Quarantine/Depression Era Meals
Discussion: The Great Depression vs. The COVID-19 Pandemic
Clearly these two events in history have great differences. But by studying people’s reactions in time of stress & uncertainty, you can draw many similarities between the uncertainty around the economy and the supply chain of consumer goods & food products.
The Great Depression started in 1929 with a 15% decline in the US stock market (this is a highly debated topic, but in general culture this was considered the start). No matter the actual cause of The Great Depression, it resulted in high unemployment rates (as high as 25% in 1933). Along with droughts and the start of the Dust Bowl, families across the US were experiencing food scarcity with uncertainty regarding housing. It was common for Americans to live in a small makeshift home, in their cars, or if they were lucky, several families would share one home. Before our Victory Garden days in World War II, people had moved from the country into the city, retaining their gardening knowledge and started growing vegetable patches in small urban areas wherever they were able.
Families did not go hungry because of meals being stretched to the maximum. Sure, we’ve heard of mothers who “learned to not be hungry”, but nutritional sciences were being studied, and dietary recommendations were available, although still in the early stages. Vitamins were well known, but the implications of all aspects of nutrition were still being discovered. Emission spectroscopy was first developed in 1929 – the same year in which The Great Depression began. [Yes, I’m a huge nerd and just had to fit that in, crazy times!] Nevertheless, families knew that meals should include protein, fats, and vegetables – they even knew that protein could come in the form of non-meat products. Families created meals based on nutrition recommendations, along with whatever food made itself available – picking wild edibles, harvesting from a small plot of vegetables, or purchasing small amounts of food from grocery stores nearby.
With our own food supply being interrupted, and a recession looming, we could stand to learn a lot from the era of The Great Depression. How much you are affected probably is determined by a few things: how close you are to a major city, how many large grocery stores are in your area, and whether you already eat what you grow.
First Rule: Eat What You Have!
The first thing to keep in mind is to eat anything you already have on hand. Most people think that they cannot make a meal because they don’t have this spice or that vegetable, or whatever specific ingredient you think you need. This is not true! You can sub many ingredients in and out! Ok, so maybe you can’t make banana bread without bananas, but what fruit do you have on hand? Certainly raspberry muffins can be just as delicious!
A great resource for eating what you have is supercook.com (I’m not getting paid to promote this, so I hope they don’t sue me for this free promotion!). At supercook, you put in what you have, it may suggest things you might have forgotten, and will give you recipes accordingly. And the recipe will say “This uses your onions, carrot, and brown sugar. To make this recipe you will also need garlic”. Super helpful, am I right?!
Second Rule: Eat Free Food!
Nothing in life is free, that is a fact. But not everything requires the almighty dollar! Some things just take some time or effort – and if you’re stuck at home, this is a great opportunity to take some time, get moving, and find local sources of free food.
I live in New England and it’s been a warm spring, so while the flowers haven’t come out yet, there are still plenty of edibles just waiting to be picked! The first things that I look for tend to be things I enjoy. For 5 years, I’ve been learning more about this region (I grew up in the Midwest, so the species and seasons are slightly different) and all of the wonderful wild edibles that our nature provides. Right now, I’m on the search for morel mushrooms (no luck in all 5 years so far). But some easier things to pick that I know are safe include dandelion greens, violets (just starting to come up), and garlic mustard. So far, I’ve eaten dandelion greens and garlic mustard. I have to say, this is my first year with garlic mustard and we were NOT FANS. With that being said, we will eat anything if we are hungry enough, so I have been cataloging wild edibles in my neighborhood, even if it is not part of my regular diet.
Third Rule: Only Go Out if You Must
Don’t go out for ice cream, you may need that money for bills if you get laid off. Don’t go out for chips, as delicious as they are they are not worth getting sick over. Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, or Do Without! I don’t think anyone should be starving, but you may not need as much as you think – eat the serving size, stretch it out, use every part, don’t waste anything. This will make your food last much longer than you have planned.
Are your shelves totally empty or would you simply like some more food? These are important questions that can only be answered by assessing your food supply, your financial situation, and whether any of your family members are high risk for having complications from COVID-19.
Poor Man’s Meal Recipe
This is a modified recipe based on many “poor man” meals from The Great Depression. You can look them up, but the basic premise is potatoes, onions, maybe tomato, and whatever else you can get your hands on. These meals tend to be basic, stew-like, and filling – meant to stretch your ingredients and feed you after a hard day’s work. Here’s what I made this week!
Ingredients:
- 2 potatoes
- 1 onion
- 2 celery stalks (optional)
- 2 carrots (optional)
- 4 oz ground beef (mine was already pre-cooked but you do you boo)
- 2 tbsp butter
- a dash of flour
- salt & pepper
Instructions:
- Heat a tablespoon of butter or oil in a pan.
- Chop up all the ingredients and cook them in the pan, adding ingredients in hard to soft. In this case, potatoes, then carrots & onions, then celery and ground beef.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Once everything is cooked, add another tablespoon of butter or oil to the pan and whisk in a small amount of flour. This will create a gravy of sorts. If needed, add water a tablespoon at a time until you get a good consistency. It should look like a light stew (with not a TON of gravy, but if you have the butter to waste, go ahead and make a good amount of gravy – you may need added broth for flavor though).
- Serve! I made a whole wheat and soy flour bread, so I served my poor man’s meal with a slice of that.
Closing
I will likely continue to write about cheap meals, because after all – that’s what I started this blog for! I will document my pantry slowly dwindling – as well as meals that I’ve made with foraged or home grown ingredients. I’m growing cool weather crops, sowing seeds under grow lights, baking bread, and stretching my dollar until this passes. Please let me know if you have any requests – I’m here!
In these times it is easy to be sad, watching the death toll rise daily, sometimes hourly. But it can also be as easy to be thankful for what you do have. Do you have friends who will FaceTime you when you’ve had a bad day? An usually absent but hard working spouse suddenly home to help around the house? Or maybe just a cool sunny day to spend outside? Maybe you know someone sewing masks inside their house, or delivering Meals on Wheels. As Mister Rogers said: “If you look for the helpers, you’ll know that there is hope”.