The Vintage Cook
The Ice Box – Pre Refrigerator
In the period before refrigerators were available households kept perishables cool by using an ice box. Usually a wooden box that was lined with zinc and other insulating materials the ice box was the smaller, less efficient, ancestor of our refrigerator.
Ice for the ice box was supplied by the iceman who delivered it through neighborhoods [...]
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 [...]
The Use of Linen Dish Cloths And Their Care
I like to think housewives of the past embroidered their dish towels with weekly activities as a way of reminding them what household tasks were to be done that day. Has a sort of romantic old fashioned appeal don’t you think?
Truly I’m not sure for the reasoning for the specific homemaking duties embroidered on dish [...]
Vintage Holiday Recipes to Round Out The Year’s End
In a time with few pre-made packaged baked goods a Vintage hostess turned to her own recipes for the sweets with which to treat her guests. Here are a few recipes from the vintage cookbook…365 Cakes and Cookies: A Cake or Cooky for every day in the year 1904
Cheap Sponge Cake
Mix carefully 1 cupful of [...]
Turn of the Century Meal Planning Advice
We’ve come discover that meal planning can save money, time and foster great family relationships here in the 21st century. The time is the very early 1920’s. Famous Home Economist Christine Frederick author of several homemaking books and magazine articles not to mention a homemaking correspondence course gives the following advice on meal planning …
“Many [...]
Cooking on a Vintage Stove
One can only imaging what it must have been like to cook in a vintage home before the invention of the cooking stove. Preparing meals over an open fire could have been no picnic.
The innovations in the cooking stove during the nineteenth century were some of the most needed, and most welcomed.
In addition to the [...]
The Care Of Cupboards
There are three methods in general use of caring for cupboards. Some housewives prefer their cupboard shelves of bare wood, to be well scrubbed with soap and water at the periodical “turn-out.” Others cover all shelves with white American cloth, which only needs wiping over with a wet house-flannel; while still others prefer to dispense [...]
Hoosier Kitchen Cabinets
Housewives of the early 20th century worked in large open kitchens featuring large tables, cooking areas, and washing areas but precious little storage.
Hoosier Kitchen cabinets were popular during the early 20th century. Mostly because housewives of this time period did not have all the cupboard space so popular today and well yes hiring servants was [...]
From the Pantry Shelf
This little ditty (well not really ditty but I like the word) is from a 1913 issue of Armour’s Monthly Cooking Magazine. It was chock full of homemaking tidbits for the housewife. This particular entry is recipes based on using the foods in the pantry to make wholesome (at that time) meals for the family. [...]
Trimming the Grocery Bill in 1948
Budget Menu Planning is not just a theme for the 21st century. Back in 1948 housewives were just as conscious about how much they were spending on the family meals.
In a vintage 1948 McCall’s one article put together 5 family meals for four people costing about $1.00 per meal. According the the West Egg Inflation [...]
