I like history. I wouldn’t say that I’m a history buff, but I find it fascinating to learn about other times and other people. I have a special fascination for the first half of the last century. For whatever reason, that time feels familiar to me.

A few years back, the YouTube algorithm brought me to the “Great Depression Cooking With Clara” channel. The channel was started by Clara’s grandson, who was documenting her life during that tough time. In her videos, she shares budget-saving recipes that her family relied on during the 1930s. The channel became a surprise hit with over one million subscribers, likely due to Clara’s clarity and charm. Sadly, she has passed, but her legacy lives on.

One of her simple recipes was dubbed “Poor Man’s Dinner,” but I have renamed it “Clara’s Great Depression Dinner,” as I believe that captures the dish’s intent. It is straightforward to make and, of course, very inexpensive. I made it for my family as a weekday meal, so I’ll give you their taste impressions at the end of this post. 

With runaway inflation and the Trump tariff taxes, people are genuinely suffering, so this recipe is more than a trip down memory lane; it could be a cost-saving option when both bellies and wallets are empty. But first, let’s get into the recipe.

Oh, by the way. I believe that these types of recipes are based on whatever you have on hand, so I did make some modifications. I’ll let you know both her version and my slightly altered one in the photos below.

Cut up some potatoes. I was making dinner for 3 and used 4 medium to large spuds.

Chop up an onion, and slice some sausage. In Clara’s recipe she uses hot dogs, but I had some Polish sausage in the fridge, so I used that. I also had one-half of a pepper left over from a salad that I added, just because.

I believe that Clara only used salt and pepper. I added some garlic powder and a tiny bit of rosemary (around 1/2 teaspoon).

I like crispy sausages, so I browned the Polish sausages in a little oil and then removed them from the pan.

In the same pan I softened the onions and peppers.

I then added the potatoes on medium heat.

In went a tiny bit of rosemary. I probably could have used about twice as much.

Then some pepper.

And some salt. I under salt as I’ll adjust the salt when the dish is complete.

Then a sprinkle of garlic powder. Also, I added cooking oil here and there as needed. I cooked the mixture for a bit, turning the potatoes every once in a while.

I added around 1/3 cup of water.

And covered the pan to completely cook the potatoes. I continued to turn the potatoes several times to prevent them from burning. I think it took around 15 minutes to completely cook the potatoes.

I returned the sausage to the pan to reheat it. I adjusted the seasonings and tossed in some green onions. The green onions were added to give some contrast to the dish and are unnecessary.

Here it served up with a little fruit and my homemade oatmeal/sunflower seed bread.

The dish fed three adults, and two additional hefty portions were packed away by my son that he will use as two days of lunch.

So what did the family think about Clara’s Great Depression Dinner?

My son really liked it. He said it was filling and delicious.

My wife had concerns over the fact that it used smoked sausage as she had heard somewhere that smoked sausage was bad. However, she felt that it tasted pretty good.

I liked it. To me it tasted like amped up home-style hash browns. When I make it again I’ll top it with a friend egg. I think that would make the dish perfect.

Happy cooking!

Mike