Depression Cooking with Clara - Poorman's Feast

Many are experiencing tough times due to the economic downturn. As a result there is considerably more interest in reducing the ever rising cost of food. This is one reason I include the economic benefits of cooking from scratch and preserving home grown or locally purchased foods at home. Avoiding fast food and convenience foods is one sure fire way to save money. Unfortunately many are being forced into this philosophy.

I discovered the Depression Cooking with Clara videos on YouTube. My first thought was her videos fit nicely with the them of this blog (previously here and here). The following video is Clara's version of a Poorman's Feast. It's interesting to note that you can make quite a nice meal with a few simple ingredients. One thing she does not mention is lentils may contain small stones so be sure to check them before putting them in the pot. Clara adds lemon juice to the olive oil because the citric acid acts as an anti-bacterial agent that might have been important during the Great Depression when the meat might have been a bit off.

Clara speaks of using both olive oil and lemons during the Great Depression. I recall my late Mom talking about the depression years in Ontario, Canada. Oranges were very rarely available so it was a real treat to get an orange in your stocking for Christmas. Unless you lived in an area where you could get lemons, they would have been just as scare as oranges. Olive oil is another commodity that would have been practically unheard of. Instead rendered fat would have been used.