Frugal and Filling Depression Era Breakfast Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What was a popular breakfast in the 1930s? ›

In the 1930s, a typical breakfast consisted of simple and economical choices that reflected the challenging economic climate of the Great Depression. During this period, many families relied on staple foods such as oatmeal, cornflakes, or toast with butter and jam to start their day.

Many cheap foods still common among the poor today made their debut during the Depression: Wonder Bread (1930), Bisquick (1931), Miracle Whip (1933), and Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup (1934). Ragu spaghetti sauce, Kraft mac-n-cheese, and Hormel Spam all appeared during the Roosevelt Recession in 1937.

Potatoes were also inexpensive and used extensively. Some meals even used both. One of these meals was called the Poor Man's Meal. It combined potatoes, onions, and hot dogs into one hearty, inexpensive dish, which was perfect for the hard times people had fallen on.

What was a common breakfast that peasants ate in medieval times? Bread, cheese, and a liquid (ale, beer, or watered wine) was a common breakfast for most folks in medieval England. Breakfast — literally to break the fast (non-eating hours of sleep) — was not the main meal of the day.

In the early 1920s, the typical American breakfast consisted of coffee and maybe a slice of toast. Breakfast was typically light, without much substance. It was not the most important meal for many people.

1940s: Mint, orange juice, and apple butter

A sample brunch menu includes: orange juice topped with mint, creamed ham and mushrooms, waffles de luxe, maple syrup, apple butter, coffee, and milk.

Many people turned to farming, and grew the food themselves, like fruits, vegetables, cattle, chickens, sheep, and hogs. Many people would can their food so that it would last longer. Some people chose to hunt for their food. Some people harvested their own bees to make honey.

What was the most common food during the Great Depression? ›

During the Great Depression, corn meal was one kitchen staple that was typically easily accessible and cost-effective. To utilize this ingredient during hard times, home cooks began making Johnny cakes, a Northeastern bread that became particularly popular during the Great Depression.

Your local food bank can help you find food today, even if you need temporary help. They partner with food pantries, soup kitchens, and meal programs in your local community to give away free food. Enter your zip code to find the food bank partnering with Feeding America.

In the 1920's Americans typically ate light breakfasts of coffee, orange juice, rolls. In order to increase bacon sales Bernays wrote to 5,000 physicians asking whether a heavy breakfast was better for health than a light breakfast.

Tea, coffee, bacon, eggs and haddock were some of the key features to a good breakfast and one of the dishes served during the ETW week was inspired by the famous British cookery writer of the 1800s, Mrs Beeton.