If you’re a prepper, it’s best to learn different recipes so you can prepare a variety of dishes using the food in your stockpile after SHTF.
Below are forgotten recipes from the Great Depression that you can try, especially if you’re frugal and want to make the most of your supplies when disaster strikes. (h/t to TheSurvivalistBlog.net)
During the Great Depression, people struggled to provide food for their families because food and other resources were scarce. But people still had to eat, so they found ways to make the ingredients they had last for the longest time possible.
Many of these recipes can be tweaked using common ingredients like potatoes and beans. Some of them may sound very frugal, strange or unappetizing, but they were all popular during that era.
Bacon grease-fried cornbread
Bacon grease-fried cornbread is a popular dish that is still served today. This dish was popular among sharecroppers and rural families. Bacon grease-fried cornbread is simple to make and filling. Different versions of the dish can be found all over the American South.
Burgoo
Burgoo is a stew made with whatever meat and vegetables are available. The dish was often served at church socials or community gatherings.
Chipped beef on toast
Chipped beef on toast was common in the military and among truck drivers. The dish is made with dried beef that is rehydrated and then sauteed, usually with onions. It is served over toast or biscuits.
Dandelion wine
Dandelions are nutritious and people used them to make wine during the Great Depression. When trying this recipe, make sure you only use dandelions that haven’t been sprayed with pesticides.
Ingredients for 4 quart jars:
- 1 gallon boiling water
- 1 quart yellow dandelion blossoms, well rinsed
- 8 cups white sugar
- 1 (.18 ounce) package wine yeast
- 1 orange, sliced
- 1 lemon slice
Preparation:
- Place the dandelion blossoms in the boiling water. Let the dandelions stand for four minutes. Remove and discard the blossoms, then let the water cool to 90 F (32 C).
- Stir in the yeast, sugar, orange slices and lemon slice into the water and pour the liquid into a plastic fermenter. Attach a fermentation lock.
- Let the wine ferment in a cool area until the bubbles stop for about 10 to 14 days.
- Once done, siphon the wine off of the lees (deposits of dead yeast or residual yeast) and strain with a cheesecloth before bottling in quart-sized, sterilized canning jars with lids and rings. Age the wine for at least one week for the best flavor.
Depression-era potato soup
While this soup was created during the Great Depression, it became popular again during World War II. The soup is made with potatoes and whatever vegetables are available. You can also add meat if you have some.
Fish chowder
Fish chowder was popular among coastal and riverine communities. This hearty and filling soup was usually made with whatever fish was caught that day and leftover vegetables.
Fried cabbage pasta
Make fried cabbage pasta if you want to use up leftover cabbage. Prepare it with or without meat.
Fried squirrel
Fried squirrel is perfect for small game-eating. This is a common dish in the rural south, where squirrels are plenty.
Hominy grits
Hominy grits are a staple of southern cooking. These are made from dried and hulled corn kernels. Boil hominy grits and eat them as is or grind them into flour.
Hoosier cream pie
Hoosier cream pie is a Hoosier tradition that dates back to the 1800s. It’s made with a layer of sugar cream, a layer of custard and topped with meringue. Back in the Great Depression, Hoosier cream pie usually had a crushed cracker crust. (Related: 5 Delicious and filling pioneer recipes to learn before SHTF.)
Junket
Junket was a popular dessert during the Great Depression. It is made with milk and rennet, and it has a pudding-like consistency.
Meat and potato patties
Meat was often considered a luxury during the Great Depression, and many folks tried to make meat last by using additives in various dishes. For example, meat and potato patties are made with bread, flour or ground or mashed veggies.
Molasses cookies
Molasses was a common sweetener during the Great Depression because it was much cheaper compared to sugar, which was more scarce at the time.
Navy bean soup
This soup is a staple among Navy sailors. It was also popular in the Great Depression because it’s cheap and filling. You can make the soup with navy beans, ham and potatoes.
Pigs in a blanket
Hot dogs were a staple meat item for many poor Americans during the Great Depression. Pigs in a blanket are made with hot dogs wrapped in biscuit dough and then fried or baked.
Rabbit stew
Rabbits were a common source of protein during the Great Depression since it was more accessible and cheaper compared to cows, pigs or lamb. Learn how to hunt rabbits or raise them on your homestead. Compared to larger animals like cows or pigs, rabbits don’t require as much feed.
Red flannel hash
This dish is made with beets, onions and potatoes. It gets its name due to its resemblance to a red flannel shirt pattern when served in a skillet. This is a great option for vegetarian preppers.
Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut was a popular dish during the Great Depression because it was a cheap way to get vitamins from cabbage. It is still a popular dish today. Sauerkraut is a great recipe for preppers because it’s a useful method of preserving a pantry staple like cabbage.
Shepherd’s pie
Shepherd’s pie is made with lamb or mutton, potatoes and other vegetables. It can also include cheese. In the U.S., the dish is often made with beef instead of lamb. While the dish originated somewhere in Europe, it became popular in the U.S. during the Great Depression.
Slumgullion
Slumgullion is a stew or goulash made with whatever meat and vegetables are available. The name comes from the fact that it is usually made with insubstantial leftovers or “slums.”
Succotash
Succotash is made with corn and beans, and sometimes it includes bacon and tomatoes. The dish is popular in the U.S. and Canada. The Native Americans have eaten succotash for centuries.
Wacky cake
Wacky cake is made without butter, eggs or milk. It was popular during the Great Depression when these ingredients were scarce and expensive. This chocolate cake is often served with frosting.
Watermelon rind pickles
People often grew watermelons in home gardens during the Great Depression because they didn’t require much care or attention. To minimize food waste and maximize calorie output, people pickled watermelon rinds and served them as a side dish.
Ingredients for 1 pound of pickles:
- 2 pounds watermelon rind, from a roughly 5-pound watermelon
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped candied or crystallized ginger
- 4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon allspice berries
Preparation:
- Use a sharp peeler to remove the exterior green portion of the watermelon rind. Discard the green part.
- The rind should now be mostly white, with a little bit of pink or red on one side. Cut the rind into one-inch cubes.
- Add the apple cider vinegar, water, sugar, ginger, salt and spices to a two-quart saucepan set over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil and hold for one minute, then carefully add the chopped watermelon rind. Return to a boil then turn off the heat. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for 30 minutes.
- Move the pickles to a two-quart jar using a canning funnel and ladle. Pour on as much of the pickling juice as possible, then cover the jar and leave it at room temperature for another one and a half hours.
- Refrigerate the pickles overnight and consume them within a month. Keep the pickles refrigerated.
Wayside beans
This dish is made with navy beans, bacon and molasses and was popular among sailors and truck drivers during the Great Depression. A blue-collar staple, wayside beans are high-calorie, filling and easy to prepare in large quantities.
West Virginia peanut soup
This dish is very filling and full of protein. It is made with peanut butter and onions, but people sometimes add potatoes to it. It was created during the Great Depression, when peanuts were cheap and readily available.
Yankee pot roast
This roasted beef dish is popular in the northeastern United States. It is often cooked in a Dutch oven or slow cooker and can be served with vegetables. Yankee pot roast was considered a special dish and was often served on special occasions, such as weddings. Before SHTF, learn how to make these frugal but filling dishes from the Great Depression to make the most of your food stockpile.
Watch the video below to know how to make succotash.
This video is from the Living The Life With Tracy channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
- Cheap eats: 3 Healthy soup recipes for tough times.
- Honey, powdered milk, salt and wheat: Survival cooking with the 4 basics of food storage.
- Prepper recipes: How to make hardtack, a long-lasting survival food.
Sources include:
Two Storms, One Harvest
Every food crisis in living memory has been a one-shock event. The 2008 price spike was a commodity bubble. The 2020 shortages were a logistics failure. The 2022 grain scare was a war on one exporter’s ports. Each time, the system bent, adjusted, and recovered, and each time the experts assured us afterward that global markets are simply too big and too diversified to fail.
What nobody in Washington seems eager to discuss is that 2026 is shaping up to be something the modern food system has never actually faced. Two independent shocks, one climatic and one geopolitical, are converging on the same harvest cycle at the same time. Not sequentially. Simultaneously.
Start with the weather. The Pacific Ocean is currently building toward what forecasters now openly call a record event. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center puts the odds of at least a strong El Niño near 88 percent, with roughly two in three odds it reaches “very strong” status, the tier reserved for perhaps three or four events in the entire satellite era. Every major global model now projects a median peak in Super El Niño territory, and most of them project it exceeding the 2015-16 event, which until now held the modern record. Sea surface anomalies were already brushing the super threshold in mid-July, months before these events normally peak. The atmosphere has already shifted into El Niño mode, and the event is forecast to crest in late fall and early winter.
This is not about “climate change.” It’s about the standard cycles of weather, and the cycle we’re currently in is one that has likely devastated societies in the past. We’re better prepared as a society today, but not all Americans are equally prepared.
Serious households have started doing the quiet math on their own. Grocery bills tell part of the story, and the forecast maps tell the rest, which is why long-term food storage has moved from fringe hobby to mainstream line item in the family budget, with established suppliers like Heaven’s Harvest seeing demand from people who five years ago would have rolled their eyes at the idea. That instinct is not paranoia. It is pattern recognition, and the pattern is worth walking through carefully.
Editor’s Note: Heaven’s Harvest IS a sponsor, but the warnings of this article are real and would be written even if we didn’t have a survival food sponsor. With that said, those who take advantage of what they offer can use promo code “Patriot” for 15% off.
The Fertilizer Clock Is Already Running
While the Pacific warms, the second shock has been unfolding in the Strait of Hormuz. The conflict with Iran turned the world’s most important energy chokepoint into a contested waterway, and the consequences reach far beyond the gas pump. Roughly a third of global fertilizer trade moves through Hormuz, and the disruption sent urea prices up 86 percent year over year by March, with a 53 percent jump in a single month.
The World Bank projects energy prices rising about 24 percent in 2026 and fertilizer about 31 percent. By its own accounting, fertilizer prices ran 35 percent higher in the first five months of this year than the same period last year.
Here is the mechanism the nightly news will not explain. Fertilizer is not a grocery item. It is a time-delayed input. The nitrogen a farmer in Iowa or Punjab could not afford to apply this spring does not show up as a problem this spring. It shows up as a thinner harvest six to twelve months later.
The World Bank’s own food security brief concedes that the effects of reduced applications earlier this season “are likely to become visible only later in harvest outcomes.” Translate that from institutional language into plain English and it means this. The damage is already done, it is already in the ground, and we are simply waiting for it to arrive on the shelf.
Now check the calendar. Six to twelve months from the spring planting season lands us squarely in late 2026 and early 2027. Which is precisely when the strongest El Niño in the instrumental record is forecast to peak, bringing its signature droughts to Southeast Asia, Australia, southern Africa, northern Brazil, and South Asia, the very regions that grow the world’s rice, sugar, and oilseeds.
The World Bank warns openly that a strong El Niño “could disrupt multiple crop belts simultaneously” on top of the conflict-driven input costs. Their baseline projection assumes the Middle East disruptions ease by autumn. What in the last two years of Middle East history suggests that assumption is safe?
The System Has No Slack Left
The comfortable answer is that global markets always adjust. But adjustment requires slack, and the slack is gone. Global cereal production is expected to decline from last year’s records even before El Niño does its work. The UN World Food Programme, hardly a den of right-wing preppers, is calling this the most significant disruption to its supply chains since Covid and the invasion of Ukraine, and its supply chain director put the stakes bluntly.
Today’s supply chain challenges are tomorrow’s hunger crisis.
There is also a political dimension that markets cannot price. When food gets scarce, governments do not behave like economists. They behave like politicians. Export bans, hoarding mandates, and panic buying at the national level turned the modest rice shortfall of 2008 into a global crisis, and analysts are already warning that import-dependent nations are the first dominoes.
The 2015-16 Super El Niño, a far weaker event than what is now forecast, threw tens of millions into food stress across Africa and Asia. This one is projected to be stronger, and it arrives with fertilizer already rationed by price and shipping lanes already contested by missiles.
What Joseph Knew
Scripture does not treat preparation for lean years as faithlessness. It treats it as wisdom delivered in advance to those willing to act on it.
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt.
Joseph did not respond to that warning with a hashtag or a committee. He stored grain during the years of abundance, and when the famine came, Egypt stood while its neighbors begged. The lesson is not that famine is certain. It is that the time to prepare is precisely when preparation still looks optional.
Nobody who filled a pantry in a year of plenty has ever regretted it, and nobody standing in an empty aisle has ever been glad he waited for certainty.
None of this calls for panic, and panic is the enemy of sound judgment anyway. It calls for the same unglamorous prudence our grandparents considered ordinary. Keep some cash margin, know your local growers, and put real food in deep storage while it is cheap and available, because the entire arc of this story is that cheap and available is a closing window.
Families looking for a straightforward place to start can visit Heaven’s Harvest and use promo code Patriot for 15 percent off long-term storable food. The forecasts may yet soften, the strait may yet reopen, and we should pray they do. But hope is a fine thing to hold and a foolish thing to eat.
