Grocery Shopping in History
Imagine if your refrigerator was gone. If you had to grocery shop for fresh meat pretty much when you needed it because frozen meat, and vacuum sealed were unheard of. And if you had never heard of tacos!
Such was life before the industrial revolution. Well during too but it was the inventions coming about during this time that led up to these wonderful refrigerators and freezer we love today. Although household appliances and conveniences were rapidly upon the horizon for much of America they were still not available or affordable yet.
So how did women provide three healthy meals a day???Well first of all know that the diet was much more limited than what we have today. Dishes were simple and according to what was available locally and what innovative thing the cook could dish up.
There was still an aim to store up as many groceries as possible. Less often trips to the grocer is always advisable. But because the area of storage was usually a “cool room” rather than a freezer or refrigerator much care had to be taken when store foods and it was advisable to check often for spoilage.
“Green vegetables should be purchased only when needed. If asparagus or lettuce must be kept for a day or two, put some water in a shallow dish, and let the roots rest in the water, which should never be more than an inch deep.
Winter vegetables should be perfectly ripe before being gathered. The skin on fruit or vegetable, when fully ripe, forms an almost impervious covering, through which but
little moisture can escape. If, however, it is picked before it is ripe, the moisture passes through the porous skin, and the fruit or vegetable shrinks.
Eggs are cheapest in the late spring, summer, and fall. Many housekeepers buy a quantity of eggs when they are cheap, and preserve them for the time when eggs are scarce and expensive. If the shells of the fresh eggs are coated with some substance that will exclude the air, the eggs will keep very well for many months. It must be remembered, however, that eggs absorb flavor through their porous shell, and they should not be coated with or packed in any sub- stance that can communicate a disagreeable flavor to them. Sometimes quite fresh eggs are spoiled by being packed for a few days in musty oats.
To test the freshness of eggs, make a salt solution of one quart of water and two tablespoonfuls of salt. A fresh egg will sink in this; an egg that is not very stale will
give just a suggestion of rising, and a very stale egg will float readily.
Milk.The greatest care should be exercised in deciding upon where the supply of milk comes from, and, when it has been delivered to you, in keeping it where it shall not become contaminated or absorb odors.
At a slight advance in the ordinary price one may now get milk that has been bottled and sealed at the farm, thus insuring a fairly pure article. Good milk will be slightly straw color of colored and have a pleasant flavor and odor. When the milk is thin and blue, it has either been skimmed or watered, or there is something wrong with it. If there is the slightest reason to think that the milk is contaminated, boil it before using.
The greatest care is required in the treatment of the milk after it is received into the house. The vessels in which it is kept should be thoroughly washed, scalded, and then cooled. The milk or cream should, if possible, be kept in a cool, well-lighted and ventilated room. Fresh and stale milk should never be mixed, unless they are to be cooked at once.
Every store-closet should be supplied with sugar, flour, tea, coffee, chocolate, eggs, breakfast cereals (if used), molasses, salt, pepper, spice, rice, macaroni, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar, baking-powder, flavoring ex- tracts, vinegar, gelatin, barley, starch, bluing, soap, and salsoda.
All dry groceries and cereals should be kept in glass, pottery, or metal. The store-closet should be cool, dry, and well ventilated; heat and moisture, lack of ventilation, and insects are the enemies of all cereals. “
~Home Economics
