Food storage in a working class London household in the 1900s

Non-perishable food was kept in the dresser in the kitchen.

Perishable food though was a different matter, as there were no fridges when I was a child in the early 1900s, so my mother always had to take steps in the summer to keep perishable food in good condition.

Like everyone else on our working class Huxley Estate, we had a food safe, also known as a meat safe. This was a cupboard at eye level on stilts by the fence that we shared with our neighbours. It was in the shade and just outside the scullery door, for easy access. It was made of wood with doors which were open to the air apart from a covering of fine galvanised wire mesh. This allowed the air to circulate while keeping insects out. There was an upper and a lower compartment, both lined with white American cloth, which was a fabric with a wipe-clean surface. Perishable food such as meat, milk and butter were kept in this safe.

Yet meat was still was a problem to keep fresh in the summer months. Many a time I saw my mother wipe the Sunday joint over with a vinegar rag before cooking it because it was beginning to smell.

Butter was a problem too. My mother covered it over with a basin and then covered the basin with a flannel. Then she put the butter, basin and flannel in a shallow pan of water so that the ends of the flannel dipped into the water. The evaporation of the water kept the butter cool. Sometimes instead of a flannel, a piece of muslin was used, kept in place with beads sewn round the edge to weigh it down. These arrangements normally worked very well, but when the weather was humid, the water wouldn't evaporate, so the butter wasn't cooled and it went off.

Milk was kept in the same way and in very hot weather it was also 'scalded' to stop it going sour. Scalding involved heating the milk in a saucepan to near boiling point, but this wasn't ideal because it took the substance out of the milk and made a skin form on top. I very much liked the skin but most people didn't. Also if the saucepan was not quite clean or if the heat was too fierce, the milk took on an unpleasant burnt taste. Fortunately the dairy might make several deliveries each day in summer, but even so, I would sometimes be sent along to the dairy with a jug to buy more milk because what we had had gone sour.  

This website Join me in the 1900s is also known as Join me in the 1900's and is © Pat Cryer.