Most Western populations, including Americans, are fortunate to not be facing widespread war and food instability.
However, as times change and national stability becomes increasingly uncertain, modern preppers should look to past generations who provided sustenance for their families during periods of historic struggle.
Let’s take a look at some iconic wartime recipes that helped millions of families through hard times.
19 Wartime Recipes to Keep Your Family Fed in Tough Times
While some of these recipes will depend on what you have in your emergency stockpile, most are versatile and based on essential staples that we usually have in our kitchen cupboards.
1. Oatmeal Bread

Oats are affordable, nutritious, and filling, so it’s no wonder so many wartime recipes are based around this cereal grain.
Using oats, flour, cornmeal, milk, and a few other ingredients you can make nutrient-dense, long-lasting bread
See the full recipe at ‘Best War Time Recipes’ via the Duke University Libraries Repository.
2. Potato Bread

Potato bread has popped up in many countries during many different periods of history, including wartime, to help meet people’s nutritional needs.
Bread is an essential staple for most American households, and when your access to wheat flour is limited, potatoes will help get you through.
Potato bread still needs flour, but it requires much less, bulking out a typical bread recipe so you can make your wheat flour last.
See the full recipe at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum website.
3. Nut Loaf

Dried nuts are a fantastically long-lasting and nutritious stockpile food.
If you have plenty of nuts in storage or have access to nut trees of fruit-bearing age, this wartime recipe is a must-have for your prepper repertoire.
This nut loaf recipe utilizes miscellaneous chopped nuts, leftover stale bread and crackers, and other staples to create a moist and filling foodstuff.
See the full recipe at ‘A Collection of War-Time Recipes’ via the University of Florida Digital Commons.
4. Buckwheat Muffins

This wartime recipe uses buckwheat, a nutrient-dense grain-like seed packed with fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals.
Buckwheat and buckwheat flour are an incredibly versatile and long-lasting foodstuff for preppers, even if it is scarcely used in American kitchens today.
These buckwheat muffins use buckwheat flour, white flour, baking powder, milk, salt, and sugar to create dense, filling sweet muffins.
See the full recipe at ‘Best War Time Recipes’ via the Duke University Libraries Repository.
5. Guernsey Potato Peel Pie

This next wartime recipe may not be the most appetizing, but it does the tough job of using some of your unwanted food scraps to make a filling meal.
The Guernsey potato peel pie was a meal created in the UK during WWII to help people meet their dietary needs during times of great scarcity.
This wartime dish has even been featured in a best-selling book and film adaptation!
In its most basic form, it consists of just 3 ingredients: potatoes, beets, and milk, but some people like to zhuzh it up with egg, onion, flour, butter, spring onion, and more.
See the full recipe at The 1940s Experiment.
6. Lord Woolton’s Pie

Here we have another wartime pie recipe from the UK!
Lord Woolton’s pie has a little more variety and flavor than the Guernsey pie, while still being a great vegetarian option during periods where you may have limited or no access to meat.
It is also very accessible in terms of what ingredients you can use.
This pie is made up of a basic wheatmeal pastry, and the filling typically contains whatever seasonal vegetables you have on hand, along with oatmeal, parsley, and spring onions.
See the full recipe at Country Life UK.
7. Bean and Potato Stew

Feeding the whole family with hearty, nutritious meals made from basic pantry staples is the key to wartime and emergency recipes.
Bean and potato stew is a classic of this type, and existed long before the modern wars we look back on today.
Bean and potato stew is an easy, hot meal stacked with carbs and protein and various types of beans can be used interchangeably.
See the full recipe at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum website.
8. Chestnut Soup

Some of the best wartime meals are the ones that can be made with ingredients foraged around us.
European, Chinese, and American chestnut trees can be found growing in many states, and every year these trees produce bumper crops of starchy, sweet nuts that contain essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals.
Many people don’t (or don’t know how to) incorporate chestnuts into their diet, but they can be a lifesaver in times of scarcity.
This soup recipe uses chestnuts, vegetable stock, onions and lemon juice to produce a dense, filling meal.
See the full recipe at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum website.
9. Cream of Corn Soup

Canned corn has been a reliable source of nutrition during periods of food scarcity, and is an excellent foodstuff to add to your prepper stockpile.
One of the best and easiest ways to utilize canned corn is a classic cream of corn soup.
All you need is canned corn, milk, water, flour, and a few other kitchen staples.
See the full recipe at ‘A Collection of War-Time Recipes’ via the University of Florida Digital Commons.
10. Cabbage Soup

During times of war and food scarcity, cabbage is one of the shining stars of the vegetable world.
These vegetables are large, nutritious, filling, and best of all – they can be kept fresh for weeks in the fridge or root cellar.
Cabbage soup has a long history as a wartime staple, and is one of the best ways for a prepper to utilize this vegetable during tough times.
All you need is cabbage, water, flour, and any seasonings you might have on hand.
See the full recipe from the “Kriegskochbuch,” a WWI-era German war cookbook, via Festung.net.
11. Leftovers Stew

While this isn’t an official recipe with an official name, leftovers stew was a necessary food staple in many periods of war and scarcity throughout history.
Wasting food during difficult times is a huge no-no, and a leftovers stew ensures you use every scrap in the kitchen cupboard.
A leftovers stew depends on what you have on hand, but it can be useful for preppers to see how other people make their stews.
See a full recipe at The 1940s Experiment.
12. Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake

Yes, you read that right.
This cake can be made without three of the most common cake ingredients – eggs, milk, and butter.
It’s an amazing alternative for when you want a sweet and filling fruit cake but are running low on important staples.
Instead, this wartime recipe calls for brown sugar, raisins, citron, nutmeg, cinnamon, wheat flour, barley flour, baking powder, and salt.
If you don’t have citron, which is a type of citrus fruit, you can use candied orange, lemon, or clementine.
See the full recipe at ‘Best War Time Recipes’ via the Duke University Libraries Repository.
13. Jam & Carrot Sponge
Wartime recipes don’t have to lack flavor. Next up we’ve found the jam and carrot sponge, a WWII ration recipe from the book “Victory in the Kitchen: Wartime Recipes”.
This hot sponge dessert is made up of simple, affordable, and accessible ingredients, but is “jam”-packed with flavor.
Ingredients used include fruit jam (whichever flavor you have on hand) grated carrot, egg, butter, flour, and a dash of milk for a smoother consistency.
See the full recipe from Victory in the Kitchen: Wartime Recipes at Imperial War Museums UK.
14. Potato Donuts

Potatoes aren’t the first ingredient you might think of when you’re craving a sweet treat, but in difficult times you have to get creative.
That’s exactly what this next recipe does, by using potatoes – a must-have survival crop that has carried millions of people through hard times – as the base for fluffy, sweet fried doughnuts.
See the full recipe at ‘Best War Time Recipes’ via the Duke University Libraries Repository.
15. ANZAC Biscuits

As the name suggests, Anzac biscuits were a sweet treat popularized in Australia and New Zealand during World War II.
While the modern version of Anzac biscuits won’t last as long, they still make a delicious and relatively long-lasting treat that uses easily accessible pantry staples.
Anzac biscuits use a basic cookie base with added desiccated coconut, rolled oats, and golden syrup or treacle.
See the full recipe at The 1940s Experiment.
16. Dandelion Fritters
Dandelions are a highly useful edible weed that became a vital source of nutrition during the Great Depression as well as during wartime.
Recipes that incorporate the dandelion plant, like dandelion fritters, are another great way for preppers to use common wild plants and foods during periods when they may have limited access to processed food.
This recipe calls for flour, egg, milk, and dandelion greens to make pancake-like fritters in a pinch.
See the full recipe at the Michigan State University Extension.
17. Spam Hash

The history of spam is synonymous with wartime scarcity, and was even dubbed “Special Army Meat” during WWII.
As a canned meat it has an exceptionally long shelf-life, making it a vital part of any emergency stockpile.
Spam hash is a classic WWII recipe that is still eaten around the world today. All you need is spam, onions, potatoes, and milk to make a crispy, filling, delicious dish.
See the full recipe at the official Spam UK website.
18. White Sauce

White sauce, also known as bechamel, is an excellent way to bulk up and add flavor to plainer meals like pasta, soup, mac and cheese, and more.
While it originated in 17th-century France, it also has plenty of connections to wartime as a simple, filling, and versatile sauce that can be made with relatively few ingredients and used with different kinds of leftovers.
All you need is butter, milk, salt & pepper, and flour or cornflour.
See the full recipe at ‘A Collection of War-Time Recipes’ via the University of Florida Digital Commons.
19. Brown Sauce

Another simple sauce that will help to bulk up and diversify meals during difficult times is brown sauce, a filling sauce originating from the UK and Ireland.
Brown sauce is brown and peppery with a sweet-tart taste and only requires fat, flour, water (or stock if you have it), onions, and salt & pepper.
See the full recipe at ‘A Collection of War-Time Recipes’ via the University of Florida Digital Commons.
