OMG! Thanks for the recipe and the reminder of Woolworth's. Never got the chance to eat there, but walked by all too often shopping for other things. We could not afford the shopping and the eating both.
This reminds me so much of the 'chicken in the can'. Some 40-45 years ago our family could not afford much and qualified for assistance. The assistance came in different forms, free meals at school, clothing from the neighbors, and going to town to visit a truck that had canned and bagged food giveaways to those that qualified. One of the items was a large can of chicken and gravy. Or, as I remember it, creamy strips of pulled chicken with something yellow that we put over baking powdered biscuits. Anyone remember the boxed cheese? Or the canned beef? We were ecstatic to get the assistance as I recall, and it sure helped my parents out to feed all of us kids. Unhappy reminders of being called 'welfare family' but I know to this day my parents did the best they could with what they had. We are all successful adults I believe because we went through these hardships.
Your story took a whole other meaning from your topic title-Thanks for the memories!