Eating Commodity Cheese and Beef in 1950s

I've lived in Arizona for 70 years (Tucson, Glendale, and Sedona). I love writing about Arizona history, antiques, books and travel.

Budget recipe for stretching one pound of hamburger to feed a family unit of 4

Better Homes & Gardens Mag Aug. 1958

Home Cooking in the 1950s

The 1950s was a decade in which most American women were not employed outside the home. Most families had just one automobile, fast food was not nearly every bit ubiquitous as it is today, and married women were chosen housewives and/or homemakers. For many families, eating out was usually reserved for special occasions.

From the number of beautiful retro diners and cafes in existence today, 1 who didn't live through the 1950s themselves would hands have the false impression that nosotros constantly ate hamburgers and hot dogs and drank flavored colas, malts, and milkshakes. These foods and drinks were all a part of what we ate and drank during that time, simply it certainly was non an everyday affair.

During a recent visit to an antique store, I purchased 2 vintage copies of Improve Homes and Gardens magazine from 1958. Afterward enjoying the numerous ads for food products, information technology prompted me to have out my mother'southward old cookbook and read which recipes she had nerveless and cooked as our family favorites. Keep in mind that America is rich in many cultures and cuisines, so what families ate differed by ethnic group, region, and of grade upkeep.

What We Ate in My Home

In my own habitation, master dishes many nights were casseroles, which illustrated the cook'south ingenuity and thrift. Note the photo in a higher place that touts how to feed a family of four on i pound of hamburger. Typical main dishes might have been a hamburger, tuna fish, chicken goulash, stale chipped beef in foam gravy over toast, fried craven, mac and cheese, Spam, canned ham, spareribs, hot dogs wrapped in Bisquick, hot dogs with charcoal-broil sauce, liver and onions or various bean dishes. Meatloaf was fabricated with hamburger stretched with staff of life crumbs. Soups such as vegetable, split pea and edible bean were slow cooked for hours. Deviled eggs were popular for a summertime main dish. For our family unit round steak, pot roast, pork chops, or existent ham was served on Saturday night, or sometimes on Sun, or when nosotros had company. It is interesting to us Baby Boomers that mac and cheese with the addition of crab or lobster with a variety of expensive cheeses has been elevated to nearly gourmet status in today's restaurants.

The size of dinner plates was much smaller than plates are today, which lent itself to smaller portions. Another thing to note almost eating in the 1950s is that most parents had lived through the Great Low of the 1930s, and nothing was wasted. Using leftover foods creatively was both a skill and an art. My mom reused waxed paper and tin can foil many times!

Spanish rice: minute rice, tomato sauce, green peppers and onions are the ingredients in this popular chief dish

Ameliorate Homes & Gardens August 1958

Breakfast in the 1950s

Hot breakfast has not inverse much since the 1950s. Bacon, eggs, hash, pancakes, toast, waffles, and fried potatoes were the normal at our house. Keep in mind that fried food was either fried in butter, shortening, or previous bacon drippings. Toast was slathered with butter and jelly. Other items included oatmeal, corn meal mush, Shredded Wheat, puffed rice, puffed wheat, Corn Flakes, and Grape Nuts.

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Read More From Delishably

The house I grew up in had diverse citrus trees in the backyard, so from December through Apr we enjoyed fresh orange and grapefruit juice. Otherwise, most juices were canned or from frozen concentrate. Nearly housewives had several wonderful coffee cake or cinnamon ringlet recipes that were chosen quick breads if they were blistering powder–based equally opposed to yeast-based, which took much longer to prepare.

Salad

Better Homes & Gardens Mag Nov. 1958

Salads and Vegetables

Salads are the meal component that have changed the almost since the 1950s. Think mayonaise! Jello salads came in every diverseness. Sunshine jello was lemon jello with shredded carrots and crushed pineapple. Lime jello often had shredded cabbage and chopped celery. Jello salads oftentimes had a generous glob of mayo every bit a topper. Fruited jellos with fruit cocktail or bananas were popular. Salads featuring cottage cheese with a piece of fruit or a tomato plant wedge were popular. Canned fruit such equally fruit cocktail, canned peaches, or pear halves were served as a salad or a dessert. Go along in mind that air freight shipping of perishable fruits and vegetables was not the same every bit today.

Those who grew up on farms probably enjoyed a better variety of fresh vegetables, but canned corn, canned greenish beans, or peas were all pretty much overcooked and tedious. Irish potato dishes were mashed, scalloped, or fried.

Pie

Amend Homes & Gardens Aug. 1958

Dessert

Most nights nosotros got dessert after dinner if and only if we ate all our dinner. Cookies such as sugar, chocolate chip, ginger, molasses, or oatmeal with raisins were standards. Puddings such as tapioca, butterscotch, vanilla, rice, breadstuff, and chocolate were mutual. Ice foam and sherbet were big treats since about refrigerators didn't have very large compartments. Cakes were spice, chocolate, angel nutrient, sponge, and pineapple upside-down cake. Most people fabricated and loved pies of all types.

How Nearly You?

If you grew up in the 1950s, which dishes practise you remember eating at home? Which ones did yous love, and which ones are yous happy are no longer popular?

Speaking for myself, I often misses some of these one-time favorites!

© 2012 mactavers

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Source: https://delishably.com/food-industry/What-Americans-Actually-Cooked-and-Ate-During-the-1950s

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