article about 1940s frugal housewife

[pinkytoe]

I thought this was an interesting article; it reminded me of my own upbringing as my mother was always pinching pennies:
http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/25/12860186-1940s-housewife-showed-how-to-tame-high-grocery-prices

[Mrs-M]

Thanks for posting, Pinkytoe! People (nowadays), a large percentage of people, do not have the slightest idea how to rein-in spending.

Shopping, in our house (when I was growing up) happened once a week, and never included anything already made, aside from baked bread. Milk, vegetables, meat, and cheeses, were about all that mom and dad arrived home with, and the rest was in the pantry (so to speak). i.e. Flour, sugars, grains, etc.

Mom and dad gardened, too, so over the course of summer we always had fresh goods on the table, and aside from groceries and bills, there was no spending in our house. We had everything we needed and what we didn't have, didn't exist. Can't say us kids did without, and we didn't live off of peanut butter and jam/jelly sandwiches, either.

[Mrs-M]

To add, I firmly believe that it was easier to feed a family 40-50 years ago, than today. Back then, everyone had a garden, and our landscape wasn't smeared with the likes of McDonald's and A&W restaurants. Mothers didn't go to the store and leave with Pampers and Huggies in the cart, and domestic/homemaking skills were traits that nearly every woman of the house knew and practiced.

Additionally, competitive lifestyles, didn't exist according to my parents. You drove the same vehicle for decades (if it lasted), settling comfortably into an average-sized home (regardless of family size), and trips around the world were something that was reserved (only) for the rich. People didn't dig themselves in (financially) like people do today, and the dollar went farther back then.

[Mrs-M]

Am I the only one interested in this topic???

[bae]

http://1940sexperiment.wordpress.com/100-wartime-recipes/

http://woottonbridgeiow.org.uk/recipes/wartime.php

http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking

http://greatdepressioncooking.com/Welcome.html

[awakenedsoul]

I loved this article, Pinkytoe! I have a big garden in back, and I notice that a lot of my neighbors are slowing down as they drive by, and gazing at the edible landscape. I have some heirloom pumpkins in a wheelbarrow full of straw in the driveway. They're the same variety the pilgrims ate at the first Thanksgiving.

One neighbor commented that she saw me filling a wheelbarrow full of horse manure from across the street for my compost pile. We started chatting, and she's started growing her own food, too. She's really interested. I have a chicken coop, and am considering getting a miniature dairy goat.

My knitting teacher also grows veggies on her patio. We're going to get together and make soap. I love all this kind of stuff. I want to learn how to can, too. It's a good feeling...

[Mighty Frugal]

Mrs. M. I am VERY interested in this article:) I savoured every line. I too, love reading how they did it 'way back when' My obsession is so great my favourite pastime is reading vintage magazines. They are chock o block with recipes, and helpful hints for the homemakers of that time (I have from the 40s through to the 70s).

It was a simple life and the recipe are really good-not a lot of ingredients. In one they have a whole months worth-with salad, entree and dessert for each dinner.

I love reading depression era books-especially from the woman of the home's angle.

A wonderful book (that I believe someone here recommended) is '10 Lost Years' which chronicles the life of many different families all over Canada during the Great Depression. It is tough to read some of the stories but others are so sweet and strong. That book made me feel ashamed at my modern 'moans'

[Mrs-M]

Yay! So happy to see everyone's additional entries!

P.S. Mighty Frugal. So jealous I am of your vintage magazine collection!

[SteveinMN]

To add, I firmly believe that it was easier to feed a family 40-50 years ago, than today. Back then, everyone had a garden, and our landscape wasn't smeared with the likes of McDonald's and A&W restaurants. Mothers didn't go to the store and leave with Pampers and Huggies in the cart, and domestic/homemaking skills were traits that nearly every woman of the house knew and practiced.
I grew up in a suburb of New York City and have to say that it was not at all common for neighbors or relatives to have vegetable gardens. We definitely had fast food -- mostly independent burger and fried-chicken stands. But there weren't half-a-dozen of them competing for our dollars. And the phrase "upscale fast food" (e.g., Chipotle) hadn't been invented yet. A fast-food dinner -- not "supersized" was a treat indeed.

But I would argue that we've moved ahead over the last half-century in that, back then, most women did not expect to have long careers because life changed so much when they got married and had kids. Now the new president of Yahoo is pregnant and no one thinks much about it.


Additionally, competitive lifestyles, didn't exist according to my parents. You drove the same vehicle for decades (if it lasted), settling comfortably into an average-sized home (regardless of family size), and trips around the world were something that was reserved (only) for the rich. People didn't dig themselves in (financially) like people do today, and the dollar went farther back then.
Again, maybe it's where I grew up, but us kids did plenty of comparing. Most of the neighbors got a new car every few years; we bought ours from the back row of the used-car lot. Back then, we lit candles in thanks for tires that lasted more than 20,000 miles and cars that weren't completely spent by 100,000 miles. The ironic thing is that, back then, body styles and model names changed almost yearly; not like today, when the same body exists for four to six years and then changes noticeably. We did all have the average-sized home (nicer than Levittown but still cookie-cutter), but many families had new furniture and took annual vacations some (ours) made do with a room or two of new furniture and several others decorated in Early Relative and enjoyed day trips or "staycations".

I think one difference between then and now is the value people attach to branding. It has become so important to flaunt your success by having the right brand names -- the silver apple on the back of your mobile phone, the right name on the butt of your jeans, the aspirational brands (there were no Lexuses and Acuras when I grew up, just Toyotas and Hondas). It's come to the point where companies even manufacture special cheaper lines of their signature products (Levi's $20 jeans at WallyWorld) to capitalize on people's interest in looking financially successful even if they're in hock up to their eyeballs. Certainly branding existed back then, but it seems people were more okay with being Chevy people instead of striving for Cadillac even if they couldn't afford it.

[JaneV2.0]

I remember plenty of social competition, even though we weren't really in the thick of it. "Which country clubs do you belong to? My father was a charter member." kind of thing. I also remember not-so-good food, including hideous margarine with dye you massaged into it (inedible, but absorbing for little kids). My mother had a small garden (potatoes, I remember), and we caught fish and dug clams a couple of blocks away. I had to laugh watching a recent episode of Chopped where contestants were challenged by whole razor clams. I could have field-stripped one in the blink of an eye, having done it a thousand times in my youth. I still don't like seafood...

Brands may not have been so prominent then, but better a used Buick than a new Chevrolet. People were just as snooty and judgmental; it seems to be human nature. We didn't have all the choices then (late 40s, early fifties) we have now and personally, I wouldn't go back for a minute.

[Tussiemussies]

Didn't get to read this yet but am really looking forward to it! You are not the only one Mrs. M. That is interested.

[Merski]

Mrs M My mom wasn't the leave it to beaver type mom. More like Joan Crawford without the $$$$$:devil:

[Amaranth]

12.50 a week back then would be at the equivalent now of the low Food Stamp Challenge level of about $30-32 per person or 128 for a famly of 4. Thanks for sharing these and for the additional postings of the 1940s recipes.

[Tussiemussies]

Coupons back then were higher values and there were the green G&H stamps and free items given out at gas stations. Sewing material and patterns and material was much cheaper. The grocery stores also offered free Cina pieces if you spent a certain amount of money, you could have a whole set of china eventually. It may have been a little bit easier to be frugal then. Also coupons with no expiration date or long expiration dates...

Do have to give this woman credit she did an excellent job of being frugal and the article reminded me of my childhood when all Mom's stayed at home. It was a happy time for me as a child growing up in that environment.

[Tussiemussies]

Was there two pages to the article? I only saw one page with no recipes.:)

[Square Peg]

Notice though, that this housewife was not typical. She was extreme and newsworthy. So we should be careful not to hold her up as a window the past society

That being said, I love reading about this time period and have a stack of vintage magazines that I love to pore over. I got them at an antique store for $1 and $2.

[Mrs-M]

I'm taken aback by your post, SteveinMN, but then again, maybe the difference arises as a result of big-city life/big community life, as compared to small community living.

[Mrs-M]

Oh, Merski, I'm sorry to hear that...

[iris lily]

I remember plenty of social competition, even though we weren't really in the thick of it. "Which country clubs do you belong to? My father was a charter member." kind of thing. I also remember not-so-good food, including hideous margarine with dye you massaged into it (inedible, but absorbing for little kids). My mother had a small garden (potatoes, I remember), and we caught fish and dug clams a couple of blocks away. I had to laugh watching a recent episode of Chopped where contestants were challenged by whole razor clams. I could have field-stripped one in the blink of an eye, having done it a thousand times in my youth. I still don't like seafood...

Brands may not have been so prominent then, but better a used Buick than a new Chevrolet. People were just as snooty and judgmental; it seems to be human nature. We didn't have all the choices then (late 40s, early fifties) we have now and personally, I wouldn't go back for a minute.

Today's emphasis on better quality food and more imaginative preparation is a relief from the drek we grew up eating. But that said, DH's family never ate the stuff that mine did. His mother was European and they had a huge garden and farm raised meats, and she cooked everything from scratch. Hers was a more labor intensive bu better quality food prep kitchen. My mother worked, and so, convenience was part of her food buying choices.

As far as country clubs go---ha ha ha ha ha. We didn't have them in Central Iowa. Well, ok, in the Big City of Des Moines there were country clubs, but those people were way outside of my sphere. In my own middle class town there were a few poor people but there wasn't anyone rich.

[catherine]

I would agree with SteveinMN. That's pretty much how I remember things: no vegetable gardens; and I do remember a "keep-up-with-the Joneses" mentality, mostly with regard to TV ownership. I remember there was one neighbor on the block who could really appreciate Disney's Wonderful World of Color (remember Tinkerbell turning the B&W into color with her wand?), because the rest of us had B&W. It was a bummer for most of us to watch The Wizard of Oz and wonder what Dorothy was marveling at when she left her B&W Kansas world.

As far as cars go, no one had luxury cars in my neighborhood. I don't really remember that kind of one-upmanship. But I certainly remember the home-sewing trend! Every mall had a fabric store. I made most of my own clothes, and I loved it! I thought it was a wonderful creative outlet.

I'm not sure about the food penny-pinching challenges.. my memory is warped because of my mother's divorce when we really, really had to pinch pennies. But I don't recall that our basic meals were any different than those of my neighbors--meatloaf, spaghetti, chicken and vegetables, and on Friday, of course, being Catholic, we always had fish (swordfish mostly--which my DH is always impressed by, but it wasn't as expensive back then).

[pinkytoe]

Growing up in a city with an established old money set...the rich folk were very understated compared to now. They lived a very comfortable life but it was never shoved in one's face. Many of the housewives in our neighborhood had Mexican maids and groundskeepers. The wives did lunch and played tennis at the club. I had the only divorced, working mom in the bunch so sadly it was an embarrassment at the time. The only brands I recall were Cadillac, Lincoln and Pappagallo. I do recall being fascinated with my grandparent's lifestyle as they ranched, grew everything, canned etc. Getting by from year to year was all that mattered - not accumulating wealth and or stuff like we do now.

[Square Peg]

Of course one of the big changes was TV. In the fifties and sixties, we began to see false images of what life "should" look like (Leave it to Beaver, Andy Griffith) and that has escalated to today, where it is everything from the Real Housewives to Jersey Shore. Some of the programming may make people feel envious, others makes us feel better about ourselves. The Joneses now come to us through our flat screen TV as well as from our neighborhood.

[Simplemind]

Even though we were geographically apart, I had pretty much the same experience as SteveinMN.

[Merski]

It's OK Mrs M, I am who I am today because she was who she was. I love cooking from scratch, finding frugal deals, baking....sigh! If only I could love cleaning!

[Mrs-M]

So happy to hear the positive rubbed-off on you, Merski! :)