No one snacked in the '40s  | CBC Life (2024)

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No one snacked in the '40s  | CBC Life? ›

There will be no snacking later. A '40s breakfast was offered in the early morning, lunch rang in at noon, and after school your time was used for chores, not chips. Most people didn't eat before or after a meal, with perhaps one exception: going to the movies.

Other favorites of the time were Bazooka Bubble Gum, Licorice candies, Turkish Taffy, DOTS Candy, Jolly Ranchers, Whoppers Malted Milk Balls, Mike & Ike, and Rain-Blo Bubble Gum. Snacks that emerged during the '40s include Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Chiquita Bananas, Junior Mints, Almond Joy, V8, and Cheetos.

1940s: Mint, orange juice, and apple butter

A sample brunch menu includes: orange juice topped with mint, creamed ham and mushrooms, waffles de luxe, maple syrup, apple butter, coffee, and milk. Notable breakthroughs: General Mills rolls out CheeriOats in 1941; the name is changed to Cheerios in 1945.

They would often consume berries, nuts, and seeds as they roamed, providing them with quick energy. These small, frequently consumed meals were crucial, especially when larger game was scarce. Fast forward to the ancient civilizations, and the onset of agriculture brought about more substantial snacks.

Frito Corn Chips, Skippy Peanut Butter, 3 Musketeers and Heath candy bars. Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies, Campbell's Chicken Noodle and Cream of Mushroom soups, Kraft Miracle Whip, Tree-Sweet canned orange juice and E&J Gallo winery.

Even though thousands of items became scarce during the war, only those most critical to the war effort were rationed. Key goods such as sugar, tires, gasoline, meat, coffee, butter, canned goods and shoes came under rationing regulations. Some important items escaped rationing, including fresh fruit and vegetables.

The Rise of Commercial Pet Food

During World War II, metal rationing halted all production of canned pet foods, and manufacturers began focusing on dry foods, selling them to customers by promoting the convenience factor. By the mid-1940s, there were two types of dry food: biscuits and kibble; and pellets.

Could The 1940s-Inspired 'Ration Diet' Help You Lose Weight? A woman lost seven stone and saved thousands of pounds, after putting herself on a 1940s-inspired ration diet for an entire year. Single mother-of-three, Carolyn Ekins, came up with the experiment after struggling to pay her bills and lose weight.

The 1940s were marked by the austerity of World War II, with food rationing imposing a diet high in carbohydrates and low in fats. People's diets were restricted but relatively balanced, emphasizing available root vegetables and bread due to the scarcity of meat, cheese, and sugar.

Meat (March 1940) was first, followed by fat and eggs, cheese, tinned tomatoes, rice, peas, canned fruit and breakfast cereals. Remember this was a world where even in the pre-war days of plenty, olive oil was sold as a medical aid and dried pasta was confined to a few Italian shops. Rice was mainly for puddings.

What is the oldest snack? ›

Interestingly, the oldest snack food discovered was Popcorn. It is over 7000 years old and originated in Peru and Mexico. Archaeological research found the oldest maize husk that was said to be the evidence of popcorn preparation by ancient indigenous peoples.

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.

Cracker Jack is credited with being the first junk food. Cracker Jack is a conglomeration of molasses, caramel, popcorn, and peanuts. This treat was developed by Frederick William Rueckheim via the Cracker Jack Company and introduced at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

Celery soup mixed with tuna fish and mashed potatoes. A salad of corned beef, gelatin and canned peas. Baked onion stuffed with peanut butter. Those are just some of the recipes Americans turned to during the Great Depression, when many families struggled to eat enough nutritious food.

: While alcohol consumption suffered (at least theoretically) thanks to Prohibition, snacking flourished. Baby Ruth, Oh Henry!, Mounds, Mr. Goodbar, Mike and Ike, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfinger, Health Bars, Nestle Drumsticks, and popsicles are all sweet, sweet byproducts of the Jazz Age.

The Goo Goo Cluster is an American candy bar created in 1912 by Howell Campbell and the Standard Candy Company in Nashville, Tennessee. The disk-shaped candy bar contains marshmallow nougat, caramel, and roasted peanuts covered in milk chocolate.

In the 1940s, the number of food groups expanded to 7 through “The Basic 7” (green and yellow vegetables; oranges, tomatoes, and grapefruit; potatoes and other vegetables and fruit; milk and milk products; meat, poultry, fish, or eggs; bread, flour, and cereals; and butter and fortified margarine) (10).

1940s. In the 1940s, the Second World War was ongoing and food rationing was introduced. Meat, cheese, butter, cooking fats and sugar were heavily restricted, but potatoes, other root vegetables and bread were freely available. People ate a diet much higher in carbohydrates and lower in fats than we do today.

A typical weekly ration per person, when at its lowest level, was butter 4oz; bacon and ham 4oz; loose tea 4oz; sugar 8oz; meat one shilling-worth; cheese 1oz; preserves 8oz a month. By 1942, most foods were rationed except vegetables, bread, and fish.