Amid growing economic concerns, Kiki Rough, a 28-year-old self-employed consultant, has turned to sharing her experience and knowledge of cooking affordable meals during tough financial times. Having learned to stretch her food budget while on food stamps, Rough began creating video guides based on recipes from cookbooks published during previous recessions, depressions, and wartimes. From her Chicago-area kitchen, she teaches viewers how to make inexpensive meals and substitute ingredients with what they already have on hand. With her relatable content, Rough’s videos quickly gained popularity, accumulating over 350,000 followers and millions of views on TikTok and Instagram in a short time.
Her videos tap into a growing wave of shared wisdom from past economic hardships. As fears about a potential recession rise, especially following recent announcements of tariffs, many Americans are revisiting the strategies they used during the 2008 global financial crisis. Searches for recession-related terms like “Great Recession” are soaring again, particularly on platforms like TikTok, where older generations are offering advice to younger ones who didn’t experience the full impact of past economic downturns. For many Millennials, the 2008 crisis serves as a point of expertise, especially on how to manage in times when economic security is uncertain.
In addition to Rough’s recipes, other content creators, like Kimberly Casamento, are re-examining affordable meals from cookbooks published during the last recession. Casamento highlights how the cost of once-budget-friendly meals has surged by as much as 150% due to inflation, and she offers tips on how to make these meals more affordable today. These shared experiences help build a sense of community and preparedness, especially as inflation continues to make daily living more expensive.
This kind of communal knowledge-sharing has evolved with the rise of social media. It reflects a broader human instinct to turn to others for guidance in times of uncertainty. Experts like Megan Way, an associate professor studying family economics, note that these conversations now unfold digitally, helping people feel more prepared to navigate financial difficulties. While the current economic climate has its differences from the 2008 crisis, the feelings of unpredictability and fear remain, fueling a resurgence in these collective coping mechanisms.
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