Great Depression Recipes: Hearty 6 Layer Casserole

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The great depression was a challenging time for this country. The era of excess was over. The dust bowl was occurring to disrupt our food supply, and break the hearts of many families trying to eke out a living on the land. The stock market had crashed, changing the financial situation of millions. It was time to buck up, tighten the belts, and make do with what was available. The Great Depression recipes we look through today were filled with potatoes and pasta to stretch them out and account for the less abundant fresh ingredients.

Great Depression Recipes: Hearty 6 Layer Casserole - Operation $40K (1)

Carrots were a staple veggie, with a handful of other tubers, and water often thinned it down. Sausage or hot dogs were the budget meats and used sparingly; one pound might make 3-4 meals as it barely graced the pan to flavor the other ingredients. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle was the unofficial motto of the times, and innovation was abundant.

Great Depression Recipes: Hearty 6 Layer Casserole - Operation $40K (2)

Let’s talk about that one pound of sausage for a minute. One fourth of that could be used with a large pot of beans. Either baked-style beans or a pan of beans like Lima beans or navy beans. Plenty would have been made, mostly beans, and lasted anywhere from 1-3 days. Another quarter pound could be used in a very popular creamed dish and served over toast or biscuits. Think of creamed chipped beef or chicken a la king, Biscuits ‘n Gravy is a popular dish yet today, at many breakfast joints.

Another quarter pound could be mixed with diced potatoes and turned into patties, then pan-fried. Think corned beef hash here. Granted, it would be more potato than sausage, but when fried up? It would be darned tasty – and probably served with baked apples from the root cellar. That last quarter pound of sausage? Would be used in this 6 layer casserole. Talk about Great Depression Recipes! That one pound of the sausage was just turned into a family’s meals for a week.

This 6 Layer casserole is a great example of one of the great depression recipes: it uses both rice and potatoes to fill the belly, tosses in a few carrots and sausage. The tomatoes were in almost every woman’s pantry, as she quickly became an avid canner. This recipe could be a great one to make with the kids for a history lesson – or just to have on hand for feeding your own family. It is inexpensive, easy, and best of all? Tasty!

Compare this to some of the other top recipes of the time? Egg drop soup used one or two eggs to make a big watered-down soup that had diced potatoes in it. Spaghetti with carrots and white sauce? That was a gem from the first lady: Elinor Roosevelt, and baked.

There was always the Poor Man’s Meal, which included peeling and cubing a potato, frying it in a pan with fat, oil, or butter, and chopped onions until browned and softened; then adding slices of a hot dog, cooking a few minutes more, and serving.

Great Depression Recipes: 6 Layer Casserole

You will need:

1 lb pork sausage, cooked and drained – this time? I used what I had on hand – a kielbassa that I sliced. It was OK taste wise, but I liked the sausage better.
1 ½ c raw potatoes, sliced
½ c raw onions, sliced
1 cup sliced carrots
½ cup uncooked rice
1 tsp salt
2 T brown sugar
1 Qt stewed tomatoes or tomato juice

Preheat your oven to 350, then grease or spray a 2-quart casserole dish.