My family home was in Texas, and I ate the Texas way until I left at age 19. That was in 1964. We were poor.

Mother used Crisco for frying. I don't think we ever had butter, just margarine. No oils, all salad dressing (french) from a bottle. No snacks. Canned tuna and Miracle Whip.

No desserts. But a gallon of syrupy iced tea in the fridge at all times. If we had fruit at all it came from cans and we had peaches with evap milk and sugar. Sometimes in the summertime we had watermelon.

Back then, there were few fast food places and we couldn't really afford to eat there anyway.

Breaded and fried meat. Hamburger stretched with noodles. Pinto beans. Mashed potatoes and gravy. White bread. Some milk. Canned vegetables and sometimes a tiny bowl of salad for 5 people. Repeated every week.

We didn't eat very much.