Graceful Little Honey Bee

25 Old-Fashioned Recipes Your Grandma Knew By Heart

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25 Old Fashioned Recipes Your Grandma (probably) Knew by Heart

My grandma grew up cooking from scratch. It’s all she knew because convenience foods weren’t an option.

She learned how to cook from her mother by handfuls and pinches instead of cups and tablespoons. She cooked by memory and by feel.

I bet your grandma or someone you know is the same way. These women carried around a vast amount of knowledge with them that is sadly becoming lost in today’s culture.

Convenience foods are great, but when all you do to prepare dinner day in and day out is open a package, something important is lost.

Food is appreciated more and tastes better when it’s cooked from scratch and made with love. When you touch the dough and smell the yeast it truly feeds the soul.

I want us to get back to hands on cooking and that’s why I’m sharing with you a list of my favorite from scratch recipes. Some of these recipes have been adapted for modern cooking (hello slow cooker!), but I don’t think grandma would mind.

Are You Looking for More Old-Fashioned Tips? Try these articles!

How to Build an Old-Fashioned Frugal Pantry
6 Powerful Life Lessons from My Thrifty Grandma
40 Groceries to Stop Buying and Start Making to Save Money
30 Old-Fashioned Frugal Tips from Grandma
Frugal Lessons from the Amish Lifestyle

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25 Old-Fashioned Recipes Your Grandma Knew By Heart

 

Homemade Bread

Homemade Biscuits

Pumpkin Biscuits

Yeast Rolls

Pie Crust

How to Cook Dried Beans

Chicken Broth

Tomato Sauce

Sautéed Cabbage

Ham Bone Soup

Corn & Potato Chowder

Beef & Vegetable Soup

Sourdough Starter

Elderberry Syrup

Apple Pie

Pecan Pie

Butternut Squash Pie

Sweet Potato Casserole

Cranberry Sauce

Dehydrated Apple Rings

Pumpkin Puree

Apple Butter

Sweet Potato Bread

Red Hot Cinnamon Apples

Pan Fried Apples

I hope you enjoyed this list of old fashioned recipes. If you want even more old fashioned tips and tricks then you may want to check out Frugal Cooking Tips from the Great Depression. Have a great day friends!

 

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  1. SANDRA GREENE says

    Wilted leaf lettuce was always a favorite when I was growing up. Raised on a farm in Kentucky we grew leaf lettuce in the garden. Mom never used measurements on this is only by taste. Apple cider vinegar, sugar, bacon grease for the base heated and poured over lettuce. Crumbled bacon, chopped hard boiled eggs, chopped green onions mixed in. You can make a meal of this. Jean's directions in these reviews have the most accurate measurements. Love this website, Missy. Thanks so much, Sandra
    Reply

    • Corene says

      OMG, We, as a family of 7 ate this a lot; everyone love it just the way you described it. No need for measuring. It was up to me and my sister to look and cut wild dandelion when we didn't have lettuce. So good...this was in the 1948-1955 era.
      Reply

    • Lynn says

      Sandra - My grandma used to boil a stewing hen then she’d skim a little of the fat off the top and make a well in flour and add salt - after she sloghy mixed the flour she would make another well and add in a half ladle of broth, then she’d pick the chicken off the bone while it was still hot, put it back in the broth and roll out the dough to make” dumplings “ I’ve seen recipes for chicken and dumplings that are more likely biscuits but grandma was from Kentucky- so I didn’t know if yours made it the same way..
      Reply

      • Jeanne says

        Now that’s some chicken and dumplings for sure!! I can see you grandmother in my minds eye, boiling that chicken, piling the flour, making a hole in it, ladling up some fat, pouring it in the flour ... manipulating it all together .. another hole, broth and working it some more ... sounds fabulous
        Reply

        • Pissenlit Miam says

          I was delighted to find that you all love wilted lettuce salad, too. Across the Atlantic, in French Alsace, my grandmother cooked the exact same recipe you described with blanched dandelion, the kind that grows in molehills. Now I've kept it a spring staple at home, it's so fast to throw together! And my kids just love that you can EAT! dandelion. No foraging across fields for us, though. I use an upturned flower pot to blanch the fattest dandelions in my lawn when it crosses my mind around Valentine's day.
          Reply

  11. Lori says

    This recipe is awesome! My boys ate the whole thing! They said it was better than take out! They are already asking for it again for dinner! They did not know it until I told them!
    Reply

  12. Stan Quick says

    My grandmother fed a family of 9 and my mother fed 7. The food was always wonderful and I have great memories. I am probably wrong but I do not remember seeing a recipe book although they certainly existed. The other thing I remember is the limited use of measuring tools. The gardens were abundant, my grandfather was a master gardener, and provided year round organic vegetables! to our tables. I enjoy an intuitive approach to cooking only using recipes for inspiration. Thank you for stirring those memories.
    Reply

    • Sharon Robertson says

      Please give me copy of noodle recipe. My mom and grandma always made homemade noodles. don’t have their recipes. Would love to have this one.
      Reply

  14. Willy says

    My grandmother had her own noodle recipe to go into chicken and noodles. My mother gave it to me and I have passed it down to my daughter that makes it frequently. They sure do beat store bought ones. Naturally using a home raised hen made a big difference in the outcome.
    Reply

  16. Sue.Gilliam says

    My grandma was raising 4kids all by herself, she raised 2 huge gardens,,a huge strawberry patch, picked blackberries from a nearby pasture to can and , use as well as sell extras!!!, She canned, or froze everything she could get her hands on.. While she was the expert on canning, preserving and stretching every dollar, my dad was a awesome hunter, fisher, we had rabbit, squirrel, turtle soup, pond raised catfish that seemed to melt in your mouth, one of the dishes she made was macaroni and tomato, it was simple but filling,all it takes is ,macaroni, can of crushed tomatoes(big), some butter, ive added a couple of extras, i put a can of tomato sauce as well, and just a little sugar,so it isnt to dry, especially if u keep leftovers, and want to reheat!! Thanks for the tips!!
    Reply

    • Kathleen Hanford says

      My mom used to make macaroni and tomato for a meal, then the leftovers would be put in a casserole with a little milk and cheddar cheese to make another meal.
      Reply

  17. Tracey S. says

    Would anyone on here happen to know the approximate amount for “the cream off the top of a milkcan?” My grandmother’s recipe for chess pie actually has this as part of her recipe. Chess pie is my dad’s favorite and I would love to make one for him using her recipe. Thanks in advance.
    Reply

  19. Peggy M Rothell says

    Do you have a recipe for old time sweet potato cobbler? The one where you make dough, my Mom made them and they were to die for but never had a recipe,
    Reply

  21. Connie says

    Loved wilted lettuce when I was a kid.............82 now. I have to admit I never thought about it Until I read your article.
    Reply

  26. Barb Quest says

    My grandma had made a wonderful soup with ? Oxtail, creamy looking broth, spice balls, rice. Don’t have a recipe but would love to make this! Was my favorite soup! Love your recipes - was too bad grandmas didn’t write down recipes. If you ever make up a book I would love to buy one or more.
    Reply

  27. Mandy says

    I lost it somewhere in one of my moves but I used to have a fabulous cookbook from Charleston, South Carolina. Most of the recipes were stated in modern format (one cup, one-half teaspoon, preheat oven to 350, and so on). But they had also included some traditional recipes, handed down from Charleston families. The directions and measurements were along the lines of "Add flour by handfuls until mixture is dry enough" "Stir in one wineglass of sherry" "Bake in medium hot oven until brown." Great fun to read but not much fun for us modern day amateurs to cook with.
    Reply

    • Missy Rakes says

      How fun! Unfortunately my grandma never wrote her recipes down. It's amazing how everyone was so knowledgeable and skillful that recipes were so vague. I have an Amish cookbook that is written like that as well.
      Reply

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