21 FORGOTTEN Poor Man Meals Our Grandparents Ate to Survive

In March of 1933, lunch at the White House cost seven and a half cents a plate — and most American families ate even cheaper. These are 21 forgotten poor man meals our grandparents cooked to get through the Depression and the lean years after it: fried cabbage and sausage, potato peel soup, chicken feet soup, turnip greens with cornmeal dumplings and more, counting down to the nineteen-cent supper that is probably still in your pantry. For every dish you get the story, what it cost then and now, and the full recipe right on your screen. CHAPTERS 0:00 Seven and a half cents a plate 1:03 No. 21 Fried Cabbage and Sausage 2:51 No. 20 Spaghetti with Homemade Tomato Sauce 4:41 No. 19 Spam Fritters 6:33 No. 18 Hash Brown Patties 8:32 No. 17 Lentil Soup 10:23 No. 16 Leftover Fried Rice 12:12 No. 15 Eggs in Purgatory 13:59 No. 14 Onion Soup with Stale Bread 15:47 No. 13 Black Beans and Rice 17:43 No. 12 Pasta e Fagioli 19:36 No. 11 Escarole and Beans 21:24 Grandma's grocery list 22:28 No. 10 Potato Dumplings 24:13 No. 9 Kidney Bean Salad 25:58 No. 8 Polenta with Tomato Sauce 27:47 No. 7 Turnip Greens with Cornmeal Dumplings 29:41 No. 6 Stuffed Baked Potatoes 31:32 No. 5 Chicken Feet Soup 33:17 No. 4 Peanut Butter Soup 35:04 No. 3 Scrap Soup 36:44 No. 2 Potato Peel Soup 38:31 No. 1 Boxed Macaroni and Cheese 40:26 Why these meals still matter Prices: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Retail Prices of Food 1923-36 (Bulletin 635); BLS, 100 Years of U.S. Consumer Spending; period newspaper grocery ads. Today's values converted with the CPI (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis). Old prices are estimates. Which of these did your family cook? Tell us in the comments — and what you called it at your house. #CheapMeals #PoorManMeals #ForgottenRecipes #VintageRecipes #DepressionEraRecipes #GrandmasCooking #RetroFood #1970sFood