What Americans Did Before Creation of EBT/SNAP Handouts

Overview

During the Great Depression (1929–1939), an estimated 25% of Americans faced unemployment and widespread hunger, with malnutrition affecting millions, especially children. Before the federal food stamp pilot program launched in Rochester, New York, on May 16, 1939—aimed at distributing surplus farm commodities to low-income households—there was no nationwide entitlement program for food aid. Instead, hungry people turned to a patchwork of charitable efforts, emerging government relief initiatives under the New Deal (starting in 1933), and resourceful personal strategies. These varied by urban vs. rural settings, with urban dwellers often queuing for handouts and rural families leveraging land for self-sufficiency. While these measures prevented total famine, they were inadequate for many, leading to chronic undernutrition and desperation.

Charitable Efforts: Soup Kitchens and Breadlines

Private charities, religious organizations, and even individuals stepped in early to combat immediate starvation, as federal aid lagged under President Herbert Hoover (1929–1933). Soup kitchens—dating back to the 1870s but exploding in scale during the Depression—offered free or low-cost hot meals, typically thin soups made from donated scraps like bones, vegetables, and grains. By 1932, over 13 million unemployed Americans (about 25% of the workforce) relied on them daily.

- **Breadlines**: Long queues formed outside bakeries, churches, or relief stations for free loaves of stale bread, often distributed alongside coffee or soup. Iconic examples include Chicago's breadlines run by gangster Al Capone (feeding up to 3,500 daily) and New York's Bowery Mission, where lines stretched for blocks. Women and children were sometimes prioritized or directed to separate lines to avoid harassment.

- **Other Charities**: Groups like the Salvation Army and Catholic Worker Movement provided groceries or meals in "jungle camps" (informal hobo settlements). These efforts fed thousands but were overwhelmed, with urban areas like New York seeing 82 soup kitchens by 1931.

These were stopgap measures, often stigmatized as "handouts," but they sustained life for the urban poor who lacked access to land.

Early Government Relief Programs

Federal involvement ramped up with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal in 1933, focusing on agricultural surpluses to aid both farmers and the needy. These were not cash benefits but direct food distribution, marking a shift from Hoover-era voluntarism.

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA, 1933): 

Allocated $500 million for state-level relief, including food vouchers and surplus commodities like pork, butter, and flour distributed through local agencies. It reached millions but was criticized for uneven implementation.

Federal Surplus Relief Corporation (FSRC, 1933): 

A precursor to food stamps, it purchased excess farm goods (e.g., 500,000 hogs in one month) and donated them to soup kitchens and relief rolls, preventing waste while feeding the hungry. By 1935, it distributed over 1 billion pounds of food annually.

- **USDA Food Distribution Program (Early 1930s)**: The U.S. Department of Agriculture bought commodities like wheat, corn, and dairy to stabilize farm prices, then funneled them to low-income families via schools and welfare offices. This helped combat child malnutrition, providing staples that supplemented diets in "Hoovervilles" (shantytowns).

These programs aided about 20 million people by 1935 but ended or evolved by 1938 due to funding cuts, leaving a gap filled by the 1939 pilot.

### Personal and Community Strategies

With limited aid, families improvised using whatever was cheap, scavenged, or grown. Urban poor focused on stretching pennies, while rural ones drew on traditional skills. Bartering—trading labor, goods, or skills for food—was widespread, as was sharing among extended families.

- **Urban Strategies**:

  - **Cheap Staples and Inventive Meals**: Families bought affordable items like bread (6 cents/loaf), beans, potatoes, and canned corn. Common dishes included:

    - *Hoover Stew* or *Mulligan Stew*: Canned macaroni, hot dogs, tomatoes, and corn simmered into a pot that fed a family for days—named derisively after Hoover.

    - *Poorman's Meal*: Fried potatoes, onions, and leftover hot dogs or spam.

    - *Water Pie* or *Mock Apple Pie*: Made with water, flour, sugar, and crackers (substituting for fruit) to mimic desserts.

    - *Depression Cake*: Eggless, butterless chocolate cake using vinegar and cocoa for leavening.

  - **Extreme Measures**: In desperation, people added clothing lint to stews for bulk, ate pet food, or scavenged restaurant garbage. Organ meats like sweetbreads became staples due to low cost.

- **Rural and Foraging Strategies**:

  - **Home Gardening and Canning**: Most farm families (and many urban ones with plots) grew vegetables, fruits, and grains, canning surpluses for winter. Diversified small farms produced enough to feed households, with extras bartered.

  - **Foraging and Wild Foods**: People gathered dandelion greens for salads (rich in vitamins), wild berries, nuts, or mushrooms from parks and fields. In Appalachia and the Midwest, this supplemented diets during Dust Bowl shortages.

  - **Hunting and Fishing**: Rural hunters targeted rabbits, squirrels, or fish from streams, especially in forested areas like Ohio's outskirts. This was seasonal and skill-based, but overhunting risked depletion.

These tactics emphasized waste reduction—nothing was discarded—and community support, like neighborhood potlucks. Women, as homemakers, often managed these efforts, promoting recipes via government bulletins (e.g., peanut butter-stuffed onions).

In essence, survival hinged on resilience and mutual aid, but the era's hunger was profound, with one in four children malnourished. The 1939 pilot built on these foundations, formalizing surplus distribution into a coupon system that allowed choice at stores.