What was the diet in the 1940s?

1940s. In the 1940s, the Second World War was ongoing and food rationing was introduced. Meat, cheese, butter, cooking fats and sugar were heavily restricted, but potatoes, other root vegetables and bread were freely available . People ate a diet much higher in carbohydrates and lower in fats than we do today.

What influenced the food eaten during 1940s?

Government rationing of sugar, coffee, canned goods, meat, fish, butter and cheese began in 1942. Ground beef took fewer ration stamps to buy than steak or roasts, so homemakers “stretched” the meat supply by fixing meatloaf, spaghetti, stuffed peppers and meat rolls.

What did people eat for breakfast in 1942?

Breakfast: Grapefruit halves, prepared cereal, poached eggs, toasted bran bread, milk and coffee . Electric Institute of Washington test kitchen.

What were the 7 food groups in the 1940s?

In the 1940s, the number of food groups expanded to 7 through “The Basic 7” (green and yellow vegetables; oranges, tomatoes, and grapefruit; potatoes and other vegetables and fruit; milk and milk products; meat, poultry, fish, or eggs; bread, flour, and cereals; and butter and fortified margarine) (10).

What did people eat for breakfast in the 40s?

1940s: Mint, orange juice, and apple butter A sample brunch menu includes: orange juice topped with mint, creamed ham and mushrooms, waffles de luxe, maple syrup, apple butter, coffee, and milk. Notable breakthroughs: General Mills rolls out CheeriOats in 1941; the name is changed to Cheerios in 1945.

What did people snack on in 1940?

Other favorites of the time were Bazooka Bubble Gum, Licorice candies, Turkish Taffy, DOTS Candy, Jolly Ranchers, Whoppers Malted Milk Balls, Mike & Ike, and Rain-Blo Bubble Gum. Snacks that emerged during the '40s include Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Chiquita Bananas, Junior Mints, Almond Joy, V8, and Cheetos .

What did dogs eat in the 1940s?

The Rise of Commercial Pet Food During World War II, metal rationing halted all production of canned pet foods, and manufacturers began focusing on dry foods, selling them to customers by promoting the convenience factor. By the mid-1940s, there were two types of dry food: biscuits and kibble; and pellets .

What did poor people eat in WWII?

During the war, governments (including the British and American government) introduced the rationing of food supplies. This was done to ensure that everyone at least got some of the little food that was available. Foods that were rationed included meat, fats, milk, sugar, eggs, and coffee .

How healthy were people in the 1940s?

Overall, the health of the nation improved in the 1940s . The number of infant deaths fell as infections became easier to treat. The number of people aged sixty-five and over increased from 6.9 percent of the population to 8.2 percent.

How many calories did they eat in the 1940s?

Throughout the war each person was allocated a scientifically devised weekly provision of specific foods. We often think of rationing as a 'starvation diet' but the daily calorific value was around 3000 calories . This is up to 1000 more than we are recommended today – so was it still good for us?

What was the diet in the 1950s?

There was no such thing as the keto diet in the 1950s— meat and potatoes reigned supreme . You'd find hearty main dishes like Salisbury steak, beef stroganoff and meat loaf on a '50s dinner menu, plus scrumptious sides. Casseroles were also popular, particularly those featuring seafood or ham.

What was the average diet in 1930?

A typical Depression-era breakfast consisted of a piece of seasonal fruit, milk and cereal, and eggs or toast with butter. The noon meal was usually a sandwich with salad or some soup. Dinner was meat and veggies, followed by dessert.

1940s Liberal Sunday Meal Plan (2024)

Laura The Gastronaut > Old Recipes >
1940's Liberal Sunday Meal Plan

August 4, 2022 | Laura

↓ Jump to Meal Plan

*This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please see full disclosure policy for details.
*The views expressed on this blog are my own.

__________________________________

✽ The Lily Wallace New American Cook Book's editor-in-chief was Lily Haxworth Wallace. The cookbook was copyrighted by Books, Inc. in 1941. I am currently using the 1946 edition.

✽ You may be able to find used versions of this cookbook (from various publication years) on Amazon. Check it out here! (affiliate link)

The purpose of this Old Recipes section of my blog is to talk about and show pictures of actual meal plans from the 1940s.

Since I didn't create these recipes, I do not post the exact recipe ingredients or word-for-word instructions. My 1946 copy of The Lily Wallace New American Cook Book was found at a garage sale. If you are looking for a copy of this book, I suggest looking on Amazon, Etsy, Ebay, garage sales, estate sales, and library sales.

__________________________________

Lily Wallace New American Cook Book from 1946

I acquired a copy of The Lily Wallace New American Cook Book, and I was immediately intrigued by the recipes inside. It's like stepping into the past, and I love it.

This cookbook was written by Lily Haxworth Wallace in 1946. She was a home economics lecturer and writer.

This book came out right after World War II so it holds a lot of fun things such as entertaining, meal plans for all budgets, dieting, how a housewife should be running their home, vitamins, and how to set a table.

Looking for more 1940s recipes to read about?

I have already completed Monday through Saturday's meal plans. Head over to my Old Recipes Home Page to find them all.

1940s Sunday Breakfast

I loved this Sunday breakfast. It had a little bit of everything I want in a breakfast, and I was so happy to make this meal. The menu was grapefruit (or other fruit in season), waffles with honey, sausage, and coffee. If children were present, they would receive hot cereal and milk.

First, grapefruit. I used to eat grapefruit quite a bit growing up, but I don't much anymore. I'm not sure why. Though the meal plan doesn't mention it, I sprinkled a little bit of sugar over my grapefruit half, and it brought back all those citrusy memories.

The waffles were delicious and pretty basic. Honestly, I would use this recipe again when making waffles. The ingredient list was short and simple- flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, milk, eggs, and melted shortening. The meal plan called for drizzling honey over the top. As a huge honey lover, I welcomed that suggestion happily.

Next, was fried sausages. I was really happy that this meal plan included meat- fried meat, yum. The recipe in the cookbook tells you to puncture the skin of each sausage prior to frying. I'm not sure why they tell you to do this. Maybe it's to prevent the sausages from exploding. I just was sad to see all that delicious juice drain from each one as they cooked in the pan. Once they were crisp, they were removed from the pan.

Thankfully, we had coffee today unlike Saturday's coffee-less meal plan.

1940s Sunday Dinner

Sunday lunch was quite the feast! The menu included roast chicken with savory stuffing, baked yams, creamed asparagus, head lettuce salad, and ice cream with strawberry preserves. If children were present, they also had a glass of milk.

The roast chicken reminded me quite a bit of Julia Child's roast chicken recipe. The whole chicken is slathered with butter and few seasonings. It was cooked in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes then the temperature is reduced to 350 degrees for the remainder of the cooking time. This recipe, as well as Julia's, tells you to baste the chicken every 10 minutes. This is so time-consuming. About the time I get something else going in the kitchen, it's time to baste again. Not to mention all the heat that is let out of the oven every time you open it. The stuffing inside the chicken was so tasty. It was onion, butter, bread crumbs, and seasoning. Simple, but flavorful!

The yams were yams- nothing fancy. They were soaked in cold water for an hour, poked, boiled for a few minutes, covered in butter, and then baked with the chicken for a bit until soft and browned.

The asparagus was... awful. This cookbook had me boiling asparagus for 25 minutes. It came out just like you'd expect- limper than ever. Then a medium white sauce was poured on top of them. Would NOT recommend.

The salad was also not really anything worth talking about either. After soaking the lettuce leaves for 30 minutes in water, a homemade French dressing was poured on top. I'll go ahead and add that the soaking of the vegetables really makes timing out this meal to get everything to be ready at the same time even more difficult.

Lastly, dessert- ice cream with strawberry preserves. This wasn't really anything to write home about either. Of course, the ice cream was good, but the strawberry preserves were strange. I found that boiling the sugar and fruit for that long just made the mixture really hard when it cooled. We were still able to eat it, but I think maybe the proportions of the ingredients were off a bit or maybe I did something wrong. Which is always an option when I have so much cooking at once!

This Sunday lunch was meh to me. It was a ton of work, planning, and cooking to do during a Sunday. I'm actually not quite sure how a housewife that also went to Sunday morning church would have pulled this off by early afternoon. At the end of the day, I'd take the stuffing and roast chicken and leave the rest.

1940s Sunday Supper

It was nice to see that the Sunday supper wasn't as such a big to-do since the lunch was huge. Still, I feel like maybe the family could've just made their own sandwiches or eaten leftovers to let the poor wife rest..

This Sunday meal consisted of mixed green salad, potato chips, olive and nut sandwiches, cookies, fruit, and coffee or tea.

As somebody who usually skips the salad, this salad was actually quite good. We even ate the leftovers the next day! The recipe allowed you to pick which combination of greens you wanted to add. I chose green pepper, green olives, diced pimiento, and romaine lettuce. The salad bowl is rubbed down with cut garlic which was nice to have a bit of garlic flavor without it being too overwhelming. Minced onion is sprinkled on top, and a homemade French dressing is drizzled on it all.

The homemade potato chips- not much to say but I want to eat these every day. I know that this cookbookd didn't come up with fried potatoes, but that doesn't change anything. I'm glad that they decided to include them in a meal plan. Thinly sliced potatoes are soaked in water, dried, fried to perfection in hot oil, and then sprinkled with salt.

Olive and nut sandwiches are exactly what they said like. Chopped nuts and chopped olives are mixed together with a little bit of homemade French dressing and then piled on top of buttered white bread. If you like olives then you'd like this sandwich. I would definitely eat this again and again.

Cookies and fruit were also added to the meal plan, but neither one of them had a recipe that went with them. I just baked some icebox cookies real quick and threw some watermelon and pineapple in a bowl. I chose to serve this all with a nice cup of hot black tea.

I'll be honest with you- this may have been the best meal as a whole yet. Everything was delicious, and I would gladly eat it all again. Solid meal.

A Sunday in the Life of a 1940s Housewife- Thoughts

With a huge meal thrown right into the middle of the day, this Sunday was exhausting. I definitely think that the husband should have been in charge of dinner after that lunch. Don't you think? I loved the breakfast. I loved the supper, but the lunch was way too much work for what it was worth. So much for Sunday fun day.

Next up is the meal plans for the Moderate-Cost Adequate Diet! I couldn't be more excited to be starting a new meal plan. I will see you all very soon for Monday!

Category: Old Recipes Cuisine: American
Keywords: 1940s meal plan, 1940s diet plan, 1940s diet, 1940s housewife diet, 1940s recipes, 1940s meals, typical 1940s diet

✽ Would you enjoy this 1940s menu?
→ Let me know by leaving a comment below!

More 1940s Meal Plans:

✽1940s Liberal Thursday Meal Plan (baked apples, minced lamb sandwiches, baked cheese fondue, & more)
✽1940s Liberal Friday Meal Plan (French toast, bacon sandwiches, scalloped salmon, & more)
✽1940s Liberal Saturday Meal Plan (poached eggs, vegetable soup, liver, & more)
→ Check out all of the completed old recipes!

Bon appétit!

August 4, 2022 by Laura Ehlers

*This 1940s Liberal Sunday Meal Plan blog post may contain some Amazon affiliate links. These link to products that I personally use and recommend. If you purchase anything using my links, it will not cost you anything. It will though give laurathegastronaut.com some financial support which helps me keep this blog running. Thank you for reading my blogs and your continued support.

First name and email are required. Your email address will not be published.

1940s Liberal Sunday Meal Plan (2024)

Lily Wallace New American Cook Book from 1946

Looking for more 1940s recipes to read about?

1940s Sunday Breakfast

1940s Sunday Dinner

1940s Sunday Supper

A Sunday in the Life of a 1940s Housewife- Thoughts

More 1940s Meal Plans:

FAQs

What was the diet in the 1940s? ›

What was the diet in the 1950s? ›

References