Picnic food ideas

[kiwilrdg]

I am deciding what to pack for a 2-day event. I only need lunch to be period. I need items for lunch that will keep well and be appropriate for American 1943 bag lunches. I am fudging on my ration points as there will be a teenager who will be wearing an "I've Enlisted" button so we can be using up his stamps.

I will be packing seasonal fruit and vegetables. I will be making an eggless, oil-less, sugarless cake. boiled eggs and Fried chicken are possible too. I have gotten so used to using British LRDG ration scale it is hard to work with US civilian rationing.

Any ideas?

 

[Undertow]

You are certainly giving this some thought. I can tell you are trying for period-correct. I applaud your efforts!

Unfortunately, I don't have enough background in these things. I could only suggest something like cheese sandwiches, fruit, maybe biscuits. You could substitute cheese sandwiches with "left over" cold meat like shredded chicken. I would think "left overs" would have been quite popular as picnic fare because they wouldn't have cost anything, nor would they have used rations.

Good luck and send pictures!

 

[kiwilrdg]

The food rationing makes authentic civilian food more difficult than military food for me because so much improvising was done. I have several pamphlets about how to do some of the substitutions to make ration stamps last but it is always a challenge to find a way to make a meal based on as many rationed items as possible. Oil and sugar are one of the hardest items to avoid.

I guess I have gotten spoiled by the military interpretations because then I have a list of what they had rather than a list of what they didn't have.

 

[John in Covina]

I believe that in some rural areas fried chicken was likely to be in the basket. Pickled items too.

Although not a picnic item in many city areas chili con carne was a fall back meal.

 

[Yeps]

Well, according to my grandmother (the midwestern one), the standard was jam sandwiches- take two pieces of bread and jam 'em together.

Or you could go with what my grandfather on the other side (Baltimore German) had. Salt and pepper sandwiches and stolen watermelon.

 

[sheeplady]

We always ate "three bean salad" on picnics. Kidney beans, green beans, and yellow beans which were pickled. You can buy it in a can. It is apparently something that has been eaten for generations in my family.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

My grandparents didn't mention rationing except for gasoline. One set lived at least 5 miles from town with a herd of cattle, chickens, corn, beans and a huge garden. The other set lived in a small town with a huge garden, chickens, and a milk cow. Apparently the cow did pretty well, and so did the garden. In looking at the list of rationed items, my grandparents would have had access to most of them at home. The exceptions would have been clothing, shoes, flour, sugar, and probably cheese. Fruit, vegetables, lard, butter, and meat were in the back yard.

Later

 

[Stanley Doble]

One old timer told me how they bought honey when sugar was rationed and used it to can their own peaches. I know this is not helping,just thought I would throw it in.

Mother used to make ham salad sandwiches for pic nics. Like chicken salad or egg salad but with ham. I don't remember ever having it any other time. I suppose it would make your rationed ham go farther.

What about Spam, was that rationed? I thought the famous Monty Python sketch was based on the fact that it was about the only meat product that was not rationed during the war and you seemed to get it at every meal.

American food rationing was a lot more generous than the British. Family would save up their points for a celebration. It is possible you would not notice any difference except maybe some skimping on the butter and sugar.

Mother was a farm girl and during the war she dusted off the old cream separator so she could make her own butter. That and the honey story are about all I remember hearing about food rationing, nobody considered it a hardship at the time, just making do and helping the war effort.

Now stretching your gas and tires, there was a real challenge.

 

[Tomasso]

Any ideas?

 

[Smithy]

I am deciding what to pack for a 2-day event. I only need lunch to be period. I need items for lunch that will keep well and be appropriate for American 1943 bag lunches. I am fudging on my ration points as there will be a teenager who will be wearing an "I've Enlisted" button so we can be using up his stamps.

I will be packing seasonal fruit and vegetables. I will be making an eggless, oil-less, sugarless cake. boiled eggs and Fried chicken are possible too. I have gotten so used to using British LRDG ration scale it is hard to work with US civilian rationing.

Any ideas?

Sorry but completely off topic but are you a Kiwi? If so, it's always nice to see another countryman round the place. Also off topic, but growing up there was a chap up the road from us who was ex-LRDG - he was tough as old boots but a good bloke.

 

[Lestagirl]

Here's a great resource for American cooking of all sorts. It even has notes on convinence foods and when they came on to the
scene. If you scroll a bit, they have a great section on picnic and sack lunches in the 40's including one for kids, and one for "hard
workers" - I assume that means what you'd put in your hubbie's lunch before he rushed out the door in the morning. http://www.foodtimeline.org/fooddecades.html

 

[kiwilrdg]

Sorry but completely off topic but are you a Kiwi? If so, it's always nice to see another countryman round the place. Also off topic, but growing up there was a chap up the road from us who was ex-LRDG - he was tough as old boots but a good bloke.

I am not a Kiwi but I usually portray one when doing LRDG displays. The LRDG were amazing men and the stories of the Kiwi members sound the most like things I would do or say it was obvious which nationality I should portray.

I am doing the homefront this weekend because I only have one other guy with me (my wife has even bailed this weekend) so we decided to take the old retired K-9 out and be civilians.

The jam sandwich mentioned earlier kind of reminds me of the mustard sandwiches and dill pickle sandwiches I would eat with my grandmother. She would often have depression or rationing era meals. Everyone in my family can get by if leaner times come. One thing my parents and my late uncle liked to do when we traveled was to try to forage for a meal. I remember a few times when we were at a cabin and everything at the meal was either home canned or things we gathered that day. I am being real careful to have enough food that is not subsistance food because I know that farm families ate a lit different from other families during WWII.

 

[Smithy]

I am not a Kiwi but I usually portray one when doing LRDG displays. The LRDG were amazing men and the stories of the Kiwi members sound the most like things I would do or say it was obvious which nationality I should portray.

I am doing the homefront this weekend because I only have one other guy with me (my wife has even bailed this weekend) so we decided to take the old retired K-9 out and be civilians.

The jam sandwich mentioned earlier kind of reminds me of the mustard sandwiches and dill pickle sandwiches I would eat with my grandmother. She would often have depression or rationing era meals. Everyone in my family can get by if leaner times come. One thing my parents and my late uncle liked to do when we traveled was to try to forage for a meal. I remember a few times when we were at a cabin and everything at the meal was either home canned or things we gathered that day. I am being real careful to have enough food that is not subsistance food because I know that farm families ate a lit different from other families during WWII.

That's really nice that you are spreading the word about the Kiwis of the LRDG. Well done!

But how's the accent coming along?

 

[kiwilrdg]

But how's the accent coming along?

I have always had a kind of mixed up accent that had some English, Scottish, Canadian, and Southern East coast traits mixed together so it is dodgy at best. Of course guys that are isolated and alone in the military tend to merge their accents anyway. If you can think of any period NZ dishes let me know because the lads in the wadi camp are getting tired of my curried corned beef.

It will seem odd this weekend portraying an American.

 

[1961MJS]

I have always had a kind of mixed up accent that had some English, Scottish, Canadian, and Southern East coast traits mixed together so it is dodgy at best. Of course guys that are isolated and alone in the military tend to merge their accents anyway. If you can think of any period NZ dishes let me know because the lads in the wadi camp are getting tired of my curried corned beef.

It will seem odd this weekend portraying an American.

Hi

What goes in curried corned beef? Go slow, I haven't actually cooked with curry yet. I've been eating Panang Chicken at various Thai places for years, but it's less expensive for me to go to a restaurant than to cook it myself.

Thanks

 

[kiwilrdg]

What goes in curried corned beef?

I found it in a British Ministry of Food publication. I will need to hunt down the original so I don't lead you astray. It would not be my first choice in making a curry, but if all you have is canned corned beef it is not too bad.

 

[Big Man]

Well, according to my grandmother (the midwestern one), the standard was jam sandwiches- take two pieces of bread and jam 'em together ...

My Dad (1924-2008) used the "jam sandwich" saying all time. Until your quoting of your Grandmother, I'd never heard it used by anyone else. My Dad also used the term "pine float" which, according to him, was "a tooth pick in a glass of water."

 

[Smithy]

I have always had a kind of mixed up accent that had some English, Scottish, Canadian, and Southern East coast traits mixed together so it is dodgy at best. Of course guys that are isolated and alone in the military tend to merge their accents anyway. If you can think of any period NZ dishes let me know because the lads in the wadi camp are getting tired of my curried corned beef.

It will seem odd this weekend portraying an American.

Actually accent-wise in many cases because of the youngness of the country and schooling, etc you can probably get away with differences in the accent from the NZ of now. My grandparents and granduncles, aunts from the WWII era spoke very much "received pronunciation" as several of them had even been born in England others shipped off for schooling in England from NZ.

Food-wise, and reading my great-uncle's letters from when he was fighting in North Africa (NZ 7th Anti-tank) they had mostly British rations, so bully beef, etc. Brewing tea when there was a spare moment and eating fruitcake, rockcakes, ANZAC biscuits from home(now there's something you can bake for your reenactment boys) was one of the day's treats.

Cheers,

Tim

 

[GreatWhiteHunter]

What to take on a picnic?

Well, there's egg and bacon,
egg sausage and bacon
Egg and spam
Egg, bacon and spam
Egg, bacon, sausage and spam
Spam, bacon, sausage and spam
Spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam
Spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam tomato and spam
Spam, spam, spam, egg and spam
Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam.

Or Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a mornay sauce
served in a provencale manner with shallots and aubergines
garnished with truffle pate, brandy and a fried egg on top and spam.

Sorry, couldn't help myself

 

[Stanley Doble]

Here's a great resource for American cooking of all sorts. It even has notes on convinence foods and when they came on to the
scene. If you scroll a bit, they have a great section on picnic and sack lunches in the 40's including one for kids, and one for "hard
workers" - I assume that means what you'd put in your hubbie's lunch before he rushed out the door in the morning. http://www.foodtimeline.org/fooddecades.html

I checked out the food time line. Its quotes reminded me of the days when the reporter on the food page was recently promoted from obituaries and had to beat his brains out each day to come up with something new. The result was recipes that never appeared before on land or sea and which no one in his right mind would actually eat.

Hearts of lettuce? Marmalade and peanut butter sandwiches? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha