Meals on Wheels a 1937 RV Cookbook

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eDJ_

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Thought I'd mention this here.  Circa 1937


Meals on Wheels is a book which solves the problems of cooking in a trailer. The difficulties of cooking in small space are overcome by following the expert suggestions of these authors. The list of essential equipment will save you money and space. Complete menus, with recipes, are given for delightful meals that can be prepared in half an hour. Clear directions for candy making, picnic spreads and sandwiches are especially helpful. While specially designed for trailer home-making, Meals on Wheels, with its clever tricks and short-cuts in housekeeping, is a great help to those who do their cooking in kitchenettes


Lou Wilson & Olive Hoover took on the challenge of cooking in a small mobile RV kitchen in 1937 and it may have some use for some of us here today.

Meals on Wheels cookbook
 
I read some of the contents and as charming and nostalgic it is, it is not of much help for van dwelling.
Maybe it would be helpful for a 30+ft RV family of dwellers.
The  proposed 3 square meals a day are nothing less than magnificent, but require that you are parked next to the grocery store at least, if not living in it.
The basic equipment would take the whole van to store, and then there is the 'optional' equipment.
Par example:

Equipment

1 seven inch frying pan.

1 nine inch frying pan with removable handle, and cover. When handle is removed, use for roaster.

1 double boiler 1 one quart saucepan 1 two quart saucepan 1 three quart saucepan with covers and self-draining, if possible.

1 tea kettle.

1 coffee maker.

1 pitcher.

1 food grinder.

1 ovenware casserole with pie plate cover.

1 set of three ovenware refrigerator dishes. One, a loaf dish for meat loaf, etc., the others square - one shallow, one deep.
These dual purpose dishes are excellent either for baking or the refrigerator.

1 muffin pan.

1 nest of bowls. Purchase an attractive set, for double duty.
They may be used on the table for salads, desserts, etc., to mix in, and the largest may be used for washing dishes.

1 measuring cup. Metal is preferred when only one is taken. It is convenient to use for melting small quantities of fat.
It is better to have two measuring cups, if possible, one of them glass.

1 set measuring spoons.

1 square cake pan or 2 layer cake pans.

1 small cookie sheet.

1 egg beater.

1 small grater.

1 potato ricer.

1 rubber stopper for sink.

1 rubber pad for under dish drainer.

1 dish drainer.

1 biscuit cutter.

1 tea strainer.

1 fine mesh strainer on legs. May be used for colander and flour sifter 1 cup flour sifter, left in flour canister
1 juice extractor
1 paring knife 1 butcher knife. May be used for bread knife. If not desired, include only a bread knife 1 carving knife and fork
1 longhandled two tined kitchen fork
1 narrow spatula 1 broad spatula or cake turner
1 good can opener
1 good knife sharpener
1 cork screw and bottle opener
1 pair salt and pepper shakers
1 set wooden spoons or two large tablespoons
1 bread box, if not built in
1 bread board, if not built in
4 storage canisters for flour, etc.

1 dish cloth or mop.

2 pot holders.

1/2 dozen tea towels.

1 garbage can or heavy paper bags.

1 wash basin.

1 bucket for water.

1 ice pick.

1 dish scraper. Use for cleaning cake batter or cookie dough out of bowl
1 kitchen scissors
1 toaster
1 portable oven if not attached to stove.

Extras, If Desired

Tea pot.

Waffle iron.

Griddle.

Pressure cooker.

Electric cooker.

Doll's set of cookie cutters.

Ladle.

Roaster.

Strainer variety of garbage can for sink is useful, but empty paper bags do very well.

Another water bucket.

Custard cups.

Tray.

Mats for hot dishes.

Vacuum bottle and jug.

New Equipment

Look for new ideas in utensils. There are some now on the market with new ones continually being added. Many of them are ideal for the trailer, if new equipment has to be purchased.

There are pans which come two or three to a set, with individual covers. They nest together and will fit over one burner.

If an oven is needed, and a portable one not desired, there are ovenettes now available which are quite satisfactory. They fit over one of the top units on the stove, and bake in the same way as an oven. A little practice is needed, however, to learn to regulate the heat.

Recently an aluminum manufacturer of Wooster, Ohio, brought out a very useful utensil kit. The price is about nine dollars and the kit contains:

1 percolator.

3 different size saucepans with lids.

2 different size frying pans with lids.

The lid of the largest frying pan fits a large water pail.

All of the utensils pack compactly into the water pail. There are two handles which fit all pans.

The new self draining saucepans are worth the extra pennies they cost.
 
I liked the ideas in the article and will be looking at thrift stores/book sites for it. The list of 'stuff' is really long. So now comes the question what does everyone carry? I know my list is pretty long and my 'kitchen' is packed. Maybe we can start a question about what do you carry and what have you really used and what have you started with and now are ready to toss?
Also what books do you think helped the most with your van cooking?
 
eDJ_ said:
Thought I'd mention this here.  Circa 1937




Lou Wilson & Olive Hoover took on the challenge of cooking in a small mobile RV kitchen in 1937 and it may have some use for some of us here today.

Meals on Wheels cookbook

Thank you! It does "have some use for some of us here today"
and I am one of them. : )

There are rabbit and phesant recipes. They evoke a picture of the wife busy at camp preparing what hubby bagged that morning. Heh.
 
I thought it would be interesting to mention this.   I was around loads of old people in my family as a kid.  I remember them explaining that there were NO supermarkets (let alone Big Box Stores) in their times.  People literally worked themselves to death just raising their food and putting it up for the cold months of the year.  Large families (as was pointed out) were part of the solution for accomplishing this gargantuan task each year.  So if they got a chance to go camping you can see how they would have to carry stores of supplies.  This was nearly 85 years ago.

We're nearly a different people today and don't have to live in the same way.  Even the world we live in if filled with supply facilities so that we can travel in our rigs and live "OUT" of them instead of going "homesteading". (carrying nearly everything we own)

In High School I was in the car with a great Aunt and she pointed to a building that was boarded up and asked if I remembered going in there.  I didn't.  She told me it was the big A&P Grocery Store in it's time.  (I may have been 3 years old ?)  That building was probably 80X100.  Neighborhoods were full of "front porch stores" that were about 30x30 and I was shown a few of those.  Several of them had become small congregational Churches.

Today, if you're mobile, you can (unless boondocking for a prolonged period) live out of many of the big box stores, park at night on their parking lots, use their WIFI.  COVID threw a monkey wrench into this a year ago but we are beginning to recover enough that we can get back to Nomad-Normal.
 
vanbrat said:
So now comes the question what does everyone carry? I know my list is pretty long and my 'kitchen' is packed. Maybe we can start a question about what do you carry and what have you really used and what have you started with and now are ready to toss?
Also what books do you think helped the most with your van cooking?
I'm all for this topic.  Will you do the honors and start a thread?  (Fair warning:  I do go on...)
 
This is the one I have, written in 1972 by Loyta Wooding



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I need some unexpected guests so I can make Curried King Crab Nests!
 
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