Learn How to Make Depression-Era Recipes on YouTube, with Clara

Though eating in is almost always cheaper than dining out, not every recipe is conducive to thrifty cooking; I often find myself turning down yummy recipes because of the exotic, expensive, and/or numerous ingredients they call for. Now, there's someone here to help.
Meet Clara. At first glance, you might write her off as a typical sweet old lady. But this woman is truly remarkable. Not only has she survived the Great Depression; she actually knows that YouTube exists.

This 93 year-old great grandmother, who claims to have actually "gained weight during America's worst state of financial despair," is continuing to defy all odds with her own cooking show on YouTube; That's right, this unassuming little lady has adapted to the changing times more gracefully than books, newspapers, and magazines combined.
The miniseries, "Depression Cooking with Clara" consists of six short episodes in which Clara shows web users how to recreate the meals her family subsisted on during those hard times. Interspersed between her simple, straight-forward instructions, she recounts memories of her childhood. In the first episode, for example, Clara makes one of her mom's staples, "pasta with peas" (in what looks to be kitchenware from the 1930s) and talks about how the bootleggers of the 30s came door-to-door asking to rent out people's garages to make whiskey.

It gets even more interesting from here: In episode five where we learn how to make Panescotto (cooked bread), she recounts a story about a mean boss she had while working at a radio coil factory: one day, after he publicly berated her for a mistake she didn't make, she wished to herself he would get hit by a train. The next day, he did.

Contrary to what its slightly ambiguous might insinuate, "Depression Cooking with Clara," is both entertaining and enjoyable; and, unlike most modern-day cooking shows, the no-frills recipes are incredibly easy to replicate. So whether you're looking for cheap, simple recipes, a window into history, or a little elderly company, Clara's cooking show is definitely worth a watch.