How to Prepare for a Recession – Tips from the Great Depression

Are you ready if a recession hits? Take lessons from the Great Depression, and learn how to prepare for a recession. These skills are also useful to help you save money and live more simply. 

In just my lifetime, we have had several recessions. And many experts are starting to sound the alarm for a possible recession in 2025. Including JPMorgan, which recently raised its prediction for the odds of a recession to 60%. 

With tariffs, the trade war with China, consumer uncertainty, inflation, and other political issues currently plaguing the US, the risks of a recession keep growing. 

Even with the back and forth of the tariff policies, we are seeing a big economic impact, and there is a lot of unknown about just how much of an impact it will end up being.

It’s scary to face inflation, job uncertainty, and rising living costs, but the fear of economic hardship is something generations before us knew all too well. As we ask how we will weather a possible recession, we can find some of the best answers from the past.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, families learned how to stretch every penny, waste nothing, and make the most of what they had. When we look at what they did to survive, we can find so much wisdom. 

That’s what we are going to do today, look at the past to gain wisdom for our possible future, so we can be prepared, no matter what we will be facing.

How to Prepare for a Recession – Tips from the Great Depression

When I think about the Great Depression, I think about the stories my great grandma told about surviving not only during the Great Depression but also through the Dust Bowl here in Oklahoma. 

Listening to her talk about doing what she had to do to keep her family fed and her home clean was always humbling. She shared stories of having to hunt squirrels and struggling to keep the dust out of their home. Oklahoma recently had a terrible dust storm, and it gave me so much appreciation for what she went through. My grandpa also started working in a cotton field when he was just 5 years old to help the family. 

While I hope no one reading this is ever struggling at that level, and I believe we should all try to help each other to prevent that kind of struggle, we can still learn a lot from the poverty and struggles many faced during the Great Depression.

Lessons from the Great Depression

I’ve talked before about frugal tips from the Great Depression, but let’s do a little overview of some of the skills that people often used to help them survive. 

Make Do and Mend

This is a skill I’m working on because not only does it help us save money, it helps us avoid supporting companies we don’t agree with, and it’s better for the environment. I’ve been teaching myself basic sewing skills, and I’m also learning to embroider right now because you can use embroidery to cover holes and stains to get more life out of items. For embroidery, I’ve been using an embroidery kit like the one I’m linking to that teaches you different stitches. 

And it’s not just clothing we can fix instead of replacing. Recently, our screen door broke. I started searching and found the piece that broke was not only easy to fix, but the part was cheap. We saved a lot of time and money by repairing the door instead of replacing it. 

While many of us were not taught these skills growing up, we do have an advantage because the internet can teach us just about anything. 

Waste Nothing

This is another thing we can do that saves money and is also great for the environment. Before getting rid of something, consider if you can use it in another way. 

A couple of examples would be instead of buying new organizers or food storage, look in your recycling bin. Glass jars are great for storing food or even items around your house. You can use boxes for storage and organizers. 

There are so many creative ways to upcycle. I share a lot of fun ideas for upcycling on my other blog, Green Oklahoma.

Barter and Trade

Trading and bartering are two skills we rarely use these days, but you are seeing a comeback with Facebook groups popping up for just this reason. You can also do this within your own family or friend group.

No one person can know how to do everything, but we can share our skills. Maybe you are good at baking bread but not so good at growing produce. See if you can trade a loaf of bread for some of a friend’s or neighbor’s extra produce. 

Grow Your Own Food 

This is one I will always struggle with because I just can’t keep plants alive. But my husband and I have talked about joining efforts, as I know how to plant things, but my ADHD brain leaves me struggling to keep up with them, so I may start some plants, and then he will take over.

You can also try foraging, but be sure you are careful if you do and know what is safe and what isn’t. Next year, I want to try making some redbud jelly and syrup because I have a huge redbud tree. Even that little step can help. It is also something I could consider making and trading for something I can’t grow.

Creative Cooking 

Being creative with what food they had is a skill homemakers both during the Great Depression and WWII really honed. It’s one we should again work on, as shortages are a real possibility. 

During the early pandemic days, I feel like I started building a lot of these skills. Both because of shortages and the fact that we were trying to stay out of stores as much as possible. 

I got good at looking in my fridge and pantry and pulling together random meals with what we had on hand. Even ended up with some dishes we still enjoy. One I remember that we still like is an enchilada casserole. I had broken corn tortillas, enchilada sauce, and random ends of cheese. Make it into a layered casserole, and it was delicious and simple. 

This is again a time when the internet is a great resource. You can ask on social media for ideas with ingredients you have or search on Pinterest for ideas. Another great place to ask would be the Sustainable Living Collective. It’s a free and private community that I help admin, and we have a group for talking about cooking, and everyone is very helpful.

Applying Depression Era Wisdom Today

Now that we’ve talked about some of the lessons we can learn from the Great Depression, it’s important to talk about applying them to our lives. 

Before a recession hits is the best time to start adding these things to your life because we should be saving money now, and you can do it with a bit less panic.

Take one or two skills to work on at a time. Borrow some books from the library on the topic, buy books if you will continue to refer to them, see if there are any free classes in your community, and look for free and low-cost resources online. For online resources, consider downloading them and keeping them on a hard drive just in case that resource disappears. 

Other things to do to help you start applying Great Depression wisdom to your life: 

• Create a Bare-Bones Budget. Even if you don’t start following it right now, know what the bare minimum you can survive on is.
• Start a Pantry Stockpile. Don’t panic buy, but start slowly building up a stockpile of food you will actually eat and will be used before it goes bad. I like to keep a running list of things I want to have and buy those items as I see them on sale.
• Cook from Scratch More Often. This is a good habit to get into and can help you start building your cooking skills.
• Prioritize Needs Over Wants. Even now, it’s good to start thinking more about needs and less about wants. That’s not to say if you can afford it, you shouldn’t do things just for pleasure sometimes, but just be more mindful.

More Great Depression Resources to Check Out

If you want to continue learn more about this subject, these are some resources I recommend. First, I want to share a couple of articles you can find here that can help.

• Depression Era Recipes
• Stretching Your Pantry Like a WWII Housewife

These are some books that are good to have on hand. 

• Home Comforts– This is a great book to reference for home care.
• Attainable Sustainable Pantry– This is a book by one of my friends. It will help you make a lot of great items from scratch.
• Back to Basics– This book has all kinds of traditional skills that are useful to learn. 

And these are a few other resources that can be helpful. 

• Great Depression Cooking with Clara– Sadly, Clara has passed away, but her helpful videos live on. 
• Attainable Sustainable– This is my friend’s blog, and she is a great resource for safe canning and gardening.
• Fermenting for Foodies– This is another friend, and she is a great resource for fermenting, which is another great way to preserve food.
• Homespun Seasonal Living– And yet another friend’s blog, this friend is a great resource for foraging, herbal medicine, and simple living in general.

What I want to leave you with is that this isn’t to make you panic or to make you fearful. Being prepared can help us avoid a lot of those feelings and help us stay calm if a recession does happen.