees.she remembered what happened and so cleared up some land and planted them separately.
All of the trees are still there and yes nana still be making a mean jar of jam :::)))
Precious story. The older generation's should be respected for their perseverance and ability to provide the essentials in life to their families.. God bless you all!!
I mean, I can see ketchup and water as a substitute for tomato soup.
When I was a young musician in Chicago back in 1969, I tried to make Ketchup spaghetti... just spaghetti with ketchup mixed in... not so good. So I lived off the alternative - boiled garbanzo beans marinated in oil, vinegar, chopped onion and sprinkled with some crushed oregano. It kept me alive...
that's awesome! I kind of want to try the ketchup soup now
@@Kinkle_Z
Yummy. Garbonzos in olive oil with salt and freshly ground black pepper is my fav snack!
My grandparents taught me bananas, saltines and milk was a good snack. I assume a result of the depression
My brands too. Bread or crackers and milk. Crackers, butter and hot tea soup.
My Grandmother and my Mom both like Saltines, milk, and sugar. It's honestly pretty good lol
Shut Up Probaly but it kinda sounds Good sweet and salty I bet Your Right
It is surprisingly good
@@cmerks5 My grandmother used to take white rice and put brown sugar and cinnamon or brown sugar and milk in it and serve it as a dessert.
Your video reminds me of an old saying, "Hunger makes the best gravy." So these dishes sound weird and are not very tasty but if you are hungry enough, they will save your life.
My grandma passed down the recipe for hobo stew to me, except we call it cowboys dream. Potatoes, carrots, corn, green beans, peas, browned ground beef, cooked in tomato juice with celery salt and pepper. I still make it for dinner in the winter sometimes. It’s actually delicious. And you can use canned potatoes and canned mixed vegetables if you need to make it faster/cheaper/easier
my Mom was a Depression Era Baby so she brought a lot of those foods to our table, Macaroni and tomato juice, home made pasta, boiled potatoes in every form, meatless meals, hot dogs were very cheap, hamburger was not. I still like chili con carne and macaroni - chilimac. fried potatoes and pork'n'beans, good simple eatin'
I thought I invented the chili and mac, what a naive ditz I was. Still love it.
I love macaroni or bowties with tomato juice, salt and pepper
MACARONI AND TOMATO JUICE!!!
I thought that was a wired thing my family did, guess Great Grandma was from that era.
We like to our shredded cheese in ours.
@@jordansmithson9602 I’ve always added macaroni to tomato soup but I also believe that I made that up too! Lol
I still think a potato cut up and cooked in some milk until it gets soft is one of the most delicious things ever.
my grandparents grew up during the depression and my grandmother never forgot what it was like. She would rinse out Ziploc baggies as long as they never had meat in them. She would grease pans with butter wrappers she saved in the freezer. She made pretty much anything from scratch. They also had a garden and gram would can everything she could, from vegetables to fruit. I learned how to be thrifty from watching her when I was growing up. I actually will rinse and reuse Ziploc baggies and I use butter wrappers to grease pans with :D Unfortunately gram has been gone for 26 years but I still do a lot of things like she did including making a lot of things from scratch
Heck, I wash & reuse ziploc bags now; can't afford to buy all new.
@@kellyhoward6941 Where I live nobody had ziploc bags lol. In a communist country that was like some alien technology. We brought our sandwiches to school wrapped in paper or tin foil.
Looking it up, ziploc was invented in 1968 so Americans didn't have them either during the depression era. Also it was meant to be reusable. Not reusing them after storing raw meat in them is reasonable tho.
@@CsImre Huh, I didn't realize ziplocs came to be that early, thought it was at least a decade later. Very true on not reusing raw meat holders! I only wash & reuse ones that have no-fat stuff in 'em & nothing icky. I may be near-broke, but food poisoning isn't worth a few cents.😅🤢🤢
My great great granny did the same.
I reuse plastic sandwich bags, too. Also, I keep and reuse glass jars that I bought salsa, spaghetti sauce, etc. They make great containers for leftovers and can be put in the freezer. Clean up is easy - my dishwasher!
I dont think people realize how bad the great depression really was. More than 1000 people committed suicide and hundreds of others died from starvation or couldn't get any medication for their illnesses. It was a terrible time and time that should be remembered and respected.
@@sherbetlemons unfortunately helplessly checking out doesn’t do any good either; opting not to vote is still a vote; doing something is better then doing nothing. Anyway ...
@Teresa Ellis Qs
Nah
@@elizabethp4064 good comment but still not voting is still a vote, it is great that you do participate locally! ❤️❤️❤️
I'm sadly sure it was more than 1,000 people.
It's amazing what is taken for granted these days, I grew up sometimes living with my Grandparents on my father's side of the family and their families ( my Grammy's 11 surviving brothers and sisters and my Papa's 13 ) and they left a huge impression on me. They were born before or during the great depression and were raised on farms not far away from each other.
I learned a lot from all of them, how to cook, how to work, how to be an adult, family values, the value of money, and how to judge people by the content of their character. Everyone has something to contribute, and the merits of your actions far outweigh the words you speak.
“Shit on a shingle” 🤣😂 my grandma would make it a lot. I loved it when she would say it 😂🤣
I grew up eating that. A family favorite
@@mikemcconville2495 same here. Although, my mom added in more stuff than just the chipped beef.
@@elizabethyoung4469 I had no idea about it’s history and was always confused why they called it SOS. I just knew it tasted good. The Marine Corps still serves sausage or meat gravy with everything. It’s cheap and always goes great smothered on everything.
They still serve it on US Navy ships for breakfast, it's actually one of the better meals 😋
Oh s***.
"Peanut butter has nothing to say to an onion"🤣🤣🤣
Peanut butter was put on everything during the great depression I know hearing the stories.
bacon, on the other hand...
Why oh why was this even considered???
I'm really not sure but how much extra nutrition can you get from adding onion
Onion with mayo and bread
I grew up eating peanut butter onion sandwiches. I lived with my grandparents, my grandma being born in 1937. She would eat them, and I wanted to eat what she ate lol. I pretended to like it as a bonding thing, and then eventually acquired a taste for it. I still to this day eat peanut butter and onion sandwiches, and I still get funny reactions from people 😂
Another depression era sandwich combo was peanut butter and pickles. It’s Actually pretty good.
@@clu1632 I don’t think I would ever combine those lol. I love pickles, but never sandwich pickles. I prefer Dills. I never get pickles on my sandwich.
@@clu1632 i enjoy peanut butter and lettuce on wheat
Onions and cheese sandwiches are great too.
@@shieh.4743 Especially grilled cheese and onions on white buttered bread AND a side of tomato soup with lots of saltines broken up in it. Love it now and then.
my grandmother lived through the great depression and my favorite thing she made is something i rarely, if ever, see anyone mention- chocolate gravy. Sounds awful, but honestly, it was something all of us looked forward to more than almost any other meal she cooked because it was a rare treat. it was her way of being able to give her kids something sweet using ingredients she always had.
Was it a type of thick, chocolate syrup?
@@3810-dj4qzI was hoping someone would point this out.
Like pudding?
My Grandmother was a depression Era kid. She always asked for extra ketchup packets at restaurants (to take home). I asked her why once as a child. She td me because during the depression they would make ketchup soup. Who knew...my grandmother was a prepper! She did this until her passing in the late 2000's! She never wanted for food or soup since I knew her, so she didn't HAVE to keep the habit, but she did! And that tells you how deeply the depression affected people...and I never saw her make & eat ketchup soup either...
I agree i grew up in a poor home due to my mother being very rebellious an we had to deal with homelessness an not having food an bread an salt were goods at some point i realized i wanted change, tbh i prayed everyday an one day we got a call that we got a place right before Christmas. It was honestly the only thing i wanted since friends in my school bullied me over being homeless
@@tazmycreations9185 You probably meant to say that your friends were teasing you about being homeless, because why the hell would you be friends with your bullies?? Glad to hear that your life has taken a turn for the best though.
My parents were from the depression era as well. I hate to admit it I take extra packets of ketchup to take home as well. Old habits can be generational!
I’ve made it less water and add soda crackers it fills you up
@@malinapatrick8238 if we all lived that way the world would be a better place.
We used to have Rice and Beans for dinner on one night, and on the next we would have Beans and Rice. It kept us fed well for many years.
My mother lived through the depression and had rather a hard time of it. Large family, small income, even some stories of malnutrition sores among the little ones. During some of the better times she described a rare treat, snow ice cream. Snow they had plenty of . . . in a square baking pan, powder snow, sugar, cream and perhaps vanilla combined to make this thrifty dish.
Ate this many times growing up. Was the only ice we had .
My Mom made snow ice cream, too.
Here as well. I'm praying for snow. 😋
My family still makes snow cream. If you have never had it, you are missing a real treat. It makes the best ice cream!
I’ve turned all 3 of my granddaughters on to Snow Cream. They live in Colorado so no shortage of snow there! I like it best with evaporated milk, sugar & vanilla. We all love it-there’s nothing better!
I always loved cooking with my grandma, who lived through the Great Depression. She did a lot of baking with Crisco, and always had a backyard garden, berry bushes, and an apple tree. She canned everything, and frequently made vegetable pot pies (crust made with Crisco, of course). Then she'd take the scraps of pie dough and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on them and bake them for treats. She never wasted anything!
My grandmother made those cinnamon/sugar sprinkled pie crust strips also!! Loved those! We would eat them warm out of the oven. There were never any leftover for the next day!
I made those sugar cinnamon dough treats last week! My mom always did it, and it has become a habit with me.
I'm from western Canada, my father used to serve 'depression supper' as basically a macaroni cassaeole with cheese and two pieces of bacon on top. I bet it cost something like $3 to make and fed our whole family. He had it as a kid during the depression himself.
"Government cheese" was plentiful according to my mom, who would go down to the Navy docks where sailors would give her food leftover from a voyage. I grew up eating a lot of wartime and depression-era foods.
I introduced my grandma to UA-cam, and she’s been binging your videos 🤣
I am envisioning a happy grandma
Please tell your grandma I said hi, I wish I got to know my grandma
Now introduce your grandma into making videos so she can teach us things.
Who else thinks that weird history is the best history channel ever?!
I love this channel.
I do...
@@honeybunch5765 personally I think "voices from the past" is the best history channel :) weird history is still great though
Has easily one of the best narrators on UA-cam.
@@supernoodles908 haven't seen it yet, will look it up.
Here in Denmark we have something called “sylte”. It’s shredded pigs meat in gelatin with different spices. It’s a Christmas stable and it is commonly eaten on rye bread maybe with some spicy mustard on top. I really like it.
Brought by Scandinavians to the US and called "head cheese". Yes, it is delicious.
That sounds revolting, but I bet it's good.
@@lh1822 It can be truly delicious. Rich and strong and tasty.
Zimne Nogi is very similar to what you described, using shredded pork remnants, onion, celery, pepper and salt.
@@fredrickmarsiello4395 Polish, eh? I bet all European pork-eating countries have something similar. Made with the particularly delicate and tasty meat on the pig's head, and turned into an "ost" through pigs' natural gelatin. Eaten with pickled beets!
I could see how a peanut butter stuffed onion could potentially be good if you added ginger and soy sauce to it. Lots of Asian dishes combine peanuts and onions, so it's not that far off.
I was thinking the same
As a lover of Thai food, I agree
My grandparents said one of the hardest things to afford was sugar. So I'm skeptical of some of these recipes. I really liked this video!
My grandma rarely used sugar and gave everyone the side eye when we did, like it was gold.
Yeah I heard that too
My father said his father had loads of sugar in the barn...but it was for liquor. He was a bootlegger.
My grandparents were share croppers in south Mississippi. It had to come from there if you want to eat it! They got an apple each, & some nuts each Christmas. 12 kids is a lot to feed! Lol
@@gastropod557 🤣🤣
My mother has told me horror stories about some of the aspics and congealed salads that her parent's generation made. Apparently, there was a tomato aspic that grandma thought was the height of class for lodge meeting pot lucks that could stun a charging rhino. But there was great food that came out of that time as well. Mom.s parent's had some small acreage, not enough to really make a living on, but they had big gardens, fruit trees, raised their own meat and eggs. It was simple country cooking but dinner came out of the garden/arbor/henhouse/orchard the day that you ate it. The food was fresh and clean, and they would take their peaches down to the Columbia to trade for Salmon that had literally just been pulled out of the water by native fisherman. You don't have to worry about farm to table if the table is already on the farm.
That’s how my mother and my grandparents made it through rationing during the War. You couldn’t trade your food legally, but mum said they ate well in a time of National strife.
Stole from the natives is more likely.
My granny lived through it and taught me to never waste food. With the way things have been going we should be sure to try to live this way.
Dandelion leaves are actually quite delicious, in greece we boil them and eat as a side with meats and so on, often eat it with feta cheese too and other things
My dad used to eat them.
I’m going to start doing that. It sounds delicious. Love from the U.K.
I still enjoy them.
I ate a lot like this growing up. Both my great grandparents grew up in the Great Depression. My great father until the day he died (September 2019) refused to put any money he made in the bank. My great grandmother( died in January 2017)would always can and preserve anything she could.
Yeah I bet that would be a hard mentality to get out of. My great aunt always saved and reused things most people wouldn't aluminum foil, zip lock bags, and the sacred tradition passed down through all Midwestern families, one big walmart sack stuffed full to bursting with other walmart sacks. She also would save and eat leftovers alot longer than is probably advisable but I get it an experience like that sticks with you.
My grandmother talked about her mother making mock apple pie using zucchini, which could be grown in any backyard. Peeled, seeded, and cut into apple shapes, mixed with apple pie spices and you couldn't tell the difference since zucchini almost has no flavor and takes on the flavors you mix with it. We like it so much, I still make it to this day in 2021.
That sounds pretty good tbh and since I'm allergic to apples I just might have to try that.
@@NiecieSavo Add a little more flour to the zucchini as you do with apples. Play around with the recipe until it's to your liking.
My family makes just as many zucchini loaves as banana loaves and they're delicious. You're right, zucchini doesn't alter the flavor at all, great vehicle for spices.
My Mom always made zucchini bread too. Same base as banana nut bread, only substituting grated zucchini for the bananas with more spice.
Yoo I love zucchini
My dad was born in '52 and had ten siblings. Macaroni with hotdogs and a can of diced tomatoes is still one of his favorites. Thanks a million for another awesome video WHC!
What a coincidence because my best friend's grandpa also had 10 siblings.
My grandparents were loggers in the north during the depression, winters were rough, but there was always plenty of food in the woods in the form of deer to hunt.
I always wondered how ppl in rural areas handled the great depression
This reminded me of Clara's Great Depression Cooking channel here on UA-cam. That sweet lady warms my heart everytime and her stories of that era are wonderful. Glad her memories can live on.
I LOVE CLARA!!!! She was just divine. 💜💜💜💜
I love her channel, she was the sweetest! I love all her stories 🥰
It did me too!
I had a dinner party a few years ago and my dinner guests remarked on the delicious "poverty food" I was serving. They wanted to know which cookbook I used. I was just preparing dishes I grew up on.
Your dinner guests were extrordinaly rude to call the meal you provided for them as "poverty food".
What'd you make tho
@@cl3x18999 Chicken and Dumplings like my grandma used to make. With lots of carrots. LOL.
That's what my mother used to make. Freaking delicious! Mmm. Especially on a cold night...
How rude. I hope they wont be invited again. I would Love an invitation to your next dinner party.
Eleanor Roosevelt was such an amazing woman! I love her! Let's just ask ourselves which first ladies would be like her and eat poor food while in the White House and which first ladies wouldn't give a fuck and would eat rich food while in the White House.
I learned to economize from my mother who grow up during the depression. I think the enemy today is fast food and dine in restaurants. One day after paying $10.00 at McDonalds for a meal for myself I realized I could have bought a loaf of bread, a large pack of bologna, two pounds of bananas, a large bag of store brand potato chips and a 12 pack of store brand cola for the same $10.00. It is just as fast to make bologna sandwiches as it is the go through a drive thru. I was able to have 5 lunches with what I bought.
I live near Bologna and it’s always funny to read about that type of food, especially because I think it’s a sort of less rich mortadella, probably an Italian immigrant work. Maybe particularly fitted for this video!
I think about that all the time that I've turned into such a tight arse. No McD's for me! Haha.
Omg... you guys just reminded me of fried bologna sandwich Jesus I forgot all about that
@Roberto Vidal Garcia That's what I'm talking about!
@@sammyjo8109 They cost about the same already rotisseried, and sometimes less than a raw chicken depending on the store. That was one of the very first money saving tips I ever learned!
I think you should a whole weird history video on the Great Depression itself. What led to it, it’s repercussions to this day etc Could start with how the end of the First World War brought about the roaring 20’s in the US and how it all ended in Black Thursday in 1929.
yes! and living day to day...
It says he did 2 years ago
Repercussions? Piece of shit baby boomers justifying their immense entitlement by a short, difficult early childhood.
Lol a lot of hoarders and junk yards. My grandparents never threw anything away and gran ma always had proons for movements hahaha.
@Fluffy Redpill Yeah, its shocking how people are not furious and protesting. Certain ppl deserve to be lynched for this
My mom grew up in the depression and loved dandelion salad. When I was a kid I was so confused - we're going to eat weeds? My Dad laughed and said they are tasty - and the only thing that makes them a weed is they grow without any help from us :)
In Greece boiled weeds (mainly dandelion but a few others as well) with olive oil and lemon juice is part of traditional cuisine and a tasty healthy salad that people enjoy to this day. You just need to know what weeds to pick because most kinds are way too bitter.
@@UnicornrU sounds delicious 😅😋
The very "weeds" they say we should cut out our lawns are the same ones that have great healing power. Makes you wonder why they promote to get rid of them.
@@hkamensky2 -ok Doc
@@tam5949 facts my grandma always goes foraging for weeds and makes teas and stuff for my grandpa and idk how it happened but his diabetes is going away
What I learned from my grandparents about surviving the Great Depression served me well in college, and now during the pandemic inflation. Lots of beans, rice, pasta, a little bit of olive oil, salt, herbs & spices, and whatever veggies I could either grow in pots on the patio or get on sale/clearance at the grocery store. A whole chicken could last me a month, including making a broth from the carcass (frozen leftovers of course).
It's amazing how far just some simple meal budgeting and knowing how to cook can save people so much money! I know some people who didn't learn how to even do basic cooking till they were almost 30! (I am not not talking making some gourmet meal I mean like they couldn't even follow a recipe or make pasta for crying out loud!) I can easily make and freeze black bean and rice burritos for less than a dollar a burrito versus paying $10 a meal or more on take out!
I thought I was the only one who could make a store bought rotisserie chicken last so long.
Chicken and rice, chicken salad sandwiches, chicken soup and chicken broth. Cat food too. After that poor little six dollar foul is finally gone..... I crave a fat juicy steak! 😋
I fed a family of 6 on almost nothing. I fluffed each meal with pasta and potatoes! We didn’t go hungry either 😺
"A vehicle for nutrition and nutrients." Best p.c. description for a bad meal ever!
hmmm, I gonna describe dinner with that line to my kid tonight 😂🤣
If that's the "vehicle", I'll walk, lol!
Beth Oblinger how about lower gaulity fuel for the human engine, if you don't put enough fuel in the tank the engine stops working forever.
@@dylanhaugen3739 a concept people in the depression unfortunately had a far better grasp on than most other generations.
You boiled the living right out of all of it. not much left to eat in terms of nutes really. Id rather just eat its ingredients raw. Slice the potato thin, salt and oil. eat the carrots blabla.
Here in Germany dandelion is still eaten in salads, even with nettle and daisy.
I also think during the second world war they made coffee substitute out of Wildflowers because coffee wasn't readily available
Roasted dandelion roots make a palatable coffee substitute.
Chicory roots also make a coffee substitute.
@@stoverboo
And good for kidney cleanse.
I am learning so much from y’all’s comments.
@@pattijesinoski1958 Your kidneys are self cleaning Patti. You liver is too.
6:08
"Our two families became one after a tragic plane crash in Hawaii..."
Man, this _Brady Bunch_ reboot is DARK.
🤣👍
The Brady bunch is the reboot
I remember watching one episode of that show. Susanne Crough was one of the children. She informed her aunt that they were vegetarians and Eleanor started to cook some mac and cheese and the other children told her Susanne was lying. The youngest was a cute little five year old Vietnamese girl the family adopted and she told her aunt that she ate hot dogs when she was living in the orphans home. That's all I can remember except the nephew slept with a teddy bear and his cousins, Eleanor's children made fun of him.
I grew up during the 60’s. I seem to remember this depression pie showing up at least a few times/year as an adult. My aunt always baked blueberry pie from the blueberries we picked from the bush in the yard. It was the best pie in the world!
My Mom made for us what they had during the Depression: Cracker Omelet. Saltines crumbled into beaten eggs and then fried. It's actually really good.
My mom wasn't around during the depression but she loved to crumble cornbread into eggs and scrambled them.
I do the same with leftover saltine cracker crumbs and leftover eggs from frying my fish . I call them my version of hush puppies.
There is actually another classic of the era "spaghetti omelette' with leftover spaghetti and onions if you had some fried up. I STILL make this sometimes. Comfort food.
A Jewish deli near me has matzo and eggs as an option, which is basically what you describe. I agree that it's really good!
@@katla_phc I'm Jewish and grew up with 'Matzoh Brei' made in a lot of butter and with some fried onions or else made sweeter and served with strawberry jam.
When I was in university, I made the Ritz mock apple pie when that recipe came out in 1991. My roommates could not believe it was not made of apples. It was really good!! I was willing to give it a go bc I had heard stories of my great aunt had made Ritz mock apple pie during back in her heyday. Thanks for the video!! ❤️🇨🇦
I made it once as well, determined to prove them wrong. Turned out I was wrong!
It was a "thing" in the late '50's and early '60's. My mother, my aunt, my neighbor, my grandma all made it. It's good because of the sugar and milk, but sooner or later you realize you aren't tasting apple anywhere. ;-)
When my dad was growing up in Mexico they would eat salt and tortillas when they were hungry in the 1970s.
I think my mom did too in Mexico.
This is still done.
salt and lemon 🙏
Shoot my parents still do this and we have no Latinx heritage
I mean a little oil or butter with that, and it's "almost a meal".
A decade ago I was visiting my mother's home for Christmas, and she asked me if I wanted a glass of milk with my dinner (I was 35 at the time). "No thank you, I actually don't really drink milk." She was flabbergasted.
I don't drink Holestien milk, it is bitter, with huge undigestible globules, the Homigazed milk was drinkable, and Jersey/Gurnesy milk smaller globules and sweeter.
My grandparents ate onion sandwiches and oatmeal, along with "home brew". They stuck it out, and never turned to "relief" as it was called then. They raised chickens and gardened, and when my grandfather got called back to the railroad in 1938 (after an 8 year furlough) he never turned down overtime. Both lived into their nineties and were married over 70 years. As a side note- they had no use for FDR.
My grandma grew up during the great depression. She had a pet rabbit. One day she came home to no rabbit and her mom cooking. She skipped out on dinner that night.
I can't imagine the dialogue that ensued
"Sweetie, if it makes you feel any better, Mr Fluffles will always be in your heart, but also in your stomach"
My mother and her friends each had a pet lamb. once the lamb got fat they all swapped, and you didnt go to their house for dinner for a while
@@tortron My previous neighbors used to own two turkeys named Thanksgiving and Christmas. They'd get two more every year. This was in the suburbs.
hahahah that’s like my dad, they had a pet cow and he came home and they were having beef that night .........
My grandparents kept bunnies but my mom wasn't allowed to really pet them or get attached because they were food not pets.
My mom makes a jello salad sometimes. Cool Whip, cottage cheese, a strained can of crushed pineapple, and powdered strawberry jello mixed together and left to sit for a few hours in the fridge. She also sometimes replaces the pineapple with canned mandarin oranges. Both taste great!
Yep my mom made plenty of those lol.
Dandelion! The whole plant is edible ,so why do they call it invasive ? The roots of the plant r also good for the dirt and the bees love them the flowers* too. So why does everyone pull them out the ground n throw them away...you can also make a tea . A salve and a skin cream there's so much.
We need more dandelion activists
Coffee made from roasted and ground up dandelion roots is a pretty good substitute too.
Finally I understand how and why those insane jello recipes came about
*Prune Whip:* A real ... ummm ... _regular_ dessert. Underrated line!
This video makes me appreciate what I have now. I know my grandparents and great grandparents suffered through so much during the depression, and told me about many of these foods.
I was born after the Depression but towards the end of the pay period, we would have a dinner consisting of bologna cut into small squares fried with butter and onions. Then my mom would add a glass of water and put on a lid to make the sauce. Dipping rye bread in the sauce completed the meal. I actually kind of liked it.
My mom had a meat grinder that clamp to the counter top (I have it now but don't use it due to hygiene reasons). She. Everything with bologna! Meat loaf, sandwich spread, potato soup, SOS. I loved the bologna and dill pickle sandwiches on homemade bread.
When my grandma was a kid during the Great Depression, they always made “cracker dressing”, which has been in my family for years to this day. Crumbled up saltine crackers, a little bit of chicken broth (they made it homemade), boiled eggs sliced up in small bits from their chickens and a yellow onion they grew from the garden!! It’s so good.
This actually sounds good....
When I was a child, my grandma had me and my sister pick dandelions outside her house and we came back with them and she used them to cook dandelion stew for us. I always thought it was weird, but after watching this video, it makes sense now.
Personally, I like raw dandelion greens in a salad. I think they taste like spinach. Since I don't like cooked spinach, I probably wouldn't like cooked dandelion.
Dandelions are one of my favorites!
First video of Weird History’s that I had my notifications turned on for - totally worth it!
I grew up in the Midwest with parents who were children of the Great Depression. Saturday noon lunches were often macaroni and cheese (homemade or Kraft), grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup, or chipped beef in a white sauce over homemade biscuits. The chipped beef one was my favorite. My father didn’t cook very often, but before my sister and I were old enough to cook, if my mom was gone at a meal, he would sometimes fry bologna. First, he would make a slice from the center to an outside edge to make sure that the bologna would lie flat while cooking.
My great gramma taught me how to make "Depression Burgers". You beat eggs and add Italian/seasoned bread crumbs until it is formable(like a potato pancake) You shape it into a pattie, fry it, slap a piece of cheese on it, no bread. They are actually good. We always made them after we breaded smthg we were frying and I liked them better than wtvr it was that we were making. My kids love them and it is definitely a oomfort food for me :)
Thank you for the Great vegetarian Burger recipe.
*i ate those. but they were made a little differently when i was a kid. egg and breadcrumb were used to batter eggplant and my grandmother would add the leftover egg to the breadcrumb and fry it into cakes. they really are delicious.*
@@OrchestralOrg yep, we got them everytime there was leftover from breading things. I love food related memories. Eggplant.....lucky kid!
You wrote out 'definitely' but abbreviated 'whatever' and 'something'? Lol wtf
Mulligan Stew was a lesson in my school in the early 80's.. Everyone brought an ingredient and we had a feast. Stone Soup was also taught.
I love the stone soup book
@@thelmadunn7598 Oh I remember making stone soup in school! I think I was in 1st grade which would have been in 1982. I had completely forgotten about that until I read this comment. What a nice memory!
@@angelgr76 yes indeed!
What's stone soup? Not a very appetizing name.
@@explodingtomahawks7589 it's based on a book.
Mac n Cheese, the real dinner of champions.
Lol
💯%
I eat it for breakfast sometimes.
Hell yes!!
Obaerve: here we have a college student walking amongst prime hunting grounds (Walmart) searching for their prey,(Discount Kraft Dinner)
Both of my parents went through the great depression. My mom could make a great meal out of just about anything. We ate horse meat a couple of times. . We bought cracked eggs from a local egg farm. We ate S O S quite a bit growing up. I remember some jello salads too but they were good. Chopped apples and nuts in one. Seems like there was another one with cranberries that we had for Christmas. Good times!
My grandfather ate toast with warm milk in a bowl for breakfast, even after the depression. Sometimes he would add a little cinnamon.
My gram did too , she would put sugar or jelly on it , miss you gram😞💜
My mom was born in 1918 but when I was a kid she fixed cold potato and mustard sandwiches. Onion slices on white bread and Milk toast. I loved milk toast with butter and salt and pepper, but some people didn't know what I was talking about. Interesting. . . I didn't know it was depression food..
My stepfather showed me about crushing saltine crackers in a bowl and putting a little milk and that was your 🥣 cereal for breakfast if you are lucky you can have a little sugar to counteract the salt
That sounds good!
My grandpa ate mush. Flour and water.
My parents grew up during the depression. They often spoke of their sparse bland diet. My mom would make dishes from that area, vinegar pie she called poor man’s pie and catch all soup. The soup was made by combining all leftovers into a pot of chicken stock. Nothing went to waste in my mom’s kitchen
The Greatest Generation fore sure!
I grew up in the 80s eating leftover soup!
My mom still to this day keeps a container in the freezer that she tosses leftover veggies into. Once a month she makes "garbage soup". Doesn't sound yummy, but it sure is!
@@annefine7135 On Sunday evenings my Mom would just gather up all the leftovers from the week and make a "hobo" type soup. There could be almost anything in it but it always tasted good with grilled cheese sandwiches.
My grandmother and her siblings grew up in the Great Depression and they would have loved any of the foods in this video. They were very young, and sent out into the swamp to gather food daily. It got worse as time went on, and her older brothers and sister were sent to the Peterboro Orphanage, where they were rented out to local farms to do field work, or work in the mills. The plus side for me is that I know how to be self sufficient and not waste anything.
"that's disgusting" - me while eating my 20th cardboard protein bar for the week.
Right lol
Lol