A regular feature in the Edith Adams page for many years was the daily menu, a weekly feature in the Vancouver Sun where Dr. McCoy laid out a meal plan for those looking to maintain good health.
Some of the highlights aren’t exactly what we’d call health food today – or appetizing, for that matter – but if you want to eat like a Depression-era Vancouver homemaker, all you need to know is what you’ll find below:
Dr McCoy’s menus for the week beginning Sunday, Dec. 3, 1939:
SUNDAY:
Breakfast: Coddled eggs, ham, Melba toast, stewed prunes
Lunch: Baked potato, stwede celery, carrot salad
Dinner: Roast mutton, asparagus, beets, lettuce and celery
MONDAY:
Breakfast: Wholewheat cereal, coddled eggs, Melba toast
Lunch: Fruit, using as much as desired of any one kind
Dinner: Left-over mutton, baked parsnips, string bean salad, pineapple whip
TUESDAY:
Breakfast: Crisp bacon, omelette, Melba toast, stewed raisins
Lunch: Lima beans, combination vegetable salad
Dinner: Boiled beef, cooked spinach, canned tomatoes, raw carrot salad, gelatin
WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast: Breakfast food (retoasted) with cream, coddled eggs, stewed figs
Lunch: Baked squash, lettuce, string beans
Dinner: Tomato soup, *spinach meat loaf, buttered carrots, salad of leafy green vegetables
THURSDAY:
Breakfast: Wholewheat cereal, coddled eggs, wholewheat muffins
Lunch: Spaghetti, cooked turnips, carrot salad
Dinner: Mutton chops, buttered beets, string beans, celery salad garnished with roasted nuts, applesauce
FRIDAY:
Breakfast: French omelette on Melba toast, stewed prunes
Lunch: Asparaagus soup, cooked greens, baked potato
Dinner: Tuna (canned), canned tomatoes, cooked cabbage, lettuce salad, gelatin
SATURDAY:
Breakfast: Eggs poached in milk and put on retoasted shredded wheat biscuit, stewed prunes
Lunch: Spinach and rice on casserole, celery and ripe olives
Dinner: Vegetable coup, roast beef, carrots, green peas, lettuce salad
* SPINACH MEAT LOAF
Clean five or six bunches of spinach and cook in very small amount of water until slightly tender.
Remove from the fire and chop.
Mix with a cupful of Melba toast crumbs and half pound of ground round steak.
Bake in a loaf in a moderate oven for thirty minutes.
