Food consumed in 1952 - Page 4

[grisandole]

Originally Posted by fek&fuzz

Exactly, we pay the same amount and have much lower quality food. The Omnivores Dilemma touches on this, how many years ago people spent more money on food and now everyone wants things so cheap.

I recently found a local grass fed beef supplier (Sebago Lake Ranch in Maine) and bought about $100 worth of meat ranging from $15 to $5 /lb. The London Broil was $7.00/lb. Then I heard a girl at work talking about how excited she was that found London Broil on sale, 3 steaks for $7.00. I thought, "there's no way my supplier could compete with that price, but there's also no way that meat can taste good."

I used to feel bad about how much money I spent on food, but I'm seeing now that it is really about the quality of the food.

Yes. We do very little processed or prepackaged food (I do have a stash for days that I don't feel like cooking and for our food storage/earthquake preparadness) but spend over 1,000 a month on food. Most of that cost is the grass-fed beef and organic chicken, they are pricey!

[velochic]

Originally Posted by savithny

I love love love old cookbooks -- my mom has her copy of Fanny Farmer, her mother's copy, and her grandma's copy, and it is fascinating to compare.

I've got a 1930s edition of the Settlement Cookbook. It includes information on how to build a fire in a cookstove, how to bank it for the night -- and how to build a "window cooler," which was a box you put into your window, like an AC unit, except that it was open to the outside and insulated ont he house side, so when it was cool outside you could keep your milk, eggs, butter etc in there.

It also has scrupulous instructions for cleaning and food safety, scrubbing everything, using clean towels for each use, never using dishcloths more than once before putting them in to be laundered (with bleach, of course). Interesting stuff...

That sounds like an interesting book. I'll have to look it up.

I'm glad this pic spurred some discussion. I found it absolutely fascinating. They obviously spent a great deal of their money on food, and yet, so few items are even processed into cans! They have 12 WHOLE hams up there. Up thread I think someone mentions that they have one of a lot of items because they make a very wide variety of meals. This picture does show the monotony of what meals were like back then... and so meat-based. Very interesting.

[Merilin]

Originally Posted by wannabe

They [carp] taste like mud.

That's why before eating, people kept them in their bath tubs for 2-3 days, that helped cleaning the mud taste. The same is true for Tilapia, they live in muddy waters and are kept in tap water. Most of the time I don't like Tilapia, I can taste the chlorine, same goes for Lobsters kept in Tapwater.

Originally Posted by savithny

I love love love old cookbooks -- my mom has her copy of Fanny Farmer, her mother's copy, and her grandma's copy, and it is fascinating to compare.

Me too
I got a handwritten one from my greatgrandmother, and I found one from 1880s on a yard sale, and I have one from the 1940. I just love reading in them. They often give instructions on householding, having a dinner party (With and without a servant!) how to make meals for poor to rich families, etc.

The 1880s one emphasizes, that kids up to 5 years (or was it 6?) should only drink milk and eat toast.

Originally Posted by michaelasmommy

There may be a lot of meat and butter in the list, but I'm guessing the fruits and vegetables are a lot more than we typically eat today, too.

We are only 2 people, and we eat much more fruit and vegetables than on that picture, but then, we are nowhere close to the amounts of meat this family consumed. Next to the potatoes, is a whole lot of flour listed and sugar! And they bought bread, so the flour can't just be for baking bread. It looks more as if they made a cake/pie a day (with tons of sugar and butter).

And did you notice the amount of coffee and tea they drank? We drink 1 pound coffee in a month, they have 39pounds listet!

[olehippy]

Originally Posted by karina5

What was Evaporated Milk used for? Did they drink that?

I was born in 1967 and evaporated milk mixed with some other stuff was what I was feed. My mom also used it in cooking and baking.

I always have evap milk in my pantry. It might be the fact that I grew up using it, but I like it in certain things like mashed potatoes, gravy, to make homemade ranch dressing and a lot of other things.

[olehippy]

Originally Posted by VeggieJoy

According to that list, each person in their family consumed an average of 9 ounces meat and 3 tablespoons butter/shortening/margarine PER DAY. That's revolting.

Good amount of vegetables and fruits, though.

I'm not sure what is revolting unless you are referring to the shortening/margarine, but 3 T of butter and 9 oz. of meat is probably way less fat than the average American eats now. No one in the picture is overweight either.

[savithny]

Originally Posted by Merilin

The 1880s one emphasizes, that kids up to 5 years (or was it 6?) should only drink milk and eat toast.

The Settlement Cookbook (mine is 1936, I checked), includes a section on "The Feeding of INfants and Young Children."

It begins: "Breast milk is the best food for the young infant."

It does advocate starting OJ or tomato jucie at 3 months (1-2 oz daily) and cod liver oil from 2mos on, "omitted only during summertime."

It recommends starting solid foods between the 4th and 6th month, saying "The importance of foods other than milk durign the first year of life is now generally recognized." (I have an older baby care book that says that "untll recently it was generally accepted that babies don't need solids until 12 mos" (paraphrased). This book suggests starting with cereals at 5 months but "milk remains the basis of the diet."

However, they also say that at 9 months to a year "omit breast feedins one at a time until the baby is weaned." Still, that's longer than most babies get nursed now...

And the recommendations for feeding a pre-school child are right in line with the Ellyn Satter "Feeding your child with love and good sense" plan - don't serve large portions, don't let your child see whther you expect him to dislike the food, don't worry if they refuse to eat, they'll eat next time...

[sanguine_speed]

Originally Posted by savithny

And the recommendations for feeding a pre-school child are right in line with the Ellyn Satter "Feeding your child with love and good sense" plan - don't serve large portions, don't let your child see whther you expect him to dislike the food, don't worry if they refuse to eat, they'll eat next time...

Interesting. I'm a big fan of Ellyn Satter.

[Baby Makes 4]

Originally Posted by Merilin

We drink 1 pound coffee in a month, they have 39pounds listet!

I drink a pound every 2 weeks all by myself. If DH was a coffee drinker we would easily go through 40-50 pounds of coffee a year.

[BetsyS]

Originally Posted by Baby Makes 4

I drink a pound every 2 weeks all by myself. If DH was a coffee drinker we would easily go through 40-50 pounds of coffee a year.

When I'm drinking coffee (it turns my stomach when pregnant), we drink a pound a week. I guess I just thought that was average.

[Semi_Crunchy]

What I find the most interesting about learning/discussing the past like this, is that one day in the future, people will be discussing the things we did and how different it is!