On October 29, 1929, the US Stock Market crashed, surging the country into what we know as the Great Depression. During the Great Depression, countless jobs were lost, millions lost their incomes, and families started to go hungry. This was during a time when many still lived off their own homestead, and if they didn’t, they needed to start.
Situations got so desperate, hungry people made food out of almost nothing. Canned goods, flour, and eggs from your own chickens were sometimes all that was available, if anything at all. Some only had one meal per day, and went hungry at nighttime. Others ate the same food for days or weeks on end because that’s all that was available to them.
Although this happened over 90 years ago, today we prepare ourselves for all types of worst-case scenarios. We know that, of course, this Depression-era famine will happen again, so here are some recipes that your parents or grandparents made during the Great Depression out of nearly nothing.
By no means you need to follow any of these recipes exactly, just adapt with what you have.
Related: 50 Tips From the Great Depression
Depression Bread
Firstly, this bread is a huge loaf made from only 4 ingredients, all of which will already be in your food reserve.
Keeping homemade bread on-hand adds to many of the dishes on this list.
Ingredients
- 5 lbs. flour
- 5 tbsp yeast
- 6 tsp salt (optional, if you have it)
- 6 cups warm water, more or less depending on your flour
Instructions
Add flour to a bowl or board and make a well in the flour mound.
Add yeast, salt, and warm water to well and knead into a dough.
Allow to rise for 60 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Add to a baking pan and make 3-4 slits with a knife on the top of the dough.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until the bread is nicely browned on top.
Chipped Beef On Toast
Secondly, using the bread you just made, slice off some nice thick slices to serve with this dried meat Depression delicacy.
What You’ll Need
8 oz. dried beef jerky- 2 tbsp butter or oil
- 4 tbsp flour
- 4 cups milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Sliced homemade bread, for serving
8 oz. dried beef jerky- Add jerky and oil to a pan over medium heat. Cook until the meat softens, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in your flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add milk and bring to a low boil. Allow sauce to thicken for up to 5 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper if you have it.
- Serve over homemade bread, toasted if desired.
Dandelion Salad
This salad can be harvested from your own backyard, just as they did in the 1930’s.
As we know, dandelions are totally edible and delicious, they just require lots of cleaning before eating.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. freshly picked dandelions, cleaned well
- 2 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
- 2-3 tbsp oil
Guidelines
Head outside and pick the largest, freshest dandelions you can find.
Then, cover the dandelions completely in cold water and rinse 3-4 times.
Using a knife, peel off the darkest outer leaves from the root. Rinse again.
Once clean, either chop or leave whole, depending on your preference.
Add to a large bowl and season with vinegar and oil. Serve immediately.
Baked Beans
Beans are cheap, plentiful, and filling.
They were very common in the Depression era, and recently have had a resurgence with the Covid-19 epidemic.
If you do not have every vegetable used, omit without issue.
What It Is Needed
- 1 package soaked dried beans, or 2 cans of beans
- One tomato, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 tbsp lard
- Two tbsp molasses
- One cup water
- Instructions
- Soak your beans, if using dried, overnight and drain the liquid.
- Prepare your veggies by chopping. Omit any vegetable that you do not have on-hand.
- Add lard to a stock pot and cook your vegetables until tender.
- Add the beans, molasses, and water. Cook all together with a lid on for 2-3 hours or until the beans have your desired consistency. Add more water if needed.
- Serve hot. Leftovers of this dish keep very well and can be eaten many days in a row.
Related: Get An Unlimited Supply Of Beans Growing This Tree
Ash Cakes
Ash cakes got their name because different renditions are cooked in the hot white ash of your campfire. These are only 3 ingredients but are filling and have a great texture.
Ingredients
- ½ cup cornmeal
- 1 cup meat stock or water
- 2 tbsp lard or grease
Instructions
Mix both ingredients together in a bowl and allow to sit overnight to hydrate the cornmeal. Pat into a bread pan and refrigerate or add to your cool storage before allowing to set up.
The next day, slice into 1-inch slices and fry in melted lard. Serve hot and crispy.
Hoover Stew
This stew is an amalgamation of what you currently have in your reserve. This recipe is very easily adaptable to the items you already possess.
Essentials
- 1 box noodles
- A can of tomatoes
- 1 package of hot dogs, or 1 can of sausage or meat
- A can of corn, peas or beans
- 2-4 cups water
Guidelines
Mix all ingredients together in a pot until boiling.
Then simmer for 15-20 minutes until the noodles are tender.
If you have aromatics, onion and garlic would be a great addition.
If not, the recipe is great as is.
Potato Soup
Many of us have potatoes buried in our yards right now, saving them through winter. This is a great way to use up your potato harvest at the end of winter, but you can always use canned potatoes too.
Related: How To Make Potato Flakes With 5 Years Shelf Life (without refrigeration)
Ingredients
- 4 large potatoes, peeled and sliced (or 2 cans of potatoes)
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- One carrot, sliced
- A can of meat, sausage, or hot dogs (optional)
- 3 cups water or stock
- 3 cups milk
- Any herbs you have on-hand
- Salt to taste
What To Do
Slice all your potatoes, garlic, and carrots. Add to a soup pot with the meat, water, and milk. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat, keeping the mix at a low simmer.
Then, cook for 30 minutes until all veggies are tender.
Add herbs and salt, if using. Serve hot.
Rice Pudding
And finally, our only Great Depression dessert recipe. There aren’t many comforts during a depression, but at least this rice pudding will bring some familiarity to an undesirable situation.
What It Is Needed For This
- 1 cup rice
- 2 cups milk
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp honey, maple syrup, or molasses
- Pinch of cinnamon
- Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over low heat, about 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Taste for doneness and cook an additional 5 minutes, tasting until desired consistency.
- Serve warm.
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over low heat, about 20 minutes, stirring frequently.Therefore, we may need our parents or grandparents’ Great Depression-era recipes sooner than we think, thanks to the increasing instability brought on by governments and the current pandemic.
Cooking with almost nothing is possible, as the 1930’s and early 1940’s taught us. All of these recipes are easily made with what you should already have in your root cellar and non-perishable reserves. Use your judgement to add or omit any ingredients that suit you.
In conclusion, the next time the economy crashes, which may be sooner than we think, keep prepared with some recipes to keep your family fed and your homestead moving forward.
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I’m afraid the way this country is headed, These recipes will come in very handy. I was fortunate enough to have a great aunt that was a cook in logging camps in the early 1900s. I truly believe she could cook a boot, and make it taste good! Patience and imagination is the key to a good cook? Hard to find cooking like that today?
I get it! This is such a long and boring thing to listen to! Why can’t you act like we have a Brain and just show me what you said you would?? Makes me not want to buy anything from you!
seeing the ash cakes reminded me of what we called hot water cornbread. its cornmeal, salt to taste and enough boiling water to make mixture about like mash potatoes and fry by spoonfuls
My husband’s grandmother made these. She called them dog bread.
My English teacher talked about fried cornmeal mush for meals…when she was a child. My grandparents lived through the 1918 flu pandemic, WW1, WW2 rationing, the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl…not to mention other later wars. I learned alot from them. And I tried to teach my children self sufficiency…learn to fix things yourself, cook and clean for yourself, and know how to help you partner later, once you have one. Practical life skills need to return to our teaching priorities
THANK YOU FOR YOUR MOST EDUCATIONAL BOOKS. MUCH APPRECIATED!
Love it
Thanks, some good stuff. I’ve eaten my share of SOS, when it’s good it truly is good, when it’s not, well that’s how it got it’s name.
Five pounds of flour ?? Heck of a loaf I guess – – –
I saw that too. That’s a ridiculous amount to make at once unless you’re serving 50 people. Easy enough to divide. But can you imagine the muscle power and space needed to knead that much dough.
Having baked bread for over 25 years There is no way that the bread will bake in 30 minutes .
Instructions seriously lacking in details
My family never stopped cooking these foods. My kids even know how to make ’em.
“Chipped Beef on Toast” lol Otherwise known as ‘”Shit on a Shingle”
M’m! M’m! GOOD.
Better then grass hopper.
Actually deep fried grasshopper are quite tasty with salt and consumed while drinking beer or sake. I would recommend pinot grigio as the white wine for grasshopper.
Some like them with ketchup but in that vein, I like Bullseye barbecue sauce of Jack Daniels barbecue sauce.
With barbecue sauce, beer is mandatory.
Left Coast Chuck,
Grasshoppers are great but take off the legs! They irritate the that.
Peace,
MadFab
Yes, of course, always take off the legs. Sorry, I though all grasshopperphiles knew to take off the legs. Grasshopper are higher in protein and lower in carbs than potato chips or french fries. While they are not as calorie dense as the potato products, they also serve the purpose of keeping down other nutritious vegetable product depredation.
SOS is made with hamburger. Chipped beef on toast is what my Dad always called foreskins on toast.
1 can of Progresso minestrone soup
1 can of garbanzo beans (or your favorite beans)
1 can of diced tomatoes
Italian seasoning to taste
To the above basic recipe I add a hot dog, an Italian sausage or a few pieces of cut up jerky or a place ofSpam. If I were going to serve more than just the two of us, I think I would add a can of potatoes or in the alternative, potato that had been pre-cooked.
For baked beans, I always add a hot dog or two. That’s a dish from childhood called Beanie-Weenies. If not a hot dog, three or four slices of pre-cooked bacon will add some zest to the canned beans.
Of course for a lower cost meal, one can always substitute dried beans for canned beans although when canned beans go on sale they are so cheap as to actually be cheaper than cooking dried beans unless one is using free firewood and cooking the beans over a wood burning stove.When you add in the cost of utilities plus the water for soaking (not counting the value of your time involved) it is a toss up which is cheaper. As one educational note: thanks to the incestuous relationship between the CA PUC and the few utility-providing entities in the state the PDRK has among the highest electricity rates in the U.S.
In the past year I have actually bought14-ounce house brand canned beans for 10¢ a can. Hard to prepare beans when you can buy them that cheaply.
Beef jerky is actually quite expensive on a per ounce basis. It actually is cheaper to buy a cheap cut of meat and cook it until tender than it is to use jerky or dried beef. During the depression dried chipped beef used to be quite inexpensive. I know that because it was a frequent dish growing up. My parents, having survived the depression knew how to squeeze a nickel. Chipped beef today is quite expensive compared to cheap cuts of fresh beef. It still comes in that small jar smaller than a fruit juice glass and its per ounce price is fairly high considering that it is a cheap cut of meat to start with.
I believe the reason why the military services served so much chipped beef overseas was that it was easier to ship, requiring less refrigeration than fresh beef and perhaps the protein is concentrated in chipped beef due to the water having been extracted. That last bit is pure speculation on my part. Someone who has actually compared protein content of chipped beef to fresh beef should correct me if my speculation is wrong.
That was the reason why we got “reconstituted milk” on Okinawa in the 50s. It was cheaper to have a reconstituting plant add the water back to dried milk once the dried milk got to Okinawa than it was to try to transport fresh milk via ship to Okinawa (and probably Korea. I know reconstituted milk was used in Japan in the mess halls.)
This might be a good article to print out and have in your most used cookbook.
Oh, and before I hit send: raisins for the rice pudding. Rice pudding just isn’t rice pudding without raisins. Also raisins in bread pudding. I was surprised to see no recipe for bread pudding. That was a staple in our household in decades past. Wish I had one to post but it has never been a staple in our present household. I am sure clergy lady has a great recipe for bread pudding. The way my mother made it it had a strong cinnamon flavor.
Ewwwwww for the raisins ! Never raisins. Thank you for the recipes without them.
TritciB: Reasonable minds CAN differ. For me, rice pudding just isn’t rice pudding with raisins. However, we can still be civil toward each other in our social discourse on this site. No need for rude, vulgar language regarding lack of taste or some such. Just politely agree not to serve rice pudding should one or the other of us invite the other to dinner.
LCC- Bread pudding is such a simple dish, most folks don’t have recipes! Dried diced bread, in buttered dish, mix up milk, some cream if you have it, vanilla, bourbon if you like it, eggs, sugar, a little spice nutmeg/cinnamon to taste and pour it over the bread. Then dot with butter on top and bake in a moderate oven u til we’ll set. It’s also a good dish to vary by addicting some dried fruit, to the bread, especially dried apple slices.
CC: yes! apples go with about anything. as I can’t eat wheat, one of these days I’m making rice-oat bread and making bread pudding. 🙂 niio
I hear you there Red only I’m allergic to all grains as well as dairy amongst certain other foods, so I have to get real creative with my ingredients.
Metal: I’m trying to stay on a carnivore diet. No grain, but on occasion I’ll slip. It’s like when I had to throw away anything with gluten. Dairy is not good for any adult. I follow Mexican in that–a little goes a long way. niio
Exactly: there’s many recipes for bread or rice pudding; sometimes add leftovers that’d taste good w/the other ingredients then put some butter atop, if desired, and bake, until it looks done, or taste a teeny bit w/clean spoon–after awhile you learn to recognize when it’s done.
For leftovers, there’s many ways of combining them to make another meal; if it tastes good, great, if not then next time try something else, but eat as much as you can anyway, or give it to your animals, or bury it to enrich the soil. I’ve been a ‘from scratch’ cook since the early 60s.
Bread pudding:
Stale bread, torn into bite sized pieces
1egg for every 3-4 slices of bread
Milk
Butter
Sugar
Raisins*
Cinnamon*
Vanilla
1Tear up your bread
2 Crack eggs into cup individually. If they’re good, dump into large mixing bowl and whisk until well blended
Add cinnamon, vanilla, and other spices to taste. Add sugar to taste – start off with 2T
Add milk to make a thin mix
What you have now is essentially the same as french toast soak, but a bit thinner. You can also add a little water if you’re short of milk, but not too much.
Put your bread pieces into the egg/milk and stir to thoroughly coat pieces. Let soak.
If you are using raisins, add them now and put in an extra tablespoonful of water.
If you want, omit raisins and add diced canned peaches. If you use canned fruit, omit wet milk. Substitute the liquid from the fruit and 3-5 tablespoons of powdered milk. Also adjust your sugar down.
Pour into a well buttered casserole or baking pan large enough to accommodate the bread. Smoosh down to fill corners, but don’t compress too much.
Chip butter over top and bake uncovered at 350° until springy and browned. If browning too fast, cover loosely with foil.
Serve with additional milk or cream, whipped cream is nice with this. You can also make a sauce out of butter, sugar and lemon juice to spoon over it.
Thank you, Miss Kitty. Sixty-two years ago I did all the cooking as my wife had mysteriously gotten pregnant within a month of my return from Taiwan after a nine-month separation. She was really sick with morning sickness and just the smell of something cooking would send her in to have a close connection with the porcelain throne.
It has now become my task to prepare meals once again and I am sixty two years out of practice, so I really appreciate your recipe. Thanks.
Of course, I could go on line and get recipes from a variety of sources, but a time-tested, personally endorsed recipe is far more useful.
Thanks miss kitty.
Going to make that.
With the right thing before, lol. I think that will be a yummy dish. Don’t for get the glass of milk.
How many loaves do you make with the bread recipe? It has to be more than 1.
MOM: figure one pound flour per loaf. If you have it, at least one loaf gets more sugar, cinnamon, and raisons all plump full after being soaked. don’t forget the icing! niio
There’s a road in Decatur TN called “No-Pone Valley Road”. What I was told is that some Civil War soldiers went about looking for food, and there was no bread to be had in that area… so they called it No-Pone Valley. One of the old timers out there knew what I was talking about regarding ash pones. Hard times.
My grandfather’s mother had to cook their seed beans & corn one time when my grandfather was a kid because they were starving and had to have something to eat… just awful to be that desperate.
Well, golly! A lot of theses recipes with a few minor augmentations are everyday family favorites around here! I’d add a leek to the potato soup. Some mustard to the dandelion salad dressing, a bag of dried lentils to that Hubert Hoover dish, a little spice to those baked beans and a spoonful of jam on top that rice pudding!
I do that too, a chopped leek in the potato soup; but also cooked IN Chicken Broth, Parsley, Chives and a hit of Cayenne Red Pepper, Black pepper & Onion Powder.
Sister: For fussy little kids (and adults), cut up a pound of hotdogs and add them to the potato soup. We call it hotdog soup. Mom would shred some cheddar in it, as well. niio
Or you could add a $1 can of Corned Beef Hash, from Walmart. =) Alabara Dios! =)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Corned-Beef-Hash-14-oz/848626120
Do you really need 5 lbs of flour for depression bread? seems a bit much…
You can halve it easily. That would make one regular loaf pan loaf. Adding a bit of sugar or honey if you have it makes it taste even better
Note that Dandelion, as well as some other wild greens, contains a respectable level of Vitamin K.
ST – My sister and I use to pick dandelions for our grandmother. Our reward was a delicious salad with lunch that day! For many years, we would giggle about Oma’s special salad! Little did I know about it’s nutritional value then but now it’s good to know! Vitamin K is an important vitamin which we all tend to overlook!
Hey City Chick!
It is important, but for a few folks, it’s also a hazard. I have to be cautious with my K. It’s a real bummer, as there’s no dark green veggie I don’t like. I could eat a whole pot of collard greens. I have to settle for half a serving here and there.
Yes, we went over the Vitamin K problem a few topics ago. Vitamin K is a blood thickener and is contraindicated if one is taking blood thinners for some cardiac problem.
Vets give massive doses of Vitamin K to pets that have accidentally ingested warfarin (coumadin).
I am glad that we had the discussion about Vitamin K because I am on blood thinners and had no idea that Vitamin K would counteract the blood thinner I am taking.
Vitamin K is an important product for hemophiliacs who suffer from non-clotting of the blood. I glanced over the article about hemophilia when following the previous article regarding Vitamin K but didn’t read it in detail, so won’t comment on it here. What a great excuse for spinach haters, “Oh, golly that looks so delicious, but I’m on xxxxx and have to watch my Vitamin K intake. I’ll have to pass but I’m sure disappointed I couldn’t try your spinach with rutabagas casserole.”
left coast chuck;
Hello!
Yes indeed. When I first began on blood thinners, hospital staff told me that in case of an overdose, intravenous K was part of the treatment. There are a number of foods and herbs that can influence the efficacy of your blood meds. Onions and garlic may enhance it to a degree. Foods that act as diuretics may cause you to metabolize it too quickly. Almost 20 years and I’m still trying to get it right.
My greatest worry is getting the meds I need when all the pharmacies are closed.
It seems I got a thumbs down from someone. Is it because I use prescriptions? Well, my condition is genetic. NO amount of food or herb therapy will stave off strokes like the medicine I take. None.
ST: There’s a spoiler in every family. You take care, and keep taking the right meds. niio
Also, don’t throw the roots of the dandelion away. Clean and peel as best you can and then roast in very low oven. Grind up and measure out just as you would regular coffee and cover with boiling water. It isn’t coffee but it can make you think you are drinking coffee.
You absolutely cannot leave the salt out of this bread recipe, it will taste bad and harden up and spoil almost immediately.
LCC mentioned Beanie Weenies, those big old cans of pork and beans heated up with hot dogs or Vienna Sausage swimming in the pot, my Mom’s signature dish, A true feast.
Guess I have a Depression era diet, except for rice pudding which is vile I have made a version of all of these in the last couple of weeks feeding some hungry kin. When you make refrigerator stew crack a couple raw eggs into it near the finish, don’t stir til their set, they make a tasty surprise in the middle of all that boring stuff.
Actually haven’t served dandelions yet but with the mild winter I have enough young dandelion and henbit to give an army of lawless right wingers heart burn.
Gluten intolerant, so we use cornflour.
No potatoes, dandelion, and some other things. they do not grow here without a whole lot of babying. But, we have plenty of greens like collards that like our delicate summer sun and 110 in the shade.Rice, yes. we can grow Indian rice grass (a desert form of wild rice).niio
Wish I could grow something like that desert rice. Glad I’m not wheat intolerant as this is good wheat and oats growing country. As for dandelions I planted them but they struggle.
And we’ve been getting some of those nice days of 44C in the shade.
Ginny: Desert rice is planted in the fall for spring harvest. It’s a perennial, so after harvest, graze lightly. It thrives in sandy, dry soil.
Have you tried dandelion-type chicory? the domesticated types on rich soil can get big enough to fill a half-bushel basket. A couple of good things is, livestock like the plant and pigs will follow roots down so far you’ll be chatting with Inuit (eskimos 🙂 Here. it’s a winter crop. USDA calls for it to be mixed in pasture blends. For a hidden garden, it’s good. Tall plants covered with blue flowers.
Had a fun one the other night, about 2 AM. I had the truck parked in the drive and heard metal rattle, then javelina pigs bark warnings. sows will farrow soon, and are getting nasty. whoever it was, he left boot tracks around the truck, with lanty of pigs tracks over his. They scared him off. niio
So I gather it is an Upland variety which doesn’t require flooding, just normal rainfall. I’ll look into that. Again it will come down to our quarantine/importing laws and what’s allowable.
I’ve tried chicory on a small scale and I know it’s available in some of the pasture blends but I’ve not tried that here.
Good to see the pigs being so helpful 😉
Ginny: Indian Ricegrass has a minimal need of water, 6 inches or so to make a crop. too much is worse than too little.
those rotten, vile nasty pigs struck again. I overwinter stuff on the south side of the house. a tomato had come up last fall and had a load of fruit on it. Still green, but the rotten no-account SOBs ate them. Well, at least they didn’t take those in the backyard. Frost burned off the tops, but the bases are green, so they might survive to come back when it warms enough. Olive brush over newly planted beds keeps them at bay, as well. niio
I was doing research on how to keep bears, deers, raccoons and other critters out of the garden, etc…. It may not be financially feasible to build a large one, but a small scale one will work: A Raised, Fenced in Garden bed. You can study it, a draw a modified blueprint design that fits your budget & Skill level, then build it. I hope this helps!
https://countrylifeprojects.com/latest-projects/deer-bear-proof-garden-enclosure-with-raised-beds/
Red:
Sorry to hear about the pig raid. Sounds like pork may soon be on the menu (if they’re edible?). We don’t have native or feral pigs in our area. Just rabbits, foxes and feral cats – all imported at some point in our post European past.
Sister Abigail:
I would like to ask wiser heads than mine if human hair keeps wild critters away. I’ve heard it and read it somewhere but have never tried it.
Anyone?
I would assume it may only work on animals that don’t live closely to humans. Foxes for instance have no trouble raiding the hen house or emptying rubbish bins and quite often live in suburbia.
Ginny in West AU:
I am just curious; Why the negative sarcasm at me? I am nice to everyone and NEVER Try hurting ANYONE Ever. So why that sarcastic question towards me? I do not even know you and all I do is try being PART OF this community to learn and to hopefully contribute, with Love and Respect.
I Strongly believe in being Blunt, Honest, Transparent & in talking things out, to get to the root problem of issues, so peaceful resolutions can be maturely reached.
So my question to you, Ginny, is, Have I personally said something that is hurtful and offensive to you? If so, Please enlighten me and let me know specifically and HONESTLY what it is, so we can discuss and resolve the issue PEACEFULLY like two Mature Adults.
Sincerely with Much LOVE & Respect,
In YESHUA JESUS THE MESSIAH
Whom I Am NOT Or EVER Will be Ashamed Of,
Sister Abagail
Child & Servant Of The MOST HIGH GOD Of Israel
In YESHUA JESUS THE MESSIAH
Sister:
My humblest apologies – I was just asking. It was not meant as criticism/anger/hurtful or anything negative!
Sometimes I just type the way it sounds in my head and it comes out jumbled up.
I was asking if human hair has any repellent affect in reply to your query. The wiser heads was in reference to MY lack of knowledge in this area and in no way reflects on you personally or generally.
I will refrain from further commenting and am sorry you found so much negativity in my stupid comments.
Sister Abigail and Ginny:
Sister Abigail: Fwiw, I thought Ginny was just asking a question.
I just re-read her question and I didn’t see anything disrespectful or rude at ALL in the way it was phrased – she was just asking a question because she thought you might know the answer. If you don’t know or don’t feel like answering you are free to ignore it or to say, “I don’t know”, ” I haven’t tried that”, or whatever. Someone else here might.
Ginny, your question is a good one and your other comments have been better than some who have been here longer and always respectfully worded.
I don’t know about hair. I know people who put it out for the birds to put in their nests, so maybe not, but I haven’t tried it. I have heard that human pee is a good deterrent, but I haven’t peed on the tomatoes yet. Since my “garden” is a group of pots on my balcony in a downtown apartment, it might not go over too well with my human neighbors either.
Now, ladies, please “shake hands” and make up. We’ve got more important things to do than squabble amongst ourselves.
Thank you both for your contributions to the comments, past present and future.
Ginny: Here, it’s coyotes living la vida loca a la suburbia. When they’re not around, possibly a mountain lion or bobcat, or those roadrunners. Hawks and so on are always around, this is a major flyway for migrating birds. the only thing I found to work on smaller predators is a good rooster or two. For rabbits, clover works better than most things. We have a horde of cottontails and some jacks around, and they stick to Indian Rush Peas, a legume, and ignore beans and peas. It makes a very good desert pasture, grows thick and looked good in a hidden garden (as a wild flower). Clover-mix works and is one of the best pastures to fatten hogs and cattle. niio
Sister: Ruth Stout had to ‘roof’ her corn with wire to keep out deer and racoons. So far, bird netting works here, but it’s only birds and javelina at this time of year. niio
Red – One can make dumplings out of that corn flour! Recipients abound for combos of bread, cornmeal, all sorts of flours, and cooked/grated raw potato to make soft plump tasty dumplings. Some mix in chopped herbs, veggies, or put a little surprise into the center of the dumpling like a few berries or a piece of cooked meat or cheese.
CC: Just add corn starch or guar gum. We’re not wild about carbs but do that on occasion. Did you stock up on chia? You can now buy 10 lbs bags. Old timers claimed a man can do a day’s labor on a few tablespoons a day. But, it’s not a complete replacement for other things. niio
You can also eat broccoli leaves, the big ones. They can be eaten raw like lettuce or kale, or cooked like collards or cabbage. They taste a lot like collards, but seem to be milder in flavor. And you can trim them while waiting for the florets to ripen. Just rinse well and trim the veins you don’t want to eat.
DG: I like the seed pods from radishes. Very good when they’re ready but before it gets too hot. Flowerheads off most cole crops are good, but need to be parboiled, then cooked to get rid of bitterness. niio
Radishes are a good natural medicine, for helping clean out the sinuses. Using prepared radishes in the food, and separately, making a herbal tea with Honey, Green Mancha Tea, Plantain Powder and Elecampane, Naturally helps fight Tooth & Sinus infections.
I once had asthma. Between prayer and that herbal tea I made for it, I just mentioned, I no longer have asthma. ALSO, one time years ago, I made a sauce for my fish when I had pneumonia, used lots of horseradish, garlic and lemon juice to loosen the mucus. Then made an herbal green tea with added honey, clove, Elecampane and a hint of lemon. It actually helped me heal of Pneumonia WITHOUT Antibiotics. It was my antibiotics.
Because I am allergic to every Antibiotic, except Doxycycline and Rocephin, I had to learn HOW to find what works for me Naturally, in place of modern mainstream medicine antibiotics. Because of this challenge, it has helped me grow and learn so much, in how to use natural resources to maintain my health and well being. It has turned into a Blessing.
I will say, it is important to note that Not everyone’s body is the same and must be taken into account, when treating ones self with holistic herbal medicine and nutritional therapy foods. Body weight, body chemistry, allergies and health conditions must be considered, when trying to determine a personal amount dosage AND what combinations one must use for treating conditions within ones body, with natural measures.
I highly recommend taking SOME online classes and doing personal research, IN DEPTH, to understand the uses, side effects and dangers and drug interactions with ANY Herbs, Spices, Foods or Medicine, BEFORE Using Natural solutions. Personal Research is necessary, IF you want to Use the Natural resources to it Safest & Fullest Potential, of what the LORD provides for you within your ability to obtain natural resources.
Collect a few resources on Survival Medicine, and Nutritional Therapy within functioning medicine research, and write down highlight points in a notebook, for personal references. Highlight key points in your books, like an outline, and it will help you remember it more quickly and retain what you learn for future use when we may not be able to keep books around for what ever the reason…..Learn now, while you can. History has a way of repeating itself, so it is always better to be overprepared for any scenario to be the most helpful within your community during a time of crisis, than never at all. Fostering Life to LIVE, is Always Good.
Catalog or make an inventory list of what all you have in your Herbs, Spices & Herbal Tea & Powder resource; THEN Look up specific Uses, Benefits, Side Effects and Warnings for each one; to writer down in a notebook for later use as a resource reference. Look up shelf life and storage also, because that is very important.
Also, if you can, get a Grays Anatomy Book to study EACH System within the body, how it functions and what each organ of the body is for, it will help make Holistic and Nutritional therapy much more SAFE & EFFECTIVE. The research will help you glean the most benefits out of your natural resources. If you do not, it will defeat the purpose of the Natural Holistic Herbal Knowledge you glean, working against you & others, instead of fostering a healthy well life! Throughout History, hefty consequences come from lack of knowledge and avoiding the truth; or even just as dangerous, not being as prepared as possible, only half-way equipped with useful knowledge, UNLES you are in a group with each one doing their part, as a Family and Team. Even then, it is good to be as knowledgeable as possible.
If you need to go to a doctor now, choose an Integrated medicine, Nutritional Therapist & Holistic Doctor, so you can learn from them. They are more likely to work with you more personally, to learn more about how herbs and Nutrition works with the body, to help it heal naturally; avoiding chemicals as much as possible. I do not mean doctors are bad, I just mean that SPECIFIC Professional Doctors who Specialize in learning about holistic med & Nutritional therapy, are Much more knowledgeable in how to utilize the medicinal properties of Foods, Herbs and Spices.
I hope this will be helpful. And by the way, I LOVE Radishes. When I begin my new garden this spring, I need to learn how to grow them. In past years, I have grown Sweet potatoes, Sunflowers, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Watermelon, Okra, Butternut Squash, Red Potatoes, Zucchini and Yellow Squash, but never radishes. Once I get my new place, I plan on expanding what I grow in my garden. Radishes will definitely be added to the list.
I lik was radish seed podz when still tender but I like them best pickled.
My Grandmother also taught me to Peel the Broccoli Stalk, after it was boiled to tender on the inside. It is very good and good for you.
Sister: I was taught radishes are a tonic to the bladder. Black Schifferstadt radishes (a winter radish) can be used in place of horseradish.
Broccoli stalks! That brought back a funny memory. I was assistant to a sou chef at a very high end restaurant in the Pocono Mtns, PA. He had me do a half dozen mirror trays. Cauliflower and broccoli were biggies. Rather than waste the stalks, I peels the broccoli and cut it into sticks. Cauliflower is usually tender enough I didn’t need to. After a half an hour, waiters started to come back saying people wanted to know what the green and white vegetable was. When I told them, the chef laughed because no one in the banquet hall ever had them. According to silk slipper crowd, I was a genius! A veritable genius to create something delightful of the common place. niio
Mom always peeled those stens. I grew up thinking everyone did that.
Thank you, Red! I did not know that about the Radishes being a tonic for the bladder. I will definitely be researching that further, when I have a chance.
How Cool is that! Working up there serving people, helping foster life with creative ways to use and not waste food, that is Nutritional! I Love it, how you discovered the joy of nutrition in that healthy stalk of broccoli, that most think is inedible. It is sad to think of how many just throw those stalks away, when people are out there starving and struggling, and when it is actually good edible food packed with vitamins.
Once I eventually find the right place out in the country, I am going to have a private garden for my daughter, grandchildren and me, AND THEN at the Other end of the property, I am going to plant a Community Garden. It is sad to see others struggle. As the LORD Blesses me, I want to give and help others who need both support independence and healthy food from the community garden. It is good therapy for times like this.
Both Nutritional Therapy and Mental/Emotional/Spiritual Therapy.
In my research and helping others that I love to cook for, I use what I learn to foster healing, blending together what also taste good and be artistic with the presentation of the food. The reason, is because the presentation of the food, also fosters healing by helping release “Happy Endorphins” in the body. =) It also treats them with Love & Respect, to give your best to them, and lets them know they matter to you and ARE Important with a life that matters. It brings great joy to see others happy and doing well.
Thanks for sharing that memory. I Loved it. What a good memory.
Sister: Organic always taste best. Kali-fornia should be organic capital of the world, but sadly is agnostic/atheist. But, Christian and kosher farmers are going all natural as fast as they can.
there’s an article posted on Ruth Stout, Make Mine Mulch. She used straw and very little else to create a fertile soil from worn out rocky land. I found a farmer down in Marana who sold me 100 lbs bales of triticale hay for 10 bucks a bale. And, found a source of native clover. Our Arizona clover is a perennial bush.
the last of the ripe tomatoes were picked yesterday–this winter is warmer than usual. While chilis can survive even if burned to the ground by freezes, the roots usually survive and those are the major fruit here.
Another good plant to have is linseed for the fiber and seeds. It likes cool, damp weather, so it’s not good here, but cotton is native. niio
Thank you for sharing your survival knowledge. It is deeply appreciated. I have been studying Holistic Medicine, Nutritional Therapy and Ancient Medicine in the Bible & Talmud, and Survival Skill Research for over 30 Years; plus, I was raised in “The Country”!
With Years of Research and Practicing what all I discover, I am finding just how helpfully beneficial it is, to collect Survival Skill information & Holistic Medicine Knowledge from AROUND THE WORLD, for overcoming MANY Scenarios and Life-Threatening Challenges for in the present and future hardship tribulation times to come. I pray that NO ONE, in there such for survival knowledge, will EVER Forget the MOST IMPORTANT Endurance & Overcome Help of ALL; That is A Relationship with YESHUA, JESUS THE MESSIAH, having Hope in THE GOD Of Israel. When YESHUA returns, HE Promised us Eternal Life! Get To Know HIM personally, before it is too late; because even if you muddle through a struggeling existance without HIM, You will MOST Certainly Loose out on ETERNAL LIFE With HIM Forever! HE Is the ONLY ONE Who can GIVE US True Love and ETERNAL Life. HE Is the Greatest Treasure of All and will help us overcome THE Great Tribulation. I pray you all overcome. B’Shem YESHUA/In The Name of JESUS, Amen! Love Sister Abagail
I would suggest ayurvedic medicine as well. This is a study of food as medicine from India. A good website is http://www.joyfulbelly.com
There are programs that you have to pay for on here, but also a lot of free stuff.
Thank You So Much, Miss Kitty! I will definitely visit that Website. I actually use a number of spices from India: such as Saffron, Turmeric, Red Curry Powder and Moringa Powder. Well, the Moringa Powder I only used once. The others I use quite often. I Love Naam Bread with Mint Chutney. That is very healthy and very good.
I truly love collecting and using spices from around the world, and studying Natural Holistic Medicine and Nutritional Therapy from around the world. There is a LOT To learn, that is good for fostereing life. =)
Sister: Interesting! Germany stated studies show tobacco smokers rarely caught covid. About 0.02% were affected by it, while 26% of non-smokers were affected. The studies were checked and Russia stated they found the same, as did China, Japan and other nations. niio
Well, I actually Smoked cigarettes off and on for over 36 years UNTIL I Personally MET JESUS and HE delivered me from it. Now I no longer have asthma or cancer! HE healed me and continues to show me how to learn ancient wisdom in overcoming sickness through prayer and research. Learning and living what I learn. It has helped me tremendously. I feel much better.
Unlike my mother and grandmother, I NEVER went through Chemo Therapy, Radiation or any other doctor intervention except surgery once when I was younger, but the last Inflammatory Breast cancer I was HEALED Of, was a TOTAL MIRACLE! The Goose Egg size lump over my heart, disappeared.
I have not been to doctors in a very long time. I am learning ancient ways of prayer and about ancient medicines in the Bible, in the Talmud and from around the world. It has helped me and others, tremendously; including me no longer having asthma, from my lifestyle change.
I have genetic issues, I deal with miraculously, but have not completely healed of them yet. I must learn from what I go through and use it for good in life, the best I can.
I strongly believe my genetic issues being aggravated, has a lot to do with allowing foods in my diet, at times, that were not as healthy as I thought, that had added Chemicals interfering with my body’s ability to digest foods properly. Those unhealthy chemicals can cause all kinds of conditions that has nothing to do with the TYPE Of Food eaten, and has EVERYTHING To do with the chemicals that companies have added, for growing food more quickly, adding color for attraction or adding chemicals to preserve food…the WRONG kinds of preservatives…..OR TOO MUCH Of the normal preservatives, throwing the body off balance.
I believe if we pray over our food and get foods as organically natural as possible, even home grown and prepared or foraged from out in Nature, that is the BEST Food for us. When I get my new place out in the country, in the near future for my Daughter, Grandchildren and me, I will definitely have Chickens for my own eggs, Goats for my own milk and lots of fruits and vegetables and herbs in a garden and Green House that my daughter and I build, ourselves.
The gift I see that you have, Red, is the gift to Improvise with what ever is available. That is a VERY Good gift to have, for survival; Especially when you have children or a lot of people to feed. I have 2 young grandchildren and another one on the way, and my daughter is a Nurse who works 12 to 16 hour shifts. I am going to have my hands full, by the time the new baby is born. Which means I will definitely read your post more often when I visit here as I can, in between my Biblical Studies/Research and My Medical Research & Studies; both privately and through a university, AND Busy Home Schooling my grandchildren; Including learning more & teaching them English, Spanish, Russian, Hebrew & American Sign Language. The Sign Language is the ONLY Language I am fluent in. But I do have enough of a beginners foundation in the other languages, to help them with learning it, as we learn Together through music, phonetic learning and cultural immersion methods.
Thanks for the encouragement and the inspiration. I do not always get to read all the news and recent research right away, when it first comes out. So your shared information is definitely interesting and catches my attention. There must be something in the cigarettes that kills that virus, like a chemo therapy kills cancer cells….. Worth a look, to research. I literally have my own Microscope, Stethoscope, Otoscope, etc….. I have always loved medical research and different fields of science, since I was young; Especially Environmental Science & Sociology – Study of cultures from around the world. The Beauty in Life that GOD made!
I certainly look forward, sincerely, to some of your next comments.
Love in YESHUA JESUS THE MESSIAH,
Sister Abagail
Que Dios Te Bendiga!
Sister: niio! Walk in god’s beauty.
Pound for pound, goats give more milk than dairy cows. They produce more meat. But, major problems are, they’re clever and a lot harder to control. They’re easy prey for many predators. They tend towards lung problems and internal parasites much more than cattle. Best things about them, they can pasture on land where cattle starve, most people with dairy problems can use goat milk.
Each time I’ve stopped smoking, an abscess forms in one lung. Allergic asthma gets much worse. Tend towards pneumonia and bronchitis attacks and so on. A doctor spent 4 years trying to get the abscess healed but nothing worked. A week before surgery, I started smoking again and only scar tissue remained. God made tobacco like He made all things to be good for us. Abuse at your own risk. As God wills, so am I. When He wants me to stop smoking, He’ll make the decision for me. He always does.
Chickens are tropical birds. I was reminded of this by friends just north of Phoenix. They love their Americanas and the hens do very well for them. When I had them, it was in Penna, and they loved to scratch in the snow and enjoyed winter. No other breed does, that I’m aware of. Larger, dual-use birds are easiest to pasture.
Organics is the only reality-based way to go, but always leave a crack open if you need to use chemicals. This is called ‘natural’ farming today. A fast track way to add a lot of high carbon material deep in the soil profile is to use a little nitrogen, plant sudex. When it’s 4 feet tall, plant turnips or a very deep-rooted legume like cowpeas. More the plants off about 6 inches above ground and sudex drives a taproot as much as 12 feet deep and tillers. It can be done several times through summer. When frost threatens, farmers add a cocktail of plants that like cool weather and absorb all the fertility they can find. They die or are killed and leave it on top of the soil as a sort of armor. Never till if you can help it because this destroys fertility.
No one ever proved tobacco causes cancer. The only ones to claim that were the Nazis. Hitler said it and told researchers to prove it. Then Nazis in England and the US picked it up. Claiming it causes cancer is fake news. Chemicals used on tobacco farms can and will; bleached paper can and will. If tobacco is as deadly as they claim, then every totalitarian nation would have outlawed it. The dems would have made it illegal to even possess nicotine products, not allow them or even give them away in the VA. BTW, nic is non-addictive. Smoking, though, is addictive. Yet, smoking helps prevent suicide, as well.
Keep up those studies! Thomas Sowell was one of the best sociology professors known, and all his work is translated into over 27 languages, and used in many nations as text books. niio
For most native American tribles tobacco is an important part of ceremonies and gifts.
Greetings, Red;
Thanks for the info on goats.
I’ve long said that if I ever decided to smoke, I’d grow my own.
ST: If you don’t smoke, do not start. I was started on medicinal cigarettes at age 4. while using tobacco is American Indian, Europeans and Asian used a pipe to burn and inhale meds for centuries before Columbus. niio
red: I definitely won’t take up tobacco. I do like the smell of good pipe tobacco, but not up close! I also think tobacco is a nice-looking plant. I would like to grow one as an ornamental.
ST: I agree, if you’re not using it, don’t start. Get seeds for wivian/wild tobacco. It makes a very strong poultice and draws well, as well as killing anything bacterial. For functionality and pretty, Jasmine Tobacco is a sure bet. https://www.selectseeds.com/flowering-tobacco/tobacco_jasmine_seeds.aspx
It would do well in the hidden gardens. niio
Hope you post here often, Sister A, admire your thirst for knowledge and your big compassionate heart.
Thank You. Without YESHUA JESUS guiding me and helping me learn and live HIS Love in my heart, I have nothing. I believe we are all learning every day, as we yield to the teaching and guiding of the LORD. We are all family, and each have much to offer, from our own personal experiences.
I have overcome much hardship, persecution and wilderness experiences in the LORD’s Classrooms, to learn what all HE has led me to learn. I always feel blessed to be alive and meet others in our BIG Family, every day; weither in person or online.
I am always busy and have much to do, but will visit this site as often as I can. I LOVE This website and all the wisdom and encouragement I glean from this community. It is truly a blessing!
Thank you for your kind words of encouragement, IvyMike. We all need that, at times; no matter how strong our faint is in the LORD.
Love & Prayers Always,
Love in YESHUA,
Sister Abagail
Praise our HOLY FATHER GOD.
Thank you JESUS CHRIST.
Keep the love coming. with a loud voice…
AMEN AMEN…
Meatloaf is another classic. So is mac n cheese. Homemade soups of any kind are low budget staples. Chicken gizzards and hearts can often be found in the meat section – diced and simmered tender in well seasoned water to cover with a spoonful or two of vinegar gives you a nice basis for a stew. Chicken livers are much nicer than beef liver and cheap as well. Be sure to rinse and check them over before cooking, greenish ones have been dowsed with gall when removing the gall bladder and will have a really bitter taste.
Once cooked, combine with rice for “dirty rice”, or mash and mix with soft cooked onions and garlic and season well for a liverwurst like sandwich spread (chopped liver). A couple of spoonsful of applesauce are nice mixed into that, and a lot of people add chopped hard-boiled eggs. Season to taste.
There are a lot of “ethnic” foods that are very inexpensive to make… check the cookbook section for inspiration.
Yes, Miss Kitty- Nothing beats a steaming cup of lentil soup or pea soup after a fun winters day in the snow, except maybe a hot cheesy noodle dish. All relatively inexpensive to make and oh so satisfying!
CC: Well, no one else dared mention it, so I will! Toasted cheese sandwiches. Make sure to butter both sides of each slice of break. ! 🙂 nio
The best way to make grilled cheese sandwiches is to use mayo.
Spread mayo on one side of a slice of bread and put in your hot skillet. Put half your cheese, tomato slices, mustard, sauteed mushrooms, peppers, onions on top of the un-mayoed side of the bread. Put the rest of the cheese and your other slice of bread on top. Squish sandwich slightly with a spatula. Spread mayo over top of sandwich and carefully turn it over to brown other side. Squish down sandwich again. Watch to make sure it doesn’t burn, reduce heat if necessary. Some liquid from veggies will leak out, but if the bread is browned enough it won’t get too soggy. Once both sides are done to your liking, remove from skillet and allow to cool slightly before cutting. Better to use slightly stale bread for this as very fresh or soft bread will get too wet. You can also do this as a club sandwich, but it’s really filling as is.
Miz Kitty: Sounds like a fried pizza, but no sauce. Yeah, it would make a good club sandwich, at that. But, butter is a health food 🙂 niio
I have an Indian food shop near me, so I’ve been doing a lot of cooking with ghee. Oddly enough, my cholesterol is actually down! But then again, I’m on atorvastatin now.?
Just as an aside, when I went to the grocery store this afternoon, I was appalled at the empty spaces in the shelves. I wanted to pick up a couple of cans of hash – nothing. And worst of all, NO SPAM!!!?????
Red – Sometimes I jazz’em up Country Club Style and serve open faced with a slice of tomato and some cooked crisp bacon . Once the cheese is all melty I add the toppings and return to oven for a few minutes. Makes a beautiful presentation.
CC: God did Miz Kitty a favor, no spam! 🙂 Cooking is an art. Spam is for barn painters. Opposite that, corned beef is always good art.
The only club sandwich I never cared for was turkey. Even making them was nasty. A couple of sliced olives with pickle pimentos is good, too.
Have you tried bacon-sliced ham? Slice very thinly and fry.
Ham-fried potatoes, sliced potatoes fried with ham on top.
If into dehydrating, those spiral sliced hams are ready made for it. Precooked, once dried, they make a good pemmican, too.
In all of this, if you can digest dairy, cheese is an option.
Speaking of, half a pound of cream cheese or Neuf, a jar of pickled peppers, cleaned and well drained, a touch of garlic. Chop fine and you have a very pricey cream cheese spread at a very low cost. niio
miz Kitty: A couple of pieces of pork in the frying pan. Half an onion over that, a cup of nopalito sliced up and a quarter cup of roasted chilis (roast sweet peppers if you must). Over that, two cups refried beans. When the pork is done, flip it over so the onions can fry and the beans take in all that good stuff. Cast iron pan, just turn off the heat, cover, and wait till it stops sizzling.
chicken livers! the only way I’ll eat any liver is chopped with garlic and some other stuff. chill and eat with corn chips 🙂 Or, of course, braunschweiger with a little sliced onion and mustard.
Have you heard the good news? A republican congressman, Ms Grene, GA, is getting paperwork ready to impeach biden and all his family once he’s sworn in. niio
red;
That’s going to upset the Hive!
Family favorites still with us from the depression and war rationing times.
My husband loves white gravy with or without sausage over a couple of simple baking powder biscuits. Serve with or without a couple of over easy eggs and he’s a happy camper.
Late husband liked cooked rice with milk, butter, and a bit of sugar. Eat as hot cereal.
Bread Pudding or baked rice pudding:
1 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 Tablespoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. 1 Tablespoon rasins optional. Thats the formula for bread pudding or baked rice pudding.
For bread pudding butter a baking dish, tear up stale or dry bread, make enough milk egg mixture to completely soak the bread. I like it with canned peaches. Use all the juice as part of the milk measure. We like rasins. Add to soak with bread. Bake 325° till the custard is soft set. Eat hot or cold. Late husband liked it hot with butter or heavy cream.
Rice pudding make enough milk mixture to cover cold cooked rice in a buttered baking dish. Add rasins if desired. Stir well then Bake 350° till golden on top. Eat hot or cold.
Left over cooked corn meal mush was cooled in a buttered loaf pan. Turned out on a cutting board and sliced about 3/8 inch thick. Fried till golden and served with syrup or masses.
Left over cream of wheat was done the same.
Both were sometimes served in place of meat so no syrup. Just plate with your available vegetables or salad.
Fried cornmeal mush is really good under chili beans or beef stew.
Leftover mashed potatoes are good under beef stew in your bowl.
Fried leftover mashed potato cakes are good too.
For each cup of mashed potatoes stir in one egg and 2 tablespons of flour. 1 tablespoon of Finely minced or grated onion is a good addition as are chopped green onions or chives. 1/4 cup mashed potato per cake spread 1/2 inch thick and fried on both sides till golden. Serve with mustard or catsup or cover with gravy. Your choice.
Cooking with wood…
Summer more boiled or fried foods that cooked quicker. Don’t heat the home more than necessary.
Winter more baking and slow simmered beans or thick rich stews. Enjoy the extra heat in the home .
Hi Sister Clergylady! I see that you mentioned biscuits the way my grandmother made them. Do you know how to make those Large Old Fashion Butter Milk Biscuits from scratch, since you love to bake? My grandmother passed away this past March, before I had the chance to write down her recipes.
That would be awesome and deeply appreciated, if you had that recipe and directions.
Love & Prayers Always,
Sister Abagail
Trying this one to. OMG. Keep it coming
I remember my Inlaws telling me that what they mostly ate was a very watery broth, which did not have much vitamins or consistency. They saved a cup or two of the previous nights soup,added water and maybe salt to it if they had it and that was dinner. Sometimes they would be able to trap rabbit,groundhog,squirrel or pigeons and make soups out of them. They stood in line for hours to get some (I think it was called commodity food) from the government agency sites.Those were not fun or exciting times to them,they were very hard times! These recipes look and sound very good if you had the ingredients.
This writing is a great reminder to practice cooking from scratch. Not as easy as it sounds at first.
Great read and stay safe (Bill)
Bill, my parents lived on cherry tomatoes, wild blackberries and eggs the summer of 1937 while my father did a variety of work including WPA to make the payments on the house on which a Quaker lady had made the loan to a family with a newborn and no collateral and no job to speak of. Folks today just can’t imagine real hard times. If you read about the draft for WWII, lots of men were rejected for physical reasons, they either were so underweight they couldn’t meet the armed forces minimum standards (and believe me, they were minimum) or they suffered form some nutritional disorder such as beri beri, pellagra or rickets or mental deficiency due to poor diet. That’s hard times.
… catsup and a cup of hot water made a survivable soup.
During the time i lived off the land alone I figured how how to trap little birds that were skinned and gutted then boiled. The broth with tiny bits of meat made, soup with wild greens or a bit of broth to sip.
Unprepared and no supplies i survived but it was hard and constant work. I was either figuring out how to do things or gathering edibles. Cooking in a food can I found limited what I could do.
If folks are being evicted, nation falters financially i hope folks have prepared a bit. Live out of a storage ubit, sleep in a car, use you tent, keep food and possessions in your vehicle. Do something. Don’t just starve or freeze. If there is a chance, prepare all you can. Bug out bags and camp ready things could help a lot. Some clothing, sufficient bedding, and food and meds, some TP and trash bags all could help. Hope it doesn’t get there for any of you.
clergylady;
Not so long ago I lived out of a car. I know it could happen again, and I am trying hard to be more ready than I was last time. Which reminds me-I need to get a couple more mosquito nets.
Bill: My grandfather lost his job in the mines, but had the foresight to buy a few acres down inte valley. He and his brothers built a shack from scrap lumber from a sawmill, and a neighbor loaned a team and plow. Pappy plowed up the land, planted corn and undersowed it with turnips. they lived for almost a year on cornmeal and turnips before his brother’s Jersey cow freshened. Pappy owned half the cow and took the calf, paying for it with corn and berries. the calf was the first in what later became a good dairy herd. Till the day she died, of you dared bring a turnip into my grandmother’s house, or Mom’s, they’d throw it out, and you too 🙂 niio
The green radish tops are a peppery addition to salads and an interesting addition to cooked greens. Even the radush is ok cooked with the greens.
When I was very poor years and decades ago I had a favorite meal. 1st you have to go to fast food places and convenience stores and grab some free little packets of salt, pepper, ketchup and margarine. Buy a big brown potato and a 22oz can of pork and beans, boil the tater and mash it with the margarine, salt and pepper, mix it with the beans, heat and add ketchup to taste. Back then Old Mil was 32 cents a quart so you could get plenty of beer to wash it down for a dollar. This of course is a clear violation of the Pythagorean Maxim, so keep the wind in your face.
IvyMike LOL nice!
At one point mine was white rice and restaurant-sized can of tuna (it was far cheaper per oz then). Added those condiment packets in different combinations to avoid food fatigue.
Miss Kitty. Similar experience here with many empty shelves in the grocery store and Walmart. Meats mostly gone. Fruits only a few. Vegetables not much. Looks pretty sad. Junk foods and dry cereals a plenty.
You forgot about the Free Hot Dog Onion Packets at some of the 7-11 Stores. LOL =)
I did not know about those Onion Packets, Sister Abagail. I’ll be on the lookout from now on!
PPI Single Serve Chopped Onion, 9 gr. Packets (Pack of 200)
$32.90
At Walmart, Sold as 200 Packets in a box
Following the deoression then dust bowl years there were 0 elk left in Oklahoma. They’ve imported animals to replace the extermination.
Another bad depression would leave places just as empty of animals if everyone is trying to hunt for survival.
ClergyLady: they say yes and no about elk in PA. PA had to bring in deer from virginia. I know in AZ, desert sheep, elk, and our native parrot, Thick Bill (he ain’t too bright, you see 🙂 were all wiped out them. When FDR legalized booze, everybody’s income dropped thru the floor. niio
Sister Abigail
My Buttermilk buscuits
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons bakibg powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup shortening or 1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 425°
Set out an ungreased asking sheet
Combine first 4 ingredients and whisk together.
Cut shortening into the flour mixture or sir oil into the buttermilk.
Add the buttermilk or buttermilk and oil all at onxe abd gently stir together with a fork, until the mixture forms a cohesive mass.
Turn out dough onto a floured board and knead 12-14 times. Dough should be smooth and not sticky. Pat out the dough 1/2 inch thick. Cut into large squares or use a clean vegetable can with both ends removed as your buscuit cutter. Cut buscuits, reroll scraps together and cut, reroll scraps into a ball and bake in a size about the same as the cut biscuits. Don’t waste dough. Place biscuits almost touching on the baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes. Till a light gold but not brown. Keep them tender.
Fast Cinnamon Rolls
Make dough as above. Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick. Brush with 2-4 tablespoons of melted butter. Mix 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 cup chopped nuts, and 1/2 rasins optional. Spread the brown sugar mixture on the dough pressing with your fingers. Roll into tight roll. Cut slices inch thick and place on baking sheet 1/2 inch apart. Bake for 15 minutes or till lightly briwned. Enjoy
If you don’t have buttermilk add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar to the the milk and let set a few minutes till slightly thicken.
Thank You So Much! That definitely sounds like my grandmothers recipes!
Red- (gluten free)
Simple European style chocolate desert cake. No flour.
1 cup unsalted butter
16 ounces semisweet chocolate
9 eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups sugar
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9 ” springform pan. Line the bottom with waxed papercut to fit, then butter and flour the paper.
Melt chocolate and butter together in a sauce pan over low heat. Stir frequenty. Set aside to cool.
Beat the egg yolks for a minute then slowly add the sugar beating till thick and pale.
Add the chocolate mixture stirring till throughly blended.
In another bowl beat the egg white till they form droopy soft peaks. Drop the chocolate mixture over the egg whites and gently fold together.
Remove 1/3 of the batter and set aside in the refrigerator.
Spread the remaining batter in the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 30 minutes. Turn out on a serving plate to finish cooling.
Frost the cake with the reserved batter. Garnish with shivered almonds or sprinkle with ground almonds.
Serve with whipped cream if desired.
This would be good French Style with my special twist for added flavor: Cake covered/topped with fresh fruit, fruit juice, 1/2 cup of Condensed Milk, a hint of (Almond Extract, Rum Extract & Vanilla Extract), 1 tablespoon of Brown sugar, a hint of cinnamon, a hint of Saffron and 1.2 a cup of FINELY chopped pecans that has been cooked down into a Fruit Syrup…. Fruit Options (Blue Berries, Raspberries, Strawberries Or Blackberries).
clergylady: Copied. Looks good. No oven. My exciting new (antique) gas stove has an oven, but it’s not working. It needs a thorough clean up, and some parts put back. The dude from the gas company kept saying don’t worry about it. you got a great stove. nothing electice. nothing is really wrong and it looks great.
and it does. Next chance I get chow-chow. Beans are still in the garden, a few, but not blooming. It’s been too cold for them. Still planting garbanzo beans and peas and have to cover everything with bird netting or the quail and thrashers eat it all. niio
Here’s how to make a cheap rocket stove:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r66jjYdBmg8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi8zAslcSxc
These are really cool! I hope this helps.
Love in YESHUA,
Sister Abagail
My winter heat and cooking stove is a rocket stove. It has a 16″ across, round heat collector behind the burn area. I have a hopper setting on the feed tube that holds a 40lb bag of pellets. On cold days I use 2/3 – 3/4 of a bag. Its gravity fed. I keep a heat activated fan there to circulate the heat. I cook on top of the heat collector. It will fry potatoes or with a camp oven set on top i can bake cornbread. I often cook beans on the oven base so they will simmer for hours to get tender or pressure cook them 45 minutes becuse of my altitude here. Last night I made breakfast burritos in a skillet on the heater. I can also burn wood chips from my chipper. Just fill that hopper and let gravity feed. Take off the hopper and I can burn wood chunks or branches in sections 3 ft long.
Summertime I cook mostly outside using up tree trimmings for the first part of the fire then prunings from neighbors apple trees or my ancient apricot tree. The fruit woods are great with meats. The elm is neutral enough to be ok. I like juniper with mutton but none on my land. My bbq is split barrel in a frame welded with expanded metal as table and 2 layers of expanded metal in the barrel. One to burn on and one to cook on.
I havs a 1912 Vulcan propane cookstove almost restored to use. 2 knobs, a support, and oven door handle and I’ll be done. Maybe touch up the white enamel on the oven door. It will need a regulator. I fired it up with a borrowed regulator. And it will be great to cook with. No electronic ignition and no pilot light either. A nice sized oven to the side of the 4 burner cooktop.
My grandfather taught my grandmother to make charcoal. When I was a teen she taught me. Hardwoods make good charcoal but some other woods will do fair. I’m going to try with elm branches. If they do ok I’ll build smoke house. Thats the only wood readily available here. High mountain desert isn’t big wood country.
ClergyLady: Just as long as making charcoal takes the stench out of elm, I’m for it 🙂 Dad made his from tree branches for the forge, but we saves bones, as well. They burn as hot as coal but stink. I’ve been saving them to kiln the adobe blocks, if it ever rains again. Any heavy wood is dropped across the alley in case someone needs firewood. Me? No. It’s spring here. niio
Some Native friends grow tobacco to use as poltice on injuries or infections. Used to draw…
I got this in my email today and had to share. It’s a Korean dish that translates to “Army Base Stew”, that got it’s name during the Korean War from utilizing the surplus rations given to desperate Korean civilians by US and other troops. It starts with a ramen noodle base and basically you throw anything else you have into the pot. It’s still popular in Korea as a drinking night food.
https://thetakeout.com/budae-jjigae-or-korean-army-base-stew-is-the-ultimate-1846037555
As mentioned in the article, it’s a good way to use various preps up, but not the healthiest thing in the world to eat. Still, it’ll keep you alive and depending what you put in it probably can be quite tasty.
I Love Korean Kimchi over rice. It is good for the digestive track and for boosting the immunity.
My late Dad grew up in the depression and made a lot of these dishes for us. I didn’t realize at the time that they were Depression foods. We were a big family living out in the boondocks with little money.
The green radish tops are a peppery addition to salads and an interesting addition to cooked greens. Even the radush is ok cooked with the greens.
I will say that I love to hear, well read all the post hear. When I read them I think of what y’all might look like and sound like. Then thats how I see each one of y’all. I have a very vivid imagination and y’all are so beautiful in my eyes and ears. Wish so much to meet all of y’all. I guess here will work for know.
Thank you so much for you…?
I didn’t realize these recipes were depression era. I grew up on a lot of these recipes. My parents were born in 1917 & 1919. They lived through the depression. Thank you for the memories! ?
Sister Abagail,
I too am allergic to many medicines and can only take doxycycline or Erythromycin. Do you have a book you can recommend about holistic medicines and cures? Years ago I was working in Kansas and met a customer who had lost his son to cancer and he was telling me about a neighbor of his who had stomach cancer and cured himself by adding 25 drops of food-grade hydrogen peroxide in water and drinking it daily. He said the man had a book and he wasn’t sure the name of it, but maybe “the little black book of home remedies” or such, he often wondered if the book would of had something to try and use for his son. Maybe you have heard of it.
Also about deer and raccoons, an electric fence works pretty well with 2 wires, one 6-8 inches off the ground and the other wire about 16 inches above the first wire. A 12-volt fencer with a solar charger works pretty good.
I really enjoy the recipes and thank everyone for sharing them.
Walksfar:
Hi. Have you checked out the books available here, yet? There are some good ones.
I would also recommend “The Herb Book” by John Lust as an excellent reference for medicinal herbs. You can also get some free books on home healing from Amazon Kindle, but quality is spotty.
Miss Kitty:
Thank you kindly for your recommendation. I will check that book out. Yes I agree, they are many good books and resources here. It is a lot to read and go through. Thanks again.
Have a great day!
My pleasure. I also recommend a book seller called
thriftbooks.com
They are an excellent place to find older and put of print books. I’ve been getting quite a few things from them, and am very pleased so far. Anything I’ve ordered has been in good condition, the correct item, and has been shipped promptly. They also give you free shipping over ten dollars and points for buying merchandise that you can redeem for a free book. And they have an app.
That herbal might be available in a regular bookstore, but shop around for a good deal. You might want to get some field guides for identifying wild plants – try Peterson’s guides, but be sure to get ones with photographs of the plant…I think those are better for me than the drawings because you can see the environment it grows in and it’s natural color.
Miss Kitty:
Thanks for that link, I have never used that one for out of print books before. I usually use abebooks.com, it is a good resource also for finding books. I will be sure to bookmark it and do some research. Yes, the Peterson guides are very useful as well. Some youtube videos are also helpful for identifying plants. When I first read about wild lettuce on here, it looked very similar to perennial sowthistle, and found a good video to explain the difference. Now I know what to look for. Have a great day! Thanks again.