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25 Frugal Depression Era Recipes

Frugal Depression Era recipes to help you feed your family for less! Our grandmothers knew how to stretch their food budget while feeding the family well. Here are some recipes that were actually used during the Great Depression.

frugal depression era recipes

Keeping enough food on the table for a family of seven (including three teenagers!) can be a challenge.

And that challenge is compounded when you’re also trying to adhere to a strict grocery budget.

Related: How We Cut Our Grocery Bill in Half

In my quest for money-saving wisdom, I turned to the past. Those who lived during the Great Depression knew a lot about living on very little.

Grandma’s Wisdom

My grandma was very frugal and wise.  In addition to sewing, quilting, canning, and other useful homemaking skills, she knew how to feed her family for very little.

She kept the fat from frying bacon and other foods in a metal can near her stove. Whenever she needed to fry something, she would use her saved fat. We especially loved the flavor this gave to her delicious fried eggs!

Whenever she and my grandpa would move to a new house, she would scour the property for anything she could use. At one house, they had a “sand plum” tree, and she would make plum preserves and jam with it. It tasted so delicious on her homemade biscuits!

I always loved that she would fully use whatever was freely available to her. And her food was always delicious! She was probably the best cook I ever met.

As we’re trying to save money and live below our means, I find I’m turning back to Grandma’s wisdom and her frugal ways.

Frugal Depression Era Recipes

Here are 20 frugal Depression Era recipes that are useful to keep on hand, especially if you’re trying to cut your grocery bill in half and save money!

Dinner

Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast

Ida’s Depression Goulash

Depression Era Meatloaf

Tasty Vegetable Loaf

Poor Man’s Meal

Depression Era Potato Pancakes

Cornmeal Dumplings

Meat and Potato Patties

 

frugal depression era recipes

Soups and Stews

1930’s Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

Cream of Potato Soup

Depression Potato Soup and Biscuits

Depression Era Corn Chowder

Cream of Celery Soup

Hearty Navy Bean Soup

Hoover Stew

frugal depression era recipes

Bread

Depression Era Homemade Bread

Old Fashioned Hot Water Cornbread

Simple Homemade Bread

frugal depression era recipes

Dessert

Vanilla Depression Cake

Chocolate Depression Cake

Hot Milk Cake

1930’s Apple and Nut Pie

Buttermilk Pie

Poor Man’s Cookies

Bread Pudding with Nutmeg

Free Depression Era Cookbook – Click here to download our FREE cookbook –> 25 Depression Era Recipes

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9 Money-Saving Tips from The Great Depression

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Eat Healthy on a Budget (Our Discount Grocery Haul)


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8 Useful Skills Our Grandmothers Knew

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30 Comments

  1. I enjoyed this look back to help us get a handle on our current situation. Our grandmother’s got past it we can too.
    Have a wonderful week,
    Kippi

  2. I seriously love this post. I definitely want to try some of these recipes. How did you learn so much about the ways of the Depression. My great-granny was a young woman during the depression, but she passed away a few years ago, at 100. Excellent post! I really love all your depression-era stuff.

    1. Thank you, April! My husband and I both spent lots of time with our Depression Era grandparents, and we learned so much from them. I’m so thankful for their wisdom. They have all passed away, but we still benefit from having spent so much time with them.

  3. What a fun post! So many of the recipes were things my mom made us when we were growing up in the 70’s and 80’s. I need to make some of these family favorites again!

  4. This is a great collection of recipes. Your post reminded me of my grandmother. She too used everything that she could. I remember those fried eggs cooked in saved bacon grease and the metal can that held the bacon grease. It was interesting when I saw Ida’s goulash too because my mother’s name was Ida. We could all save a lot by going back to some of the lessons that were learned during the depression. Thank you so much for sharing. I found you on Recipe of the Week link party.

    1. Our grandmothers were such wise women when it came to frugality and resourcefulness! So glad you stopped by, Amy!

  5. Good morning! This is just a little note to let you know we have *FEATURED* this post today on the ART OF HOME-MAKING MONDAYS at Strangers & Pilgrims on Earth. Thank you for joining us! We hope to have you again this week and have a lovely week! 🙂

    1. I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s on my list! We’re eating from our pantry right now due to a tight budget (even tighter than usual!), and I have lots of navy beans on hand, so I’m hoping to make this one soon. 🙂

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