Here are ten easy and noteworthy recipes to help you through the lean days when the SHTF. We suggest you print them out and hold onto these recipes for future use. You can also find more at Modern Survival Online.

Cornbread In Milk
•4 cups water
•1 cup cornmeal (yellow)
•¼ cup flour
•1 tsp salt
•¼ cup canola oil
•1 Tbsp. sugar
Mix cornmeal, flour, salt, and sugar into a large bowl. Add 4 cups boiling water. Mix thoroughly. Batter should be the consistency of pancake batter. Heat canola or other cooking oil in pan. Add batter to your pan and fry, flip occasionally, until both sides are golden in color. Tear or cut into pieces in bowl, add milk to suit your taste.

Oatmeal Pancakes
•2 cups oatmeal
•1 tbsp. melted fat
•1/8 tsp salt
•1 egg beat in 1 cup of milk
Mix above ingredients and add 1 cup sifted flour and 1 tsp baking powder. Beat well. Cook on hot griddle.

Potato Pancakes
•2 cups hot water
•½ cup of milk
•2 cups of flour
•1 egg
•2 cups chopped potato
•1 tsp salt
•5 tsp. of baking powder
Clean potatoes with the skins on and parboil (pre-cook) them for 8-12 minutes. Skin potatoes and then grate or chop in food processor. In the Depression Era it was also common to use leftover mashed potatoes instead. Mix milk, potatoes, salt, and eggs, together. Sift baking powder with flour into wet mixture.  Continue blending until smooth. Use hot water to thin batter if needed. Drop onto greased hot griddle, flip as needed.

Fifty-Fifty Biscuits
•2 cups corn meal (can use rice flour, fine ground peanuts, or ground soy beans)
•4 tablespoons shortening
•4 teaspoons baking powder
•2 teaspoons salt
•2 cups flour
•1 to ½ cups liquid
Sift flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder, twice. Use cold shortening and use a knife to integrate it into the mixture, finish by rubbing it in with your hands. Quickly mix using cold liquid (milk or water) and form into a soft dough. Lightly flour a wooden board and roll dough into a ½ inch thick sheet. Use a tin can to cut dough into round pieces. Sprinkle a shallow pan with flour and place rounds slightly apart from each other. Bake 10-15 minutes until golden.

Bean Soup
•1 quart of water
•1 cup beans
•1 tbsps. onion juice
•2 tsps. salt
•1-2 large onions sliced or chunked
•¼ tsp mustard
•2 tbsps. flour mixed with 2 tbsps. cold water
Soak beans in water overnight to soften. Pour ingredients into large pot and cook slowly with onion and pork. Add water as needed.

Vegetable Soup
•½ cup cabbage
•½ cup carrots
•1 cup potatoes
•1/3 tsp pepper
•1 tbsp. minced onion
•4 tbsp. fat
•1 bay leaf
•2 tsp salt
•2 tbsps. chopped parsley
•4 peppercorns
•4 cloves
•1 cup of tomato juice/pulp
•1 quart of water
Heat onion, peppercorns, pepper, salt, and bay leaf in tomato juice for twenty minutes. Strain. Add additional ingredients to tomato mixture and cook 1 hour. Garnish with parsley before serving.

Beef Stew
•¾ to 1-pound meat from shin, knuckles, neck, or cross ribs
•¾ cup carrots
•1 onion
•1 cup potatoes
•½ cup turnips
•¼ tsp pepper
•1 tsp salt
•1-quart water
•½ cup flour
Dice meat in small sections. Soak half of it in water for 60 minutes. Heat water and meat to boiling gradually. Salt and pepper remaining meat to season. Dip in flour and brown with onion in about 3 tablespoons of fat. Combine mixture with meat. Continue to cook, about 60 minutes, until tender. Add vegetables and ½ cup cold water. Cook until veggies are tender.

Dumplings
•2 cups flour
•4 tsp. baking powder
•2 tbsp. fat drippings
•1 tsp salt
•1 cup milk, meat stock or water
Sift salt together with flour and baking powder. Then cut with fat. Slowly add milk or water to create a soft dough. Roll out and put on the pre-greased pan. Drop directly into stew or soup, cover, and cook 30 minutes.

Hobo Tin Foil Dinners
It was not uncommon in the Depression Era for families to make a meal out of whatever types of vegetables were in season or available that day.
•Potatoes
•Squash
•Peppers
•Corn
•Onion
•Butter
Cut vegetables into large pieces, add butter and salt and pepper to taste. Wrap in tin foil, and cook in the oven or even in the coals of an open fire.

Eggless Chocolate Cake
•3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
•1 ½ cups flour
•1 tsp baking soda
•1 tsp vanilla extract
•1 cup sugar
•1 tsp white vinegar
•1 cup water
•5 tbsp. vegetable oil
Mix cocoa, baking soda, and flour in 8” square greased baking pan. Create a large depression in the dry ingredients and pour vegetable oil into it. Create two smaller wells, pour vanilla into one and vinegar in the other. Add water to the entire pan. Stir until blended and smooth. Bake 35 minutes in 350-degree oven.

Now, if those recipes do not seem appetizing than you were born without taste buds! Again, The Depression was a hard time. Ask any Great Granny or Gandpa and they can tell you all about those rough years and how they, as children, got through them.

But the chronicle of those hard days should be looked upon as a model for survivalist. If the grid ever does go down we will have the history of those times to guide us along the path of recovery – and some good food!