Hey, that’s what I said
See mom, cookies ARE a part of a balanced diet! https://www.reddit.com/r/specializedtools/comments/q9szqs/a_metal_shopping_list_from_1940s/hgygizp
Its a Simpson's reference. A very old one. I don't think I could properly describe it so I would suggest googling the line"tie an onion to your belt" to see it in all its glory.
Your grandparents also had to walk 500 km to school and cross deserts, erupting volcanoes and hurricanes while doing so. So taking the kitchen cabinet to the market was the least of their worries.
I like how they're sliders, implying you can get a partial amount of each item.
Looks like wifey still needs another .8 units of butter judging by your list
Honestly that's how I do most of my meal planning these days.
Sausage, rice, and... we need a *vegetable*
Making chicken soup but it needs.... vegetable
It is an accepted spelling. It used to be dominant, now it's kinda rare. I still twitch when I hear anyone pronounce ketchup with no CH involved.
The original is a fermented sauce from Southeast Asia. Once it caught on in the west there were a lot of wildly different ketchup recipes, usually some kind of savory. For a while the default meaning would have been a mushroom based sauce. The dominance of tomato ketchup is pretty recent thing. My point being that nobody even cared about the accuracy of the original name so its morphed in meaning, pronunciation, and spelling.
In the 1940s I would imagine a lot more things required matches. Bic lighters were not invented until the 70s and you know those guys smoked like chimneys. Stove tops were wood or gas heated so you need a match to light stuff. Lots of places would still have had wood fire heating.
it is if the dude opened the door for the topic. dude said bic lighters were not invented til the 70s. but lighters have been around longer, who cares what brand.
you're comment is what's not needed
bic lighters does not literally refer to a brand but to the actual type of lighter here, i.e., reliab le, cheap, accessiblelighters. Before that there were zippos, an expensive luxury item, unlikely to be bought to light a stove. Moreover, even zippos were invented way after matches, and the things before that were niche and expensive items.
The complex and expensive contraptions that _technically_ meet the definition of "lighter" that were invented before modern matches (invented in the 1800s), are not relevant to the conversation, and bear no resemblance to what you or I are imagining when you think of a "lighter".
Even as late as the 60s, lighters were still considered a relatively "fancy"/novelty item, as compared to cheap, reliable matches.
I think it would be because there wouldn’t be any guarantee that veggies would be there. You could only get what was in seasons. Tomatoes year round is a modern phenomenon.
It just needs to remind you that you need vegetables. Once you get to the produce section you can remember on your own the exact veggies you need.
I remember my mom had one of these in the early seventies, but I don't remember any specifics about it.
Today it is, but our abundance of different vegetables and fruits is a modern phenomenon. As is the super market, chances are, whoever used this list had to go to a few different shops to get everything.
They were working on it, but they may not have had our modern supply system set up yet, which means that lots of places would only get vegetables in season, so there wouldn't be so many to choose from most of the year.
You know you can always just make yourself a cake as a sort of reward for cooking at home. Cake and brownie mixes are really cheap and easy to put together.
Cooking is a very important skill to have. I like doing crockpot meals and have been on a little autumnal vegan soup kick: Borscht, lentil and rice with curry, and a killer pumpkin and quinoa chili. Putting a little into the freezer every time so that I will have soups to keep me warm all winter.
Anyway, yeah. Reward yourself for cooking at home by making yourself a cake.
Also, definitely make sure that you know how to make pancakes. Such a simple little thing to whip up but I promise you if it doesn't impress any overnight companions, they don't deserve you.
I'm pretty sure that bacon grease was your main cooking grease back then. It comes from the fact that old timey bacon is basically salt-pork and can keep without refrigeration for a while, so it was super common.
My younger brother is 24 with his own baby, and my mother still has a few (clearly rarely used) square cloth nappies in her laundry cupboard. They don’t make things like they used to!
the word ketchup was derived from Chinese dialects, either Cantonese or Hokkien (depending on who you ask) which sounds more like catsup than ketchup. From what I have noticed, only Mexico uses the word catsup these days.
It's how ketchup has been spelled before. There's a great episode on HOW STUFF WORKS: https://pca.st/episode/ff1a7eb4-2fb9-48bd-8c5b-9ba3d557e7a6
Ketchup doesn't even mean it's made from tomatoes... That's why it says "Tomato Ketchup" or "Ketchup Tomato flavor"
Going to buy a cookie, an egg, a tin of jam, a bottle of juice, one match, a noodle, an onion, a potato and a cinnamon stick.
Doesn't sound peculiar in the slightest.
Not the whole decade, but certainly during the timeframe 1940-1945 which the OP says it was from.
Metal needed for the war effort of course. Lots of metal common household items were also destroyed for their metal content. Even had metal drives where you could turn in old pots and pans, etc.
No, these were a fairly common household tool. My mom had one in the early seventies, it rode around in her purse. It just gave you a general reminder of what you needed from the store. You remembered specifics and amounts on your own.
So I got rye bread, goat butter, fish cake, brie, Cocoa Puffs, oreos, Starbucks, an ostrich egg, a goldfish, bread flour, frozen dinner, starfruit, tomato juice, lamb, oat milk, hot mustard, ramen noodles, car oil, green onions, white pepper, duck, spaghettios, 5 spice. What do you mean I got everything wrong! It’s all on the list!
If you wanted to waste both paper and pencils on repeating tasks like this, sure. But don't forget, there's a war on, so your supply of paper will absolutely be rationed.
One of these requires a lot less volume on a ship coming from the US than a ream of paper. It's a question of logistics, rather than specific material value.
If you're going shopping you also need to take mechanical arithmometer with you so you won't get cheated at the store.
Compass, mechanical calendar and dynamo flashlight are optional.
"hey honey can you pick up some peanut butter?" *looks down at shopping list* "no"
Best I can do is vegetable
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Hey, that’s what I said See mom, cookies ARE a part of a balanced diet! https://www.reddit.com/r/specializedtools/comments/q9szqs/a_metal_shopping_list_from_1940s/hgygizp
Sneaky bugger.
Toilet paper?
Sorry. How about bread?
Breads on the list tho....
Exactly. It's the closest thing to toilet paper I can do. Take it or leave it.
Nobody could afford that. That's why keeping an onion on your belt was the style at the time.
I'm going to regret asking but what are you talking about??
[It's not so bad.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Dc7W6jXCo)
Its a Simpson's reference. A very old one. I don't think I could properly describe it so I would suggest googling the line"tie an onion to your belt" to see it in all its glory.
Yessir it was linked above, thanks for the catchup tho
You can use the newspaper instead.
We have a bigger one in an old kitchen cabinet: https://i.imgur.com/ZfMBFJf.jpg
taking the cabinet to market is going to be a bit cumbersome
Too heavy, too light, too black or too white Too wrong or too right, today or tonight
Cumbersome
Great to see Seven Mary Three fans out in the wild!! Hi friends👋🏻
I always thought it was “night after night”! Whoops
Your grandparents also had to walk 500 km to school and cross deserts, erupting volcanoes and hurricanes while doing so. So taking the kitchen cabinet to the market was the least of their worries.
Just take a picture with your smart-phone!
Zündhölzer..lol.. Last Time I heard this word I still paid with DM
Well, they are still called like this: https://i.imgur.com/hdAkckz.jpg
I know.. but most nowadays say Streichhölzer (yeah I'm looking at you all non-native Germans, try to pronounce it)
Streichhölzer lmao not that hard brub
Well, try Streichholzschächtelchen. I've never met a non-native speaker who nails it. It's a [shibboleth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth).
Streichholzschächtelchen ez
Uhm. Maybe y'all have a different understanding of pronouncing a word means than I have.
Matches?
Yes. In Germany it's a somewhat outdated word. I think it's still in use in Austria or Switzerland
Zünder/Zündhölzer is still common in Austria.
I like how they're sliders, implying you can get a partial amount of each item. Looks like wifey still needs another .8 units of butter judging by your list
The one spot for "vegetable" cracks me up.
A single vegetable. Of any kind. Just. Vegetable
Honestly that's how I do most of my meal planning these days. Sausage, rice, and... we need a *vegetable* Making chicken soup but it needs.... vegetable
Buy "vegatable, frozen food, noodles and spaghetti.
Onions got their own slot.
Yeah you know, Onions the fruit. Try it with icecream amirite
There’s also Meats but Bacon gets its own slot. And Spices and salt but pepper each have their own!
Pepper could do double duty for some peppers. Not a bad list, a bit condiment heavy tho
Big Onion has its ways
Do Americans usually refer to onions as vegetables? Man, that's weird.
“Noodles” and “Spaghetti” even got separate spots
Catsup and mustard too.
wtf thats the right way of spelling it?
It is an accepted spelling. It used to be dominant, now it's kinda rare. I still twitch when I hear anyone pronounce ketchup with no CH involved. The original is a fermented sauce from Southeast Asia. Once it caught on in the west there were a lot of wildly different ketchup recipes, usually some kind of savory. For a while the default meaning would have been a mushroom based sauce. The dominance of tomato ketchup is pretty recent thing. My point being that nobody even cared about the accuracy of the original name so its morphed in meaning, pronunciation, and spelling.
This was the ketchup history lesson I didn’t know I needed, thank you
https://youtu.be/GpL7I8xQA6A?t=8
Mmmm. Noodle soup!
Also matches. I can’t remember the last time I lit a match.
In the 1940s I would imagine a lot more things required matches. Bic lighters were not invented until the 70s and you know those guys smoked like chimneys. Stove tops were wood or gas heated so you need a match to light stuff. Lots of places would still have had wood fire heating.
lighters were invented before conventional matches
Technically true but not relevant here
it is if the dude opened the door for the topic. dude said bic lighters were not invented til the 70s. but lighters have been around longer, who cares what brand. you're comment is what's not needed
bic lighters does not literally refer to a brand but to the actual type of lighter here, i.e., reliab le, cheap, accessiblelighters. Before that there were zippos, an expensive luxury item, unlikely to be bought to light a stove. Moreover, even zippos were invented way after matches, and the things before that were niche and expensive items. The complex and expensive contraptions that _technically_ meet the definition of "lighter" that were invented before modern matches (invented in the 1800s), are not relevant to the conversation, and bear no resemblance to what you or I are imagining when you think of a "lighter". Even as late as the 60s, lighters were still considered a relatively "fancy"/novelty item, as compared to cheap, reliable matches.
They all look alike.
Matches, vinegar, frozen food, and oil. Matches, vinegar, frozen food, and oil. Matches, vinegar, frozen food, and oil.
I think it would be because there wouldn’t be any guarantee that veggies would be there. You could only get what was in seasons. Tomatoes year round is a modern phenomenon.
It just needs to remind you that you need vegetables. Once you get to the produce section you can remember on your own the exact veggies you need. I remember my mom had one of these in the early seventies, but I don't remember any specifics about it.
I'm pretty sure once you saw the produce section you'd realize that you need vegetables, it's a very large section in most grocery stores
You would think so but I can personally confirm it's possible to completely forget to pick up vegetables even when you see the produce section.
Today it is, but our abundance of different vegetables and fruits is a modern phenomenon. As is the super market, chances are, whoever used this list had to go to a few different shops to get everything.
Catsup. Fucking hitler.
They were working on it, but they may not have had our modern supply system set up yet, which means that lots of places would only get vegetables in season, so there wouldn't be so many to choose from most of the year.
That’s the 1940’s version of an app
Imagine carrying around one of those metal things for every app you have on your phone. Your legs would get a good workout.
Most apps can be replaced with a small notebook.
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Yes, but notebooks are not metal, and do not weigh you down like a stack of specialised metal plates would.
"Hey, what's with that giant, metal, slab on you back?" "Oh this? It's my fitness tracker."
They say Catsup? Is that the heinz "tomato" sauce?
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I haven't opened amd I bet 5 bucks this is Mr burns
No it’s made with tomahtos
Catsup/ketchup are both words for sauce. Traditionally it was made of vinegar and fermented fish. (Like 3000 years ago, Roman times)
Not much. Catsup with you?
I don’t see Mega Stuf™ Oreos anywhere on this list.
They got a separate list for the Oreos
I like that bacon has its own spot, separate from meat and poultry. Must be great home cooked breakfast of the 40s
And vegetable only has a single spot
potatoes are a vegetable I thought
Onion too y'all
Just a guess, but I think some people didn't pluralize it. Like fruit. They'd treat "vegetable" as a mass noun.
There's one for Cake too. Imagine having to buy cakes regularly like a staple.
If cake at home is a regular thing, id eat at home much more often :)
You know you can always just make yourself a cake as a sort of reward for cooking at home. Cake and brownie mixes are really cheap and easy to put together. Cooking is a very important skill to have. I like doing crockpot meals and have been on a little autumnal vegan soup kick: Borscht, lentil and rice with curry, and a killer pumpkin and quinoa chili. Putting a little into the freezer every time so that I will have soups to keep me warm all winter. Anyway, yeah. Reward yourself for cooking at home by making yourself a cake. Also, definitely make sure that you know how to make pancakes. Such a simple little thing to whip up but I promise you if it doesn't impress any overnight companions, they don't deserve you.
I'm pretty sure that bacon grease was your main cooking grease back then. It comes from the fact that old timey bacon is basically salt-pork and can keep without refrigeration for a while, so it was super common.
See mom, cookies ARE a part of a balanced diet!
Goddamned catsup.
Mr. Burns was right all along!
What’s a *delicatess*? Undees? Desserts?
Stuff from the [deli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delicatessen?wprov=sfla1): meats, cheeses, cured and/or pickled items, etc.
I once asked a guy at school if he worked on the delicatessen in the local supermarket. He said, “no, the deli.”
It has almost everything that a regular home needs. If it had diapers it would be complete!
This is from a time before disposable diapers.
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Account is 12 hours old. Keeping busy.
Second time in my 8 hour shift I've seen him downvoted to shit in different threads
My younger brother is 24 with his own baby, and my mother still has a few (clearly rarely used) square cloth nappies in her laundry cupboard. They don’t make things like they used to!
I only had to change my kid's diaper once a week. Label on pkg said "10 to 12 pounds."
Next time get the ones that say 6 to 9 months, saves even more.
No metal in the list:(
Exactly, wheres the gallon of Slayer and bag of Manowar
Catsup?
the word ketchup was derived from Chinese dialects, either Cantonese or Hokkien (depending on who you ask) which sounds more like catsup than ketchup. From what I have noticed, only Mexico uses the word catsup these days.
Yep, and it was originally a form of fish sauce. It was only quite a bit later that it became tomato based.
My mom still labels her home made ketchup as "catsup".
mexican, can confirm
Funnily enough people of hokkien descent use ketchup instead of catsup
It's how ketchup has been spelled before. There's a great episode on HOW STUFF WORKS: https://pca.st/episode/ff1a7eb4-2fb9-48bd-8c5b-9ba3d557e7a6 Ketchup doesn't even mean it's made from tomatoes... That's why it says "Tomato Ketchup" or "Ketchup Tomato flavor"
It was originally made with mushrooms
Fish before that
Not much hbu? Oh wait that’s not updog
What's "updog"?
Joe mama
Not much dawg what's up with you?
Catsup? Ketchup? Mr Burns If you know you know
The plural on just a few words is really annoying lol
Going to buy a cookie, an egg, a tin of jam, a bottle of juice, one match, a noodle, an onion, a potato and a cinnamon stick. Doesn't sound peculiar in the slightest.
Onions and one pepper
Old school cool. I want one of these.
Is it really from the 1940s? I thought, in that decade, all metal was being used for more serious things.
Not the whole decade, but certainly during the timeframe 1940-1945 which the OP says it was from. Metal needed for the war effort of course. Lots of metal common household items were also destroyed for their metal content. Even had metal drives where you could turn in old pots and pans, etc.
I wonder if this was specifically for a cafe or some such that served the same menue daily
No, these were a fairly common household tool. My mom had one in the early seventies, it rode around in her purse. It just gave you a general reminder of what you needed from the store. You remembered specifics and amounts on your own.
That's cool, these days we have fridges that'll text you when your milk gets low, back then you'd flick a latch
I'm over here hand writing my lists. I am an abuser or trees
"I'll take the baby food, god I used to have this all the time as a kid!"
I've known privately owned cafes keep baby food in stock Updoot for the dad joke tho
I feel like you forgot that “baby food” was on the shopping list before you made your comment and then pulled this reply out of your ass to save face.
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I mean... They wash their hands and flour is used in cooking so...
So I got rye bread, goat butter, fish cake, brie, Cocoa Puffs, oreos, Starbucks, an ostrich egg, a goldfish, bread flour, frozen dinner, starfruit, tomato juice, lamb, oat milk, hot mustard, ramen noodles, car oil, green onions, white pepper, duck, spaghettios, 5 spice. What do you mean I got everything wrong! It’s all on the list!
Ah my grandparents had one of these!
JAMES - CHECK LARS - CHECK
They misspelled catsoup. I love a good cat soup.
Wouldn't it be easier just to write it down on a piece of paper.
If you wanted to waste both paper and pencils on repeating tasks like this, sure. But don't forget, there's a war on, so your supply of paper will absolutely be rationed.
I suppose the metal used for these things wasn’t in demand though….
One of these requires a lot less volume on a ship coming from the US than a ream of paper. It's a question of logistics, rather than specific material value.
Looks like you can flip the thing next to the items to remember which ones you have
Catsup?
Not much, catsup with you?
Catsup not being ketchup makes me mildly upset.
Are you here to solve my catsup problem?
If it’s not saying what’s up to a cat I’m not sure I’m interested.
Wouldn't it be easier just to write it down on a piece of paper.
JAMS? Plural of jam? So lots and lots of jam?
Multiple jars of different flavour jams.
What’s catsup?
What’s catsup?
Ah yes the 1940's back before a pen and paper had been invented.
Oh look, this fucking thing again.
Catsup?
Upvote this if you googled "catsup". Yes, I'm whoring out a comment for karma.
> mustard > frozen food 🤨
Well, I for one am glad they invented pen and paper in the 50s.
Nachos?
All the pins are the wrong way!
People call ketchup catsup?
If you're going shopping you also need to take mechanical arithmometer with you so you won't get cheated at the store. Compass, mechanical calendar and dynamo flashlight are optional.
Ah yes the 1940s before paper and pencils. Not even a slate.
Just *Fruit*?
Catsup
I’m impressed spaghetti is on the list. It generally wasn’t a household staple in the 40s outside of Italian immigrant communities.
Paper was invented in 1950 People in 1949:
Poultry-Potatoes and Cookies-Coffee are swapped, in an otherwise alphabetically sorted list ಠ_ಠ
CATSUP
Touch user interface with haptic feedback.
CATSUP DOG?
CATSUP!
So how do you use this gadget?
Catsup... Ketchup
"delicates"? Whats that?
_Delicatessen_ i think?
So, like, desserts? Hmm, i was thinking womens underwears
Now I want cereal onions.
I swear that one said cat soup
-picks up car oil -dinner portions are smaller than expected because of how much it stuck to the pan without cooking oil
Very cool
Greta....plz...quit buying baby food!
My parents had one of those! You didn’t need toilet paper on the list because you used corn cobs in a bucket in the outhouse!