Household thrift is back in fashion. The latest rage is nonagenarian Clara, with her recipes for tasty recipes from the Depression. A  Youtube of her cooking pasta with peas and potatoes is quite the rage on the net.

I found it mildly amusing, because that’s just how I’ve been cooking in non-Depression America.  Sometimes, it was because I wasn’t making enough money. Sometimes (for instance, when I was in graduate school),  there just wasn’t enough time to do anything more. Sometimes, I’ve had the time but lacked the inclination to do more.  But a lot of the time, it’s because I like simple hearty food. I like being able to experiment and cook different ways. I like making do with whatever’s around….or on sale….or in season.

That makes for some unhappy endings, once in a while. But you also end up with delicious surprises. And the best taste is the feeling of being self-reliant. Maybe that’s due for a come-back too.

To give you an idea, for about 4 years of my life (all told), I lived on a food budget that never went above $45/month and mostly hovered around $25-30. That included a couple of meals outside, vitamin supplements, and even some “luxuries,” like tea and chocolate.

No tricks. Indian cooking is relatively cheap, although labor intensive. You can use fairly inexpensive vegetables and the rest is mostly rice, lentils (dals), and spices. If you buy those at an Indian store, they won’t cost you very much.

Mind you, this isn’t the Indian cooking you get in upscale restaurants, which is usually Mughalai (Moghal -style).  Mughalai is typical of the wealthy and is also often Westernized to suit palates in America.  It’s delicious, but all those butter sauces are incredibly fattening, and so are the stuffed parathas.  And the rich spices and additions can add up to good money.

My own cooking tended to pick up on the lighter, simpler South Indian recipes, like rasam  (a delicious, very thin tomato, onion, pepper and tamarind soup that’s very healthy for you), sambhar (a soup of dhal), and vegetable poriyal.

To that, add a few simple stir-fries, salads, vegetable soups and spreads, some hummus and pita, a few tins of tuna, mackerel or salmon, and of course, rice, and you have a repertoire that shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes, will save you megabucks, and shed a few pounds for you too.

You can say a lot about the downside of recessions (and even depressions), but they can be  excellent for your body.

Fellow Counterpuncher (do I qualify any longer?), poet, and chronicler of torture programs  Douglas Valentine also shares my culinary predilections. He writes:

“That’s funny. I like cook shows. I do a lot of cooking too. Yesterday I made my special pea and lentil soup with carrots, celery and garlic, bay leaves and sometimes spices. Um, good, and good for you…”