On Storing Foods and Methods of Preserving Eggs

We’re just thinking about getting another fridge, or maybe a fridge/freezer, and by chance as I was leafing through my 1944 recipe book, Cookery for To-Day and To-Morrow, I came across the page On Storing Foods and Methods of Preserving Eggs. These days we are so fortunate that we have all sorts of ways of safely storing and keeping food items, just put them in the fridge or the freezer!

When it is not convenient to bottle, dry or jam fruits, or to process vegetables with a pressure cooker or home-canning outfit, they must be stored with care so that they will still be in perfect condition when required for use. Everyday foods in the larder and store cupboard also require careful storing if food is not to be wasted: a cool dry atmosphere is necessary for the storing of most foods.
Bacon and Ham should be hung up and covered with muslin. It should hang where a current of air can flow all round it.
Baking Powder should be stored in a tin or a glass jar with a screw top.
Biscuits should be stored in a jar or airtight tin.
Butter should be stored away from any highly smelling foods and it should be covered with a damp cloth, the ends of which dip into water (but do not put the butter itself in water).
Candles should be dried well before being used.
Cereals  should be stored, where possible, in screw-top glass jars.
Cheese should be wrapped in grease-proof paper and then in a moist, clean cloth. Or put a small piece of apple peel in the cheese dish, and if the lid has no hole in it, raise it slightly.
Cocoa and Coffee should both be stored in airtight screw-top jars, or tins.
Dehydrated Eggs and Milk should be stored in airtight jars or tins, and care should be taken when they are opened not to allow any moisture to get into them.
Dried Fruits (currants, raisins, sultans) should be stored in a dry place in screw-topped jars. They should be well washed and dried before use, or cleaned by being dredged with flour and rubbed with a clean cloth.
Dried Fruits (apple rings, pears, prunes, apricots and peaches) should a;lso be stored in a dry place in screw-topped jars. They should be washed thoroughly and soaked for 48 hours before use.

These instructions also give an indication of how different kitchens must have been eighty years ago. There was no plastic, fridges were not common and I’m pretty sure that very few households would have had freezers. I’m not sure where I would hang a ham, and not sure where I could buy muslin locally – although no doubt I could find some on-line now! How many of us would store candles, I’ve got a couple somewhere under the sink in an everything box. And of course cocoa and coffee is now bought in airtight tins and jars! I haven’t mentioned preserving eggs – these days we have no need, and also where could I get a prepared solution of water-glass to do so if I was inclined to experiment? As for using wax or oil on the shells… no thank you!