From the way back archives: 1935 Menu Planner
dullhunk/flickr
I know some folks use the 7-Day Menu Planner that runs in Sunday’s Extra section because they’ve mentioned it to me in the past. But did you know we used to run a menu planner waaaaaaaaaaay back in The Roanoke Times & World News in the 1930s? I sure didn’t – that is, until RT archive librarian Belinda Harris dug up a real gem: a menu planner for the week of Dec. 27, 1935.
I’m going to have to type this thing up and share it with you guys, because I found it so fascinating. Just look at this thing! And who in the world had the time to do all this cooking? Oh, that’s right – the women folk stayed home back then. Check this out:
Monday
Breakfast: Baked apples, dry cereal with cream, grilled bacon, French toast, coffee.
Luncheon [it actually says that]: Deviled eggs a la king, clover rolls, preserved pears, cookies, tea.
Dinner: Green pea soup, broiled beefsteak, French fried onions, mashed potatoes, pineapple and cheese salad, rice meringue, coffee.
Tuesday
Breakfast: Stewed prunes, hominy with cream, scrambled eggs, bacon, popovers, coffee.
Luncheon: Chicken and macaroni in casserole, baking powder biscuits, mocha pie, tea.
Dinner: Cream of mushroom soup, baked stuffed beef heart [!!], baked potatoes, boiled spinach, beet and lettuce salad, French dressing, queen’s pudding, coffee.
Wednesday
Breakfast: Stewed figs, dry cereal with cream, rice griddle cakes, maple syrup, bacon, coffee.
Luncheon: Cream of celery soup, bran muffins, fruit salad, brownies, tea.
Dinner: Clear soup, broiled hamburger steak, brown gravy, French fried potatoes, creamed onions, asparagus salad, French dressing, brown Betty, coffee.
Thursday
Breakfast: Grapefruit, wheat cereal with cream, corned beef hash, squash biscuits, coffee.
Luncheon: Eggs a la king on toast, lettuce, French dressing, pineapple upside down cake, tea.
Dinner: Creole stew, dumplings, cabbage salad, mayonnaise dressing, mince pie, cheese, coffee.
Friday
Breakfast: Grapefruit juice, dry cereal with cream, vegetable hash, hot corn cake, coffee.
Luncheon: Boiled spinach on toast, egg croquettes, orange and banana salad, spice cakes, tea.
Dinner: Tomato soup, creamed Finnan Haddie [who's that? Ohhh], boiled potatoes, green beans, coleslaw, apple cobbler, coffee.
Saturday
Breakfast: Stewed figs, farina [type of hot cereal] with cream, creamed chipped beef, toast, quince marmalade, coffee.
Luncheon: Baked beans, coleslaw, brown bread, apple gingerbread upside-down, tea.
Dinner: Cream of asparagus soup, shepherd’s pie, potato crust, Harvard beets, Waldorf salad, French dressing, crackers, cheese, coffee.
Sunday
Breakfast: Grapefruit, oatmeal with cream, baked eggs, bacon, bran muffins, coffee.
Dinner: Fruit cocktail, roast chicken, giblet sauce, cranberry jelly, celery, glazed sweet potatoes, baked squash, lettuce, cheese dressing, raspberry Bavarian cream, coffee.
Supper: Shrimp a la Newburg, toasted crackers, celery, olives, almond sponge cake, tea.
(Copyright, 1935. By the Associated Newspapers)
Now, how would you like to figure up that grocery list? And what about leftovers? Did they just assume there would be no leftovers? For comparison, I would like to offer you my guess at the daily meal plan for an average American household today:
Breakfast: Pop Tart, Sunny D
Luncheon: Lunchables, Capri Sun
Dinner: Taco Bell, Code Red Mountain Dew
December 2, 2010 - 11:18 AM
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How much did these people weigh?
Love that! I like that the beverages are added too. Much more substantial breakfasts then now. On Sundays, they must have gone out for lunch after church. Creole stew surprised me a little, for the time period.
Actually, Debbie, I think the Sunday menu reflects that old tendency to call lunch “dinner” and to call dinner “supper.” My grandma always called them “dinner” and “supper.”
When I read the Sunday dinner menu, I noticed it was a HUGE meal. Must have been a big after-church meal. And then I expected to see a really simple supper that day, but I’m not sure I would classify shrimp a la Newburg as simple. LOL.
How did the lady of the house cook that big supper and go to church, too?? I reckon she got up early and did most of it in advance.
P.S. I don’t even eat that much breakfast on a weekend!
I’m full just reading this!
I’m not sure I eat what is listed for a 2-day span in an entire week! My meals are quite simple and don’t add up to much most of the time.
The “Modern Meal Planner” at the end sounds like my husband’s diet.
I actually had a pop tart and Sunny D for breakfast. Wow.
Lindsey,I think we should use this for our menu next week. I’m sure your boss will understand if you’re a little late for work in the morning.
I love how the “light” Sunday supper to follow the Thanksgiving-ish dinner is Shrimp Newburgh.
Baked eggs? Squash biscuits? Queen’s pudding? I’d like to see some recipes. Seems they used a lot of cream sauce (ala king stuff). I am glad I didn’t live then. I don’t think I’d like much on that menu.
Oh, Michelle S. that’s priceless.
Yeah, Susan, how about some deviled eggs a la king? What is that, deviled eggs covered in cream sauce?
Incidentally, there was a very enthusiastic advertisement for cigarettes on the same page (and one for Del Monte peas, 17 cents a can). Health schmealth.
Obviously the newspaper was not aiming for the “common folk” with that “menu” were they?
Seriously, that seems extravagant even by today’s standards IMO.
I think it seems extravagant *especially* by today’s standards.
TOO FUNNY!
My menu-
Breakfast -English muffin-milk, 1 cup coffee
Lunch -Brown bag Turkey sandwich/ granola bar- diet pepsi
Dinner-Always a salad with chicken cut up on top. A slice or two of bread from the local bread shops! Iced tea
My grandmother would feed us like that when we
stayed with her when we were kids. Big breakfast, big lunch, big dinner and always a chocolate cake under the “chrome cake saver” I still have that old cake saver!
You have to remember, that Roanoke had many folks that would be upper middle class to Damn rich at this time in history. Those folks were the ones that subscribede to the paper. They are the ones that drove the economy, the average working man with a family did not even have these meals. They had bean and corn bread, and possibly a bit of fat-back. My grandparents were far heavier than I just from eating a menu like that.
Oops, I missed the line for supper in the Sunday menu. Remeber too, back then most of the women that this was aimed at had cooks/housekeepers. As Sandi said, this doesn’t seem aimed at the “common folks”.
I’m weird, I’ve always hated pop tarts.
Did they actually call this a “planner”?
How could you plan for all those things?
Maybe it’s a planner for a kitchen staff.
Creamed Finnan Haddie
1 pound haddock
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, hard-boiled, sliced
In a large deep skillet, poach haddock in milk until the fish flakes easily when tested.
Remove fish and cut into small pieces.
Add flour to the poaching liquid and stir until thick. Pour the sauce on fish pieces and top with sliced hard-boiled eggs.
A couple of notes – ‘Dinner’ was always the major meal of the day. Whether it came during the middle of the day, or in the evening. Supper was always the evening meal, unless it was the major meal, when it was termed dinner.
A lot of rural families had their big meal midday, and called it dinner. The same was true for some white collar families, too, though not all. If you worked on a farm, you needed to ‘keep your strength up’ (carbo load) for the afternoon work period.
Also, just as today, the menus were idealized suggestions. Present day seven day planners have many meals that we might actually only cook on the weekend, or the nights when we have lots of time.
As for my weekly planner? It always includes at least one night when I cheat and either eat just a bowl of cereal or a sandwich for supper. One other night is just a salad, but that’s on purpose & meant to be healthy, not lazy, like the other night.
I always loved Pop Tarts, but we couldn’t always afford them, because we were poor as dirt growing up. We had Toast’Ems instead. In the winter, it was always either a bowl of oatmeal (not the instant, either, Mom would stand there stirring it forever) or Cream of Wheat.
Once I got older, we could afford Pop Tarts, though. The best ones were the Brown Sugar Cinnamon, you could put a big slab of butter on them and it was heaven…
What…you don’t get up in the morning and stew figs? Twice a week? I do it three times a week! Haha — not even in a nightmare!
I love the Toaster Strudels, but Pop Tarts always tasted like cardboard to me.
My meals go more like this:
Breakfast: GF English muffin or GF bagel, toppings vary…with a strip or 2 of turkey bacon, water.
Lunch: GF sandwich, usually with turkey or chicken, baked chips, Coke
Dinner: Varies a bunch but usually a meat (beef, chicken, turkey), 2 veggies (corn, broccoli, green beans, carrots, salad, etc), and something starchy (rice pasta mac n cheese or just plain rice), water
Desserts: something GF, but not too regular
As much of a food lover as I am, my breakfasts and lunches are terribly simple…basically whatever I can prepare with a few items I keep in my company fridge at work. I typically make a Kroger run on Mondays to grab supplies. We spend our primary focus on dinners and put time and effort into those. The only time my breakfast or lunch routine varies is if we have leftovers to eat.
I couldn’t imagine doing a meal planner like that, we simply wouldn’t have enough to do it all, nor would we utilize everything we would have to buy to make it!
I would love to see the look on my kids faces if I presented them with chipped beef and stewed figs for breakfast.