When I was a little girl in the Depression era, country breakfast is the meal that I most remember! During the corn-husking season my parents used a home smoke-cured ham to feed the men who walked out in the dark each day. Along with the slice of ham, my mother served fried potatoes, eggs and biscuits, milk and coffee. What filling food!
In the winter, just after the “beef butchering” day in the barnyard, we would eat fresh, fried liver every meal until it was used up. Winter mornings when my Dad didn’t have to hurry out to do the chores, he liked to cook breakfast. Choosing to slice some of the fresh beef-steak from the carcass, hanging high in the rafters in the freezing cold shed, my Dad often served delicious cubed-steak with man-made milk gravy (spread thick and wide) over a giant-size slice of home-made white bread.
Frequent times, in late evenings, Dad would coax my Mom to cook a kettle of com-meal and make mush. This she would pat down in a loaf pan and then slice it in the morning and fry each piece. We put sorghum syrup on the golden hunk of mush to make our early morning meal.
I cannot remember that we ever had fruit juice, omelets, a blueberry muffin or citrus on our breakfast menu in the Depression years. We had enough to eat of what my parents raised on the farm.
Our enormous breakfasts served their double-duty: most winter days only two meals were prepared for the family.
During the Depression years, one mother of five daughters made biscuits every morning of the year to save their bread. Another lady made pancakes 365 days of the year to feed breakfast to 10 children. Our beefsteak-breakfasts were exotic!
Hope Robinson
Yale, Iowa
Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then Capper’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from Capper’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.
FAQs
When I was a little girl in the Depression era, country breakfast is the meal that I most remember! During the corn-husking season my parents used a home smoke-cured ham to feed the men who walked out in the dark each day. Along with the slice of ham, my mother served fried potatoes, eggs and biscuits, milk and coffee.
What did the poor eat during the depression? ›
With the limited amount of ingredients families had, they developed their own recipes, which spread like wildfire to poor people in need of something to eat.
- Peanut Butter Bread. ...
- Mulligan Stew. ...
- Poorman's Meal. ...
- Dandelion Salad. ...
- Hoover Stew. ...
- Prune Pudding.
A typical Depression-era breakfast consisted of a piece of seasonal fruit, milk and cereal, and eggs or toast with butter. The noon meal was usually a sandwich with salad or some soup. Dinner was meat and veggies, followed by dessert.
What food was available during the Great Depression? ›
Top 10 Great Depression Foods That Are Actually Tasty
- 10 Potato Soup.
- 9 Bread and Butter Pickles.
- 8 Egg Drop Soup.
- 7 Spaghetti with Carrots and White Sauce.
- 6 Mock Apple Pie.
- 5 Prune Pudding.
- 4 Mystery Spice Cake.
- 3 Hoover Stew.
Breakfast was generally bread, occasionally with butter. For the poorest a sandwich of bread and watercress was the most common. At the start of the week, porridge made with water might be possible. Lunch involved bread, combined with cheese if possible or more watercress.
What was a popular breakfast in the 1930s? ›
In the 1930s, scrambled eggs or fried eggs were commonly cooked up alongside breakfast meats like bacon or ham. Coffee Time: No breakfast table in the 1930s would be complete without a steaming cup of coffee to kickstart the day!
What is the poor man's meal? ›
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.
What did hobos eat during the Great Depression? ›
Perhaps one hobo acquired a few carrots from a charitable person, while another stole an onion off a box car, while another had a few potatoes from a farm he worked on briefly… From this concoction, a “hobo stew,” also known as “Mulligan/Mulligatawney stew” was born and became the traditional food of the hobo.
What did dogs eat in the Great Depression? ›
Kibble + canned dog foods were introduced made out of dehydrated meat and grain mill scraps. Great Depression (30's - 40's): Canned pet food became 90% of the pet food market. WWII (1939-45): “Non-essential” pet food was not a priority during wartime and rationing.
What did the president eat during the Great Depression? ›
A gourmand, President Roosevelt had a taste for fancy Fifth Avenue foods like pâté de foie gras and Maryland terrapin soup. His menu that day was more humble: deviled eggs in tomato sauce, mashed potatoes and, for dessert, prune pudding.
| Food |
|---|
| Product | Brand Name | Price per Unit |
|---|
| Bread, Sliced | A | $0.08 |
| Brown Sugar | A | $0.05 |
| Butter | A | $0.24 |
114 more rowsMoney. During the Great Depression, which occurred from 1929 to 1933, many Americans lost all of their money and were not able to get jobs. Therefore, they were not able to buy food. Since most people did not have enough money to shop for food, there wasn't enough business to keep most of the groceries fully stocked.
What was the most used ingredient during the Great Depression? ›
It was not uncommon for households to not have enough money to buy food. During the Great Depression, honey became an important ingredient because it was versatile, cheap, available, and could be used in many different kinds of dishes.
What did African Americans eat during the Great Depression? ›
But back in the 1930s, inexpensive parcels of meat such as beef necks or pork liver would have been part of the frugal fare for African-Americans, especially in Chicago with its many stockyards. And, oh yes, there was chicken - as in chicken feet, he said. Both beans and greens of various descriptions were popular.
Where did people get free food during the Depression? ›
The definition of a soup kitchen is a place where people who cannot afford, or do not have the means to feed themselves, can get a free or cheap meal. Soup kitchens became a refuge for needy families during the Great Depression in the United States.
What was a popular breakfast in the 1920s? ›
Bacon and Breakfast Sausage
(Those in the lower classes ate porridge or oatmeal). Advertising expert Edward Bernays popularized eggs, bacon, and toast as an American breakfast in the 1920s when the Beech-Nut Packing Company hired him to sell their bacon.
What did American colonists eat for breakfast? ›
DID THE COLONISTS EAT MEALS THE WAY WE DO? Yes, the colonists would have eaten 2-3 meals a day. For breakfast colonist might have eaten porridge or mush, which is a warm cereal and could have been made with cornmeal, oats or beans.
Was popcorn and milk during the Great Depression? ›
At this time popcorn was often a breakfast food, eaten from a bowl with milk just as we eat cereal today. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, popcorn's popularity as an everyday snack food started to grow. It was a fun and thrifty snack for families who could afford few luxuries.
