this was very interesting, I thoroughly enjoyed this sharing, I got the thought because of the times today, need to strretch that dollar, conserve and cut back. So my thought is toi see if what they did back then, maybe I should try and see ifd I can do it too. I will cjheck those links, I forgot about Fanny Farmer, Just something for me to check out. again I hope all of you enjoyed this as much as I did.

I used to do the baking soda and salt! as for the spam, that might have been all they could afford at that time unless they raised their chickens, pigs, cows ect. I know they had victory gardens, was always talked about when I was a child. I think my aunts had a bunch of canned veggies in the cellar! and I do remember some good eating.

here is one, a child hood memory, boiled chicken feet, with dumplings. I only mentioned this one, because I seen some in the grocery store the other day! can we say yuck?? well what about pigs feet, or beef tongue?? yuck and yuck, and I could name some other parts of the animals which I won't here. and people ate that stuff back then, besides spam!

So that hamburger, or pork chop does look good, huh?

I got a bunch of recipes , thanks for the infoi!!

My mother used to make Spaetzles (sp?) and Lentils. This has been one of our families favorites also. I make the lentils pretty much according to the bag's directions..maybe more onions sometimes garlic and have also added tomatoes. The spaezles are easy but take a while. We made them for a lot of people usually - 5-6 I guess. It a BIG bowl mix flour (about 6-8 cups) add 4-5 eggs, and milk to make a thick heavy batter. Batter will be very hard to stir.

We had a spaetzle board that was wooden with the end taperd down to the edge. Put a glob of batter on the board (or on the back of a smooth plate) and take a dinner knife and cut off small pieces into boiling water. They cook fast...as soon as they float take out of water with a slotted spoon and put on plate. Note..the more eggs you use the heavier they are, so for lighter ones use less egg and a little more milk.

This recipe cost nearly nothing and feeds a lot. We would put the spaetzles on our dinner plate and cover with lentils...MMMMMMMMMM good. ps...they also are very good for constipation...lol

My mom always breaded then fried it til golden brown. So Good!!!

Hey quilty mom, I think I do remember that one!

Is that kind of like a quick noodle? So, you could put a sauce over it?

Spam... Is used very widely in Hawaii/Guam and some of the other pacific islands. I grew up on something called commodity meat. It was very similar to spam. We fixed it all kinds of ways.. frying it with potatoes/eating it on a fresh flower tortilla. Today I still eat spam and fix it the same way. I lived in Hawaii in the 70's, we were military and we fixed spam with white rice. My sister-in-law who is from Hawaii still makes fried rice with spam.

I think your mom was not only an inventive women....she was a women indeed!! Giving her children the memory you just shared with us.

I keep SPAM on my emergency food storage shelf with other canned meats that go with the dried/canned beans and rice. I started keeping emergency foods on hand because of unforeseen events such as power outages. I was home alone and power was out for almost a day due to a grid outage- prompted me to buy more "unscented candles", check battery supplies and update emergency supply backpack. In that backpack are first aid supplies,ponchos, crank lanterns and emergency radio. It is stored with tent, large moving quilt and other type supplies. I hope nothing every happens but it is best to stay prepared. Especially water and canned fruits can keep you hydrated. Some folks ask if I throw out my emergency food stuff-nope. I only keep things that I can incorporate into our regular menus. So SPAM gets diced and put in scrambled eggs, onions and pepper wraps for breakfast or into potato or mac and cheese casseroles. FYI - SPAM comes in many flavors now-http://www.spam.com/varieties