Food for You and Your Family

Popping back in again after another long absence. It's hard to get back into the swing of things, but I'm trying. I still read all of your daily blogs that I always have in the past, although I haven't commented. I've just been in kind of a quiet mood. And truth be told, sometimes there's so much stuff stacked up on top of the scanner, it simply requires too much effort to remove it in order to scan a cookbook.

Anyhoo, I came across this colorful booklet on my shelf and thought I'd see if I could manage to write something about it. Food For You and Your Family was published by General Foods Corporation (1970, 6th Edition, 32 pp). I'm not sure why it has the binder holes in it; perhaps it was meant for a Home Economics class or something like that. It provides a lot of basic information about food and what it means to a person and information about meal planning and nutrition. It does seem to be more on the educational side, although it contains several recipes too.

I think the cover is so bright and cheerful, even after forty years. It's illustrated inside with color photos like the one below, as well as some colorful drawings.



Post Cereal was a brand under the General Foods umbrella, so I imagine this is a picture of Post Raisin Bran. I always think of my grandmother when I see Raisin Bran, because she ate a bowlful every single morning. Digesitve purposes, you know.

This is one of the colorful drawings and below is part of the text that accompanies it:

"In the search for new convenience foods, the appetite-appeal factors are kept prominently in view. Step by step, every product is tested and retested for its appeal to every one of the five senses--yes, even to the sense of hearing, as in the case of cereals! The result--wonderful new taste for your table."

I wonder, if in 2011, food manufacturers are still trying to appeal to our five senses. My mind senses that the answer is yes! I find thinking about the inner workings of consumer marketing to be a fascinating subject!


The booklet contains a chart of food values for General Foods products which is several pages long. While sometimes this information can now be found on the food labels, it's probably easier to just look online if we want to know. Don't you love that we can see these details almost instantly if we choose to? Many times, one can even look at the actual food label on the manufacturer website. I find the chart interesting because it lists all of the brands and products that were being manufactured back then.


The rear cover shows a picture of their products (or some of them, at least). I like to see which ones are gone now and also how the packaging has changed. I remember the PRIME and TOP CHOICE dog food, thinking those little moist bits looked so much more appetizing for our dog than the ugly canned stuff or the dry food. I don't remember the La France laundry whitener though--I guess my mom didn't use that brand. There are those small jars of instant Sanka my dad used to buy after the doctor told him no more caffeine way back in the early 60s. And I have to say, I miss those packages of Birds Eye frozen fruit. My grandmother used those jars of instant coffee, but I'm thinking it was Folgers rather than Maxwell House. I can see the jar in my mind's eye, but not the specifics of the label.

I kind of liked the sound of this recipe because it requires cereal as one of the ingredients. I'm always looking for recipe ideas that might use up some of the remaining cereal in the box after I'm tired of eating it the regular way. An inexpensive box of Corn Flakes is useful in so many ways because of the different recipes it can be used in.

CHOCOLATE COCONUT CEREAL CRUST

2 squares Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons hot milk or water
2/3 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup Baker's Angel Flake Coconut*
3/4 cup Post Toasties, Corn Flakes, 40% Bran Flakes, or Grape-Nuts Flakes*

* Or omit cereal and increase coconut to 2 cups.

Melt chocolate and butter over very low heat, stirring until blended. Combine milk and sugar, blend in chocolate mixture. Add coconut and cereal. Mix well. Spread on bottom and sides of greased 9-inch pie pan. Chill until firm. (Do not freeze.) Fill with cream or chiffon filling. Chill until filling is firm. Let stand at room temperature 5 minutes before cutting.

To fill with ice cream, let chilled crust stand at room temperature 5 minutes; then fill, cut, and serve immediately.