Stretching Your Meals From Days Gone By

Today was the shopping trip down south.  And, as usual, I made a mental note of prices.  Prices are jumping, my friends.  And not by a little.  A bag of flour that I purchased last month (December 31st, to be exact) had about $1.25 increase.  In the meats section pork prices were still rising, as was chicken.  Bacon packages are now 12 ounces instead of 1 pound.  But they still want 1 pound pricing. Beef prices are dropping a little, not all of it (the high priced cuts are still high priced) but cattle prices are down some.  Rice and some produce are still rising.  But I did notice that the nutritionally questionable stuff , like boxed do-it-yourself-helper, were on the 'cheap' end of things. I guess it is to make you feel like you are getting a 'bargain'?

This past year has been a great challenge.  Our income is oil field related.  Enough said.  So with all the snowy days, I have been researching ways to stretch our meals and still provide us the nutrition we need.  As stated before, I like cookbooks.... older cookbooks.  Not the more modern cookbooks where you need to have some rare expensive spice or a can of prepared 'something'.  That's not really making meals with homegrown produce or common ingredients.

 With the high cost of meat and dairy I've had to become creative in stretching the meal out for our family on a limited budget.  The boys seem to have hollow legs and some days it just doesn't seem like the pot roast goes far enough for a family of five.  If I do have a roast of some sort that is big enough for leftovers, I'll turn it into chili, soup or tacos.  But it starts to get 'old'.  Not every roast is on sale, nor very large.


So I turned to history. The Great Depression and wartime meals.

During WWII Canada, America and Great Britain all had some kind of rationing program at home to prevent the general public from becoming angry with shortages and to prevent the wealthy from buying up whatever they wanted (except on the black market it created).   Items that were rationed were things like fuel, fuel oil, clothing and food.  There were going to be shortages and rationing controlled the use of those items whether you were rich or poor.

So let's look at a sample of a food ration for an adult for ONE WEEK in Great Britain (a child would receive 1/2 of the ration): 

Bacon and ham (3-4 slices/rashers) 4 oz
Other meats – 2 small chops
Butter 2 oz  
Cheese 2 oz Margarine 
4 oz Cooking fat 
4 oz Milk 3 pints Plus 1 packet dried milk per month  
Sugar 8 oz Preserves (every two months) 
1 lb Tea 2 oz Egg (shell egg) 
1 Plus 1 packet dried egg per month Sweets 12 oz

Other items were based upon availability.  But if you grew or raised your own, you weren't so restricted.  It is very interesting and I believe quite relevant to our time now.  I have seen on local shelves where a product sells out and it is not restocked for several weeks without any explanation.

Below are a few links that I have run across with recipes during that era.   Some have booklets and some are just a collection of recipes.  Save them if you can or print the ones out you think you and your family will enjoy.

http://recipecurio.com/category/rations/

http://www.recipespastandpresent.org.uk/
 (has a link for wartime recipes, too)

http://wartimecanada.ca/document/world-war-ii/recipes/victory-cook-book


http://wartimecanada.ca/archive-categories/eating

These are a few that I have run across.  Do a search online for WWII recipes, or rationing recipes and see what you can find.  Some people have posted individual family recipes.  

The Great Depression also had its time of troubles.  Our property was part of the Homestead Act and I read about one of the family members.  She stated that during the Depression they had a really nice car, but no fuel to drive it.  And they eeked a living out by selling cream and eggs. 

Below are a few more links on cooking during these times: 

http://community.tasteofhome.com/community_forums/f/30/t/44025.aspx
  
Great Depression Cooking with Clara (she also tells stories of this time.... like how a neighbor showed up one day with a shopping bag to help herself to Miss Clara's vegetables out of her garden, without asking!)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRKls2LLMqU-uK2csT6FOKw

(some links that I've already posted but a lot of links here)
http://www.morewithlessmom.com/index.php/2013/10/08/great-depression-era-recipes-real-food/

Look around in thrift shops, used book stores, or libraries for cookbooks made during the 1930's or 1940's.  I was fortunate to find a set of cookbooks done by a group of Home Ec teachers at a thrift store.  Don't be afraid to make up your own recipes to stretch out your meals.  Keep an eye out for cookbooks from an era where people actually cooked using fresh ingredients and not canned ingredients.  Check out estate sales, or yard sales, and look for a grandmother's cookbook/recipe collection.  Even the handwritten ones may be worthy of your time.

The Settlement Cookbook has some good recipes, too.  This you can save as a pdf 

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/books/settlementcookbook/sett.pdf

Glean as much information as you can, while you can.  And while it is still on the internet.   Only you care about your family and their nutritional needs.