50 Recipes from a 1950s Housewife- A Cultivated Nest (2024)

FAQs

What did 1950s housewives cook? ›

Dad grew up eating his mother's Russian shtetl cuisine of borscht, pulverized potatoes, and desiccated meat, so he thought his wife's cooking was wildly exotic: an elegant relish tray with celery, carrots, and olives on ice; chicken à la king; green bean casserole made with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup; instant ...

Until the 1950s it was common for bored housewives to buy amphetamine-based drugs from the chemists. In 1963, the use of drugs to alleviate housewives' boredom returned with a vengeance with the introduction of the 'wonder drug' Valium.

1950s Dinners

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.

1950s: Betty Crocker

In that decade she had a television show (an actress played Betty) and a number of best-selling cookbooks, including 1950s Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book.

On average, women probably had maybe 5 every day dresses and maybe 3 “church” dresses and one or two pairs of dress shoes. They probably owned a couple of pairs of casual shoes and only a few tops and pants and a couple of purses.

The gendered cultural meanings of diazepam (Valium®), a well-known benzodiazepine, was cemented in the 1966 Rolling Stones' song “Mother's little helper”. Benzodiazepines are recommended for the short-term treatment of anxiety and insomnia (Baldwin et al., 2013).

Miltown was called a tranquilizer and was marketed for the relief of the anxiety, tension, and stress associated with anxiousness and its accompanying somatic symptoms. Miltown became the most popular prescription drug in U.S. history.

I was a child in the 1950s. On school days, we usually ate cold cereal (Cheerios, Wheat Chex, or Grape Nuts flakes—never corn flakes for some reason) or hot oatmeal with raisins in it on cold days. On Saturdays, we usually had one egg (fried, boiled, poached, or scrambled) and bacon. On Sundays, we had pancakes.

Breakfast was viewed as the meal to set you up for the day so was, at the very least, porridge, followed by bacon, eggs and fried bread, then toast and home-made marmalade, and lots of milky tea.

What did people snack on in the 1950s? ›

However, packaged snacks were not about to concede to the fast food trend. Peanut M&Ms, Atomic Fireballs, Certs Mints, Hot Tamales, PEZ candy, Pixy Stix, Smarties Candy Necklaces and Marshmallow Peeps were all candies developed during this decade.

The publication also outlines daily tasks that one should complete each and every day, which include: Kitchen: Put away food, clean coffee grounds, wash dishes & sink, sweep, empty wastebasket. Bedrooms: Hang up night clothes, make beds, straighten & dust, dust/vacuum blinds.

enough personal accounts by any disgruntled former housewives from the period to sufficiently support such a bold, general claim as 'housewives in the 1950s were downright miserable.

As one of the most influential parts of culture, gender roles define how men and women behave and interact with each other. During the 1950s, gender roles dictated that men were the head of the household and the sole provider, while women were expected to be the homemaker who cared for the children.

The ideal 1950s woman was a homemaker who cared for the home she shared with her husband and children. She took primary responsibility for raising the children, and she was the primary shopper for most items that the household consumed.

Processed foods, easily and quickly assembled into meals using electric appliances, became standard fare. Grocery bills went up as women happily purchased more and more convenience foods. Food company marketing materials assured women that their products were both high quality and healthy.

During the 1950s, food processing was viewed as a modern and scientific approach to food production. This perception was influenced by advancements in technology, such as refrigeration, canning, and freezing, which allowed for mass production, preservation, and distribution of food.

Cleaning and dusting the house, washing, making the beds, ironing and anything else. Do the shopping - this was mainly daily as many still had no Fridges, certainly not Freezers. Maybe have the neighbour round for a cup of Tea at some stage. Collect the Children from School and feed them.