The depression-era meal that takes the marketing title crown is certainly Milkorno. Food scientists were working hard to identify meals that could match the needs of as many consumers as possible.
Flora Rose, a home economics scientist working at Cornell University, came up with the idea of Milkorno – a combination of milk and corn. The selling point besides the nutritional benefits of the meal was that a family with five members could survive on less than five dollars a week by incorporating Milkorno into their diet.
The Advent of Kraft Macaroni
Kraft Macaroni is a staple in many households today. What makes it part of this list in unusual terms is that it was conceived of at a time when most people could not afford basic ingredients, let alone a packaged meal of cheese and pasta.
An employee from a competing company, Tenderoni Macaroni, was selling macaroni with packets of Kraft cheese as an additive. Capitalizing on this ingenious idea, Kraft created a branding campaign and had it marketed for 19 cents.
Depression Cake
Belying its name, Depression Cake certainly lifted the spirits of many people going through the Great Depression. The resourcefulness of the depression cake was that it required no eggs, butter, or milk.
An early vegan forerunner, perhaps? By whipping up some flour, a bit of chocolate, sugar, vinegar, and vegetable oil together and some time in an oven, a hearty and fluffy cake could be had. This cake made it out of the Great Depression as one of the far more desirable dishes and is still made today.
Corned Beef Fritters
Stretching out leftovers was an everyday necessity during the Great Depression. To become very inventive and economical with ingredients, people would use leftovers from the previous day to create a new dish altogether rather than just eat the same food (or dish rather) over and over.
A corned beef fritter fitted this need perfectly. By taking leftover mince and mushing it up with some light flour and corn, a tasty fritter could easily be had.
Condiment Sandwiches
The blandness of poor-quality bread cannot be emphasized enough. While very hard to digest in large amounts, the palatability itself would eventually become near impossible to keep chewing through.
To get a semblance of a meal and trick their brains into powering through the chew, people would add whatever condiments were on hand. Think of adding nothing but ketchup to two slices of bread. Or a slathering of mustard or mayonnaise. As condiments were a luxury, it wasn’t encouraged to combine them to have more variety for later.