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

FAQs

What were popular food dishes of the 1950s? ›

1950s Dinners

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.

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.

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.

In fact, a pineapple upside down cake won the first Dole recipe contest in 1926. By the 1950s and 1960s, the cake was at the peak of its popularity perhaps because of the ease of using boxed cake mixes, which were increasingly available in the post WWII years, says Bon Appetit.

The concept really took hold in 1954 when Swanson's frozen meals appeared. Swanson was a well-known brand that consumers recognized, and Swanson launched a massive advertising campaign for their product. They also coined the phrase TV Dinner, which helped to transform their frozen meals into a cultural icon.

The 'housewife syndrome' was a mental disorder diagnosed in many American housewives suffering from supposed bouts of madness and enigmatic conditions, such as hysteria or neurosis, that plagued women who showed unhappiness in their stereotypical role of homemaker in the mid-twentieth century.

Dinner would be on the table ready and waiting for the man of the house on his return from work. Housework and the care of children was considered woman's work so the man would expect the house to be clean and tidy, meal ready, children fed and washed and his clothes all ready for the next day at work.

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 average woman in the 50s had a 27.5-inch waist and her bra size was 34B; in 2017, women's waists are 34 inches and they wear a 36DD bra. Other differences: Women in 2017 are almost 20 pounds heavier (154 vs. 136 pounds) and wear larger-size clothing (size 14 today vs. size 10 in 1957).

What did people snack on in the 50s? ›

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 Popular Mixed Drinks of the 50s & 60s

Although the Manhattan and the Cuba Libre were common drinks for both men and women, sweet dessert-like co*cktails, such as the sloe gin fizz and the festively green grasshopper, were ladylike beverages suitable for the novice drinker.

Beaver Cleaver was known to sit down to a normal meal such as pork chops, a veggie and mashed potatoes. French fries were not normal fare in the 50s. Most families in the middle class region of wealth, ate spaghetti, ham, pot roast. Milk for kids.

1954: Marshmallow Peeps

The original candies were made by hand, but in 1954 Born invented a machine to mass produce his Peeps. Now the company, Just Born, makes about 4 million Peeps every day!

As you can see from the decade's top recipes, the 1950s were all about the intersection of comfort food and convenience—casseroles and quick dishes like Chicken a la King and Welsh rarebit reigned supreme.

Items like pancakes, sausages, meatloaf, burgers, and sandwiches were standard on diner menus, and still are today. The meals were priced low, making diners popular even before their rise in the 1950s.

Often tinned hams, salads, breads and dessert would be served in a field. However, for an easier alternative make sandwiches and wrap them in greaseproof paper. Don't forget the hard boiled eggs as no picnic would be a picnic without one! Tea and lemonade.

Before, most kids enjoyed stews, boiled meats, creamed vegetables, and bread for school lunch. Many were left to their own devices eating nothing but coffee, potato chips, and pickles, and health experts warned that these meals were nutritionally deficient.

The 1950s brought treats including the Hot Tamales candies in 1950, Eggo Waffles and Cheez Whiz in 1953 and Trix Cereal in 1954.