Packed Lunch Ideas (1920's)

Ever wonder what a packed lunch looked like in the 1920's? I never really thought about it until I came across some information about it in a cookbook I was reading from 1925.

I love learning about history especially when it comes to food, so when I read about this topic I was intrigued.

When I came across these packed lunch ideas I thought it was interesting so I wanted to share. Its pretty neat to see the way lunches were packed then compared to now.

For a comparison I will state what I usually pack my husband for his lunch and then I will state what I usually pack for our children in the year 2025.

Lets see what a 100 year difference looks like when it comes to packing a lunch. Maybe you will like some of these ideas and add them to your lunch box also or maybe you're already packing some of these things.

I personally do not take a lunch to work as I'm a stay at home mom however, I usually eat leftovers from the night before. The book only stated lunch ideas for the husband and children anyways.

What I pack for my husbands lunch

• Leftovers, he has a microwave at work so whatever we had for dinner I pack it for his lunch the next day. This usually will include meat, rice or potatoes and vegetables. I pack this up right after dinner so I can take it out of the fridge in the morning and get it into his lunch box. This saves me some time.
• If I do not have any leftovers from dinner I will pack him a couple sandwiches instead. One sandwich I will pack is this egg salad sandwich recipe.
• I will also add fresh fruit, which usually includes an apple, a couple bananas or sliced oranges.
• A baked good that I prepared homemade.
• Yogurt, some sort of pudding or apple sauce, again prepared homemade.
• Sometimes I will also pack him a salad, like a macaroni or potato salad.
• He also leaves with a thermos every morning with tea and honey.

In other words to make it simpler: Leftovers or 2 sandwiches, fresh fruit, a baked good, homemade yogurt, homemade pudding or homemade apple sauce, sometimes a salad and a thermos with either tea or coffee.

What I pack my kids for lunch

The kids I find more difficult to pack for because the grades that they are in are not able to use the microwave. The school is also a nut free school so that limits a lot of foods for us as we are huge peanut butter fans!

You will notice that I do not pack the kids or my husband any processed snacks. The only time I do is when it was a holiday and there are treats left over from Easter or Halloween for instance.

The only thing they will get, which is not often is a handful of chips. This is what I usually pack for them.

• Either a sandwich (egg salad sandwich is one I pack), a wrap, cheese and crackers or homemade soup in a thermos
• Homemade yogurt, homemade pudding or homemade apple sauce
• A piece of fruit
• A homemade baked good
• Fresh sliced vegetables
• A huge water bottle, I do not give the kids any pop or sweet beverages for school

Baked good's for lunches

Here is a list of some of the baked goods I will put in their lunches:

• A slice of banana bread
• Granola bars that can also be made nut free by replacing the nuts with shredded coconut
• A couple Oatmeal raisin cookies
• A slice of lemon blueberry bread
• A blondie square
• One chocolate chip banana muffin
• 2 carrot cookies
• A piece of blueberry breakfast cake

Packed Lunch Ideas (1920's):

• Hard boiled eggs- It is also suggested to change it up by slicing the egg in half, removing the yolk and mixing the yolk with salt, pepper and salad dressing and putting it back into the egg white. Kind of like a deviled egg, but with salad dressing instead of mayonnaise.
• Fresh fruit or vegetables. These are suggested: apples, apple sauce, peaches, oranges, lettuce, tomatoes, celery. (I find this interesting, not sure anyone would be happy if I gave them pieces of lettuce in their lunch box however sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper sounds delicious).
• Salads, like potato salad, baked beans, and potato chips. For some reason its not suggested to put these in the kids lunch boxes. (I wonder if this had to do with proper food storage for these items or maybe not wanting junk food like chips for the kids during school hours?) We are lucky to have those freezer packs we can pop into our lunch boxes now.
• As a dessert it is suggested to have nuts, raisins, dates and figs because it is easier to carry than other desserts.
• Custards, pudding and gelatin desserts.
• Plain cookies like raisin cookies or sponge cake.

Packed Lunch Ideas (1920's)

Here are some lunch suggestions from 1925 for the man who is working a laborious job.

Lunch Idea Number One:

• Ham that is minced and added to a sandwich with white bread
• A swiss cheese sandwich that is on rye bread
• A whole tomato
• One apple
• 1 cup of coffee in a thermos

Lunch Idea Number 2:

• 2 bacon sandwiches on whole wheat bread
• A jam sandwich on white bread
• Celery
• One donut
• A bottle of milk

Lunch Idea Number 3:

• 2 salmon sandwiches on rye bread
• 1 lettuce sandwich on whole wheat bread
• Potato chips
• 1 orange
• 2 cookies
• A bottle of milk

I recently found a health food store that sells milk and cream in glass bottles. I love it so much!

The cream is great too because its doesn't have any additives in it. Just plain old cream, which is perfect for making this homemade vanilla ice cream.

I don't know why I have never thought to add a variety of different sandwiches for one lunch. Usually I will make two but they are the same two kinds. I think I am going to try changing it up a bit from now on like they did back then.

Packed Lunch Ideas (1920's) for the kids

Lunch Idea Number One:

• Cottage cheese sandwich on brown bread
• One Jam sandwich on white bread
• An orange
• 2 cookies
• ½ pint (1 cup) bottle of milk

Lunch Idea Number Two:

• 1 egg salad sandwich on brown bread
• 1 raisin sandwich on white bread
• Celery
• 1 cup of custard

Lunch Idea Number Three:

• 1 slice of meat loaf
• 2 bread and butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread
• 1 baked apple
• A small frosted cake

My Final Thoughts

I love how simple these packed Lunch Ideas are, though I don't send the kids with bread and butter sandwiches to school or raisin sandwiches, I am sure they'd appreciate a small frosted cake!

Its interesting to see there wasn't any sliced deli meats added to sandwiches then, which is what a lot of people put on their sandwiches now. I personally don't like processed meat, so I will roast a couple chickens or a turkey and have that for sandwich meat instead.

I thought the bottled milk was pretty neat to read about. When I was a kid during lunch hours at school we were able to buy a carton of white or chocolate milk for 50 cents. I used to love that and it was my favorite part of my meal.

I was looking into the safety of packing milk for lunches and I saw an idea to put the milk in a thermos (the thermos being chilled in the fridge over night) to keep it cool for longer and store it in an insulated lunch bag with reusable ice packs. You can also freeze the milk so it is ready for lunch time.

The kids got really excited about this idea as they love milk! We are going to try this out for sure.

What kind of items do you pack in your lunch? Did you find this interesting? Let me know in the comments below!