I majored in Food Science, but it wasn't all lab work, there were required courses in meal planning and preparation. One of them had aspects of being a 'lab' course in that we were assigned a budget and had to prepare and serve a balanced meal complete with appropriate linens and china.

There were budget levels, the lowest being $1.34 per person or something like that, multiplied by four, and the college would purchase the required groceries from our shopping list. That was back when hamburger sold for $.49 a pound and chicken was $.29 a pound.

If we were lucky we were assigned one of the other budget levels, but it was still a challenge because it wasn't that much more, and the meal had to be correspondingly more elegant. I can't remember the meals I prepared in that class, but my sister (who had the same major and invited me to be her guest) had the lowest amount and she served hot dogs without the bun and macaroni and cheese.

There were various dish patterns that we'd sign up to reserve. My favorite dish pattern was Buttercup by Spode. I still like it these 40 years later, although I never thought about buying it for my home.



The linens had to be freshly pressed, and we weren't allowed to put them on the tables and touch them up with the iron, they had to be carried back to the ironing board.

Our class grade was based on evaluations of our guests (friends we invited to the meal), our team members, and the instructor. She sat out in the kitchen and nibbled on samples from all the different meals.

There was a text book that went with this course, but I don't have it any more. It might be fun to glance through after all these years of planning and preparing real meals. Back then, microwave ovens were just starting to be available, and although we had those Swanson TV Dinners in the divided foil trays, they had to be warmed up in the big oven because we didn't even have toaster ovens.



Growing up, my mother was a scratch cook, she never served TV dinners to the family, because my dad would not touch them, but my sister and I would have them for a treat when they went out to dinner. Something about the texture of those potatoes and the distinctive flavor of that fried chicken is still with me today.

One thing she did buy was Swanson pot pies. I couldn't find a picture of the original packaging before microwaves, but the look of the pie hasn't changed all that much. Of course, that's not what it really looked like, but close.



Back in the old days (they were first introduced in 1951) the pan was made of foil, and some people had stacks of them saved up. I don't think we did because my mother already had some cute little real pie pans about that size. I remember one time she bought a different brand that proclaimed: "No soggy bottom crust!" Oh, her scorn when she discovered there was no bottom crust.

We've all come a long way food-wise since then, in more ways than one.

Here's a recipe (as written) from the Amish area in northern Indiana. Note that it is not from an Amish home, it came from the pie baker at the Das Dutchman Essenhaus restaurant near Middlebury, Indiana. It has a certain simplistic charm, but I would never make it because of all that canned soup for one thing.

Casserole

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Brown 1 lb. hamburger in pan with a few onions. Cook 3 c. macaroni. String beans or peas may be added if desired. Put in casserole dish. Thin the soups with milk. Add cheese and bread crumbs on top. Bake until done.

Here's a soup recipe for home-made cream of celery soup from that same cookbook:

Celery Nerve-Tonic Soup

3 cups chopped celery including leaves
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup cream or top milk
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons flour

Cook celery and onion till tender. Put through a sieve if you want smooth soup. Add milk and 2 tablespoons flour, cook till thick. These proportions serve 8.