I am a big fan of molded salads/desserts. Jello as a brand and gelatin were already established and by the 30s there was more electricity/refrigerators.
But starving people food is starving people food
In my family, my grandfather lost the family store in North Dakota during the depression and when my father was born, they headed out to the west (Tacoma) where is older sister was able to take them all in. He got work with Safeway and became a produce manager and had an award winning apple display. My other grandfather had a steady job for Carnation Dairy up by Everett. The Northwest was not hit as hard as some areas of the country, but it hit my maternal grandmother pretty hard in terms of economic stability. My paternal grandmother had more stories to tell of wartime rationing.