Monday 5 June 2017

A lesson in money management from the 1950's

Hello, chomping through my salad lunch and browsing yooootoooob, like you do, I found this video. Food Shopping, a handy guide for the housewife. Go back to the 1950's to find out how to save money on your food. Sorry if I am teaching your granny to suck eggs, but this should be shown in all schools as part of the home economics course.



Amazing that these rules still apply today, it proves that our mums and grannies knew exactly how to get the best value for their money.

Raining outside, staying in, more crafting. I'll be back later.
Toodle pip

20 comments:

  1. In the 60s and 70s you had public information broadcasts. How to cross the road, how to build a bomb shelter, what to do in the four minute warning etc This would make an excellent broadcast.

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  2. First point: don't let a 'silly Henry' go out to do the shopping! A lot of sense here, however, you don't need a list (I've learnt that), shop around for prices, quantities are a good point - buy in bulk but be prepared to make sure you use it all up.

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  3. I agree that it should be taught in schools, but there are thousands of adults who ought to watch it as well.

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  4. I was brought up in the 60s so very similar; we had the traditional roast on Sunday; cold on Monday (as it was wash day); left-overs in a pie on Tuesday; then a variety of meals with fish on one day until back to the Sunday again. We grew loads of vegetables and fruits; pickled and preserved food; nothing got wasted. Things have changed but we now use a freezer to good use and we try very hard not to buy too much, and, not be picky. Amanda

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  5. I was also brought up in the 60s with a combination of British and Italian food.My mum learnt how to cook Italian recipes from my aunt.Lots of salad and melon.Sweets,crisps and pop only as treats.I did have puddings at school and on Sundays at home.I never had cookery lessons at school which would have been useful.As a teenager I recall my mum getting a freezer and buying a large box of frozen fish.We were in the shed and she was attacking the frozen solid fish with a bread knife trying to seperate the fillets.Poor mum.She much prefered to buy it fresh from the fish market x

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    1. Cookery classes (basic) should be taught either at school or home (in an ideal world); we were, from basic baking, various sauces, to using left-overs and also hygiene in the kitchen. It sounds rather silly now, but it never fails to surprise me how some of the younger generation have no idea about these things - we had no 'fast foods' or takeaways, very few packets and 'ready-made' stuff. Amanda

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  6. I have a very old book done in cartoon style from the 40s/50s about managing on rations. It should be republished.

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  7. I grew up in the Midlands in the 50's. I have never wasted food and just don't understand why so many people do so, especially ( from what I read) here in the States. At one time there was a blogger who wrote about her goal of losing weight by following the rations of WW2. I don't know how that worked out but it's an interesting idea. JanF

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    1. My mum was a child during WW2 ,being born 1934.She was raised by her widowed mother and had 2 young brothers.She told me looking back the food was healthy.Wholewheat bread,veg and fruit from allotments and very little meat,fat and sugar.She said she was never hungry and enjoyed the food x

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    2. That would be the 1940s experiment (.com) . Carolyn completed the London marathon in April this year.

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  8. Oysters, swede and cake - yum !
    Get rid of Henry !!

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  9. Wise tips that I follow. I was raised in the '60's here in the US, and learned to scratch cook, to garden and home can produce, to mend and sew my own clothes.These are all valuable skills that I am blessed to have. I keep a paper/pencil budget and save a tidy sum, monthly, in the process. Thanks for posting this video. My meals today: homemade banana bread, coffee; homemade chicken salad (planned overs from Sunday supper) with crackers and pickles; and supper tonight will be baked Salmon fillets, a choice of leftover starch: mashed potatoes and Basmatti rice; steamed carrots. Treat: I made a fresh rhubard-strawberry crumble pie for dessert.

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  10. Henry did a terrible job! I'm not sure Home Economics is even offered in schools anymore but there were many valuable tips in this video.

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  11. Oh that's hysterical! I think Henry did a bad job on purpose so he wouldn't get sent back to the store.... oysters and swedes! Really? Interesting though how Henry was given his full name and the woman shopper was The Housewife, representative of the times I know, but amazing to watch.

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  12. I don't think a man would be caught dead in a grocery store in the 1950's. THAT was 'women's work'!

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  13. In the 1950's we didn't have a car, so all the groceries had to be carried home, and we lived a long way from the store. We had to take 2 busses to go down town so we carried everything home with us. When I was big enough I carried a bag, as I got older I had two bags, and Mom had two bags. We grew our own vegetables, and a neighbour who was a fisherman used to bring home Salmon and Mom would buy it fresh and can it. We canned many of our foods, and of course cooked from scratch. Our whole yard was garden, veg and fruits. in the back yard and the front yard was potatoes. It was not odd then, as the country was just getting back on it's feet after the depression and the Second World War. I can remember my Dad coming home from work with his lunch box filled with blackberries, as he had worked near some wild berry bushes and he brought home enough that we had blackberry jam all winter! Pat

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  14. Enjoyed the video however not everyone has the time or energy to prepare meals from scratch or shop around.I only work two days a week but on my days off in the summer I prefer to be gardening so we have a salad or a pizza. That's happy to me x

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  15. My husband once came home with a kilo of prawns, a case of beer and some crisps. Then told me he couldn't buy what was on the list I gave him because it was all too expensive. Seriously, true story! We've brought up two kids on one income though through me being thrifty, I'm a good cook, seamstress, used to have an allotment and adore the charity shops. The kids never did without anything important like shoes or a computer to do their homework on but they knew not to ask for endless trash or handfuls of money. My husband on the other hand could blow a week's shopping budget on nothing much.

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  16. Thanks for your post!
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  17. Oh my goodness. This was very interesting especially a program from KU (University of Kansas). I still follow the rules of shopping wisely that I learned in home ec class. Thanks for the flash back! and reminder. Martha from Kansas

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