What are some frugal foods that your mother and grandmother used to make when you were a kid?

[blessedhomemaker71]

For me,(the ones I can think of right now) ,were:

 

homemade noodles ("potpie" noodles) in broth

salmon patties

fried pumpkin flowers

chopped hamburger and onions

cornmeal mush with syrup

SOS(dried beef gravy over sliced bread)

zucchini bread

snickerdoodle cookies

 

~ Chicken Casserole~

1 (sm or med)can chicken
1 can(10 3/4 oz) of cream of mushroom soup
1C. water
2 chopped, hard-boiled eggs
1/2 C. chopped celery
1/4 C. chopped onion
1/8 C. chopped green pepper
salt/pepper to taste
Combine all. Add 2-3 slices bread,torn; to thicken.
Bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes- 1 hour
Serves 3-4.

 

What are some of yours?

[Sarah]

Well, a lot of things. Unlike many of our people, we had a wide selection.

 

A lot of breads, using a lot of different grains.

 

A lot of dairy. Cheeses, curds, 'gurgs' (yogurt), sylabub. (Is that the right word? Lightly fermented milk based drinks...)

 

A lot of pickled vegetables. Rarely a dill, usually sweet, especially 'cinnamon' which Dad loved).

 

'Riced' potatoes (think hash browns or formed into what we today call 'tots'.)(Also made into 'potato cookies', cut with cookie cutters and munched like cookies) Also made into flakes for long term storage.

 

But the downside was oatmeal. So much so that I can not eat it today. Fortuneatly my man introduced me to grits.

 

Very few green vegetables, or beans (flatulence issues in the family).

 

Sarah

of the Librum

[The WE2's]

Thinking back to grandma's and mom's ...

#1 was hot oatmeal

#2 was gravy over biscuits (sometimes with eggs in the gravy, sometimes with chopped squirrel meat...or rabbit) in the gravy)

#3 was cows milk (butter etc.)

#4 was squirrel, rabbit, or chicken with garden veggies & potatoes

#5 coffee

#6 rice wrapped in swish chard leaves (or Kale)

#7 pancakes or johnny cakes (cornmeal muffins & cornbread too!)

#8 pinto beans

#9 ice tea

#10 eggs (any way they could be served up!)

 

We felt we ate well and seemed to survive. Lots of these things I still cook today and keep stocked up on.

 

ps...we seldom had sweets. We considered having sugar in our oatmeal, and syrup on our pancakes etc., was plenty of sweets. Did have apples, peaches, pears and berries in season. Alot of canning went on! LOL

Edited September 18, 2013 by Philbe

[Andrea]

Milk Gravy Toast. I don't ever think I connected this with the end of the month/no money syndrome until just a few years ago. I need to ask my parents about this, because we kids loved it, but my parents hated it and seldom cooked it. unless it was necessary. I'm guessing it's because it was one of those foods they may have eaten too much of when they were younger. It's basically SOS without the beef. Cook leftover bacon fat/lard with equal amounts flour (you can use butter), then stir in milk, bring to a boil stirring constantly until it's gravy consistency. Pour over toasted white bread (you know that cheap stuff that you could buy 4/$1). Put a pat of butter on top (if you had it) and/or sprinkle with black pepper. Absolutely ZERO nutritional value.

[gofish]

My Dad was one of 13 children and they were sometimes homeless.

As a adult he worked hard to make sure we always had a roof over our heads and food on the table. He was a picky eater as an adult. We llived on 3 acres or more until I was in high school.

Every year we raised 100 chickens and a beef calf that we split with family. I found out early that you don't name food. Sometimes Mom kept some chickens for eggs.

My Grampa always had a garden that was at least 1 acre every year. I don't think we bought veggies from the store until I was a teen.We pick bluebarries and strawberries every year and my Grandpaernts had a gooseberry bush but the only way Grandma would use the gooseberries was if us kids would pick them. It had thorns.

 

Chicken Pot Pie ... My Mom made this often

1 3 1/2 to 4 lb.chicken
4 medium- sized potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup celery
1 onion diced
salt and pepper to taste
pot pie squares

cook chicken in tow quarts water until it is partly tender
Than add the onion, potatoes, carrots and celery and cook until they and the chicken are completely tender. Remove chicken from bone and set aside.
Bring broth th a boil. Drop pot pie squares into boiling broth and cook 20 minutes or intil tender. Return chicken th broth and serve steaming hot.

Pot Pie Dough

2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 -3 Tablespoons milk or cream.

Break the eggs into the flour. work toghter, adding the milk to make a soft dough. Roll out the dough as thin as possible and cut into 1" x 2" rectangles with a knife . Drop into boiling broth.
Unlike noodles these are not left to dry before being cooked

 

Gooseberry pie

Recipe courtesy of From Farm to Table

Cook time: 25 Minutes

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 4 cups gooseberries (fresh, frozen or canned can be used)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 all purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Pastry for double-crust pie (or already refrigerated pie crust)

Directions

1. Stem and wash gooseberries. Put in large mixing bowl. Combine sugar, flour and salt in a smaller mixing bowl.
2. Add sugar mixture to berries, then toss gently to coat the fruit.
3. Fill a pastry-lined nine-inch pie plate with the gooseberry mixture; dot with butter. Adjust top crust. Seal and flute the edge with a fork. Make four slits in top of crust. Cover edge of pie with foil.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes.
5. Remove foil and bake another 25 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Cool on a wire rack.

[Jeepers]

My mother in law used to make hamburger gravy. She would fry some hamburger then add flour, milk, salt and pepper. She served it over bread or biscuits. It was really very good.

 

My family always add macaroni to our chili. We all still do. Hamburger, chili beans, tomatoes, onions, cooked macaroni, catsup and chili powder. It makes a huge pot full. I didn't know other people didn't add macaroni until I was well into my adult years. My in-laws add it too. Maybe it's regional? It's okay to laugh!

[Twilight]

Garden produce, for vegetables fresh and canned

Meat...range chickens (eggs), maybe a goat kid or once in a while a pig

Fish from the pond

Milk/butter from the goats or the neighbors cow

 

We bought staples- flour, sugar, salt, shortening.

 

Momma would toast the bread very dark before adding the milk gravy

which might have sausage,or chicken in it. Something I still like!

 

But because that had been my diet with only rarely red meat,

when I was expecting my first child

I had to eat liver or beef preferably 3 times a week...

[The WE2's]

My mother in law used to make hamburger gravy. She would fry some hamburger then add flour, milk, salt and pepper. She served it over bread or biscuits. It was really very good.

 

My family always add macaroni to our chili. We all still do. Hamburger, chili beans, tomatoes, onions, cooked macaroni, catsup and chili powder. It makes a huge pot full. I didn't know other people didn't add macaroni until I was well into my adult years. My in-laws add it too. Maybe it's regional? It's okay to laugh!

 

My dad always makes what he calls "goulash" ... and it's mac-n-cheese into chili...yum, yum! He also makes "mulligan" stew, which is just about everything he could find in the frig with some sort of meat...LOL Again, yum, yum...with hot biscuits or cornbread!

[ArmyOfFive4God]

My Mum used to make fried eggs, baked beans & "chips" (homemade french fries). YUM!

[Jeepers]

That reminds me, my mom used to slice potatoes and onions and add a raw egg or two and fry them all together. I guess the egg was for cheap protein.

[dogmom4]

Chicken Pot Pie ... My Mom made this often

1 3 1/2 to 4 lb.chicken

4 medium- sized potatoes peeled and cut into chunks

1 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup celery

1 onion diced

salt and pepper to taste

pot pie squares

cook chicken in tow quarts water until it is partly tender

Than add the onion, potatoes, carrots and celery and cook until they and the chicken are completely tender. Remove chicken from bone and set aside.

Bring broth th a boil. Drop pot pie squares into boiling broth and cook 20 minutes or intil tender. Return chicken th broth and serve steaming hot.

Pot Pie Dough

2 eggs

2 cups flour

2 -3 Tablespoons milk or cream.

Break the eggs into the flour. work toghter, adding the milk to make a soft dough. Roll out the dough as thin as possible and cut into 1" x 2" rectangles with a knife . Drop into boiling broth.

Unlike noodles these are not left to dry before being cooked

 

Cook time: 25 Minutes

Yield: 8 servings

 

Gofish, what are pot pie squares?

[The WE2's]

All this food makes your mouth start watering!

[ArmyOfFive4God]

 

Gofish, what are pot pie squares?

I think they're dumplings.

[dogmom4]

Oh....I know what those are.....

[CrabGrassAcres]

Dried lima beans with dumplings. gag

Dried black eyed peas with catsup. gag gag

Milk toast. gag

Bread pudding. gag gag gag.......

Mama never was much of a cook. I learned early that I would have to do it myself or starve.

[lovinit]

We often had pancakes for supper, the kids thought it was great.

Mom would make a potato puff and serve it with a casserole of canned tomatoes and crackers with eggs dropped in and one half strip of bacon over each baked egg.

That is a gag gag for dh. I love it.

Mom said they used soooooooo many onions during the depression years.

We ate wild game along with our own beef and pork. I remember my mom being so upset over having to clean ducks or pairie chickens on her birthday.

Of course we didn't realize this was not the best food in the world, maybe because mom always followed with some type of dessert. Pear or peach juice was always stretched with bread soaked in it. Canned ruhbarb, custard pudding, Ahhhh Yes!

[kappydell]

pancakes for supper was a great treat, with home made brown sugar syrup. Homemade bread always; I was taught by my mom that if you fed your family homemade bread and a good thick gravy, you could serve fried shoe soles as the main course, and they would never notice. It worked for me & my husband too during our lean times! So my vote is on homemade bread with good thick gravy.

[Annarchy]

LOL.... "gag".... LOL

 

Reminded me of split pea soup.. morning, noon and night... then, she added too much salt and we still had to eat it... gag

 

Left over pancakes spread with peanut butter.

Patatiskor - potato sausage

[HazelStone]

My mother in law used to make hamburger gravy. She would fry some hamburger then add flour, milk, salt and pepper. She served it over bread or biscuits. It was really very good.

 

My family always add macaroni to our chili. We all still do. Hamburger, chili beans, tomatoes, onions, cooked macaroni, catsup and chili powder. It makes a huge pot full. I didn't know other people didn't add macaroni until I was well into my adult years. My in-laws add it too. Maybe it's regional? It's okay to laugh!

 

Well, in Cincinnati they put chili over spaghetti...

[HazelStone]

Grandma used to do a liver dumpling soup- your basic beef/veggie soup base, then ground up liver with breadcrumbs, a little egg, and flick it by little bits into the boiling broth. Or chicken soup with kluski. She made a good meatloaf, which my Mom loathed so I never got that at home. I offered to make meatloaf for Sweetie but he is horrified about the very concept.

 

Basically Grandma was very careful to never waste any food. She rarely cooked "poor," but her family could do that because they gardened.

 

Mom...would do shepherd's pie (though ground lamb is hard to come by now). Chili was a regular standby (ground beef & kidney bean base). Bangers n' Mac- the cheapest, nastiest little sausages + boxed Kraft. Won't touch it to this day; it was in rotation too often when one parent was out of work. That and swiss/salisbury steak.

 

There was a combination of egg noodles, sour cream peas, and bacon. Was yummy- also beef stroganoff.

 

She would also slow cook round steak and do up gravy- very cheap and quite yummy when done right.

 

Oh yes...and the pea soup, or the bean soup... HAAAAAAATE. Won't do pea soup. Figured out a better bean soup recipe myself- tastes a lot better with a beef base instead of ham base.

 

Basically, there was a long spell of clinical depression that Mom had (untreated) and it translated to a "hell with it" attitude in the kitchen most nights. She'd taught us to cook by then, but meal planning authority rested with her. Normally she's a very good cook and likes to do so.

 

I have my own frugal standbys, but I learned a lot about Latin American cooking when I studied in Mexico. My "frugal" meals are nothing like Mom's.

 

[Jeepers]

 

My mother in law used to make hamburger gravy. She would fry some hamburger then add flour, milk, salt and pepper. She served it over bread or biscuits. It was really very good.

 

My family always add macaroni to our chili. We all still do. Hamburger, chili beans, tomatoes, onions, cooked macaroni, catsup and chili powder. It makes a huge pot full. I didn't know other people didn't add macaroni until I was well into my adult years. My in-laws add it too. Maybe it's regional? It's okay to laugh!

 

Well, in Cincinnati they put chili over spaghetti...

 

 

That might explain a few things. I grew up in south eastern Indiana. Not too many miles from Cincinnati! My mom made spaghetti with sliced hot dogs.

[The WE2's]

Philbe had several left over buttermilk biscuits she baked yesterday for sandwiches, so she fixed a skillet full of gravy with bacon bits in it, and then wisked up some eggs & dropped them in to make ala..."creamed eggs/bacon over biscuits". Pigged Out!

[indy gal preps]

My Dad was a cattleman so we always had plenty of beef.also pork and chickens.Huge gardens,so lots of veggies.Noodles,pies and bread pudding,cornstarch pudding,almost everything.I did not grow up during the depression but heard my older sisters talk about how they only lived on soup beans and listening to Kate Smith on the radio.My parents didn't move to a farm until after the war.I had it good in the 50's.

[kappydell]

 

 

 

My mother in law used to make hamburger gravy. She would fry some hamburger then add flour, milk, salt and pepper. She served it over bread or biscuits. It was really very good.

 

My family always add macaroni to our chili. We all still do. Hamburger, chili beans, tomatoes, onions, cooked macaroni, catsup and chili powder. It makes a huge pot full. I didn't know other people didn't add macaroni until I was well into my adult years. My in-laws add it too. Maybe it's regional? It's okay to laugh!

Well, in Cincinnati they put chili over spaghetti...

 

 

 

 

Chili is soooo versatile! Stuffed baked potatoes (cheese on top for decadence), I've seen it served at restaurants over French fries (too much for me, but the truckers liked it), over any kind of pasta, stuffed into burritos, over eggs for breakfast, and as a base for Shepherd's Pie. Hard to beat a classic like chili (Mmmmmmm). And hamburger gravy? My roommate (prior Army drill sgt) is nuts for SOS (hamburger-milk gravy) over eggs for breakfasts and pouts if she does not get it at least once a week.

Edited September 22, 2013 by kappydell

[gofish]

Pot Pie Dough

2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 -3 Tablespoons milk or cream.

Break the eggs into the flour. work toghter, adding the milk to make a soft dough. Roll out the dough as thin as possible and cut into 1" x 2" rectangles with a knife . Drop into boiling broth.
Unlike noodles these are not left to dry before being cooked