BECOMING SHOPPERS: NC Food Consumption and Production
Women in the Kitchen
Along with budgeting and financial planning, extension agents wanted to education people about how to use the kitchen appliances and pre-processed foods that were becoming increasingly affordable to many (although definitely not all) North Carolina families. Once a luxury for the elite, such new appliances and packaged foods were seen by many as "liberating" women from the burden of household duties. As some historians have argued, however, such new developments only made it seem like women had less work when in fact they had as much work as ever. Believing that the new developments unburdened women of much of their household duties, however, some the value of women's labor in the home:
Smart or Lazy?
"Women are getting lazier and lazier." That's what the man said. I heard him. I looked him straight in the eye and commented, "You mean smarter and smarter I'm sure." He grinned a yes. He was an advertising manager of one of our supermarket chains telling us about the American homemaker's acceptance of convenience foods.
The homemaker who puts reading or grooming or family recreation ahead of sifting flour, peeling potatoes and plucking feathers out of chicken just may be the smart one. Who dares call her lazy?
Frozen cooked foods is a part of this convenience living. Labels on frozen cooked food in frozen food cabinets are large in number and vary from the familiar French fried potato to fancy hors d'oeuvres....
So the smart homemaker who buys her frozen food already cooked has many choices on most markets... and the packer has the problem of guessing what she will buy that gives him a profit.
If you cook and freeze your own food it's your problem to decide what is worthwhile and what isn't. Your profit is partly counted in oh's and ah's from your family and guests.... Before you freeze cooked food, ask yourself, "Is it worth the freezer space, packaging material and my time?" Generally speaking, the foods that take the longest to prepare are good ones to freeze cooked. Brunswick stew is an example. If you make a pie, it's almost as easy to make two - back one and freeze one to bake later. The same thing may be true of cakes - bake two or bake a big one and freeze half of it as soon as it cools.
You can manage your own way, but when you do, know that you are smar - not lazy!
Oven Meals, 1957
Automatic ovens were ovens that could be set to a specific temperature and timed to automatically turn off after a set amount of time. These are things we take for granted in ovens today, but they seemed to free many women from the drudgery of watching food closely as it cooked.
For Goodness Sake! Know Your Freezer (Inside and Out), 1958
Today, we take for granted that everyone knows how to use big kitchen appliances like freezers, refrigerators, and electric ovens. Many North Carolina households, though, got their first freezers and refrigerators during the 1950s.
Planning Your Kitchen for Easier Work, 1963
The scientific study of the kitchen was of particular interest to Extension agents. If factories could be designed for more efficient labor, then so too could the home kitchen.
Smart or Lazy?, 1961
An extension agent defends women and convenience foods in this radio speech.
A Mark of Wholesome Meat, 1964
This video educates shoppers about how the USDA inspects and grades meats so that shoppers can be assured their meats are safe.
A Word to the Wives, ca. 1955
"Freedom from unnecessary drudgery. Freedom to go shopping when the urge hits you, or when a sale's going on." Two women scheme in this video to convince one of their husband's to buy a new house with a modern kitchen.