I find the biggest savings are in cooking with what I already have at home. Picking up one extra ingredient for a certain recipe for which I already most of the ingredients at home never works out well. I buy more extras than needed, and Im still spending not saving. I save the most when I push one more day without buying groceries.

My favourite cookbook for doing this is Arthur Schwartz's "What To Cook When You Think There's Nothing in the House To Eat: More Than 175 Easy Recipes And Meal Ideas." The book is out of print (although I have no idea why!) but you can order used copies off amazon. All the recipes are made with simple, staple ingredients and are arranged in sections by ingredient. It's probably the most useful cookbook I have.

My dad used to cook this same recipe for us all the time except we used pre-cooked beef sausage instead of hotdogs. He was born right around the same time as ConsumerDaves dad, 1949. My girlfriend and I now have sausage and potatoes every few weeks or so. Some of the best things in life are tucked away in the heads of our elders.

Not only is this recipe cheap ($2 a head), and not only is it tasty, but it's fast. It takes about 5 minutes from fridge to plate. You just can't beat that!

My next door neighbor used to tell me about getting suspended for leaving her bangs bobby pinned down after showering in the gym because it indicated that she was not "fully dressed."

One of my best (older) friend often tells me about not being able to do her final exam because she walked to school during a snow storm wearing *GASP* pants. She was not properly dressed for testing and had to go back.

I can't wait to check out some of the recipe books in the comments, though :-)

For example:
Opossum: Trap 'possum and feed for ten days on milk and cereal before killing. Clean, but do not skin. Treat as for pig by immersing the unskinned animal in water just below the boiling point. Test frequently by plucking at the hair. When it slips out readily, remove the possum from the water and scrape. While scraping repeadedly, pour cool water over the surface of the animal. Remove small red glands in small of back and under each foreleg between shoulder and rib. Parboil... 1 hour. Roast as for pork, page 421. Serve with turnip greens."

*fear*

@Mooshie: Nothin' like starving to death with a full belly.

@mac-phisto: Reminds me of the Onion one-line headline: "Dog Ruins Bathtub Gin". That's all. No story, no explanation. It was great.

And he DOES have a point - there is no place to be comparing this to the Great Depression.

Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project
[digital.lib.msu.edu]

It can be a little clunky to navigate but there are some good recipes in there.

I hardly ever use mine. I like to read them, though. If I had someone around to do the dishes, I'd probably cook more.

Mmmmm. I love me some buttah!

@Rectilinear Propagation: It really doesn't take any more time to make a decent meal from scratch if you're organized. I buy everything I need for the week and do all the prep work ahead of time. It may take an hour or two to prep everything, but it saves a ton of time during the week. I can make a much healthier, cheaper, more delicious meal in less time than it takes to order carry out and go pick it up.

@JulesNoctambule: Yeah I can make mac and cheese with about $5 that last 2-3 meals.

@lockdog: HEre where i live if you go to the farmstands you can get those big bags of potatoes.

We dont get them anymore because they usually rot before we eat them all.

Mix that with some lentils I have at home, beans, fish, whatever - and I'll eat like a king for weeks.

My mom's mother grew up dirt poor though before during and after the depression. That was more due to her father being a lousy farmer, though. She has lived her life certain that she'd be back in abject poverty again so she never really cared much about monetary possessions and what not. She never skimps on spending on food though. Perhaps depression eating was why.

@Melatonin: "Yes but how many meals of gumbo can a person take before they're sick of it. Not many."

You'd be surprised how many meals a person can take when their only other option is to NOT EAT AT ALL....

@MrFrankenstein: And time, don't forget time.

Skipping meals probably isn't going to make anyone lose weight.

"Let me show you how to make a Poor Man's Meal" != "OMG, IT'S A DEPRESSION!!! EVERYONE PANIC!!1!1ELEVENTY!1"

Not so fond of what that actually stands for but still...

Forget about buying processed 'anything.'

Learn to cook. I repeat: learn to cook. That doesn't mean learn to 'open a can' or 'mix a packet of garbage with water/egg'.

If you have access to vegetables, especially onions (as one of the base building blocks for most meals) flour, oil, sugar and yeast - you can eat very well, including making your own soups, breads and just about anything else.

'Cheap food' doesn't have to mean surviving on grease-laden stodgy stuff that'll kill you over time.

Its clearly a question of 'education' in this country - or rather the lack of it. People seem to think that eating healthily and well requires a lot of money. It doesn't. (Go speak to any East Europeans - or Indians, for that matter.)

It just requires an understanding of nutrition, and an ability to cook.

Given the current obesity rates - 66% - I think the population of the US can afford to skip a few meals anyway, and downgrade their piggy urges, and be forced into eating saner foods, and experience a little crimping of their desires.

My grandfather was a cook in the navy. He cooked SOS every day onboard for breakfast for the sailors. When he came back to civillian life after WWII, he cooked once a year and it was always SOS.

Now I'm hungry.

I made a corned beef, then basically made rosemary home-fries with lots of onions and bell pepper, then sauteed chunks of corned beef and mixed it all together.

That story about her neighbor was rather surprising - in that her obnoxious neighbor would just stroll by and steal her food when everyone was struggling to get by. Way to lay down the law, granny!

Often the "Depression edits" of some recipes ended up becoming the standard for grandkids (as in this case).

Julia Child's potato and leek soup recipe is a delicious, cheap meal (even without adding the optional cream):

[www.starchefs.com]

What a cool lady Clara is! She reminds me of my grandma a whole bunch! She just turned 90 on the 13th,and is in remarkable shape. She can COOK too.

My grandmother will tell you that they never knew there was a "Great Depression." Most folks around here didn't have much to start with.

Hopefully things won't get that bad again.

My grandparents have e-mail these days. I've sent this to them, they'll get a kick out of it.

How about SHAZAM! all three meals of the day in one pan? No? How about SHAM-WOW! all three meals of the day in one pan?
...man, this slogan stuff really is harder than they make it look!

OMG, BEST RECIPE EVER. There's only two of us and this never makes it to leftovers!

I've been playing Iron Student Chef for the last few years, what can YOU make with two eggplants, a hot dot, and a package of burrito mix?

I grew up eating dinner with my grandparents, both of whom were raised in farming families in the 30s (and raised six kids themselves). Two of the more frequent meals were cabbage and noodles, and noodles with cottage cheese. Meat was definitely a once in awhile thing.

@lockdog: Thank you, here I thought I was the only geek in the 60s and 70s that had a family with 4 kids and parents with a sack of potatoes in the garage embarassing the hell out of us. But we didn't starve to death, had potatoes damn near every meal, and not one of us developed diabetes or any other health malady from eating them. Good times indeed. Gimme a pan of potatoes and onions any day! It doesn't even need to have hot dogs in it!

As for kids enjoying the recipes: I have three children, from 12 months to seven years. My middle child hates everything but, like, "cheez" and other such processed junk, but has been very open to most of what I've made from the cookbook. She will probably be very excited by the fried rice this evening. That's usually a big hit.

Gawd, how'd she keep all ten fingers with that kind of knife handling?

I have had the same problem with people stealing out of my garden. I would have called the cops - not only was that woman trespassing, she was stealing. What unmitigated gall!

I'm a little concerned that those meals aren't very nutritious. One can cook frugally and still maintain good nutrition, particularly if one has a garden. The "pannacotta" recipe she made could be made with milk, for example, and can be used as a base for leftovers. Or made into a dessert - omit the salt, top with whatever fruit is in season or rehydrated dried fruit (even raisins) and some cinnamon and sugar, maybe a little lemon juice. Potatoes and onions can host spinach or other greens. And beans! Beans are a staple for the frugal diet.

Since there's only two of us, we don't get through it as fast, but it can be done even if there aren't very many of you. And because you're freezing it, it's not like it goes bad. Just don't stretch it out for more than two months. And don't forget it's there. And it's $30 in groceries, which is mostly fresh veggies and chicken....canned items would surely be cheaper, if you wanted to use those instead. And substitute the Hillshire Farms cooked polish sausage (sometimes $2 a pack) instead of the $6 andouille would be fine too.

As far as appropriate containers...my parents started ordering containers from restaurant supply stores. You know, the plastic Chinese food takeout ones. They're cheap, they come in bulk, and you won't miss them if you have to throw them out. And they're dishwasher friendly.

Where's the recipe for boiled shoe and newspaper slaw?

@Farquar: awwwww.

What the hell, man, you think we're made of money or something?

@Farquar: I'll take it, if it makes me seem less dopey! Semantics FTW!

just sayin' maybe it's like mincemeat?

And might make them more popular.

I'm an perverted man who was clearly born a good 15 years ahead of his time.

@Cafezinha: Technically you were correct the first time. You are watching her in the video, not in person.. so you are learning from the 91-year-old Clara that made the video, not the 93-year-old Clara that's cruising around Boca in a caddy.

Semantics.

I'm a dork.

My g-g-generation indeed!

@Eyebrows McGee:

I'm looking it up.. because I like Eyebrows McGee.

I swear, I spend so much time pimping this book the Mennonites should pay me royalties. [www.amazon.com]

Simple, healthy, hearty cooking ... and inexpensive. Meat mostly used as a flavoring/add-on.

There are two companion books -- Extending the Table, which is the same idea but world cooking, I have learned to make a mean curry!, and Simply in Season which focuses on "wtf do I do with three heads of cabbage?" for locavores and gardeners. :)

@suburbancowboy: Arsenic and Old Lace. [www.imdb.com]

My folks are big on potatoes & onions (great-grandma, born in 1908, specialized in them). Add some eggs with it and I could go for that any day of the week.

I do like the potatoes a little burned around the edges too. :)

I grew up in a farming family and the 80's were some tough times. I will never forget the one pot meal that my mom fixed 5 days out of 7 consisting of rice, hamburger, canned mushrooms and gravy made from the fried hamburger that held it all together. The taste and texture of that dish still haunts me.

I'm all for economizing but, after my dad worked in a hot dog factory, I'd touch them with a ten-foot pole only if I wer absolutely starving.

I love to go to the flea market and look for those really old pamphlet-style cookbooks. I have one from the 1920s and a couple from the 1940s. It's interesting to see the recipes from that time, when people ate lard and stuff like that. I have a Gold Medal Flour cookbook from 1910 too, but they wrote recipes (called "receipts") differently then, so they are hard to figure out sometimes.

Like this:
Huckleberry Tea Cake - Two cups of sour milk, half a cup of white sugar, one egg, teaspoonful of soda, teaspoonful of salt, flour enough to make it a stiff dough. Beat it well and fill with berries. To be eaten hot with butter. If made with sweet milk, use baking powder instead of soda. ([www.victorianpride.com])

They cooked on wood and coal stoves so there are no temperature measurements or anything. The older the receipt, the luckier you are if there are measurements at all. I swear, I had to read the cookbook four times before I figured out what "forcemeat" was.

@8minutemiles: Co-signed.

/n'awlins

I hope Clara remembered to turn the stove off when she was done cooking.

@pecan 3.14159265: Happy Mardi Gras! (tomorrow)

The fact that we compare today to the great depression is an insult to anyone who lived through that period. Are we all homeless, living in a tent? Where are all the hoover villes?

I think a lot of people want a depression. They want people to pay. They want an excuse for why their life isn't going as dreamed.

Careful what you wish for.

Although I have to admit she is a good cook for her age and knows about depression cooking. She is right potatoes are cheap and can be grown just about anywhere. My dad planted many rows of potatoes and frankly a potato was never a wasted product. Even if it rotted it grew sprouts you planted and used for next year's harvest if necessary.

Looks like those are cheesy hot dogs - not the cheap kind. LIARS!

@suburbancowboy: Soylent green is...people?!

@pecan 3.14159265: MMMMMMM...gumbo. I can concur with this.

/from SE Louisana

as much as we complain about imports from China and other countries, they have made buy clothing very cheap, to the point that it's unusual for someone to do without clothing.

That's a real poor man's meal. Kill anyone who crosses ya, and then ya eat em.

The cost seems big at first, but $30 to feed two people for weeks? I made it several weeks ago, and there's still a little left over in the freezer.

@Mooshie: Oh, lame. I fail at paying attention.

Carry on, editors. I seem to have taken my stupid pills instead of my multi-vitamin this morning.

Seriously, we should check the recipes out, and I should ask my dad about my grandma's stuffed cabbage recipe...

This kind of thinking builds a work ethic and that's worth jack if there are no jobs.

The video was posted in 2007.

@medfordite: Grew up on hash, made by my grandma, who herself survived the depression on just such food. I LOVED it as a kid, but it's a little too salty for me now.

@Mooshie: Don't leave out us lazy women. We're all about ramen too.

Oh p.s., editors...she says she's 91, but your headline says 93.

@YardanCabaret: Hell, you could order something like that at Denny's (maybe with ham instead of wieners, though) and they'd charge you 7-8 bucks a plate for it.

Now you can make it at home instead! :)

eat cardboard with MSG added it's delicious!

She should take out an interest only, adjustable rate home equity loan and update that kitchen with cherry cabinets and stainless steel appliances.

"I had to quit high school because we couldn't afford socks...we couldn't afford anything to wear."

History books don't really make you think about individual people's stories like this. My family is adjusting our habits to work with the current economy, but we are nowhere near not being able to send my daughters to school because they have no clothes that fit.

I like hot dogs and potatoes. I might make that poorman's meal tonight for supper. :)

eat cardboard

Agreed on Raman or Mac and Cheese. :)

@mac-phisto: no need to resort to that.....Skol vodka is only like 9 dollars a bottle and tastes just like rubbing alcohol, lol.

I thought the only place for the elderly on YouTube was covering The Who's "My Generation"?

I was born in Ukraine and I must say, the poor mans meal during the depression was the meal of kings during my childhood.

But still seriously awesome video.