28 Surprisingly Delicious Great Depression Recipes You Should Try - Page 2 of 2 (2024)

FAQs

What kind of food did they eat in the Great Depression? ›

Celery soup mixed with tuna fish and mashed potatoes. A salad of corned beef, gelatin and canned peas. Baked onion stuffed with peanut butter. Those are just some of the recipes Americans turned to during the Great Depression, when many families struggled to eat enough nutritious food.

During the Depression, beer often won the competition. In 1929, Americans consumed nine quarts of ice cream per person a year. By 1933, consumption had dropped to five quarts.

Depression Cooking is a zine of easy recipes designed to make mealtime a little easier, in the no-nonsense sense of the word, for depressed humans like me. It demonstrates one of the many lessons that I've learned during COVID: that we can care for one another without being physically present.

Many cheap foods still common among the poor today made their debut during the Depression: Wonder Bread (1930), Bisquick (1931), Miracle Whip (1933), and Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup (1934). Ragu spaghetti sauce, Kraft mac-n-cheese, and Hormel Spam all appeared during the Roosevelt Recession in 1937.

Potatoes were also inexpensive and used extensively. Some meals even used both. One of these meals was called the Poor Man's Meal. It combined potatoes, onions, and hot dogs into one hearty, inexpensive dish, which was perfect for the hard times people had fallen on.

"Even in the Depression, people were so inventive," Cass County Historical Society President Marilyn Fry says of the durable food brands born in the depths of the 1930s. Birds Eye Frosted Foods, sliced Wonder Bread, Hostess Twinkies, Mott's Apple Sauce, Snickers candy bars, French's Worcestershire Sauce.

Invented in 1929 by Edy's Ice Cream, Rocky Road was one of the first ice creams to feature stuff—in this case, marshmallows and nuts.

The earliest forms of ice cream bear little resemblance to the creamy sweet stuff inside your freezer. The emperors of the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD) are believed to have been the first to eat “a frozen milk-like confection.” This version was made with cow, goat or buffalo milk that was heated with flour.

By producing it in mass quantities ice cream became more affordable and accessible to all, and thanks to the advancements in refrigeration technology it began to be sold in grocery stores in 1930 and quickly became a household staple across the nation.

Clara Cannucciari was born on August 18, 1915 in Melrose Park, Illinois, USA. She was a writer, known for Great Depression Cooking with Clara (2007), An Afternoon with Clara (2011) and The Daily Show (1996). She was married to Dino Cannucciari. She died on November 29, 2013 in Skaneateles, New York, USA.

Is Clara from Great Depression cooking alive? ›

Clara Cannucciari (née Bonfanti; August 18, 1915 – November 29, 2013) hosted the web series Great Depression Cooking with Clara and wrote the book Clara's Kitchen.

Mageirocophobia, or fear of cooking, can take many forms. Some people are only afraid of cooking for large groups, while others are afraid of whipping up scrambled eggs for themselves.

Despite all the President's efforts and the courage of the American people, the Depression hung on until 1941, when America's involvement in the Second World War resulted in the drafting of young men into military service, and the creation of millions of jobs in defense and war industries.

From Hunger to Hope. From frozen foods to Jell-O molds, the 1930s and 40s saw a huge upsurge in convenience foods. Building on the popularity of brands like Wonder Bread, Kool-Aid, Velveeta Cheese, and Hostess Cakes, American supermarkets stocked up on mass-produced items.

The history of soup kitchens in America can be traced back to the year 1929 with the effects of a growing depression. When soup kitchens first appeared, they were run by churches or private charities and served mostly soup and bread. Soup was economical because water could be added to serve more people.

What did people eat for breakfast in the Great Depression? Corn meal mush & eggs. As they raised there own corn & had chickens on the farm.

By the time of the Great Depression, people of all classes were routinely eating outside the home. Like other retail businesses, restaurants reduced their prices at the depth of the crisis.

Big families could be fed with soups from leftover meats, beans, and home-grown vegetables. Homemakers made many varieties of soup from available foods. The results included split pea, chicken-rice, potato-onion, bean, hamburger, and all vegetable. Dumplings were a filling addition to complement the soup.

Try finger foods like devilled eggs, tea sandwiches, salted nuts, prawn co*cktail and canapés. Cakes were also very popular in the 1920s with red velvets, pound cakes and devil cakes popular.