This whole time I thought I was being creative, turns out I was just poor...

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.”

There’s actually a channel on KZfaq 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

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”

The 1920s my 20s 🤝 The great depression

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 .

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 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 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.

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..

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.

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 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

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.

So simple - my nana born 1903 wound up with the simplest thing - sliced spam, a slice of cheese and topped with baked beans - in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so - a culinary delight - heck even my kids these days LOVE it - (i put a bead of yellow mustard on top for a bit of zip) :)

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.

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 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 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.

Creamed chipped beef is still a thing. Stouffers makes it and I know actual humans who buy it with real money and eat it.

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 grandparents taught me bananas, saltines and milk was a good snack. I assume a result of the depression

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 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.

"Peanut butter has nothing to say to an onion"🤣🤣🤣

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.

I grew up on potato soup and home made bread. To this day I still eat and love it. Things today have gotten out of hand. People waste so much and complain about everything. My kids are born in the 80's I taught them things from when I grew because wanted them to experience it and to this day they do things I taught them for those days. Yes I would go back to my childhood again and bathe in the kitchen sink play with sticks drawing in the dirt to learn math. I grew up in a very poor family but it taught me a lot that I use today

Ms. Clara , I was a big fan! I bought her cookbook too! Dandelion salad, her Poorman's meal that her Grandkids loved. Who can't forget her endearing stories of her family and friends!!

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.

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.

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!

And now we need a recipe list of the 2020-2024 depression

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 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.

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 grew up with my mom baking my grandmas vinegar pie recipe and I can still remember the taste and smell to this day and it will forever be one of my favorite desserts! 🥺🖤

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

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 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.

"that's disgusting" - me while eating my 20th cardboard protein bar for the week.

“Shit on a shingle” 🤣😂 my grandma would make it a lot. I loved it when she would say it 😂🤣

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.

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

My dad was a teenager on the move during the depression. He left the orphanage in 36 at 16 and had nowhere to go. He traveled & worked way all over the country. The military wouldn’t take him because he was blind in one eye. Took him immediately when the war started.

Nowadays “Depression meals” will be seen in the future as a lot of Ramen noodle concoctions 😂

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

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.

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.

The comments are just as interesting as the video. I love reading the stories about grandparents recipes.

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.

If you’re ever in a tight situation, every part of the dandelion can be eaten and used in different ways, some people even make the roots into a sort of “coffee”. You just need a ton of them. As a kid I figured out how to make crafts with the “glue” inside the stem too

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.

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 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 :::)))

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 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!

I feel this man running this account can teach us more than the American school system

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 😂

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.

mmm....... "Hoover Stew".... my mom made that all the time for us back in the '80s and '90s. Also weird (but really tasty), she often made us a tuna fish - rippled potato chip - sliced hard boiled egg and black olive casserole, had some kind of onion soup-based "gravy". Took a while for us to "get it", but we later devoured it whenever she served it.

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 !!!!

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.

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).

Watching these again after two yrs because we might need these recipes in the near future.

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.

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.

I can't imagine the strength these beautiful people had!

With the way this economy is going I feel like these recipes may make a comeback.

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.

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

I remember my parents saying their experiences during the Depression were very different. Dad lived on a farm so they were rarely without food, though some resources were scarce, Grandma worked around it. However, my aunts would often go to school in dresses made out of flour sacks. Mom grew up in town so they had to buy more things. Parents were born in 1923 and 1924 respectively so the economic situation had been going on for a few years and I'm sure Mom's mother had already learned some tricks by that point.

A perfect storm during that time. Not only did you have the Great Depression, but you also had the Dust Bowl that rendered most crops inedible on top of WWII.

I introduced my grandma to KZfaq, and she’s been binging your videos 🤣

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

For some reason when I was about 9 and learning to cook, I saw the prune whip recipe and made it with a topping made from powdered milk. Needless to say, my brother cracked every joke he could. Surprisingly, with the exception of the topping, which was just passable, the PW was quite good.

Our family’s depression era hold over is “slop” (turns out it’s fancier name was “goulash”, which my mom learned when we moved to Iowa and was served goulash and blurted out “oh, this is ‘slop’.”) It’s a family favorite and, yes, when there is no meat in the house, hot dogs are subbed. Thus “hot dog slop” which was the kid favorite.

"A vehicle for nutrition and nutrients." Best p.c. description for a bad meal ever!

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.

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!

Prunes are an EXCELLENT "filler" for real meat; I fed my daughter tons of it in steak fajitas as a child!!! Small cuts of it mixed in with the beef, then the onions, peppers, mushrooms etc PURE HEAVEN!!!

6:08 "Our two families became one after a tragic plane crash in Hawaii..." Man, this _Brady Bunch_ reboot is DARK.

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

My grandmother (who grew up in the depression) made excellent corned beef in gravy on biscuits. I became a vegetarian later on but that is one food I am nostalgic for and may try to make a veggie version of it with faux meat. Also, southern staples such as kidney beans and rice, okra, corn bread, black-eyed peas, collard greens -- you could make an inexpensive meal that was filling and good.

My husband's great aunt used to make jello salads. I remember them being pretty good! Of course I eat ketchup sandwiches also!

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.

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 made mock apple slices many times when I was a lot younger, probably in the 70s, and they were very good with no leftovers. So weird! Also love the blue box Kraft Mac N Cheese, I think it’s what my mom served! Once my husband made a Bobby Flay recipe with a whole bunch of expensive, and we both had to admit it was good but we still liked the Kraft Dinner so much better

My grandparents used to make some of these horrifying recipes. They were both in the great depression and WWII. My grandmother made the lime jello with vegetables topped with mayo at least once a week, and my grandfather made what we called "barf on toast". Now I know why they were so gross.

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...

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.

The level of sarcasm and roasting? Unprecedented and VERY much appreciated! 🤌🏽

During WWII and before, butter was rationed/expensive. My Nana (grandmother) solved the butter problem by mixing it (using a hand mixer) with equal parts whole milk, and keeping it in the fridge so it would remain spreadable and wouldn't separate. It was such a hit that the family continued with it for decades after the butter rationing stopped. I loved my Nama's butter! (Especially on toast!)

"We ate dirt. We wanted to eat mud, but it never rained!"

Mac n Cheese, the real dinner of champions.

This was a fun watch. Love your humor !!

It’s very fun to hear about Cornell as my brother graduated from there a few years ago. My grandmother used to make SOS for my dad and we still eat it occasionally.

Who else thinks that weird history is the best history channel ever?!

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.

Loved it. Subscribed. Thanks for posting such interesting videos!

I buy lots of cheap food at dollar stores, and whatever is on sale, and my husband and I find creative ways to stretch it, make big amounts and freeze for another day. But these recipes are amazing. They look so good..