1929 grocery prices and recipes

2/28/18 Cook’s Corner

Betty Kaiser

Someone recently asked me where I find all my recipes. Well, some of them used to come to me in the mail. Snail mail! The hand-written kind on recipe cards mailed with postage stamps. Back in the day, I was writing this column weekly. One summer I remember asking readers for zucchini recipes. I was inundated with mail from up and down the Oregon coast and California. I still use some of those recipes.

Well, I recently received not one but two pieces of chatty news and real-mail recipes. One was from a reader thanking me for last month’s chicken pot pie recipe. She, like me, had been having trouble finding just the right combination of ingredients. My recipe (courtesy of Maryana Vollstedt and Betty Crocker) worked for her too. Yea! Thank you, my friend.

Then, a bulky letter arrived from Kitty, in So. California that said, “I was thinking of you while going through my late, great-aunt Mildred’s things and came across this.” Imagine my surprise when I unfolded a huge yellowed newspaper sheet from the Portland “Morning Oregonian,” dated Sat. April 20, 1929! The sheet is 17” wide X 23” long.

One side of the paper has West Coast and International news. The other includes tidbits similar to what a former colleague and I worked on reviving. It includes a cooking tips column, recipes, grocery ads, handy hints from readers, social news—i.e. house-guests, fashion tips and more.

So, pour yourself a cup of tea, sit down and share this blast from the past with me. Mind you, this paper was published before the Great Wall Street Crash October 24, 1929. The average family income was less than $200 per month but enough to put food on the table and set some money aside for a rainy day. Income plummeted as the Great Depression set in.

Life was good in that pre-depression era and new-fangled things like Tater Flakes were being introduced. You know, crisp, crunchy potato chips! Frye’s Meat Guide was available for 3¢ postage. If you were having a party you could order a birthday cake from the Bake Rite Bakery. On Saturday, a three-layer Strawberry filled cake (regular 45¢) was only 38¢!  

The MacMarr Stores had three locations in Portland and their prices were enticing. i.e. Libby canned milk was 3 cans for 25¢; 1 pound of coffee was 48¢ but 3 pounds was only $1.39; 19 POUNDS of sugar was $1; 2 dozen eggs were 57¢; a fresh, 3 bulk pounds of pure lard was only 45¢; a large bottle of Del Monte Catsup was 19¢ and a one-pound tall can of salmon was 20¢ each or 3 for 59¢.

Handy hints? A Grant’s Pass woman won a prize for her kitchen shears suggestion. My favorite was a way to save time when sewing buttons on a child’s coat or shoes (!). The suggestion was to pull the thread through a piece of beeswax to strengthen it and hold the buttons longer. It still works.

 In “Expert Cooking Now Made Simple” columnist Jeannette Cramer extoled the many radio programs, newspaper and magazine articles that were now available to train women to become good cooks. There were now resources and practical answers for budding homemakers.

Radio host Betty Baker was one of those sources. The Oregonian printed 15 of her recipes! Whew. Recipes in tiny print cover half of that huge page. They include Curried Spinach, Pork Threads, Baked Ham with New Potatoes in Cream and several desserts. I chose the following for their simplicity and similarity to ones that I have baked or eaten in my lifetime. Remember cooking in a double boiler? Now we use the microwave. Enjoy!

LEMON CHIFFON PIE

1 cup sugar (divided)

3 eggs, separated

5 tablespoons hot water

Juice and rind 1 lemon

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 small baked pie shell

Combine ½ cup sugar and beaten egg yolks and then add hot water. Mix thoroughly. Cook in top double boiler until thick. Add lemon juice and rind. Beat egg whites until stiff and beat in second ½ cup sugar. When thick, add baking powder and fold the first mixture into this (egg yolk mixture). Pour into baked pastry shell and bake in moderate 350° oven. Garnish with whipped cream.

CABBAGE with SAUSAGE—CREOLE

1 dozen sausages

½ pound fresh pork

1 large head cabbage

1 tablespoon oil

Salt

Red Pepper pod—1/2” long (or red pepper flakes)

(Betty’s note: Sauté some peppers and onions with the meat; add some chicken broth)

Shred cabbage and cook in boiling water 10 minutes. Drain. Sauté sausages and pork cut into very small pieces. When almost done, add cabbage, red pepper and seasonings (and broth). Simmer 5 minutes. Serve hot with rice and buttered corn bread.

Contact Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner at  bchatty@bettykaiser.com