Cook Really, Really Cheaply

[pokerfan]

Clara is 93, a great-grandmother, and a child of the Great Depression. Her memory of hard times food is solid, and just might inspire you to turn cheap grocery fare into family-feeding meals.

Up front—if you loathe hearing old-timey stories, or like to make every weeknight's meal out of a cookbook, these aren't the videos for you. Clara's stories, told as she prepares the meal, are alternately intriguing, saddening, or lightly eye-rolling. But the stuff she's teaching you to make is surprisingly creative fare—some of it standards modified with a frugal flair, like egg drop soup, while other clips, like the "Poorman's Feast" embedded below, are a hobo/late-night/budget-saving dream:

http://lifehacker.com/5160795/depression-cooking-teaches-you-to-cook-really-really-cheaply

[NashVegas]

1. You Have No Idea How Good Mayonnaise Can Be

Until you've made your own.

[pokerfan]

2. But what if you really really like Miracle Whip?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. Miracle Whip is a salad dressing (read the label)

[pokerfan]

5. Oh noes! We used salad dressing as a sandwich spread!

[hedgehog]

4. I was telling my mother about a recipe I'd developed replacing the crab

in crab cakes with canned salmon, and she said her mother used to make the same thing back in the 30's!

[pokerfan]

6. Canned cod is another good substitute

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000214cod_fish_cakes.php

[Justyce]

7. Yep, my mom calls them salmon patties.

They're good.