These budget-friendly recipes don’t skimp on satisfaction

These budget-friendly recipes don’t skimp on satisfaction

You may remember the recession in the early ’90s, an economic decline that lasted about a year. It was during that time that I asked readers who had survived the Great Depression to participate in a recipe contest. Their letters jammed my mail cubby; favorite recipes from that time along with memories flooded in. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to share recollections.

I expected sad tales filled with misery. What I received were remembrances of what each contributor described as one of the best times of their lives. Many recalled three generations packed into tiny houses or apartments, working together as a team to survive the monetary crisis.

It was different from what we are experiencing now, but I find comfort in their words.

Fran Slater of Santa Ana, Calif., one of our top three entries, sent her recipe for pimiento cheese spread along with her account: “The Depression as we saw it from our little town in northern Mississippi could be summed up with a line from Charles Dickens — ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’

“My dad owned a general store, but this was lost because of his credit customers. Families were held together by economic glue. Everyone worked. My little brother and I sold Grit newspaper, magazines, and vegetables from Mother’s garden. We combed the woods for things growing wild — grapes, plums, pecans, and hickory nuts. In the spring, dewberries and blackberries grew along creek banks and in vacant fields. We fished and Daddy shot game.”

Of course, most places in the U.S. aren’t rural Mississippi, and the depression wasn’t a global pandemic, but somehow those heartfelt words of courage are reassuring.

Jacques Pepin, award-winning cookbook author and PBS star, wrote “Cuisine Economique” (William Morrow, out of print) during the ’90s recession.

His goal was to make food dollars go further without sacrificing taste. Here are two of my favorites from his penny-pinching recipes. If you are feeding four or fewer, the savory dishes can be stretched to serve at two meals.