If there’s one thing history teaches us, it’s this: the people who lived through the Great Depression were survivors. When everything fell apart, they didn’t complain. They adapted – and they did it with next to nothing. That’s why I decided to go back in time in the most practical way I could think of: by eating only Great Depression food for a full week.
I wanted to see what lessons we might rediscover from one of the toughest times in American history. And let me tell you – it was an eye-opener. This wasn’t just about food; it was about mindset, grit, and a level of resourcefulness that most of us have forgotten. It also felt like a warning for what might be just around the corner.
The Rules of the Experiment: Surviving on Great Depression Food
The rules were simple but strict: I could only eat foods that were commonly available during the Great Depression. No fancy imports pre-packaged snacks, or modern conveniences. Just basic, inexpensive, and often bland meals that were meant to stretch over days.
Think beans, potatoes, bread, home-canned goods, and whatever cheap vegetables I could find. Everything had to be made from scratch – often using ingredients most of us would throw away without a second thought.
No supermarkets. No microwaves. Just the bare essentials and the know-how our grandparents had back in the 1930s.
What My “Great Depression Food” Diet Looked Like
Here’s a typical day:
• Breakfast: Usually just a slice of toast with bacon grease or lard. Sometimes oatmeal, without sugar or milk.
• Lunch: A bowl of “Hoover Stew”, a cheap mix of pasta, canned tomatoes, corn, and hot dogs. Filling, but far from flavorful.
• Dinner: “Poor Man’s Meal” – fried potatoes with onions and, when I could afford it, a small amount of ground beef.
Other days I tried classic Great Depression recipes like peanut butter bread (no eggs or yeast), “mock apple pie” made with crackers instead of apples, and even “water pie” – a strange dessert made from water, sugar, and a little flour in a pie crust.
The meals were repetitive and often tasteless. But they kept me alive. And more importantly: they taught me a lot about what it was like to only rely on the Depression Era Foods.
1. Waste Nothing: How They Stretched Every Ingredient in Great Depression Food
One of the first and most powerful lessons from Great Depression food is this: nothing goes to waste. I saved potato peels and turned them into chips. I kept bones to make broth. Bacon grease became the base for gravy.
This wasn’t a trend or some sustainability fad – it was survival. It was how they lived. That mindset – treating every scrap like gold – is something we’ve almost entirely lost today.
In a crisis, it’s not about what you want. It’s about making the most of what you’ve got.
2. The Pantry Mindset: Stockpiling as a Survival Strategy
Back then, people couldn’t just run to the store whenever they needed something. They relied on what they had: jars of home-canned food, bags of flour, sugar, salt, and whatever they could grow or trade.
This idea of keeping a well-stocked pantry isn’t old-fashioned – it’s essential. If supply chains break down again, or if inflation makes food unaffordable, it’s the people with full pantries who will eat. The rest? They’ll panic.
Great Depression food wasn’t just about simplicity – it was about strategy and preparation. You should keep this in mind as well – however, as you’ll soon discover, building an efficient stockpile is a complicated task without solid informational resources to guide you.
3. Get Comfortable With Hunger
This might be the hardest truth: I was hungry more often than not. Meals were small. There were no snacks, no desserts, and no “treats.” Food wasn’t entertainment. It was fuel. Just enough to get through the day.
People back then weren’t constantly starving, but they lived with hunger in a way we can hardly imagine. Today we eat out of boredom. In the 1930s, people ate to stay alive. If we ever face a serious economic collapse, we’ll have to get used to being a little hungry – and learn how to function through it.
4. Cooking Skills Are No Longer Optional
This week showed me how dependent we are on convenience food. Most people today have no idea how to bake bread, make soup from bones, or create meals out of scraps. They would find it quite difficult to cook Great Depression foods.
But in a crisis, cooking skills become survival skills.
Great Depression recipes like “mock apple pie” or peanut butter bread are built on creativity and substitution. Knowing how to cook – really cook – means you can make something from almost nothing. That’s not just practical. It’s life-saving.
The Mental Battle of Eating Great Depression Food
Eating the same bland meals day after day wore me down mentally. It made me grateful for the variety and flavor we enjoy today, but it also showed me how mentally tough people had to be back then.
Surviving the Great Depression wasn’t just about food. It was about mindset. About enduring without giving up. That mental resilience is rare today. We’ve grown soft, addicted to comfort and convenience. If hard times return, most of us aren’t prepared mentally or physically.
Are We Ready for What’s Coming?
This experiment made one thing brutally clear: we’re not ready. We’ve lost the ability to live simply. We waste food, time, and resources like they’re infinite. But the economy is fragile. Food systems are vulnerable. And history shows that collapse can come quickly.
When that happens, do you know how to make a meal from a can of beans and some stale bread? Can you survive on potatoes for a week? Do you have enough food at home to last a month? Could you feed your family without a trip to the store? The Great Depression generation left us a blueprint. It’s right there in the recipes, the habits, and the mindset. But most of us are ignoring it.
There’s Something You Can Do
The situation is far more critical than it seems. On paper, everything looks simple enough. You’re probably confident that you’re ready to survive on Great Depression Food. But are you really? Are you prepared to face the lack of variety? To manage with very little and not lose your mind from the repetition of the same routine, day after day. Chances are, you’re not. Even if you believe otherwise. That’s why the solutions need to be clear and grounded:
• Make sure that when the crisis hits, you’ll have enough supplies to get through an extended period.
• Learn how to stretch what little you have. And then stretch it even more.
Build Your Stockpile the Smart Way
If you go with the first approach, then you need to master what I like to call the art of stockpiling. This is a vast subject—and opinions are everywhere—but the smartest approach, by far, is one focused on efficiency.
In his book A Navy SEAL’s Bug-In Guide, Joel Lambert lays out a simple yet highly effective plan to build a survival stockpile that doesn’t rely on refrigeration. Here’s what his plan includes:
• A list of foods for a 3-month stockpile
• Enough food to cover three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
• A 6-month extended list with proper quantities
• A full 12-month long-term stockpiling plan
Beyond just food lists, this section of the book also shares specific sources where you can buy these long-lasting foods at highly accessible prices. And no – it’s not your usual supermarket or any place you’d expect. This book will also teach you a lot about how to build the right mindset for any crisis.
Maximize What You Have
If the crisis has already hit – or if you’re currently going through a financially difficult time – it’s essential to know how to make the most of what you’ve got. In other words, make do with what’s available. In these cases, focus on recipes that use simple, affordable ingredients you’re likely to already have in your pantry.
But there’s a potentially fatal problem when SHTF: there will be no Google, YouTube., or Chat GPT. No online recipe blogs either. Nothing. The digital world will go dark.
There will, however, still be one type of resource – one our ancestors relied on, one that never failed: books. Here are two books worth having in your survival library – resources that could literally save your life when you’re trying to make something out of almost nothing:
• The Lost Ways 2 – Written by none other than Claude Davis, includes three powerful survival recipes, including the well-known Lost Samurai Superfood – a staple that can get you through the worst of times.
• The Lost Superfoods – This is more than just a recipe book. With over 126 forgotten survival foods and practical storage hacks, it’s an essential addition to any serious stockpile. Each recipe is explained step by step, complete with clear illustrations, so you won’t be guessing when it matters most.
Final Thoughts: Time to Learn From the Past
Think about what you’ve eaten today. How much of it was packaged, processed, or thrown together in minutes? Think about how much of it you wasted. Then ask yourself: could you survive on Great Depression food if you had to?
Maybe it’s time we all took a step back, away from luxury and into practicality. The goal isn’t to live in fear but to be prepared. Because if history has taught us anything, it’s this:
Hard times don’t send a warning. They just arrive. And those who make it through aren’t the ones with the most money. They’re the ones who know how to adapt. The ones who can turn scraps into meals and fear into determination.
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If you used bacon grease on toast – where did the bacon grease come from? Did you bake your own bread? Did you raise any vegetables? Did you compute how much you spent on the food you did eat & do cost adjustment for then and now? Interesting article but left me with a lot of questions.
Hi! Great and insightful comment.
This was an experiment that focused more on the foods themselves rather than the holistic process of obtaining them. The idea was to go for austere dishes. Of course, given the conditions of those times, people had to grow their own food and rely on their own production.
This experiment benefited from the privilege of having access to leftovers from my personal fridge. But we have to admit that you make a great point. The idea of a complete experiment, without any ‘help’ from the grid, is extraordinary and will certainly be implemented here soon!
Stay safe!
Bacon grease was saved whenever bacon was cooked. folks had a grease pot, a canning jar or empty and washed out tin to contain it. The container was usually kept near the stove on the counter. I grew up very poor and my parents both lived through the depression so making due was a way of life. Cheap meals were the norm, stews, potato soup, soup and hot dogs, homemade bread, pancakes with mapleine syrup, whatever fish we caught, hamburger gravy, meatloaf and hamburger patties were the norm. A cheese sandwich and an apple was a typical everyday lunch. Fancy eating was a peach half with a dab of cottage cheese, a whole chicken or chuck steak for the six of us.
people made due with what they had back then. an old man told me that when they went fishing as a child that, if it was big enough to get on the hook it was big enough to eat.
he said that his mother would put the small fish in vinager for a week to dissolve the bones and then grind them into fish patties to eat.
they wasted nothing.
The cost comparison isn’t really necessary…foods available then are available now..,fancy, imported etc weren’t available then so not used.
Home canned etc or garden might or might not be available.
When I was young (parents went thru depression) we often camped an entire Summer in the wilderness…supplies packed in…so limited and trips out and into town rarely more than 2-3x per month to get mail etc.
One of my greatest gifts was that lifestyle…learning to can, garden came later…and yes I knew the “I’m still hungry feeling”.
My mother could make anything taste wonderful!
We ate wilted lettuce using leftover bacon grease, lots of home baked…yummy breads, cornbread, biscuits…soups, desserts even.
My mom made a chocolate cake in a tin on a camp stove for my brothers birthday.
I’ve taken those lessons to heart as I do not like bland food.
1. Store oodles of onions. Dried, fresh and garlic.
2. Grow herbs, but store chilis, pepper, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cumin, pepper flakes basil, marjoram, sage, thyme. Add boulion
3. Store staples, cornmeal, flour ( get long term cans for over 2-5 yrs, oats, rice, pasta and beans and potatoes, dehydrated shredded, potato flakes, slices, canned and fresh…
4. Powder and dehydrated and home canned fruit…more calories than veggies
5. Cans of veggies, powder eggs.
6. Canned meat…all kinds and powder and canned milk
7. Fats, butter (canned, powder or regular in freezer, lard, tallow, shortening and olive oil.
With these things you can make frittatas, chili, goulash, spaghetti, cowboy beans, hoppin johns, rice bowls, stir fry, chowder, soups, roasted veggies, fruit salad, salads with rice, grains, chicken fettucini, pancakes, oatcakes, corn cakes…all manner of cobblers, cake, cookies, pizza…substitute canned with garden produce or fresh meat when possible….and be inventive if you don’t have enough of something.
-make a list of menu for 30 days…repeat…stock those supplies.
Plan how you would prepare with no power (and in the rain or cold)…maybe more oatmeal, soup and save grilled for warmer months.
You can sub aqua fava…liquid in canned beans, for eggs, Mayo can be made from scratch for example. Figure out now if you need a recipe and what ingredients will work.
great comment Tricia.
spices can turn a ordinary meal into something special. stack em deep to prevent burnout. dried spices can last for years if properly stored.
best of luck to you
Loved your lengthy comment. Just to add to it. My most useful investment was a food dehydrator. I grow and dehydrate all my own spices. I will never have tasteless food. I also can identify all the edible weeds that grow on my property, and add them to my skillet dishes when young and tender. (Did you know young tumbleweed is edible?)
I dehydrate the over-abundance of edible weeds, along with all sorts of greens from my bucket garden, convert them into a powder with my food grinder and store in glass jars. That powder can be added to anything to add nutritional value.
This year I learned how to dehydrate cooked food and am loving the results. I have cooked, then dehydrated bags of beans. All I have to do is rehydrate for about half and hour, and they are ready to create a meal. I have cooked and pureed various winter squash varieties, sweet potatoes and tomatoes, laid them on parchment paper and dehydrated. This method is called “bark.” Pieces can be broken up, and added to any dish for flavor, nutritional value, and thickening a sauce.
Another cheap food storage method is fermented foods. I ferment tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, beets, garlic, ginger, and turmeric root and make my own yogurt.
Us elders need to speak up and share our skills with all that will listen, because learning these basic skills is easy and healthy. Whether we face hard times, or not, these skills make food prep simple, nutritious, and tasty. These are skills our ancestors used in daily life, and should be passed on to future generations.
Excellent comment encompassing all the info needed.
Having the dried goods stored and a veg garden supplemented, if you have a big yard or holding, with eggs and goats milk with a pig to drink up the whey and dig the garden and you are never hungry…and in times to come will be very fortunate.
It’s how I live now. I dont have fruit trees as they wereburnt out in2017 so I trade cheese for big bags of fruit and sheep fleeces to make felted goods to sell to buy my dry goods. It all works fine .
Keep it all simple . Water food shelter and something to light the way during November December and January.
3 generations back this life was common.
Tricia: Thank you so much for your many ideas in your comments. I never heard of using aqua fava in place of eggs. HOW GREAT IS THAT? I just wish I knew how to create mayo without using eggs! My hubby is allergic to anything with eggs!
This part of my reply is also to Geezer, since there is no “reply” next to his comment. How to PROPERLY store herbs and spices long-term? I once took a professional tincture-making course from a Certified Natural Health Professional PROFESSOR who had his own tincture business that sold products all over the country. He taught us to use quart mason jars for bulk herbs, then vacuum seal the canning lid onto the jar, which removes all of the air from the jar. (Use a canning jar attachment for your food saver machine or buy a Dicorain small appliance.) THEN, you place the vac’d jar into a brown paper lunch-sized bag to keep sunlight from damaging your spices and herbs, and label it, including the date you prepared them like this. NEXT, you put the bagged, vac.-sealed canning jars in a cool, dark location and they should last you at full potency for 5 years like that. You should be able to still place the herb/spice jars back into the box the jars came in on a shelf for storage, if you prefer. I have used this method ever since, and it works very well!!
Dad grew up hardscrabble by Depression standards, and could seldom be persuaded to talk about it, but he emphasized that he had learned to recognize, hunt, gather, process, prepare, and preserve anything and everything that was edible and could be foraged, both animal and vegetable. Read the books of the time, like Huckleberry Finn; a ten year old could make fire and shelter, and feed himself handsomely on the bank of the river. The IMPORTANT things we have lost are not stuff, it’s knowledge.
One of the best outlines for stocking up and using it for survival is from the Latter-Day Saints Church. All available online, very practical, very basic. Easy to understand. I have used it to guide my preparation for years.
The pictures in this article looks good…but if there was a small earthquake there might be a mess….
I’ve seen several times pictures of catastrophic canning shelf collapses will priceless hours and labor of home canned nutritious food that was grown, raised, hunted, etc laying on the floor smashed. Which is not only heartbreaking for the labor the family put into it, but if there was any meat in there, that’s a life and it’s a sin to waste a life. I’ve seen canning shelf setups that bowed in the middle, or swayed. They definitely made me nervous. I would rather do like the LDS do, and use the space under a bed for canned good storage, for the things in glass. In plastic cube milk crates. But these tall bookshelf type canning shelves, or a tower of canning in a cupoboard or closet, yeah they’ve always made me nervous that the shelves are going to give way or like you said, in earthquake. Save those tall shelves for non-breakable items and less heavy items or at the very least invest in rock solid shelving and some braces that go across the front of each shelf so nothing can slide out.
One thing re: bland, or flavors, etc – that can vary a lot from culture to culture regardless of it being good times or lean. I knew a Michigander who said they couldn’t tolerate KY style cooking because it was too spicy and tomatoey for their taste and the vegetables were not overcooked. Those states are pretty close (only Ohio in between) but in some cases worlds away from each other as far as what was considered “normal” cuisine and climate does not explain all of it (KY is zone 7&6, MI is zone 6&5, with the exception of the UP which is zones 5&4).
Good article in my opinion. The biggest thing from it is making do with what you have. Not many people live far enough away from a grocery store to know how this really is. It takes me 2 hours to get to one, so I have been living this for a few years now. You look at things a lot differently. Especially if it is more than a weeklong experiment.
a lot of you missed bellens points.
we all know they SAVED fat, but you have to have a source.
AND, if coffee is now 1,000 an ounce, you wont be able to have any in a new depression.
the depression meant little or NO money, you cant eat the same food if in todays world its now EXPENSIVE food.
Free and forage, thats the answer for a new depression.
way back when (1950ish), the butcher GAVE away chicken wings, wait till Jan 1 and you will find them at 5 $ per Lb. and a WHOLE chicken at much less per Lb. SCRAPS are now a delicacy