Depression Era Cooking

Levi is reading To Kill a Mockingbird in his English class and they are having a "Depression Era Picnic" to wrap up the lessons. Each student is bringing a side dish that would fit the theme and $5 to buy fried chicken provided by the teacher. A couple of things struck me as we discussed this event. One - nearly everything we eat on a regular basis would be classified as Depression era and two - I can feed the whole family an entire meal for $5!

Today's meal is pretty typical and it was super yummy (humble, I know). I sauteed half an onion (40¢) and a red pepper ($1, ridiculous, considering that in the summer everyone is overrun with them, but whatcha gonna do?) then added a big can of diced tomatoes ($1), a can of kidney beans (69¢), a can of mushrooms (69¢), some mixed seasonings, half a box of pasta (50¢), and topped it with some fresh parsley (50¢ also ridiculous , darn winter!). I served it with some bread sliced and broiled with olive oil (50¢ at most). This made enough to feed me and the kids tonight plus lunch tomorrow for at least two of us (5-6 large servings) for a whopping $5.28!

The moral of this is that, hmm. I don't think I had a moral...or a point, but just thought I'd share. :-)