Best War Time Recipes: A Look at Preparedness Cooking Skills from the Past

Thanks for this–very helpful.

great article ….A lot of this old recipes are seared in to my brain because my mom cooked this way all her life and taught me as a kid to do so ….. there is no fine measurement to it dump a little of this a dab of that pour some what ever you got then add a pinch of salt steer it up and fry it till it’s golden brown …..I have cooked a many a meal this way with more than a few compliments on them …..oh you have to give me this recipe …..aaaaa ok I’ll wright it down for ya……people this day really do not know how to cook… and over an open fire forget it burnt city…The one thing I love about going to camp is the cooking of meal at the camp fire…..

Recipe my great grandmother clipped from a newspaper in 1931(depression)
Bean burgers
Split a bun in half
Baked beans on top
Slice of cheese
Slice of bacon
Put in the oven 350 degrees 10-15 min

I found an old cookbook from the 1940’s that was wrtitten during wartimes. The recipes are interesting, delicious, and the authors assume you know the basics. So many women, aged 12-30, have no idea what it means to cream something, or how to whip without a mixer. This society has done their children no favors by letting them be willfully ignorant. It is also assumed that every ingredient available will be used! NO wasting of anything, because you might not find or be able to afford that item. The book is called: The Victoru Binding of the American Womans Cook Book. Lots of great color pics and has a forward by General Douglas MacArthur.

What folks that don’t bake or cook from scratch may not know is “graham” flour is nothing more than Red Mills Whole Wheat flour. Any whole wheat flour will do as a substitute.

can this be purchased, or any of the other books like this on your site.

I love these! I have a huge collection I’ve copied down in a book at home. Ready for rationing, should we see it again soon!

Cooking is good training for science. The weighing, measuring, recording, experimenting, using heat, various bottles, and utensils are science. Don’t be intimidated. You are smarter than you know. If you learn to boil water you have learned something fundamental in cooking for now you have the knowledge to prepare soup. And the temperature at which a chemical boils (the boiling point of a chemical), in this case H2O, is fundamental Chemistry. It only sounds or seems difficult. I taught my child to fry an egg at age two. It’s best to indoctrinate children before they get old enough to realize that what they are doing they might fail. If you are old enough and sophisticated enough to realize you might fail it will take some courage but don’t tell anyone, getting your hands all gooey with flour and water is fun. Even a two year old knows that.

Since I’m not an egg eater and got tired of throwing away eggs, I’ve been buying powdered eggs. They’re just as good for cooking or baking. Also bought powdered scrambled eggs just in case.

Google American Indian bread, steamed bread, Dutch oven bread, Flat bread(don’t need yeast. Bread can be cooked on a stick

In the book Depression Era Recipes by Patricia R Wagner there is a chart telling what the temperatures are for moderate, hot, etc. on page 154 of the 21st printing of the book.

I think I will have a garage sell I have about 60 cook books many of them old church cook books where the ladies of the church give some of their recipe’s they gather them and make a cook book sell them for money for the church you can find some great meals in there but I just have more than I have room for. I am always picking up a cook book others laugh because I hardly ever cook.

thank you my mum and grand mother used to make these