• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Two Lucky Spoons

Simple, From-scratch Family Meals

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Videos
    • Recipe Index
      • Appetizers
      • Soups
      • Side Dishes
      • Family Dinners
      • Keto
      • Dessert
    • Most Recent Posts
    • Web Stories
  • About Us

Foodbuzz 24,24,24: Great Depression Cooking for the Recession Cook

Affiliate links are provided below for your convenience. You can see my full disclosure policy here.

Spread the love

I won’t lie. Times are tough for us. We stress and worry over every penny that leaves our door. One illness or bad run of luck could ruin us. I don’t think it’s an uncommon thing these days. I think that during the current recession that there are a lot of people who have trouble making ends meet every month. But it also seems that whenever times get really tough, we tend to instinctively know how to hunker down in order to weather the storm. I know I seem to. I’m pretty sure it’s a trait that I inherited from my grandmothers and my great-grandmother.I’m also pretty sure that they picked up the ability to squeeze blood from a turnip during the Depression. I want to be just like them.

We can learn a lot from the Depression especially in the culinary sense. I think we can learn creativity, invention, and maybe a little humbleness. The food of the Depression may have been simple but it was by no means boring, and many of the most loved recipes that are passed down from generation to generation have their roots in the Depression. Take my great-grandmother’s Supper on a Loaf for example. It has been handed down through my family for generations, but it started in the Depression when meat was a commodity and a little had to go a long way or somebody wasn’t eating! That recipe can feed 8 people on a pound and half of ground beef. And it’s delicious! Same goes for this Tomato Soup Cake. I mean, come on, if you had to make a cake the first thing you reach for is not a can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup. It was creativity. Invention. It’s what got these people through. It’s what sustained them through the long dark nights and many would argue that it made America a better place because of it. I think that when you look at the food of the Great Depression you can plainly see that it reflects the hard times and meager means, but, if you look closer, I think you will also find the dreams, hope and faith that ultimately saw them through to the other side.

This dinner is a full-fledged Depression meal. Since meat is the star of this show, you can assume that this would be reserved for a special meal.
The mock filet mignon tastes in no way like actual filet mignon, but it is quite impressive anyway. And I have to wonder why people aren’t serving bacon wrapped hamburgers on top of potato patties more often.

The wilted lettuce salad is a recipe that I saw many variations of and one that my husband’s grandmother put to good use. It is a spectacular use of bacon grease, something that I think should be used on all salads from here on out.

The Tomato Soup Cake is my great-grandmothers and a family favorite. It’s very much like a spice cake and doesn’t taste at all like tomato soup. So don’t worry. It is delicious.

Mock Filet Mignon 
From Kate Aitken’s Canadian Cook Book
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1/3 cup chili sauce
1/4 tsp dry mustard
Dash of pepper and paprika
1 small onion (1/2 cup) finely diced
6 strips bacon (about 1/4 pound)
2 lb Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/4 cup hot milk
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat Oven to 450
Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling water until soft enough to mash, about 20 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine meat, chili sauce, mustard, pepper, paprika and onion, mixing well

. Shape into 6 pucks about 2 inches tall.

Wrap strip of bacon around each; fasten with toothpick. Set aside.

Beat potatoes with hot milk and salt. Form into six flat patties big enough to hold the mock filets; place on baking sheet.

Top with meat.

Bake 10 minutes in 450F oven; reduce to 350F and bake 30 minutes, until bacon is crisp and meat is cooked through.

Wilted Lettuce Salad
a variation from Peace, Love and Barbecue

6-8 slices of bacon, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup water
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 t. celery seed
2 bunches of leafy lettuce ( such as Romaine or Bibb)
1/2 red onion thinly sliced

Brown the bacon in a skillet. Remove bacon from pan and drain on paper towels. Leave the grease in the pan. Add the sugar, vinegar, water, salt and pepper, garlic and celery seed to the pan. Simmer over heat until everything is well blended.

Tear the lettuce into pieces and place in a heat proof bowl along with onion. Pour hot dressing over the lettuce, toss, and then place a plate or lid on top of the bowl to allow the greens to steam for a few minutes. Remove plate and serve immediately.

Tomato Soup Cake
1/2 cup shortening or butter
1 c. sugar
1 can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup ( it must be Campbells!) mixed with 1t. baking soda

2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
1 t. nutmeg
1 c. raisins
1 c. chopped nuts ( pecans or walnuts are best)

Preheat the oven to 350 and Lightly grease a stem pan.

In a mixing bowl, cream together shortening and sugar and then add in the tomato soup.

In a seperate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

Then slowly add it to the soup mixture.
Add in the nuts and raisins

  
 Pour batter into the stem pan and evenly spread out. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
Frosting:
4oz. cream cheese
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla

Cream all ingredients together then frost Tomato Soup Cake.

Filed Under: Dessert, Dinner, Lunch, Make Ahead, Side Dish Tagged With: baked, baked, Beef, budget, budget, cake, Dessert, dinner, fancy, fancy, frugality, lunch, make ahead, meatball, meatless, potatoes, potatoes, salad, salad, Side Dishes, Southern, tomatoes, tomatoes

Previous Post: « Oatmeal Cranberry Applesauce Cookies
Next Post: Foodbuzz Tastemaker Product Review:Kikkoman Lime Ponzu Seasoned Sauce and Dressing – Mexican Stir Fry »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Drick says

    January 24, 2010 at 11:08 am

    great, meaningful read, and all three recipes are something I would make regardless of the times, it is the foods I grew up on and those I appreciate to this day….thanks for these

    Reply
  2. Jessie says

    January 24, 2010 at 11:38 am

    Simple foods make excellent meals such a great menu and what a great read! The recession sure does suck and it is stressful when we have to constantly worry about money and saving money just to get by.

    Reply
  3. powderate says

    January 24, 2010 at 4:23 pm

    Thrift is an excellent virtue and you show it well.

    Your adept handling of ingredients shine.

    Lee Ann.

    PS: tomato soup cake should be a staple for cake lovers.

    Reply
  4. Joan Nova says

    January 25, 2010 at 4:56 pm

    These all sound delicious and not at all like something cooked just to to save money. A well-done post. Congrats on 24, 24, 24.

    Reply
  5. The Duo Dishes says

    January 25, 2010 at 8:51 pm

    The mock filet mignon is such a great idea! Looks like it'd be just as good.

    Reply
  6. momgateway says

    January 26, 2010 at 9:52 pm

    This is a great post Jody. Love your idea for this 24,24,24 event.

    Reply
  7. Marika Josephson says

    January 26, 2010 at 11:16 pm

    I love the looks of that salad. Bacon grease could probably go on anything!

    Reply
  8. jenna says

    February 1, 2010 at 2:23 am

    nice entry in general, but have to wonder how hard the economy has hit you, when you're eating three kinds of meat and fresh vegetables in two different courses.

    Reply
  9. JodieMo says

    February 1, 2010 at 9:00 am

    I can see where you could think that this would be an extravagance, and it certainly was for those in the Depression. As I stated in the post, this would be a meal reserved for Sunday dinners or holidays. But even by today's standards this meal is still very inexpensive. This meal easily feeds six people and the total cost including the cake was less than $10,which makes it less than $1.80 per person. I don't know, but that seems pretty darn frugal to me.

    Reply
  10. megan says

    February 2, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    Great job on this post! I congrats on the 24,24,24 ๐Ÿ™‚ I actually just made a version of tomato soup cake and posted it on my blog. i got the recipe from king arthur flour. It's a little different than yours, but you're right it tastes nothing like tomatoes. It just tastes like a delicious spice cake! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  11. The Manintvelds says

    February 3, 2010 at 7:20 pm

    I love the idea of the mock filet mignon .. and I've seen recipes for the tomato soup cake for years and have been shy about trying it ..

    Reply
  12. Ed Schenk says

    February 5, 2010 at 10:13 pm

    Great post. We can all learn something from it!

    Reply
  13. Cindy says

    February 10, 2010 at 9:12 pm

    I can't tell you how excited I was to see Tomato Soup Cake on your blog. This was my father's favorite cake because his mother made it for him during the depression. We made it every year for his birthday right up until his death. I tell people about Tomato Soup cake all the time, and they look at me like I am nuts. Thanks for posting such a classic depression era recipe that is also an awesome cake.

    Reply
  14. Linn @ Swedish Home Cooking says

    March 1, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    that's a hilarious title. and meaningful. good job! Swedish food is pretty affordable too ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

AMAZON ASSOCIATES PROGRAM

Two Lucky Spoons is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Get a free eBook when you sign up!

  • Breakfasts
  • Easy Chicken Recipes
  • Desserts
  • Appetizers
  • Family Dinners
  • Side Dishes
  • Freezer Friendly Meals
  • Keto
  • Keto Family Meals
  • Kid Friendly Recipes
  • Sunday Roasts
  • Food & Fun
  • The Basics
  • Videos
  • Meal Plans


Copyright © 2023 ยท Two Lucky Spoons ยท Privacy Policy ยท Disclosurey Policy

This website uses cookies
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT