This 2-Ingredient Sandwich From The Depression Era Uses Pantry Staples

The Great Depression was a time of major economic struggle for the entire country following the crash of the stock market. Millions of people were unemployed, unable to feed their families, and forced to stretch every single dollar. People had to get creative with what they had available to prepare meals, and to this day, the Depression era is known as the time of some of the oddest culinary creations. One such peculiar food that people ate during the Great Depression was the bread and butter sandwich.

There's nothing more to this sandwich than the name suggests — it's just two buttered slices of bread plopped together to form a sandwich. Sometimes sugar would be added as well, making it a more special treat. This simple sammie was a regular White House lunch during the era, and it was also served to school children as part of the lunch menu. We're used to bulky sandwiches today, bursting with veggies and several types of deli meat, but for most people in the 1930s, those items were largely unaffordable and were replaced by canned convenience foods that had a lower price tag. Baking items like sugar and flour, however, were much more affordable, and many households were baking bread at home to save costs. For some struggling families, even butter was considered a luxury out of reach, so they had to settle for margarine instead.

At a time of significant want, sustenance was more important than complex flavors. People were just trying to get by on what they were able to afford, and many were significantly malnourished, suffering from illnesses caused by nutritional deficiencies. Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady at the time, partnered with Cornell University to create nutritionally complete meals that wouldn't cost more than seven and a half cents. Seeing food in a practical light was, therefore, the notion of the time, and flavor understandably took a back seat.

As starchy and fatty foods are both known to promote feelings of satiety, it makes sense that people reached for plain bread with butter to fill their bellies. By the same token, lard sandwiches were also common during the Great Depression, as were bacon grease sandwiches for those who could afford bacon; it was important to use up every single bit of food and not waste anything.

A surprisingly popular pantry staple during the Depression was peanut butter, which provided not just satiety but also fuller flavor. ​​It was incorporated into bread recipes when yeast and eggs were not on hand, and it featured in another strange sandwich of the era — the peanut butter and mayo sandwich, which was high in calories and much more flavorful than the simple butter and bread.