DEPRESSION MEALS-ARE WE EATING THE SAME MEALS TODAY

Depression Meals-Are We Eating The Same Meals Today? I asked a question on Food Storage Moms Facebook page to see what people are doing to save money on groceries. Oh my goodness, the prices just keep escalating at the grocery stores. How can families feed themselves? I am sharing responses on this post from real people just like you and me on how they are trying to cut food costs.

Here’s the deal, most of us are struggling to feed our families. This is the question I posted on Facebook to my readers: I need some help here if you are willing to share some ideas. I shared a post from my friend, Lisa Bedford from The Survival Mom about eating depression meals. It has had over 12K page views in less than three days.

My Facebook question: Please share any ideas about what you are eating or serving your family to save money. I don’t need recipes. Just ideas like…I feed my family rice and beans to save money. I buy a sack of potatoes and stretch it to make meals, etc. We are all trying to feed our families on a shoestring. Let’s share ideas with each other. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for any and all ideas. I don’t think those meals are great depression meals anymore. They are today’s meals. What do you think? People made comments that they are eating many of those meals today. I am too.

First of all I am going to share some meals my husband and I grew up on and some we still eat today.

Creamed chip beef on toast, tomato sandwiches (I never knew this was a depression meal), fried cheese, fried Spam, beef tongue, chicken livers with onions, beef liver and onions, lettuce sandwiches, onion sandwiches, milk and bread, sugar sandwiches, rice with milk, biscuits and gravy (sometimes we had sausage in it), potato soup with water, mayonnaise sandwiches, corned beef hash, soup, beans and rice, cucumber sandwiches, pancakes rolled with butter and sugar inside, Norwegian lefse, canned peaches with bread, tomato soup with crackers, Ramen with peas, Ramen with hamburger and peas, canned tomatoes with milk added, tuna casserole, creamed tuna on toast and fried canned salmon patties. Now let’s check out these great ideas:

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS OR WAYS TO SAVE $ ON GROCERIES:

1. We buy ground turkey at our local Aldi, when we are out of meat. We buy a hog and a 1/4 beef with our income tax return and stretch it along with the turkey and only buy chicken at .99 a lb. For snacks, because we have growing children that are grazers we eat a ton of popcorn. I make noodles as a side dish often.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-MEATLESS

2.  I try to save money by throwing in some meatless meals during the week, like potato soup or minestrone. I also make sure to add beans to taco meat to stretch it.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-RAMEN-BEANS-LENTILS-RICE

3. Ramen noodles 6 pk for $1.00 is a great soup starter. Add your frozen mixed veggies and some bean for protein and you have a big pot of soup for $3-4.

4. Use lentils or split peas when making hamburger dishes like spaghetti. (Half beans to amount of meat, can always add more beans). Red beans and rice with half a lb. of sausage add a few spices costs about 6 bucks and feeds my family for 2 days. Split pea soup and lentil soups are all super cheap.

5. We also add beans or lentils to taco meat, eat lentil soup (lately with brown rice thrown in to make a complete protein), and rely on popcorn and bananas for snacks – also lots of carrots! But I think what helps the most is buying in bulk and avoiding the grocery store as much as possible. For us that means buying beef by the 1/4 or 1/2, ordering from Zaycon Foods, using Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op, grinding our own grains, and making yogurt when I remember to, and then remembering to freeze or eat leftovers so we aren’t throwing food away.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-PORRIDGE-OATMEAL

6.  Porridge for breakfast – oats go a long way!

7. A fun and cheap meal is diced potatoes topped with onions, garlic, bacon bits, and cheese! My friend made it yesterday, I’m making it for dinner tonight!  And honestly, I use turkey bacon because it’s cheaper! My family hasn’t noticed. 

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-MARKED DOWN MEAT

8. Buy meat first thing in the morning – That’s when they put out the stuff that needs to be sold before it expires. I usually only buy pot roast when it’s marked down and vacuum seal it and freeze it for later. Also, if I don’t see any marked down meat, I go to the meat counter and ask if they have any marked-down meat or “yesterday’s grind” hamburger. That saves a lot, and it never hurts to ask!

9. This is great if you’re not buying from Zaycon Foods, of course!

10.  Pasta is always our cheap go to meal. Meat just costs far too much and pasta is filling. A little olive oil and garlic over the pasta toss together, its healthy and filling.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-GOULASH

11.  My sweeties standby recipe he calls “goulash” – just elbow macaroni, seasoned hamburger, onion and tomatoes. Tastes ever so good as leftovers too.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-LEARN TO GARDEN

12. Grow everything you possibly can each and every season. Learn to preserve what you grow. Learn to prepare what you grow. Learn to eat what you grow. Learn to love what you grow.

13. We are trying to use our leftovers before they have to be thrown out.

14.  I buy organic veggies but don’t peel them….when I am low on cash we don’t do organic but still don’t peel them. Carrots are the same. You throw away a lot of food in peels! To stop eating out, we take cheese and crackers or sandwich makings. Popcornreplaces chips. Corn tortillas fried for corn chips. Chile over baked potatoes is a favorite and the meat isn’t missed. Meat mixed in gravy makes it go farther than chunks of roast for everyone. Serving fresh bread and pickles with meals used to be very common. We just started doing fruit smoothies for afternoon snacks…azurestandard.com has frozen berries cheap.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-GO MEATLESS A FEW DAYS A WEEK

15. We have started trying to go meatless a few days a week. 
I also use the big oven app, it has a search function that allows you to put in an ingredient then it will pull recipes with that item. It helps me repurpose my leftovers into other meals.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-PARTICIPATE IN FOOD CO-OPS

16. I participate in a food co-op for fruits and veggies, buy canned items in case lot sales, pack lunches for my husband to take to work, eat lots of leftovers, and most importantly, never go grocery shopping while hungry.

17. Chicken leg quarters are a good way to have meat at a reasonable price. Use the legs to fry, etc and thighs have a lot of meat to use in noodles, yellow rice, dumplings, shred for BBQ sandwiches. I t only takes a couple to go a long way. Pasta and rice are great for stretching anything at meal time.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS WITH VEGGIES

18. Okay, let’s see… I do peel some veggies, but I use those peels to make my broth taste better (ie broth is made of carcass and onion skins and potato skins and carrot skins, etc, giving it a HUGE nutritional punch). Any time we’re making something with ground meat in it, I substitute half the meat with TVP (I get Bob’s Red Mill organic). We bought a commercial quality food sealer and use it daily to seal up leftovers, both for freezing and just for in the fridge, to cut down on waste (and it’s REALLY worked well). We buy wheat berries rather than flour, and grind our own. While we do sometimes buy bread, I make our buns and sweet breads. We cook things from scratch about 90% of the time, rather than using packaged stuff. When I buy meat, I buy it only on sale, and I buy enough for several meals and then freeze either portions or leftovers.

19. When we make tacos we add a few eggs to the ground meat and you honestly can’t tell the difference, then just cook them into the already cooked ground meat and season to taste, it changes the texture a tiny bit but after you add rice and beans to your tacos/burritos, you can’t tell anymore at all, this really stretches a meal!.

20.  A 74 year old Army veteran told me that when he was growing up in the Carolinas they were dirt poor, so his mother in the morning would mix flour into the eggs to make enough to go around. Said it tasted like eggs so they ate it.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-WE NEED SEASONAL RECIPES

21.  I would like to see someone (who has the time) to create recipes that are seasonal so that I am not constantly going to the store to find ingredients to make X, right now we should be eating squash, potatoes, dried beans, etc. I think that I spend to much in search of ingredients……

22.  I buy 1/2 cow and a 1/2 pig from a local farmer the freezer was worth the investment yes it’s expensive up front but do the math it’s cheaper the long run and its local fresh and so much cheaper than the store in the long run. I would advise anyone to buy an upright freezer and shop in bulk or even better contact a local farmer.

23. When money is short I make corn meal with sugar and pour cold milk over it. Its filling, cheap and kids love it. Also cook oatmeal, cream of wheat and if I get chicken I shred it to make it last. I make chicken soup,tacos and rice with it. Cheap and healthy meals.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-STOCK YOUR PANTRY WITH BARGAINS

24. Saving for us has more to do with how we shop than how we cook. I keep a well stocked pantry of dry and canned goods. When I shop, I look for bargains. When I find a good one I buy a case or two of that item. Then I have a nice hedge on inflation, plus I don’t have to purchase that product again until it goes on sale. We buy meat in bulk, so most of my purchases are for perishables only. I also do a lot of my shopping at Aldi or the Amish bents and brokens store. We eat what we want most of the time, because we shop strategically.

25. You can add oatmeal to hamburger meat, then cook it. It stretches the meat, plus oatmeal is good for you! Also, you can use half ground chicken or turkey with hamburger meat in foods that call for hamburger. Mixing them then cooking means it all tastes like hamburger.

26. I also make hamburger casserole. Hamburger, mixed with oats, onion, tomatoes, rice, small can tomatoes paste, equal amount of BBQ sauce. Brown hamburger, onion, and oats together, drain, add tomatoes with the juice, BBQ sauce, tomato paste, rice, enough water for the rice to cook, and cook til rice is done. Can top with cheese.

27. I just watched Food Inc. on Netflix. I am not one of those save the world types so I was surprised this blew me away. Although I do not think gardening your own saves any money I now feel its at least a better option, healthier food, teaching my kids where food comes from, some to put up in storage, etc. they say healthier eating equates to less money spent on medical needs, so I am hoping there is truth to that.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-ERASER GRAVY

28.  I fry ground beef, use the grease to make a gravy and serve on toast. We call it Eraser Gravy. ***** You can make white sauce with water (to save on milk), once you have white sauce you can add any seasonings to add flavor and then add something like chipped beef, chopped left over bacon from breakfast, canned chicken, left over roast…. or just the sauce over rice. ****** Top ramen omelet. Stretches the noodles and the eggs. ****** Simple baked potatoes with butter and salt and pepper is filling and cheap****** I add wheat berries (homemade) to my spaghetti sauce and then cut the meat in 1/2 and no one notices. Hope this helps!

29.  Also, I do one months worth of grocery shopping at a time. Then I don’t go back to the store and get caught in ‘oh this is a good deal.’ ***** Another favorite is a piece of toast, fried egg on top and hot milk poured on top. Yummy! ******* soups are always good because they are so filling, homemade tomato with saltines.

30. PS. Our parents use to use their ‘green stamp books’ to save. I remember how important putting those stamps in the book was and how exciting to see it fill up. These days, I do not make a purchase where I do not stand at the register with my smart phone and come up with a coupon for an item or % discount. I never pay full price, I don’t care if I stand there for 10 minutes with the line piling up, I am determined to find a coupon that works. Just the other day, I got $10.00 off a new suit for my 7 year old because I diligently stood at the register until I found a coupon code she would accept. Hey, $10.00 bucks is a savings gold mine!

31. We buy food at a scratch and dent store. Prices are half and more off. I have bought a half gallon of oj there for 50 cents and a FLAT of strawberries with nothing wrong with them for 2$ (0.25 a quart). The place I go is American Discount Foods and they have saved our budget!

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-HUNTERS LIKE MY NEPHEW, COLLIN

32. We are hunters. Free meats. We also raise chickens, free eggs.

33.  I was just talking to my cousin about this today. We actually ate a lot of beans when I was a kid because they were cheap. I still make a lot of beans because they are high in fibre and protein and depending on how you make them, low in fat. I buy the dry beans and cook 2 lbs at a time in the slow cooker. Then I freeze several containers for later meals. I serve them like my mom did, with fried potatoes and corn bread. I can also mash pinto beans for refried beans with mexican food.

34. When I was going thru hard times I did a lot of beans and rice different ways ..rice cooked in beans rice underneath beans beans with spices beans with tomatoes …

35. Twice a year we go to an Amish bulk supply store and buy the basics. This means that I have gf flours and supplies on hand to make bread, pancakes and other cheap basics to eat.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-EAT LEFTOVERS

36. I didn’t read the other post, but planning for leftovers is a huge $ saver. It doesn’t have to be that you’re eating the exact same meal (e.g. does making more of X become a key ingredient for a meal days or weeks later). The other is learning what ingredients can be frozen so you can minimize waste (my niece learned tons just looking through our freezer)

37. Eat a lot of casserole because it doesn’t require as much meat. Also eat a lot of beans, rice, eggs and pasta.

38.  My grandmother made Top Ramen once a week for dinner with sliced boiled eggs. A side salad and some saltines.

39. Venison stew with garden frozen veggies

40.  I’m grateful that we have an ALDI USA in our area. However!!! We also CAN our own garden that we grow! I take advantage of the Meijer buy 10 get the 11th one free offers…PASTA!!! We stretch stretch stretch!! I cook some chicken. Add in mash potatoes. Ok. THEN, left over chicken gets turned into chicken and rice soup! Which THEN gets turned into Chicken Pot Pie w/ home made crust! THREE meals out of ONE chicken! Talk about stretch! I’ve learned how to cook. Because I needed to! Make EVERY meal count. Pinterest is AWESOME for helping with recipes!

41. We have a 50 by 50 foot garden and plant what we can and then can it, the beginning costs may be high but you reuse most of it for years. We also shop aldis, just be careful and know your prices at other stores. Eggs and milk (hormone free) are less at aldis! We use turkey burger from aldis instead of hamburger not much of a taste difference in our minds. This year we bought 1/2 a cow which ended up being about $4 a pound but that includes so much that would cost more then that at the store. We use tons of beans too. Also buy meat on sale, we bought 4 turkey s at Thanksgiving. Found whole chickens for 88 cents a pound and looked up how too cut them up ourselves. We hope to get laying chickens this spring, hubby is building a coop fit for queens lol! Gosh I think I could go on….

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-CREAMED TUNA ON TOAST

42. Creamed tuna on toast!

43.  We are eating a ton of chicken and pork, can’t afford beef much…I got a 3-4 lb pork loin on sale and got like 10 meals out of it (it’s just 2 of us) cut into chops and a small roast…found an organic whole chicken cheaper than the ‘regular’, several meals and bone broth from that…eating a lot more eggs…finding creative ways to stretch out pasta, rice, and potatoes. Working to ‘teach’ DH that leftovers are eaten not thrown out. Getting creative in that area too. Also trying to get him over his meat eating mentality. We do utilize an area butcher, buying packages from them periodically so we don’t need to pay the higher prices at the local grocery. I ALWAYS go first to the manager’s specials at grocery.

44.  Hashes, stir fry’s

45. I add rice and refried beans to taco meat to stretch it further! It’s really good, especially with a little shredded cheese thrown in!

46.  I make my own spaghetti sauce with canned tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes and seasonings. It’s quite a bit cheaper.

47. Save all your vegetable scraps to make a good stock base for any soup or stew.

48. I use chicken leg quarters in foil packs with potatoes, carrots onions and fresh green beans. It is a complete meal and easy clean up.

49. We process the meat ourselves. This year, I canned (in mason jars) 61 pint size jars of deer meat, about 40 jars of pork (wild hogs) and a few jars of chicken broth. Processing meat is really not that hard to do. We use to skin the animal outside, quarter it up and bring it inside to finish the process, grind, cut up or whatever we need done. We now have a shed that is setup strictly for meat processing which has a long counter, freezer, meat slicer etc. Here in the south, we have to deal with hurricanes which will result in a loss of electricity which means loss of all refrigerated and freezer foods. Therefore most of our meats, fruits and veggies are canned in jars.

50. When we lost our food budget for two months, I turned to boiling a whole chicken and shredding the meat to use in many meals. I think I could get 5 meals at least for our family of four (although eating is more like 2 1/2 people). I was really skimpy on the meat, but I’ve always liked that ratio better. I did more casseroles and found a cream of chicken substitute I had all the ingredients for. That and shredded chicken meant lots of casseroles. I also found a different bread recipe that used fewer ingredients so we could have bread. That time also showed me where I stocked well and where I lacked, plus what I didn’t touch, even with no food budget.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-FRIED RICE

51. Fried rice (leftover rice cooked in bacon drippings with whatever veggies need using up). Mini pies (masa/corn flour mixed with water or broth, pushed into muffin tins, filled with whatever.. leftovers and some cheese work well). Lentil patties (lentils cooked until tender, mash up with seasoning and onion, shape and fry or bake.. Tastes like a burger patty somewhat). Fish patties (salmon or tuna, bread crumbs, lemon juice, mustard, onion, egg. Shape and fry up). Meatballs (ground meat, bread crumbs, egg, ground up veggies, leftover cheerios or other low sugar cereal.. I use 1 part meat, 1 part bread type stuff, 1 part vegetables. shape, BOIL. Freeze for later use.. fry up when needed. The water you boiled it in is now a quick broth.. use for soup). Potato salad, I can get 10 lbs of potatoes for $2-3 at Aldi.  I buy most meat marked down. Or frozen tubes of ground turkey/beef. Canned fish is pretty cheap. Aldi is great for low prices on produce. We don’t eat a lot of meat… we eat 3 eggs a day, we have our own chickens. I pay $25 in feed a month, which gives us on average 250 eggs a month. Old, injured or male birds are dinner.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-CUT BACK ON PROTEIN-USE COUPONS

52. Buying cheap and using coupons. Cooking with potatoes, pasta grains and beans. Cut back on animal protein and we have a big garden. I love to cook and can make something out of nothing and it’s almost always pretty damn good…

53. Soup can always make a little meat go a long way. We live in Idaho and many farmers will let you go through and pick the fields after they’ve harvested.

54.  I try to make from scratch all our snack foods like: crackers, granola bars, granola, fruit leather(when I find a great deal on fruit), bagels, bread, yogurt,etc. It saves a lot of money when I’m not buying prepackaged food.

55. Check out some of the seventh day Adventist meals.. They do meatless recipes.. I was just reading one for oatmeal patties. I used to have one of their old recipe books had a lot of recipes for fake meat product, I think they use a lot of TVP now, it made for interesting reading..http://www.sdawomen.org/recipes/chefroxanne.html

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-MOST MEALS ARE MEATLESS-MOM WAS AWESOME

56. My mom raised us on very little money . Most our meals were meatless. We ate our share of lettuce sandwiches with miracle whip. My sisters and I would let the flour tortillas sit out and get hard . Then we would pour Karo syrup over them in order to have something sweet. We ate lots of beans and Mexican rice. Potatoes , tomatoes , garlic , onion and cumin to flavor . Mom was awesome is all I can say. She could get hot dogs and slice them up and add garlic , tomato sauce and water and make the most awesome casserole ever.

57. Everything I cook is served over either rice or potatoes to stretch it. Made stew? Over rice. Taco meat? Over rice. I can almost triple how long something will stretch with rice.

58. There is only 2 of us but we do buy flour bulk due to baking. We make from scratch as much as time allows. We buy and plan for leftovers and we pride ourselves on getting larger cuts cheaper and getting many meals from it. We eat baked potatoes at least twice a week and have several go to cheap filling meals…

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-COOK FROM SCRATCH AND SPEND LESS-EAT MORE VEGGIES

59. I think the best way to save is to make more to spend less. I know this sounds crazy, but we all need to rethink what we think a meal is. Too many of us have gotten used to meat potatoes and a veggie. You almost need to take out a loan to buy meat for a family of 5 anymore. Lets face it those big servings of meat were never good for us any way. So how do we serve a good meal and save? Our great grandparents had the solution. They took a small amount of the meat they were serving for supper and made a nice soup. Everyone got a bowl of soup. This could be served with a small roll or a half of slice of bread. Than serve a small salad about a cups worth. Doesn’t have to be fancy and expensive. A Little greens, slice of cucumber, few chopped onions, a small grape tomato, and a few carrot curls. Guess you can see how you could make a few salad fixings go all week. Next serve a small portion of meat, not the large ones we have grown accustom to. A small potato or other starch and a generous veggie portion. If you have the time and want to really make your family feel special you could make a little jello and top it off with a small teaspoon of cool whip. I should also mention that the soup does not have to be piled with veggies etc. A hand full of mixed veggies from the freezer and some seasoning along with some onion and a small part of meat is good, or you can add noodles or barley. I know you are most likely saying this take a lot of time. We have one thing grandma never had though, a slow cooker. You can always slow cook enough soup for a couple of days. Salad can be made night Your family will think they are living large and you will cut your grocery money down. The idea is how to fill everyone up and save money on the most expensive part meat which we all need more veggies and less meat any way.

60. I roasted a turkey breast. It made sandwiches for my husband’s lunch all week, then I made broth and turned that into noodle soup. The turkey was on sale and they are cheap to begin with this time of year.

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-VEGGIE SOUPS

61.  Here is another saver. When we have leftover veggies of any kind, if it is not enough for another meal, I freeze them, then add to a bag of other frozen veggies. When the bag is full, veggies soup! You can add meat, or not. Chicken for chicken veggie soup, beef for beef veggie. Add your broth, and simmer til done. Also lots of peels or ends of veggies can be frozen until you have enough to make a veggie stock with them.

62.  I just retired, so there is only two of us, but minus my pay is a big deal. I decided that as I get my Social Security check once a month, I’d shop only once a month (excluding fresh veggies and fruit). I sat down and made a menu up for a whole month (every Wednesday is fish, every Friday is pizza!), then went and did the shopping. I spent just about $300 for the month of February, which comes to $10.71 per day. This included all my paper goods, so it doesn’t represent food only. The great thing about doing it this way is the weekends. This week I have leftover stew and pasta sauce with meatballs. Saturday we’ll have the stew, Sunday, pasta with meatballs. No cooking, just reheating! I freeze everything I can, including bread, milk, pizza dough …. Last night I made a lemon pound cake to have on hand from ingredients I had in the house. Next week I’ll bake cookies. We’ll see how this all works out. The best part I discovered is all I do is look at the menu in the morning to see what is on tap for dinner that night. No more stressing about “what can I make”, and, the same menu can be used month after month because it’s so varied by the time the meal comes around again you haven’t had it for four weeks!

GREAT DEPRESSION MEALS-OXTAIL SOUP

63.  During the depression, my elders on both sides made oxtail soup because it was the cheapest part of the cow. Back then they could get it free or for .10. They didn’t sell it in the stores and you had to ask for it. We make it once a month in a huge stock pot. Invite the family over. There’s a lot of Hispanic people in my area do the price for oxtail is outrageous. I work in Wyoming once in awhile where there aren’t many and I can find them for $3 /lb. Still pricey but so much better. It’s easy to freeze. Lasts a long time and feeds many. ** Oxtail: It’s the bone of the tail and very tender meat.

64.  I know, and prices just keep going up. I grew up not poor, but not middle class, either. My mom had to be inventive to feed all five of us. I can’t remember as a child ever going out to a restaurant. No money for luxuries. One thing I recommend, if it is affordable, is to buy a small freezer. It’s amazing how much can be saved by shopping the sales and freezing items. For instance, I have to eat a particular brand of bread for a health problem I have. It’s normally $3.57 per loaf. One week it was a dollar off. I picked up 4 loaves and froze them. $4.00 savings! Also, I drink lactose free milk. If I buy the name brand it’s a dollar more than the store brand, and even less at WalMart. Again, I make my WalMart run and freeze the milk. Not only saves me money, but also gas money for my car. You always have to be on your toes, checking prices, making good choices. It can be done, but it’s hard work …

65. We had 3 very large gardens last year so I canned & froze everything I could.  Two freezers and over 500 qts (I stopped counting) we eat a lot of veggies so stir fry is big on the list.

66.  I am working on a post to get 4 meals from a roasted chicken: dinner with potatoes, then make broth for soup, sandwiches or wraps for school lunches, and I usually have some leftover to do tacos, enchiladas, or a chicken pasta. Now, this is a roast chicken you make from scratch, not the store bought pre-cooked ones (which tend to be small).

67. Save the chicken bones and boil them up to make soup stock. it tastes awesome with some spices (specially turmeric) and a little salt (sea salt, pink salt) and maybe a few veggies and chicken meat scraps, noodles or rice.

68. Peanut/almond butter and jelly on toasted Dave’s Killer Blue Seed Bread makes an awesome lunch!

69. Soups, stews and chili are cheap, healthy and belly-filling. I make huge batches and freeze the extra.

70. Sorry it took me so long to post but I’ve been getting in at near midnight all week long. And today was spent gathering groceries and supplies for my water line expansion. I’ve got a family of 5 ranging from a 17 down to 6 and two working adults. We put all sorts of methods into practice to save money some already mentioned others a little specific to our unique situation. 
One practice that is unique to us but is not out of reach of anyone. We are our own meat processors. From deer to rabbits and all manor of fish and fowl. Some are wild others we raise ourselves or purchase from local farms or auctions…. Now the key to getting the most for your money is to look for deals at auction or someone selling of whole flocks or cull from herds of smaller livestock. I buy rabbits in summer at auction sometimes low as $2 a piece full grown. From these I substitute for chicken in many recipes. I’ve even made sausage by mixing ground rabbit and pork trimmings which I get from a local butcher for little to nothing price. That same trimmings goes into my deer and goat burger to make great hamburger for Chili, meatloaf, and spaghetti. When we butcher goats hogs etc. I have a big cast iron pot I keep on the fire full of boiling water nearby all the guts and oral gets boiled and fed to my chickens as added protein which helps egg production, Same with fish guts and heads. Waste nothing.. Learning to do your own butchering/processing will save you a lot of money.

I really want to thank everyone of you for helping me with food saving tips available for the world to see how to save money on groceries! Now let’s save some money! Blessings to all of you!

Gaye Levy from Backdoor Survival: Depression Cooking by Backdoor Survival.

Lisa Bedford wrote this article in 2011:  The Survival Mom’s Could You Stomach These Great Depression Meals.