This 3-Ingredient Depression-Era Dinner Deserves To Make A Comeback

In tough times, folks have always used what was on hand to get by. With food costs soaring at present, social media denizens have become newly enamored of "Depression-era meals" that were dreamt up by crafty home cooks during a period of devastating economic crisis in the 1930s. One such dinner that's experiencing a well-deserved renaissance is the "poor man's meal," which, at its simplest, has only three cheap ingredients: hot dogs, potatoes, and onions.

As described by home cooks who struggled through the Great Depression, the poor man's meal was in frequent rotation due to the fact that its components were cheap and plentiful. A whole sack of potatoes, for instance, only cost one dollar and, with enough creativity, could feed a family for several days. Furthermore, the produce involved is relatively shelf-stable and will last a long time, provided you don't make the common mistake of storing potatoes and onions together. 

Needy families in the 1930s didn't bother to ask what hot dogs were made of; they were simply happy for a hot meal in their bellies, which not everyone could enjoy. To make the poor man's meal, which was also known as the "poor man's feast," you simply fried up the potatoes and onions in a bit of oil, adding the hot dogs closer to the end so the hash all cooked up together.

Depending on who you ask, a few extra (cheap, ubiquitous) ingredients really enliven the poor man's meal and don't make it any harder to cook. We've seen it jazzed up with baked beans and ketchup, a few spoonfuls of jarred spaghetti sauce, salsa, or mushrooms. On Reddit, where this recipe took a vintage cooking sub by storm, users suggested veggie dogs to make the meal vegetarian-friendly, throwing in some canned green beans, or even substituting crumbled, cooked ground beef for the hot dogs if any were on hand. We can see melting shredded cheese over the top or even using up the remnants of a bottle of BBQ sauce. No matter how you customize your poor man's meal, it's likely to be savory and delicious.

One main feature that keeps the poor man's meal relevant in the 2020s is how relatable it is to a modern audience. Unlike sardines on toast, the old-school Boomer snack that Millennials have adopted as health food, there's very little that's polarizing about potatoes and hot dogs. It's a meal that pleases even picky eaters, and you don't need any bespoke ingredients or multiple, complicated steps to prepare it.