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Diana Payton

The 7½-cent lunch nobody wanted seconds of

Published 4 days ago • 1 min read

Hi Reader,

Grocery receipts keep getting longer while the bags get lighter, and "recession" is back in the news. So I went back about a hundred years to see what people actually did during the Great Depression, and which of those habits still hold up.

Most of them do. My new video covers 20, including:

  • The 7½-cent lunch Eleanor Roosevelt served at the White House. It was cheap, nutritious, and bad enough that guests started eating before they showed up.
  • How Seattle neighbors in the 1930s traded labor instead of cash, and how to do the same thing now.
  • What else your library card can borrow besides books.
  • The one Depression habit I'm telling you not to copy.

Before we continue, a quick word from today's sponsor:

And now, back to the 1930s.

Some of these I do myself. The shirt I'm wearing in the video used to be two T-shirts I didn't like. I keep a jar of bacon fat in the fridge and use the heck out of it. And I once gave away a dozen sample rolls of dental floss through my Buy Nothing group, which made two people's day. One of them was mine.

Hit reply and tell me one Depression-era habit your family still does. I want to hear it.

Stay cozy out there,

Diana

P.S. Want me to test a pile of homemade cleaners on camera? Reply "cleaners" and I'll count the votes.

Diana Payton

I'm a writer who helps technical professionals transition into technical writing. I also create content on my YouTube channels: Technical Writing Uncensored and Make, Mend, Grow with Diana.

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