Retro Struggle Meals: 1965 Rivvel Soup

Mmmm....lumps.

Kids, let’s talk about struggle meals.

It seems like everyone I’ve spoken to in nutrition counseling is worried about the grocery bill lately. It’s not your imagination of course — food really is more expensive than the low of 9.5% of our budgets in 2019. It’s now over 19% and rising, and while that’s lower than the 25% in the 40s or the 40% nearer the turn of last century, things are also more complex now. We have to spend money on things that weren’t a household factor in 1900 in order to function in modern society — electricity, internet, cars. Things are a little bit tough, they might get a little bit tougher since importers are raising prices in anticipation of tariffs. If they actually get implemented, I’m going to be pretty worried.

This brings me to one reason I love retro foods. Sure, the abject horror of many of them is my deepest love, but they also often focus more on thrift and economy than modern recipes and are often designed to use leftovers or bits of things you have languishing in the freezer. That’s why I’m hoping to use this series to help keep your budget down.

But, I’m also hoping to help you keep your nutrition up — when things get tight and people are busy, it’s often the first thing out the window, understandably. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. So, for things in this series, I’ll be making some swaps and tricks to make sure you get some veggies in. I’ll also suggest things to shorten prep and cooking time for busy folks.

That means the things I use might not always be the cheapest possible version. I might favor some convenience over cost in spots, because if it’s easy for you to use, you might actually do it rather than order takeout again! You get to choose your own adventure there, because you are the expert in your own life.

For this first installment, I’ve chosen one out of my copy of the 1965 Woman’s Day Encyclopedia Vol. 1, which showcases the chosen recipes according to their home state. It’s Pennsylvania’s Rivvel Soup:

(Aren’t you glad I’m not doing pickled eggs dyed pink with beets?)

Basically, you’re making a teeny fresh pasta and simmering it in your broth, but because it’s not shaped, it’s lightning fast, and it sounds like you’ll end up with a thickened broth and rice-like itty-bitty dumplingettes. I’ve never heard of these prior to finding this diamond in the rough, so I’m going to look up a couple of other versions to try to get it right. As the recipe says, “rivel” or “rivvel” means lumpy or wrinkled in Germanic languages like Pennsylvania Dutch, and a lot of the photos online make it look something like chicken and dumplings.

This Amish version from Lovina is different — more like a cross between risotto and oatmeal. Yikes. I’m not surprised she doesn’t like it.

@literallyjust_a_girlThe full ingredients and instructions are in my Amish cookbook under Rivel Soup (the cookbook is available on my website

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I’ll definitely be sticking with the Woman’s Day version, and after seeing Lovina’s gloopy creepshow, I don’t care whether it’s accurate.

I do care whether it’s cheap and healthy, though, so the swaps I’m making here are to replace the corn (nothing wrong with corn but we don’t need another carb in this dish) with onion, carrot, and broccoli in about double the volume of the corn called for, plus leftover cooked chicken for more protein. I want to keep this super cheap and super fast, so I’m using what’s on hand, and you should too — whatever veggies you like and need to use up are okay. Here are the ingredients for 1/4 of the recipe by volume.

Also, note that I’m using Better Than Bouillon instead of canned broth. This is one of my favorite home cooking tricks. Because it’s a concentrated paste, you can control the amount of liquid, so you can use it in gravies or sauces without diluting more than you want. Also, since this little jar makes 38 servings, it’s priced at about 12 cents per cup, it’s incredibly cheap compared to canned broth, which typically runs more like 50 cents per cup. In order to keep sodium a little lower, I usually use it at about 1/2 to 3/4 strength depending on the recipe.

I made a full recipe of the rivels so I didn’t have to worry about how to use leftover raw egg, and I have the rest in the freezer for later, but you could definitely make these with egg white out of the carton, and just use about 1 T of egg white with 1/2 c of flour.

A speedy trick I often use is to pre-cook things in the microwave as long as browning isn’t important. I will partially thaw things like tater tots that are going on a (veggie heavy, of course) hotdish, or chicken that’s going into a casserole. This can cut baking time in half, so it saves both time and energy costs. Here, I’ve softened the onion in the microwave for about 1 minute, so that it’ll be soft enough with that 15 minute simmering time.

I also thawed the broccoli and chicken for about 30 seconds, because they’ll be added at the end to avoid overcooking, and will just need a minute or so to heat through.

Once the onion was softened, I just threw them in with 4 c of hot water from the electric kettle, the carrots, and 3 tsp of broth concentrate. I’ve never made rivvels before, so I was concerned about how dry they were, and I’m glad I found Lovina’s video for reassurance that I had done it more or less correctly. I pressed them through my hands as instructed in the recipe, and it did make a few larger bits, but most of them were orzo-like.

As prepared here, it costs less than $1 per serving to make, and my husband and I really liked it, but it’s pretty low calorie, so if you are trying to maintain your weight, think about doubling the add-ins and go for something more like a stew, or serve it with a half-sandwich or hearty salad. If I make it again, I will probably add a bit of water to the rivel dough so that I get dumpling bits that are more like pea-sized. It's simple comfort food, but there are lots of possible swaps to keep it cheap and fast, but with customized flavors.

Seasonings you could add at the beginning to change the flavors: No Salt Tony Chachere’s Cajun, five spice + soy sauce, Italian Seasoning, chili powder + cumin, garlic + lemon.

Other things to add at the end (this works for ramen, too!): frozen mixed vegetables, fresh tomato, baby spinach, flaked tuna, , chopped jalapeno, cooked shrimp, tofu or pumfu, a lightly scrambled egg stirred in egg-drop style, a little 1/2+1/2, cheese, or any leftover meat.

You can also cook noodles in the broth, but be prepared for a difference in texture — most larger noodles will absorb more broth than the rivels, and they usually won’t thicken up the liquid the way these flour-coated blobs do. You could add a little flour to compensate, but do that with at least 10 minutes of simmer time to make sure it doesn’t taste raw.

Recipe for Rivel Soup (Mom of No Rank version):

makes two 2 1/2-cup servings

• spray oil

• 1/4 medium onion, diced

• about 1/3 c diced carrot

• 4 c boiling water

• broth concentrate or bouillon in the amount needed to make 3 c of broth (that’s 1 T of Better Than Bouillon but it varies by brand)

• 1/4 c poultry seasoning, optional

• 1 egg mixed with 2 c of all purpose flour (or 1 T of egg white mixed with 1/2 c of flour if you don’t want leftover raw rivels for the freezer)

• 1/2 c frozen broccoli, thawed

• 1/2 c cooked shredded chicken

Microwave the onion with a spritz of oil for 1 minute to soften. Add to carrot, water, and broth concentrate, and bring to a simmer.

Meanwhile, mix egg and flour so that it resembles crumbs with rice-sized pieces.

Stir about 1/2 c of rivels into simmering water, squeezing through your fingers to make a few larger bits. Continue simmering for 15 minutes.

Add broccoli and chicken, and heat through.

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