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Iris
Humphries
"When
I was first married, I kept a very careful household budget, partly
because my mother did, and I thought it was the thing to do, and
partly it helped my budgeting economy to know where the money had
gone. Because of course you know money was fairly tight.
But
having looked again at the things we ate, I don't think we went
short. We used to have bacon and meat, and cheese and eggs, and
all the things people don't eat now in abundance.
I used
to buy my vegetables when I was first married in Whitecross Market,
which was a first class place to shop, and there was always plenty
of fresh vegetables available. We didn't have frozen vegetables
at all; it was a long time before I had a freezer. Although I did
have a fridge almost as soon as I moved into my first home, Great
Arthur House. The summer we moved there, it was so hot it was like
an oven, and there wasn't anywhere to keep the milk, and so we had
to go out and buy a fridge which was quite a luxury in those days!
I think
as a young housewife one read the magazines like "Women's Own",
and we were encouraged to budget for the family, and provide balanced
meals. And I think I did all that rather conscientiously and carefully,
although I think as I got more experienced in later years, I didn't
need to write it all down.
Cooked
breakfasts were a very big feature of life in the 1950's. We had
a bacon and egg breakfast most days. Yes, we went to work on an
egg, but we accompanied it with bacon and fried bread as well. Oh
yes, and kippers for tea!."
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