I have read that if you find a cookbook, dated from the Depression, that there is a wealth of information in that book. I've looked, through old book stores, but have never ran across one.

I've mentioned to my mother, I don't know how many times, that I wish I had learned more from my great-grandmother before she passed when I was 20. I would love to know all the tips and knowledge she had from living in those tough times.

I remember the bacon grease in a tin coffee container and some others that you all mentioned, but I know she had way more tips. Maybe on a website somewhere they will have more info.

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I did a quick internet search and came up with this, this one, and this one.

My grandparents on both sides always had a big garden for vegetables and hunted and fished. They also canned every summer (my mom did this also).

They washed their clothes with a scrub board (which was passed down to me!) and hung them out to dry. To make extra money, my maternal grandmother took in laundry for the town doctors and bankers, and my maternal grandfather mowed lawns in the summer in addition to his regular job.

I wish they were still alive to share more details with me, but a lot of things I know because my mom did a lot of the same when we were growing up (except the scrub board!).

Great thread!

I have one! It was my grandmothers! It's called Common Sense Cookbook. It's copyright 1939. I'll look it over and post any good tips from it!

I inherited some old cookbooks. I only use them for going down memory lane. The salt and bacon grease and butter and lard make them unusable. Heart desease killed everybody on that side of the family. I am not taking the same chances. I thought that my brother was being careful, but he has had a heart attack already.

Sometimes recipes can be updated and made healthier. They may not taste as we remember them though.

Cathleen

My grandmother was a kid during the depression, and one of the things I remember her talking about was making paper doll families out of the models in old catalogs.

My grandma came to California from Oklahoma Grapes of Wrath-style when she was a girl. She says she got so sick of hearing: Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, or Do Without! I love it though!

Two problems were common during the Depression. #1 - No income or very little income. When you don't have the money to run to the store, you don't tend to buy much. #2 - Nothing to buy. Even if you ran to the store for something there wasn't much available. Manufacturing pretty much came to a standstill. Closing a factory means not only people losing jobs but the product that factory produced was no longer available.

Because of this, the Depression Era tips almost all center on NOT running to the store to solve a problem. Plus people used human power rather than any other kind of power to do work. Using something that wasn't already available meant having to acquire it by either purchase or trade, which wasn't always possible.

So, for me, the best tip is to have a Depression Era mentality. Keep asking myself, "What can I do to keep me out of the stores?" As I keep looking for that solution, I'll keep coming up with new ways to do something.

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My gram did this with her bacon grease and lived to be 89! She only had health issues her last few years of her life. She ate a POUND of bacon every day! (Not an exaggeration!) And ate eggs for breakfast. She hated veggies, too.

These are all great ideas from everyone! My gram was born in 1918 and lived with us for a good portion of the time I was growing up. She used up every part of every piece of meat she ever got. She would save the neck and inards from a turkey or chicken, to make soup. She would make ham and bean soup from a ham bone or split pea soup from the ham bone. She grew up on a farm and they would sell the butter and milk from the cows, but they would keep the solid cream from the milk and eat it on bread. They would also eat lard sandwiches! (ew) She would only use her toaster oven to bake, unless it was something big and then she would only bake either early in the morning or at night, to save energy. She loved the dollar store and would buy as much as she could from there. She would wear her clothes until they had holes in them, then still wear them "just around the house" when she wasn't expecting company. She had special church and company clothing, and would change as soon as she got home or when the company left. She "darned" her socks until they couldn't be "darned" any more. She would spend a little extra for quality, and then take really good care of her things, so they would last forever. She still had a 1950's Sunbeam mixer with meat grinder attachment, and it still worked! All of her furniture was good quality and lasted 20+ years, including her sofa, which was still in good condition even if it was out-of-style.

I've got kids needing my attention right now, so I'm highly distracted and am not thinking of everything. I'll post more when I can think of them.

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