Printable Menu Plan: Great Depression Recipes
Menu Plan: Great Depression Recipes
Our menu plan this week features recipes from the most frugal era in history: The Great Depression. With all the comparisons between the current Recession and the Great Depression of the 1930s, it makes sense that we research Great Depression recipes. Jobs are shaky and income uncertain for many people right now, so making the most of our household grocery budget is an absolute must.
We have a definite advantage over the homemakers of the Great Depression, however, because we have many more resources available today. Check out our “recession proof your family” series for more handy information.
Great Depression cooking focused on cheap food, substitutions, and making do with what you had. We can learn a lot from the great homemakers of the past by finding original Great Depression recipes, recorded and passed down the generations, and even adapting them to make some of our own.
Our exclusive free printable Take and Make Menu Plans contain everything you need for an entire week’s dinners and all you have to do is the shopping and cooking! Print out the menu plan below, which includes:
- A printable grocery shopping list of ingredients. Print out the list, check off what you already have on hand, then take your shopping list to the store.
- A dinner meal for each day. Click the name of the meal to print the recipe and directions. (After the week is over, add the recipes to your cookbook for future use.)
Take and Make Menu Plans: Great Depression Era Recipes
Menu is planned for a family of 4. Please adjust ingredients and recipes up to accommodate extra people.
Printable Grocery Shopping List:
| Meats and Proteins: ____ 2 chicken breasts ____ 1 1/2 lb bacon ____ 1/2 lb ground pork ____ 3 lbs lean ground beef ____ 3 (15 oz.) cans kidney beans ____ 1 (15 oz.) can pork & beans ____ 1 (15 oz.) can butter (or lima) beans ____ 14 ounces of water packed tuna ____ 1 cup American cheese |
Vegetables/Fruits: ____ 2 (15 ounce) cans whole kernel corn ____ 6 1/2 onions ____ 1 lg. can whole tomatoes ____ 2 pounds + 8 potatoes ____ Green pepper ____ 1 (15 oz.) can stewed tomatoes |
| Liquids: ____ 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth ____ 3 1/4 cups milk ____ 2 (12 fluid ounce) cans evaporated milk ____ 1 tbsp. vinegar ____ Worcestershire sauce |
Spices: ____ Salt ____ Pepper ____ 3 tsp. chili powder ____ Paprika ____ Garlic powder |
| Other: ____ 2 bottles of ketchup ____ 1 cup butter ____ 1/3 cup chili sauce ____ 1/4 tsp dry mustard ____ 1 tsp. mustard |
Grains / Baking: ____ 4 cups of cooked macaroni ____ 3 tablespoons of flour ____ 2 c. uncooked rice ____ 1/2 c. brown sugar |
Great Depression Meals with Recipes:
Monday
Dinner: Great Depression Era Corn Chowder with chicken breast cubes (from 2 cooked chicken breasts) added in as a source of protein.
Tuesday
Dinner: Great Depression Mock filet mignon. “Basically it’s meatloaf wrapped in bacon. If you have homemade chili sauce, all the better, but you can substitute store-bought or use ketchup. Mock filet mignon is cheap and delicious, if you’re not afraid of bacon fat. As the meat cooks, the juices run down into the mashed potato patty, giving it a reddish hue and a blast of flavor. From Kate Aitken’s Canadian Cook Book.” – Kim Honey, The People’s Forum
Wednesday
Dinner: 1929 Great Depression Casserole. This frugal depression recipe contains several of our favorite frugal ingredients: beans, potatoes, and ground beef (cut down with frugal fillers, of course)!
Thursday
Dinner: Great Depression Tuna, Macaroni, and Cheese Casserole. This depression recipe comes from the World War II era. Serves 6.
Friday
Dinner: Great Depression Day Soul Food. We couldn’t find the history of this depression recipe, but we love that it can be either cooked in a crockpot or baked in the oven.
Saturday
Dinner: Great Depression Mexican Rice with cooked beans (any kind) as a side dish.
Sunday
Dinner: Leftover Love. Spread out a buffet table of all the leftovers from the week’s Great Depression cooking. This means a day-off for the chef!
By learning the Great Depression recipes that have survived for more than 70 years, we can learn to think creatively and improvise to improve our frugality. The homemakers and parents during the Great Depression had the same uncertainty and financial worries as we do today, but they were able to pull together, share knowledge, and find ways to make it work. We hope you enjoy the Great Depression recipes this week, and hope you’ll write down your own recipe creations for your children to pass down for years to come.
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23 Comments
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Michelle
Have you seen these videos on YouTube?
http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking
I love watching them!
Crista
Wow, I love this! I found you from “I’m an organizing junkie”. I can’t wait to look around more. Menu plans AND shopping lists? I think I found nirvana :).
Liz @ Hoosier Homemade
Sounds interesting! I will be trying some of these recipes.
Thanks for sharing!
Susan
LOVE this – we’re having beans tonight. This kind of thinking/cooking is good anytime, but especially now!
Houstonmom
Barbi, do you recommend a cookbook or site that specializes on depression cooking? I’ve been watching stuff on YouTube that is fascinating. The food looks great and it has stood the test of time. I want to learn how to prepare more of these recipes. Thanks!
Houstonmom
I love the videos of Clara. I have not found a depression cookbook, but I did order “More With Less” by Doris Longacre. It was published in the 70s. I have a friend who rec’d it as a wedding gift years ago and really recommend it for frugal cooking. I think it may have many depression type recipes. I ordered it and will let you know if it is any good.
Tiff
I have the More with Less book, plus its two sequels (although I forget their names…) They are fantastic, and I’d recommend that anyone who get their hands on them, does. They make you think about what meal planning and providing for your family are really about, and have lots of delicious recipes!
Home Ever After
@Tiff: Thanks for the tip- I’ll look into the books 🙂
Barbi
Janice
Yes, I am looking thru several websites for depression era recipes to see if any came up that my 91 year old mother used on us. I haven’t seen any from way down south like chicken and dumplings.
I am currently writing a family cookbook and would like to see more from the Mississippi side of the depression era since we are one of the poorest or the poorest state. I welcome anything or website people have to share. Just doing some comparison work for my cookbook.
the great gab
some of this looks good but others sound so unedible……those poor people reduced to brains and tongue 🙁
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Tamra
I don’t care for the “Cooking with Clara” videos. I think they are boring. Also, the recipes she prepares are not original and I’ve seen them many times elsewhere.
Vi
My family were farmers and not too affected by The Depression (except to hide a milk cow when ‘ordered’ by whoever to get rid of them due to drought and no feed or grazing). I’ve been cooking like this for years except for all the fillers in meat and really enjoying the occasional steak. To really be authentic and frugal though, I’d be soaking and cooking the beans from dried instead of canned.
sarah
Wow I tallied up the grocery list and I would be spending more on this “depression era” cooking then I do now! And it would only give me dinners for the week. The reason being is that there is to much meat on the list. I buy one meat item a week and make it stretch (ex one whole chicken…which cost less alot of times then 2 chicken breast.)
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Kathy
found you searching online for depression recipes… love the menu. Plan to check out your other menus – lately I’ve also been searching for menus. nice coincidence!
@Houstonmom and @Tiff – More with Less – awesome cookbook as are the sequels – Extending the Table and Simple in Season
@Sarah – Iol. I’ve noticed the same thing when looking through ration cookbooks – what exactly was rationed?! they ate better on ration than most people do today.
Other cookbooks to check out:
Depression Era Recipes by Patricia R. Wagner
Clara’s Kitchen by Clara Cannucciari (she’s the one that does the YouTube videos)
Stories and Recipes of the Great Depression of the 1930’s and More by Janet Van Amber Paske . There are five volumes.
Grandma’s Wartime Kitchen: World War II and the way we Cooked by Joanne Lamb Hayes
Grandma’s Wartime Baking Book: World War II and the way we Baked by Joanne Lamb Hayes
there’s more out there – just do a search on Amazon and you’ll find a bunch.
Kathy
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