Comments on: Depression Cooking

By: Brittany

Brittany — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:22:49 +0000

Clara is so charming and inspiring! Thank you for sharing this, I hadn’t heard of her until now. It just makes me feel so good remembering all the meals my great grandmother used to make for me. Props to those who make it to such an age and still make great use of their time and energy!

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:52:16 +0000

Trent,

This lady is a jewel and so are you for sharing her! Thanks!

By: Dru Pagliassotti

Dru Pagliassotti — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:56:16 +0000

Oh, I want her as my own nonna! Thanks for introducing me to her; I’m spreading the word to my own friends!

By: Molly

Molly — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:56:38 +0000

This is fantastic! Thanks for hooking us “Simple Dollar” fans to Clara. Not only are her simple meals great for modern nights of quick cooking for the family, I just love her down-to-earth self and the historicalconnection to that era. Like so many others have said, I miss my mom (who died in 1998 at 81) and Grandma. And as with so many great lessons from Simple Dollar, I’ve passed this on to my young adult sons, who didn’t want to learn to cook from me!

By: Stephanie PTY

Stephanie PTY — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:49:15 +0000

I love Clara! I’ve watched all of her videos over the last few weeks. I’m sad that there won’t be any more (but I totally get it – she’s old! Don’t push her!). Also, I love the fact that she lives up here in the Finger Lakes – I laugh whenever I see her use one of our local brands. It’s just another thing to connect with, for me.

It should be pointed out, though, that Clara says she gained weight during the depression. There’s a reason for that: she ate a lot of starch and flour, because it was cheap. Things aren’t so bad in our economy right now that we have to rely on flour and potatoes. Her dishes are good for stretching your dollar, but you should look for ways to make the dishes healthier, if you can afford it. Whole wheat flour, more proteins, more fresh (or frozen) veggies. I lived off of pasta for a semester in school – literally, because it’s what I could afford. It was bad. I don’t recommend it.

By: bel

bel — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:41:48 +0000

I fell in love with this lady and her videos. Thank you for posting them. I loved her so much that I went over to youtube and watched the rest. I found her cookie video and almost started to cry. My Grandmother made these cookies for me when I was little. She passed on and I thought I would never find the recipe. Thank you so much!

By: katy

katy — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:15:32 +0000

I fell in love with Clara – but DON’T make her sugar cookies. I wasted 3 eggs, 3/4 c of sugar and 1 1/2 c flour (oh, she conveniently forgot that recipe needed more). They were INEDIBLE and I had to throw them out.

Some ‘Sunday breakfast’ indeed.

By: Moneyblogga

Moneyblogga — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:39:40 +0000

I love Clara! She is a big hit all over the web.

By: Nienke

Nienke — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:21:06 +0000

I love her videos. The funny thing is that as a student, I ‘invented’ quite a few of her meals myself!

By: Susan in CA

Susan in CA — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:56:14 +0000

Thanks so much for the links! I’m enjoying watching Clara. I want to try the recipes.

Kandace-I’m using up what I have on hand too! I’ve organized the pantry so I know what I have and have the freezer to do now. Doing this can save alot of money.

I need to improve on making up my menus ahead of time and then having a good list to take to the store.

Erick, I think the first video of Clara was made two years ago. That is why she says 91 but she is 93 now.

By: Erick

Erick — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:37:50 +0000

She said she is 91 years old. I think you wrote 93. Just thought you should know.

By: Carmen

Carmen — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:51:17 +0000

Aww; her cooking reminds me of my Italian Grandma and Great Grandma. She’s absolutely fantastic for her age; probably all that olive oil for her joints and limited processed food throughout her lifetime.

But does anyone use that much salt now? I only add salt to chips, the occasional salad and broccoli (on my plate!) since I know it’s not good for kids to have any salt added to foods, such as pasta & veg. Plus I can recall hating the taste as a child.

By: Carrick

Carrick — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:14:37 +0000

When I went to Minnesota for the first time a couple years ago, I sampled the cuisine of my Swedish-American heritage and realized that practically every single dish was some combination of flour and water. Fried flour and water, baked flour and water–even flour and water pudding!! I was like, geez, this must have been because of the Depression (or being poor farmers in Sweden…) and couldn’t imagine how awful it must have been to subsist only on that. The meals posted here would make the Depression MUCH more bearable…

By: Cobbster

Cobbster — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:50:48 +0000

This woman is terrific. Good for her! It’ll be interesting to see some more of her ideas.

By: Bridget

Bridget — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:01:28 +0000

Thank you so much for putting the link up to those lovely videos. They brought a tear to my eye. What a great lady!

By: Debt Free Adventure

Debt Free Adventure — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:00:36 +0000

Let me say one thing to the Frugal Food Seeker…

BEANS, BEANS, BEANS!

Beans are high in fiber & protein which will help you lose weight, lower your cholesterol & blood pressure, and gain greater overall health & well-being.

Beans are low in fat and are CHEAP! They are a great meat substitute, not because you don’t like meat…but because it can be too expensive.

Eat beans!

DebtFREEk!

By: Naturally Recommended

Naturally Recommended — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:04:45 +0000

She is too cute! Really reminds me of my own grandma in a lot of ways. It’s so interesting to hear the snippets of her talking about life back in that time.

By: A in NC

A in NC — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:40:00 +0000

This reminds me of the concept of the “greatest generation” those who parented the baby boomers, and how THAT group was pinnacle of success. They had just what they needed plus the skills and knowledge to survive. The next subsequent generations lost so much of that because we had too much.
Too much of anything is no good. If you have too much money you dont’ have to learn to survive. Learning to survive and the values that come with it are what make people great.
This time in our culture is a great opportunity for us to re-learn those basics and add to the incredible knowledge we have in this 21st century.
We don’t have to go back in time, but we did throw the baby out with the bathwater and now we need to bring her back in.
God love YOUTUBE! and all the knowledge we can now share with our wonderful internet.

By: Anne65

Anne65 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:12:45 +0000

Great recipes! I always load up on peppers when they are on sale. They are one of the easiest things in the world to freeze:

http://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/16523

By: MK

MK — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:08:01 +0000

I can’t wait to get home and check out these recipes. From how you described them they seem so simple, and then from the other comments, seems like they’d be delicious! My DBF is trying to go vegitarian, and it seems like some of these will fit well along those lines. Plus a great way to save some money in the process!!