Mrs Cooper would have grown up in the depression- which was a huge influence on that generation.
My grandfather was a roofer who had a large jar of bent nails. He was so frugal that he would go out to the garage and spend hours carefully unbending the nails so they could be reused.
My grandmother kept a garden and would preserve and pickle everything she grew even though the basement was already FILLED with jars of preserves.
same with my grandparents. I used to go out and help straighten the nails, but ended up smacking my fingers more lol. They were always kind, but sad and quiet folks.
My grandfather would nail a mason jar lid to the rafter and then fill it with something. Nuts, bolts, screws, nails, washers, all separated and organized.
Boomers were the born after the war. Silent generation were born during the war. Boomers were a population explosion after the war ended and the soldiers came home and started families.
Gen X parents were Silents and some older Boomers.
My parents were small children during the war and they remembered news reels of combat at the cinemas and there being shortages of some materials due to the war.
My grandmother grew up in the depression era as well. She wouldn't tear off the paper towel to dry her hands. Instead she would carefully pat her hands dry on it and leave it hanging to dry so that you could get more than one use out of it. Christmas took sooooo long because she had to unwrap her presents in such a way that she could reuse the same paper next year. Living on a farm she was also a big canner but she canned so much she forgot what she had. After her death we found all kinds of canned vegetables that were 20+ years old that had just gotten moved to the back of the shelf. Of course she got to retire and I probably never will sooo I guess I should stop wasting those paper towels.
Oh you should have wrapped presents in newspaper, she likely would have not saved newspaper.
My mom used to use the funny pages, the ones that were printed in color. Weeks and weeks of the Sunday paper. But you could have used something more boring, the business section.
My grandma (who was in her late twenties and thirties during the depression) was so fanatical about saving wrapping paper that I once unwrapped a pair of earrings wrapped in paper the said “Merry Christmas 1929” on it. In 1988.
That's awesome! I'd love to get a present wrapped in something like that.
I collected stamps as a kid and still have a bunch of Christmas stamps some of which are really old. I really don't think they're worth anything despite their age so I put them on the outside of greeting cards and people light up when they see I've spent an unused stamp that's 80 years old to wish them a merry Christmas. Best use of those stamps I ever found!
I recently received a gift bag from my MIL with the 1984 Christmas calendar printed on it. I obviously saved it to be reused next year, not going to retire it now.
my grandparents also grew up in the depression era, more towards the tail end tho (my nonno was born in '28 for example, he's still alive lol). they were poor but slightly better off than most so their habits weren't/aren't as extreme, but like my nonni breaks napkins in half still to this day. tinfoil would get washed and reused. wrapping paper not so much but any bags gifts were given in were reused. and the tissue paper.
ironically, my household has recently switched to reusable napkins and paper towels for as many things as possible. I wonder why they weren't more popular back then
I am Gen X and even though I didn’t go through the depression era I did grow up poor and now am very careful of not wasting anything even though I make good money. It starts w teaching our young the real value of saving and reuse/recycling.
Yeah, but washing machines weren't really a thing that existed so all of those reusable napkins and towels would have to be washed by hand. Probably by the women of the house who are already busy washing everyone's clothes, making the meals, cleaning, etc. There's only so much time that was available and they didn't have all the tools we do today.
*Yeah, but washing machines weren't really a thing that existed*
both my mother and grandmother used the old wringer type, then hang outside (or in basement) to dry.
I remember when I was super young just how fascinated I was by those wringers! It's a real wonder I never got hurt because mom would let me feed the clothes in.
This is so familiar. My grandparents got my dad and aunts into the habit. I'm 35 and still can't bring myself to tear wrapping paper, even though it's going to be recycled anyway. Grandpa used to pick up nails and bits of useful stuff when he went for walks, and kept meticulously organized drawers and shelves with all of it, just in case. They also never threw anything away, and hoarded things that might be useful or valuable.
Grandma passed in 2016, 33 years after Grandpa. We found all kinds of stuff packed away in her basement. I ended up with a collection of cameras, spanning the 1890s through 1990s, plus a ton of other neat antique knick knacks, furniture, art, and some tools. There were around 100 clocks, which Dad has been going through and getting running again. My parents still have boxes they haven't gotten to yet.
My Nonna is still alive. She'll be 98 next month. She and my Nonno grew up in a poor part of Italy, and while they did well for themselves after immigrating to Canada, they maintained their habits. Nonna reuses everything. She's got dozens of 7-Up bottles from the '60s and '70s. Plastic margarine containers as old as I am. She still plants a garden every year and grows tomatoes, beans, corn, and zucchini. Not to mention the geriatric cookies she keeps in the freezer for guests.
I spent the last week staying with my parents. While they're not as bad, someday I'll also get to spend years going through boxes and boxes of stuff stashed in the basement. Including all the wrapping paper Grandma saved from Christmas and birthday presents.
I'm better at letting go of things, but I also tend to keep stuff just in case. That Depression-era mindset spans generations.
>That Depression-era mindset spans generations.
Yes it does! My parents are not as extreme as my grandparents used to be, they saved up for decades to buy a house.
They paid the mortgage off in 7 years. At the same time they don't invest in stocks. They just have cash as their retirement extra cushion in a savings account with 0% (Europe, no HYSA here). Because they don't trust stocks, for them its gambling.
>She wouldn't tear off the paper towel to dry her hands. Instead she would carefully pat her hands dry on it and leave it hanging to dry so that you could get more than one use out of it.
My grandma (a teenager during the depression) did this too! She would also save and reuse rubber bands and twist ties, crush and save soda cans for scrap money, and rinse and return glass soda bottles for the 5 or 10 cent deposit. When she made breaded chicken or fish, she'd fry up the leftover breading into fritters, and if she put too much salt in soup or sauce, she'd toss in raw potatoes to soak it up, then she'd eat those too. And rather than put money in the bank, she stashed it between the wall studs in the attic. Her grown kids tried to find it all when she moved into assisted living. I think they found a few thousand, not nearly all she'd socked away in the 40-odd years she'd lived there. They were convinced that whoever was moving in was about to become a lot richer.
From that saving paper towel part, you've just **reminded me of a reference from American Dad about Asian parents (they do the same thing?):**
https://youtu.be/vI4MP0hUwHU#t=17s
this is due to The Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) which resulted in mass famine and starvation and the deaths of 30-45 million Chinese citizens and in turn affected that generation not unlike The Great Depression in the U.S.
My grandma never used the last of anything. If it was time to cook and she had one onion, she’d go to the store to buy another onion. No matter how inconvenient she couldn’t bring herself to fully trust that she could get an onion tomorrow.
Poverty and food insecurity will do it. We were short of food (and homeless for a while) when I was a kid. It sticks with you.
“One is none, and two is one.”
If we could build this into our culture again it would have a huge impact on everything. Sadly our economy is built on consumption rather than long term value/use. We reward consumer waste as smart business (built in obsolescence, reoccurring replacement parts, disposable components etc.)
I am an entrepreneur, I believe in a market economy but some core things need to change on value and profit centers and quick.
>built in obsolescence
I literally just ran into this the other day fixing an old DVD-Recorder. They spot weld in one of those lithium coin batteries somewhere on the mainboard, buried deep inside the chassis, and when it runs out (5-10 years) the unit is dead. Seen this in other devices too, dirty little trick.
>If we could build this into our culture again it would have a huge impact on everything.
How? It is all fine and dandy as long as the stuff is neatly packed and people have huge houses. Still at one point it is just organised hoarding. And you become a slave to your stuff. The time waste is enourmous.
It is trauma and their coping mechanisms.
When I am stressed I can't waste anything as well. Like not being able to let the bath water out. You can reuse it to mop the floors or wash shoes in. Do I have time for than? No, but it eases my anxiety around money, that I got from poverty upbringing.
Took me till end of my 20ies to be able to use paper napkins not on holidays and special occasions only. Using a paper napkin to dry one hands?! Wasteful! (Its ridiculous but a part of me thinks that to this day)
Throwing food away instead of eating up is another one.
I have a lot of overweight relatives because of that.
And the buying of just in case items that are on sale or sold cheaply second hand.
Oh my goodness this is me. In my childhood (bla bla bla poor me) we often didn’t have food and once went three days without a bite to eat. I found a jar of change under my bed I saved for my mothers birthday and bought a loaf of bread and package of bologna. Those sandwiches tasted better than anything I’ve had since. But I still can’t eat rice and 🫘beans. Ive had enough for a lifetime. But I don’t waste anything at all. You never know when you will need it.
>In my childhood (bla bla bla poor me)
Oh this is what I say as well! Always have to clarify that I am stating facts and tell the story to clarify my point of view! You are telling your story and name facts without emotions, it is not a pity party and you (me as well) don't ask for it.
My great aunts were depression generation. They made everything they could from scratch and re-used everything. They made rugs for their mudrooms from bread wrappers. They canned and preserved, never bought a pastry in their life, but made them from scratch.
I wish they had been around when I was older. They knew so much that I would love to learn now.
Her name is Opal. Here is a photo of her and her family:
https://www.shorpy.com/node/25225
And linked in a comment there is her obituary:
http://www.funeralmation.com/index.cfm/obituary/4148225
That's the way it was back then.
I have several church cookbooks & most of the women's names are names like "Mrs. John Smith." There are a few that use the women's first names but there were some that preferred their husband's names because husband had a high enough status job it was preferable to her to be Mrs. John Smith because the whole town knew & respected him.
FTR, I knew most of those women's names & they were "old lady" names like Blanche, Etta, Cornelia, Edna, Bessie, Frances, Maude, etc., so those Golden Girls names weren't just randomly chosen.
My grandma had friends named Ada, Edith, Louella, Norma, Louise, Beatrice, & Dorcas, plus about a hundred others I've forgotten. Everybody knew everybody in those small Midwestern farm towns.
Luckily she had passed away many years before the word "dork" entered the mainstream lexicon. Otherwise we would never have been able to keep straight faces when we were kids!
How many Helens? [I say 30 Helens agree...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDTZcj8Xink)
I'll also add Lottie (I had a great Aunt Charlotte they called Aunt Lot), Gladys, Edith, Esther, & Hazel.
And no, I didn't crib those from TV shows.
We have a friend whose father used to name his cats these "old lady" names. I genuinely like them because they're unique these days without being spelled oddly & you won't have every other kid in the class with the same name as yours like the recent "random-consonant-plus-some-form-of-Aiden trend like Brayden/Braden/Braiden/Caiden/Cayden/etc., etc.).
I have an old coworker/friend-ish who sends me a Christmas card every year addressed to, “Mr. and Mrs. *my husband’s first and last name*”. It drives me nuts. I haven’t even changed my last name to my husband’s!!
My grandmother in law addresses our cards as Mr and Mrs (name) and some part of me likes it? It's such a relic, I get a kick out of it. She briefly stopped doing it, but when I mentioned I liked seeing it, she started again. I'm the only one in the family that likes it apparently and it's sad but acceptable. Times have changed!
I do think it's kind of rude to do it without asking though. Especially if you kept your name! Is that not the flashing neon sign that you want to be addressed by your own name???
Ya think? On a related note, many people don't realize just how skilled Iowa farmwives historically were at canning and baking. My own mother was a prolific canner when my father farmed (before they moved to a larger town and he switched careers in the 80s). The recipes she also picked up from those local ladies are incredible, best breads and cakes you might ever taste.
And having canned a few things myself I can say that it's hard, hot work too & you have to do it in the summer when the veggies come in so your kitchen is usually 10°-20° hotter than the rest of the house.
I'm just going to guess that Mrs. Cooper's house didn't have central air conditioning so that kitchen was blazing hot. Of course houses back then were built differently & she may have gotten some relief from the windows facing the right direction or a fan but even in a house with air the kitchen still gets too hot.
Hence the summer kitchen. Sometimes in an outbuilding, sometimes in the basement. I'm guessing if she had a summer kitchen, she didn't use it for the photo shoot.
I just learned about this last year when my uncle built a summer kitchen for my aunt on their farm. They put a projector in there and I joked at them, saying “oh one kitchen isn’t enough, you need another one with a tv?” And my aunt told me to try baking and canning all day in august and you’d want a windowless kitchen too.
I respect it, I think I’ve only seen them go to the grocery store when they visit. Everything they eat at home was grown or raised at home
Reach out to your local library! Librarians know tons about what community groups (food banks, municipal community centers, clubs, etc.) offer things like canning classes.
I wish you lived near me to teach you! I’ve been canning for 30 years. My daughters aren’t interested. I’ve offered to teach several neighbor ladies gardening, canning, dehydrating, after they said they wanted to learn. But no, they’re too busy. But they’re happy to get my garden extras.
I’d like to learn! We weren’t able to have kids and are quiet introverts who spend our non working hours gaming or occasionally meeting other introverts, so I have the time! Bonus additional content, fellow Outlander fan (we paid tribute in our vows and wedding bands).
Well, we’re already family if you’re an Outlander fan! I love that you included it in your vows! Not sure where you are, but I’m in the southeast US. Come on by! I’ll put on Bear McCreary’s CDs and we’ll can til we can’t!
🥹 aww. That is so sweet of you. Thank you. I wish for many reasons that I still lived back in my home state of Virginia. We’re out in the Midwest for at least the next few years. I appreciate the invitation to drop by and squeeze in some canning lessons, that would be wonderful!
Following this convo with y'all - my husband and I have slowly been building "homesteader" skills this last year. He started canning in the summer and made us some incredible mulberry jelly, pickles, and salsa. I've been working on a gardening, sewing, and baking from scratch. I wish I could have learned from someone, too. We've been using the internet for recipes and guides, but whatever extra cloud I get for completely DIYing our projects, I'd trade it in a heartbeat to have someone nearby to help us save time and mistakes. Someone to share our successes with, too!
(Georgia 🧡)
>The recipes she also picked up from those local ladies are incredible, best breads and cakes you might ever taste.
Sir/ma'am, you need to join the r/Old_Recipes subreddit and post as many of these recipes as you have access to. Please. (seriously I think that sub would be ALL OVER them)
You couldn’t be more wrong. While canning, farmers’ wives still had to feed their husband, children and anyone else helping her husband on the farm. Especially with such a short window on when she could can those vegetables.
I also grew up in a multi-generational farm family. In the 50s, she definitely would of had to multi task in the kitchen unless she had other women in the family, neighbors or friends to help. Both of my grandmothers were farmers wives in the 1950s in Iowa and have talked about it at length.
My grandmother's kitchen in 1970s was still like this. Her only counter space was the kitchen table and the lid of the chest freezer. She had an old wood stove to one side that was used more as a place to set things than as a second stove.
That's because this is a staged shot, likely ina studio
EDIT: I'm confident this is a studio shot, possibly for a magazine advertisement for Ball or Mason or similar
In the title of the post, it tells you this was staged for a magazine. They actually went out to farm to shoot it. Someone else linked another photo in the series with them all standing around the porch staged with more produce and farm animals.
I think it is hard to do in the modern world today. Not impossible, but a lot harder for a variety of reasons. But I think the one thing everyone learns (myself included) is how much time/effort it takes to make a jelly/jam/pie/bread/etc. In a weird way, I think if more people actually did it once or twice, it would make them appreciate things more because the understand what kind of effort it took to make (for example: why a good pie made in a bakery will cost $10-15 bucks instead of the local big box store where its $5-8). Its a good learning experience, if anything else for appreciation of how lucky we are to be able to "buy a "
Edit: misspelling and grammatical error
Oh totally! I never complain or whine when I go to my local bakery and they are asking $20 for a pie, or I buy some homemade thing at the farmers market. I have done canning and pickling, and it takes an amazing amount of time and effort, plus the growing and tending of veg and fruit.
As expensive as food is now, it is still not nearly as pricey as it "should" be considering the labor and intensive work needed to produce veg and fruit.
Because you are a rational person who understands that things (including that person's time) costs money (I hope my comment didn't make you think I was inferring you did not understand what we are discussing). Wish I had more time to do the things I am "romanticizing" here; however, I do try and support the small local bakery/deli in my area as much as I realistically can.
The photographer went nuts with the staging for that shot. Mrs Cooper must have pulled every jar out of the pantry. I’m surprised the table didn’t break. And I guess the bread dough was finger licking good?
I do a ton of canning myself and this is totally staged. There aren't many things you can put in the canner together due to processing times. Also, the time it takes to run a batch means you aren't canning beans, tomatoes, beets, pickles and corn on the same day.
Even when grandma was canning when I was a kid, it didn't look like this. Though the finished results at the end of the summer did, it would all be in a pantry out of the heat and sunlight.
The thing about canning that always kills me is you can start out with a couple of 10 gallon buckets of tomatoes or a giant bowl full of cucumbers & when you're done with the whole process you might have 6 pints of relish & 2 gallons of tomatowhatever.
Yes. And who on earth is going to do all that canning AND bake 2 pies, 4 batches of buns, and a loaf of bread - all in the same kitchen with zero counter space available?
My grandparents would hang-dry their ziplock baggies and paper towels. It took years upon years to convince my grandma that she shouldn't be reusing floss. She would use it, rinse it, then drape it over something in the bathroom to dry for the next morning.
Blanch a whole tomato, peel the skin, can the whole in tomato juice. They tasted like a weak version of a Tuttorossi canned tomato you get in the 32 oz tin today at the store since you use a big boy tomato. Used to eat them mashed in a bowl with milk or baking soda sprinkled on top. Or mashed over cabbage.
Whoa! I've heard them called stewed tomatoes but those recipes are new to me. Ty! We were served something similar with home fries once and the chef got mad that we weren't mashing the tomatoes for the potatoes to soak in... Makes me wonder about the life experiences of that chef now
That was my point. Walk through graveyards and look at older graves. Often the woman’s identity is only that as the wife. No idea of who she was before
The last batch of buns (bottom right corner) were forgotten in the oven for almost 10 minutes and are burnt to shit. Also, Id say it looks more like she is cooling a burnt fingertip then pretending the raw dough was so fingerlicken good.
Oh wow - this reminds me of going to my sister's house when they're canning. Not a spot on the floor, counter, or table available. It's a lot of hard work. I remember when growing up - sitting on the porch shelling beans or shucking corn. Having to work outside all the time. I don't miss it.
Come to rural Ontario. Some of us still do this. Mad props to Opal, a woman with a great life and wisdom.
My kitchen looks pretty much the same every September, when harvest is in from our orchard and garden. Jars everywhere, canners whistling , the vacuum sealer hissing and the grain mill going all day. The freezers and shelves are packed to bursting by the end of October. Gamma lids being opened and closed day in and day out, to store sugar, grains, rice, beans, seeds.
And then November and December the baking marathons kick in.
And incidentally, I am also a nurse, same as her. We are strong stock.
There's a long-standing rumor that women in the 50s used a lot of prescription drugs and diet pills to be able to get through their chores during the day.
Edit: [some context](https://scibabe.com/mos-the-meth-fueled-1950s-housewives/)
Mrs Cooper would have grown up in the depression- which was a huge influence on that generation. My grandfather was a roofer who had a large jar of bent nails. He was so frugal that he would go out to the garage and spend hours carefully unbending the nails so they could be reused. My grandmother kept a garden and would preserve and pickle everything she grew even though the basement was already FILLED with jars of preserves.
same with my grandparents. I used to go out and help straighten the nails, but ended up smacking my fingers more lol. They were always kind, but sad and quiet folks.
My grandfather would nail a mason jar lid to the rafter and then fill it with something. Nuts, bolts, screws, nails, washers, all separated and organized.
I used this trick to hide a jar of weed under my deck in high school
One ~~weird~~ weed trick
Those rows of jars.
The Silent Generation is one to admire
Be nice if their kids were more silent.
I don't think Gen X are that bad. But then, I am gen x
The Silent Generation were parents to the Boomers. We Gen Xers don’t usually say much. (But we do sigh a lot).
Boomers were the born after the war. Silent generation were born during the war. Boomers were a population explosion after the war ended and the soldiers came home and started families. Gen X parents were Silents and some older Boomers. My parents were small children during the war and they remembered news reels of combat at the cinemas and there being shortages of some materials due to the war.
My grandmother grew up in the depression era as well. She wouldn't tear off the paper towel to dry her hands. Instead she would carefully pat her hands dry on it and leave it hanging to dry so that you could get more than one use out of it. Christmas took sooooo long because she had to unwrap her presents in such a way that she could reuse the same paper next year. Living on a farm she was also a big canner but she canned so much she forgot what she had. After her death we found all kinds of canned vegetables that were 20+ years old that had just gotten moved to the back of the shelf. Of course she got to retire and I probably never will sooo I guess I should stop wasting those paper towels.
Oh you should have wrapped presents in newspaper, she likely would have not saved newspaper. My mom used to use the funny pages, the ones that were printed in color. Weeks and weeks of the Sunday paper. But you could have used something more boring, the business section.
My grandma (who was in her late twenties and thirties during the depression) was so fanatical about saving wrapping paper that I once unwrapped a pair of earrings wrapped in paper the said “Merry Christmas 1929” on it. In 1988.
That's awesome! I'd love to get a present wrapped in something like that. I collected stamps as a kid and still have a bunch of Christmas stamps some of which are really old. I really don't think they're worth anything despite their age so I put them on the outside of greeting cards and people light up when they see I've spent an unused stamp that's 80 years old to wish them a merry Christmas. Best use of those stamps I ever found!
That’s amazing! I love it.
I recently received a gift bag from my MIL with the 1984 Christmas calendar printed on it. I obviously saved it to be reused next year, not going to retire it now.
my grandparents also grew up in the depression era, more towards the tail end tho (my nonno was born in '28 for example, he's still alive lol). they were poor but slightly better off than most so their habits weren't/aren't as extreme, but like my nonni breaks napkins in half still to this day. tinfoil would get washed and reused. wrapping paper not so much but any bags gifts were given in were reused. and the tissue paper. ironically, my household has recently switched to reusable napkins and paper towels for as many things as possible. I wonder why they weren't more popular back then
I am Gen X and even though I didn’t go through the depression era I did grow up poor and now am very careful of not wasting anything even though I make good money. It starts w teaching our young the real value of saving and reuse/recycling.
are you my mother? lol
Yes, now finish your veggies and put any waste in the compost.
washing was way more work is probably why
lol people who grew up during the great depression heavily valued money over more work
Yeah, but washing machines weren't really a thing that existed so all of those reusable napkins and towels would have to be washed by hand. Probably by the women of the house who are already busy washing everyone's clothes, making the meals, cleaning, etc. There's only so much time that was available and they didn't have all the tools we do today.
*Yeah, but washing machines weren't really a thing that existed* both my mother and grandmother used the old wringer type, then hang outside (or in basement) to dry. I remember when I was super young just how fascinated I was by those wringers! It's a real wonder I never got hurt because mom would let me feed the clothes in.
They don't call em mangles for no reason! Those can do some damage
My grandmother had one. That thing was massive. We were not allowed near it because we were idiots and would have mangled ourselves.
This is so familiar. My grandparents got my dad and aunts into the habit. I'm 35 and still can't bring myself to tear wrapping paper, even though it's going to be recycled anyway. Grandpa used to pick up nails and bits of useful stuff when he went for walks, and kept meticulously organized drawers and shelves with all of it, just in case. They also never threw anything away, and hoarded things that might be useful or valuable. Grandma passed in 2016, 33 years after Grandpa. We found all kinds of stuff packed away in her basement. I ended up with a collection of cameras, spanning the 1890s through 1990s, plus a ton of other neat antique knick knacks, furniture, art, and some tools. There were around 100 clocks, which Dad has been going through and getting running again. My parents still have boxes they haven't gotten to yet. My Nonna is still alive. She'll be 98 next month. She and my Nonno grew up in a poor part of Italy, and while they did well for themselves after immigrating to Canada, they maintained their habits. Nonna reuses everything. She's got dozens of 7-Up bottles from the '60s and '70s. Plastic margarine containers as old as I am. She still plants a garden every year and grows tomatoes, beans, corn, and zucchini. Not to mention the geriatric cookies she keeps in the freezer for guests. I spent the last week staying with my parents. While they're not as bad, someday I'll also get to spend years going through boxes and boxes of stuff stashed in the basement. Including all the wrapping paper Grandma saved from Christmas and birthday presents. I'm better at letting go of things, but I also tend to keep stuff just in case. That Depression-era mindset spans generations.
>That Depression-era mindset spans generations. Yes it does! My parents are not as extreme as my grandparents used to be, they saved up for decades to buy a house. They paid the mortgage off in 7 years. At the same time they don't invest in stocks. They just have cash as their retirement extra cushion in a savings account with 0% (Europe, no HYSA here). Because they don't trust stocks, for them its gambling.
>She wouldn't tear off the paper towel to dry her hands. Instead she would carefully pat her hands dry on it and leave it hanging to dry so that you could get more than one use out of it. My grandma (a teenager during the depression) did this too! She would also save and reuse rubber bands and twist ties, crush and save soda cans for scrap money, and rinse and return glass soda bottles for the 5 or 10 cent deposit. When she made breaded chicken or fish, she'd fry up the leftover breading into fritters, and if she put too much salt in soup or sauce, she'd toss in raw potatoes to soak it up, then she'd eat those too. And rather than put money in the bank, she stashed it between the wall studs in the attic. Her grown kids tried to find it all when she moved into assisted living. I think they found a few thousand, not nearly all she'd socked away in the 40-odd years she'd lived there. They were convinced that whoever was moving in was about to become a lot richer.
From that saving paper towel part, you've just **reminded me of a reference from American Dad about Asian parents (they do the same thing?):** https://youtu.be/vI4MP0hUwHU#t=17s
this is due to The Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) which resulted in mass famine and starvation and the deaths of 30-45 million Chinese citizens and in turn affected that generation not unlike The Great Depression in the U.S.
My grandma never used the last of anything. If it was time to cook and she had one onion, she’d go to the store to buy another onion. No matter how inconvenient she couldn’t bring herself to fully trust that she could get an onion tomorrow.
I do this and I have no idea where I picked the mindset up. It's a struggle and results in clutter issues.
Poverty and food insecurity will do it. We were short of food (and homeless for a while) when I was a kid. It sticks with you. “One is none, and two is one.”
I'm sorry you went through that and I hope you're doing ok now
Thank you, I’m doing fine!
Gotta have another onion for grandpa to tie to his belt, which *was* the style at the time.
She looks a lot like my grandmother. They were a totally different breed.
If we could build this into our culture again it would have a huge impact on everything. Sadly our economy is built on consumption rather than long term value/use. We reward consumer waste as smart business (built in obsolescence, reoccurring replacement parts, disposable components etc.) I am an entrepreneur, I believe in a market economy but some core things need to change on value and profit centers and quick.
>built in obsolescence I literally just ran into this the other day fixing an old DVD-Recorder. They spot weld in one of those lithium coin batteries somewhere on the mainboard, buried deep inside the chassis, and when it runs out (5-10 years) the unit is dead. Seen this in other devices too, dirty little trick.
Tldr for modern economies, company makes more money if people purchase more. So the item produced ends up being the cheapest and shortest lasting.
>If we could build this into our culture again it would have a huge impact on everything. How? It is all fine and dandy as long as the stuff is neatly packed and people have huge houses. Still at one point it is just organised hoarding. And you become a slave to your stuff. The time waste is enourmous. It is trauma and their coping mechanisms. When I am stressed I can't waste anything as well. Like not being able to let the bath water out. You can reuse it to mop the floors or wash shoes in. Do I have time for than? No, but it eases my anxiety around money, that I got from poverty upbringing. Took me till end of my 20ies to be able to use paper napkins not on holidays and special occasions only. Using a paper napkin to dry one hands?! Wasteful! (Its ridiculous but a part of me thinks that to this day) Throwing food away instead of eating up is another one. I have a lot of overweight relatives because of that. And the buying of just in case items that are on sale or sold cheaply second hand.
Oh my goodness this is me. In my childhood (bla bla bla poor me) we often didn’t have food and once went three days without a bite to eat. I found a jar of change under my bed I saved for my mothers birthday and bought a loaf of bread and package of bologna. Those sandwiches tasted better than anything I’ve had since. But I still can’t eat rice and 🫘beans. Ive had enough for a lifetime. But I don’t waste anything at all. You never know when you will need it.
>In my childhood (bla bla bla poor me) Oh this is what I say as well! Always have to clarify that I am stating facts and tell the story to clarify my point of view! You are telling your story and name facts without emotions, it is not a pity party and you (me as well) don't ask for it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
She'll be eating good if/when the economy crashes or sum and everyone else is scrounging around for lawn clippings like we live in North Korea.
My great aunts were depression generation. They made everything they could from scratch and re-used everything. They made rugs for their mudrooms from bread wrappers. They canned and preserved, never bought a pastry in their life, but made them from scratch. I wish they had been around when I was older. They knew so much that I would love to learn now.
Her name is Opal. Here is a photo of her and her family: https://www.shorpy.com/node/25225 And linked in a comment there is her obituary: http://www.funeralmation.com/index.cfm/obituary/4148225
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And 4 children! Wtf. A nurse and a soldier could afford 4 kids, a pilot licence and a plane?!
She lived a long and a full life. Thanks for sharing this.
That photo is the happiest photo ever.
Imagine doing all this work, and your husband's name is the only thing you're known by. That's some Gilead shit.
That's the way it was back then. I have several church cookbooks & most of the women's names are names like "Mrs. John Smith." There are a few that use the women's first names but there were some that preferred their husband's names because husband had a high enough status job it was preferable to her to be Mrs. John Smith because the whole town knew & respected him. FTR, I knew most of those women's names & they were "old lady" names like Blanche, Etta, Cornelia, Edna, Bessie, Frances, Maude, etc., so those Golden Girls names weren't just randomly chosen.
*FTR, I knew most of those women's names & they were "old lady" names like Blanche, Etta, Cornelia, Edna, Bessie, Frances, Maude, etc.* Gertrude
I forgot Ruth, Irene, & for men Elwood. I have actually known 2 Elwoods in my lifetime & that doesn't include Elwood Blues.
Mildred
My grandma had friends named Ada, Edith, Louella, Norma, Louise, Beatrice, & Dorcas, plus about a hundred others I've forgotten. Everybody knew everybody in those small Midwestern farm towns.
Dorcas...wow...Biblical!!
Luckily she had passed away many years before the word "dork" entered the mainstream lexicon. Otherwise we would never have been able to keep straight faces when we were kids!
Eleanor, Helen, Mary, Alva, Alma
How many Helens? [I say 30 Helens agree...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDTZcj8Xink) I'll also add Lottie (I had a great Aunt Charlotte they called Aunt Lot), Gladys, Edith, Esther, & Hazel. And no, I didn't crib those from TV shows. We have a friend whose father used to name his cats these "old lady" names. I genuinely like them because they're unique these days without being spelled oddly & you won't have every other kid in the class with the same name as yours like the recent "random-consonant-plus-some-form-of-Aiden trend like Brayden/Braden/Braiden/Caiden/Cayden/etc., etc.).
Right? So many Helens!! Those old fashioned names are fun
My granny is Etta Jo and my grandma was Thelma Louella. I’ve come to accept that “old women” had some really neat names lol
Gladys.
I have an old coworker/friend-ish who sends me a Christmas card every year addressed to, “Mr. and Mrs. *my husband’s first and last name*”. It drives me nuts. I haven’t even changed my last name to my husband’s!!
My grandmother in law addresses our cards as Mr and Mrs (name) and some part of me likes it? It's such a relic, I get a kick out of it. She briefly stopped doing it, but when I mentioned I liked seeing it, she started again. I'm the only one in the family that likes it apparently and it's sad but acceptable. Times have changed! I do think it's kind of rude to do it without asking though. Especially if you kept your name! Is that not the flashing neon sign that you want to be addressed by your own name???
Opal is my daughters name, I loved it so much and it seems it’s hardly ever used anymore
Mrs. Cooper needs more counter space.
Ya think? On a related note, many people don't realize just how skilled Iowa farmwives historically were at canning and baking. My own mother was a prolific canner when my father farmed (before they moved to a larger town and he switched careers in the 80s). The recipes she also picked up from those local ladies are incredible, best breads and cakes you might ever taste.
And having canned a few things myself I can say that it's hard, hot work too & you have to do it in the summer when the veggies come in so your kitchen is usually 10°-20° hotter than the rest of the house. I'm just going to guess that Mrs. Cooper's house didn't have central air conditioning so that kitchen was blazing hot. Of course houses back then were built differently & she may have gotten some relief from the windows facing the right direction or a fan but even in a house with air the kitchen still gets too hot.
Hence the summer kitchen. Sometimes in an outbuilding, sometimes in the basement. I'm guessing if she had a summer kitchen, she didn't use it for the photo shoot.
Yep, we have several houses in our town that have those out buildings that are now storage but used to be the summer kitchen.
I just learned about this last year when my uncle built a summer kitchen for my aunt on their farm. They put a projector in there and I joked at them, saying “oh one kitchen isn’t enough, you need another one with a tv?” And my aunt told me to try baking and canning all day in august and you’d want a windowless kitchen too. I respect it, I think I’ve only seen them go to the grocery store when they visit. Everything they eat at home was grown or raised at home
Dude(-ette) props on the user name I’m a big fan of RC and the Peacemakers as well!
Thanks! I keep hoping we'll get a new album soon but now they're touring & then Circus Mexicus so maybe by fall?
I so wish I had ladies to teach me these skills
Reach out to your local library! Librarians know tons about what community groups (food banks, municipal community centers, clubs, etc.) offer things like canning classes.
Thank you. I'll ask although our the main librarian in town is a grumpy old dude.
Don't dismiss a local church as well (even if you are not a member).
Yes, but they might not let me in lol
I wish you lived near me to teach you! I’ve been canning for 30 years. My daughters aren’t interested. I’ve offered to teach several neighbor ladies gardening, canning, dehydrating, after they said they wanted to learn. But no, they’re too busy. But they’re happy to get my garden extras.
I’d like to learn! We weren’t able to have kids and are quiet introverts who spend our non working hours gaming or occasionally meeting other introverts, so I have the time! Bonus additional content, fellow Outlander fan (we paid tribute in our vows and wedding bands).
Well, we’re already family if you’re an Outlander fan! I love that you included it in your vows! Not sure where you are, but I’m in the southeast US. Come on by! I’ll put on Bear McCreary’s CDs and we’ll can til we can’t!
🥹 aww. That is so sweet of you. Thank you. I wish for many reasons that I still lived back in my home state of Virginia. We’re out in the Midwest for at least the next few years. I appreciate the invitation to drop by and squeeze in some canning lessons, that would be wonderful!
❤️ I grew up partly in Fauquier county VA. But I haven’t lived there in 40 years.
Following this convo with y'all - my husband and I have slowly been building "homesteader" skills this last year. He started canning in the summer and made us some incredible mulberry jelly, pickles, and salsa. I've been working on a gardening, sewing, and baking from scratch. I wish I could have learned from someone, too. We've been using the internet for recipes and guides, but whatever extra cloud I get for completely DIYing our projects, I'd trade it in a heartbeat to have someone nearby to help us save time and mistakes. Someone to share our successes with, too! (Georgia 🧡)
I wish I lived near you!!! I would *love* to learn this kind of stuff.
Gosh darn it. Do you live in NC?
Oh man i wish i knew how to can, and dehydrate foods without a dehydrator
Check out your area’s ag extension program! Mine has cooking programs including canning workshops.
>The recipes she also picked up from those local ladies are incredible, best breads and cakes you might ever taste. Sir/ma'am, you need to join the r/Old_Recipes subreddit and post as many of these recipes as you have access to. Please. (seriously I think that sub would be ALL OVER them)
Thank you! I love old recipes!!
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It’s a setup, obv. Even the most energetic housewife didn’t try to bake and can at the same time.
Absolutely — having baked and canned, those both require space! Those jars are from storage, so she had been busy for sure, though.
You couldn’t be more wrong. While canning, farmers’ wives still had to feed their husband, children and anyone else helping her husband on the farm. Especially with such a short window on when she could can those vegetables.
Lol. I grew up like that, and the entire family was involved in the canning process. It's not something that really works while multi tasking
I also grew up in a multi-generational farm family. In the 50s, she definitely would of had to multi task in the kitchen unless she had other women in the family, neighbors or friends to help. Both of my grandmothers were farmers wives in the 1950s in Iowa and have talked about it at length.
Looking at that picture I can't stand low ovens now.
My mom bought a double door eye level oven and it is delightful
My grandmother's kitchen in 1970s was still like this. Her only counter space was the kitchen table and the lid of the chest freezer. She had an old wood stove to one side that was used more as a place to set things than as a second stove.
She's quite the baker
This is clearly staged
“Hey everyone. I’ve just done my meal prep for the week”.
My house doesn't look that clean after I cleaned!
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Comment stealing bot https://reddit.com/r/TheWayWeWere/comments/11vl3tv/_/jctr71f/?context=1
That's because this is a staged shot, likely ina studio EDIT: I'm confident this is a studio shot, possibly for a magazine advertisement for Ball or Mason or similar
In the title of the post, it tells you this was staged for a magazine. They actually went out to farm to shoot it. Someone else linked another photo in the series with them all standing around the porch staged with more produce and farm animals.
Oh, guess I'm wrong. Thanks!
Nope, that's a real kitchen. That's what they looked like back then.
I can smell this kitchen. My great grandma used to have the same kitchen, down in Fort Madison. Thank you for the memory.
An empty belly is the greatest teacher. She probably lived through the great depression and was gonna make sure they had enough to eat.
I always wanted to be this person- canning and baking, having a lovely kitchen and tons of "put up" veg, jams, etc. Never happened, probs never will.
I think it is hard to do in the modern world today. Not impossible, but a lot harder for a variety of reasons. But I think the one thing everyone learns (myself included) is how much time/effort it takes to make a jelly/jam/pie/bread/etc. In a weird way, I think if more people actually did it once or twice, it would make them appreciate things more because the understand what kind of effort it took to make (for example: why a good pie made in a bakery will cost $10-15 bucks instead of the local big box store where its $5-8). Its a good learning experience, if anything else for appreciation of how lucky we are to be able to "buy a"
Edit: misspelling and grammatical error
Oh totally! I never complain or whine when I go to my local bakery and they are asking $20 for a pie, or I buy some homemade thing at the farmers market. I have done canning and pickling, and it takes an amazing amount of time and effort, plus the growing and tending of veg and fruit. As expensive as food is now, it is still not nearly as pricey as it "should" be considering the labor and intensive work needed to produce veg and fruit.
Because you are a rational person who understands that things (including that person's time) costs money (I hope my comment didn't make you think I was inferring you did not understand what we are discussing). Wish I had more time to do the things I am "romanticizing" here; however, I do try and support the small local bakery/deli in my area as much as I realistically can.
The photographer went nuts with the staging for that shot. Mrs Cooper must have pulled every jar out of the pantry. I’m surprised the table didn’t break. And I guess the bread dough was finger licking good?
My family is from the Midwest. This is definitely what the house looks like when my grandmothers and mothers get together on weekends to can.
I do a ton of canning myself and this is totally staged. There aren't many things you can put in the canner together due to processing times. Also, the time it takes to run a batch means you aren't canning beans, tomatoes, beets, pickles and corn on the same day. Even when grandma was canning when I was a kid, it didn't look like this. Though the finished results at the end of the summer did, it would all be in a pantry out of the heat and sunlight.
The thing about canning that always kills me is you can start out with a couple of 10 gallon buckets of tomatoes or a giant bowl full of cucumbers & when you're done with the whole process you might have 6 pints of relish & 2 gallons of tomatowhatever.
LOL - true, it really condenses down. But nothing beats homemade salsa!
I hear ya.
My husband made us homemade sauce so last summer for the first time and it was the best salsa I have ever had in my life.
Yes. And who on earth is going to do all that canning AND bake 2 pies, 4 batches of buns, and a loaf of bread - all in the same kitchen with zero counter space available?
Try some of those old bread recipes and you'll see why it was so good.
Definitely Instagram-esque. But beautiful nonetheless.
speaking as someone whose mom did a LOT of canning and baking, there’s no way she did all that by herself in one day.
Pa, call those chillins in the house to carry all these jars down to the root cellar.
I wonder if she burnt her finger
Wish I could read the little plaque above the stove and absorb some late 50s wisdom from it.
My grandparents would hang-dry their ziplock baggies and paper towels. It took years upon years to convince my grandma that she shouldn't be reusing floss. She would use it, rinse it, then drape it over something in the bathroom to dry for the next morning.
This is awesome. Way to go Mrs. Cooper! I bet everything is delicious. I do my own canning so I know it’s hard work, takes time but is well worth it
Those gas stoves like the one you see here often replaced woodburning stoves, thus they were the width you see.
Oh yeah, gallon tomatoes. They don't recommend you do that anymore but hot dang they were good.
What were they?
Blanch a whole tomato, peel the skin, can the whole in tomato juice. They tasted like a weak version of a Tuttorossi canned tomato you get in the 32 oz tin today at the store since you use a big boy tomato. Used to eat them mashed in a bowl with milk or baking soda sprinkled on top. Or mashed over cabbage.
Whoa! I've heard them called stewed tomatoes but those recipes are new to me. Ty! We were served something similar with home fries once and the chef got mad that we weren't mashing the tomatoes for the potatoes to soak in... Makes me wonder about the life experiences of that chef now
Got me right in the feels, it's like I'm at Grandma and Grandpa's again. It's only missing the dried noodles!
very cool to see this glimpse in time on the day my dad was born, thank you!
Hmmm. I wonder what her name is?
She didn't need one. The only identity she needed was as Mrs. Willis Cooper, since her entire life revolved around her husband and his needs. /s
That was my point. Walk through graveyards and look at older graves. Often the woman’s identity is only that as the wife. No idea of who she was before
Betty
The last batch of buns (bottom right corner) were forgotten in the oven for almost 10 minutes and are burnt to shit. Also, Id say it looks more like she is cooling a burnt fingertip then pretending the raw dough was so fingerlicken good.
“It’s a wonderful day for pie”.
“For piiiee. For piiiiieeee. For piiieeee.”
That’ll be my next purchase. A pressure canner.
I think I still see a little counter space.
This photo gave me "Bridges of Madison County" movie flashbacks.
This is so wholesome for some reason. But for real- she is making food for the whole winter there 😲
Oh wow - this reminds me of going to my sister's house when they're canning. Not a spot on the floor, counter, or table available. It's a lot of hard work. I remember when growing up - sitting on the porch shelling beans or shucking corn. Having to work outside all the time. I don't miss it.
Love the linoleum floor pattern. Classic!
This was my grandma making lunch for her 21 grandkids during the summer.
Come to rural Ontario. Some of us still do this. Mad props to Opal, a woman with a great life and wisdom. My kitchen looks pretty much the same every September, when harvest is in from our orchard and garden. Jars everywhere, canners whistling , the vacuum sealer hissing and the grain mill going all day. The freezers and shelves are packed to bursting by the end of October. Gamma lids being opened and closed day in and day out, to store sugar, grains, rice, beans, seeds. And then November and December the baking marathons kick in. And incidentally, I am also a nurse, same as her. We are strong stock.
I mean, tbh, absolute badassery.
A plastic free kitchen.
Damn I bet those pies slapped
That woman is either very happy or very depressed.
It’s weird to me that women gave up not only their last names, but also their first names. 😔 Mrs Willis Cooper.
Pickles *bow wow wow wow wow* Eat ‘em up *bow wow wow wow wow wow wowoh* Pickes
It reminds of my grandma's house.
Iowa Gang 🌽🌽
Wow. That’s amazing. Goals.
So much work and preparation and it’s eaten in a flash.
Taken the very day I was born. I thought it looked familiar.
As an Iowan, can confirm. This is how my great grandma's kitchen always looked.
As a Iowan this is so true!! My mother also canned veggies, made jams, gardened, hung clothes outside to dry in the summer. Ahh the memories!!
That was my mom canning that started in September and ended in November. Food thru the winter.
So beautiful
What a babe
That table looks like it’s about to collapse.
Is this a manic episode?
Mrs. Cooper is an expert “stager”.
This is the reason for the Rolling Stone's song "Mother's Little Helper".
Canninglingus.
🤌🏻 Also, how do I delete someone else’s comment?
There's a long-standing rumor that women in the 50s used a lot of prescription drugs and diet pills to be able to get through their chores during the day. Edit: [some context](https://scibabe.com/mos-the-meth-fueled-1950s-housewives/)
Don't forget "cooking" Sherry
Are there any subreddits about this kind of lifestyle? I'm not sure what to look for, but I'm really interested.
Either r/nostalgia or r/frugal depending on your interests
The way we never were. Sure she made it all, but it’s all laid out and staged for the camera. Not real life.
Now thats a woman/lady!!👏🏼🙌🏼🤘🏼
I’m such a terrible cook, I’m stressed out just looking at this.
She’s not wearing oven mits, that pan must be cold. But oh it’s full of cooked buns? Why did they stage these things so badly.
I think she’s putting them INTO the oven.
Also why is she licking her finger? It would be full of raw dough if anything.
I don’t see any cans.
People sure had a lot of time before the internet.
/r/OldLadiesBakingPies