I like very cold water with lots of ice on hot summer days, but I’ve heard others say that water at room temperature is healthier. The debate over water temperature has been going on for a least a hundred years. Here’s what it says in a 1922 magazine:

A word about drinking water is not amiss just here. Iced water may seem very desirable when one is thirsty, but water without ice is far better for drinking purposes, as it does not so suddenly reduce the temperature of the stomach.

American Cookery (August/September, 1922)

When I was young, I learned how to “cut” (or “chop”) shortening into the flour when making a pie crust, and I still use the old-fashioned technique -so enjoyed reading advice in a hundred-year-old cookbook about how to make crisp and flaky pie crusts. Here are a few excerpts:

Contrary to the general opinion, pastry is not hard to make. In fact, once the fundamental principles are understood, pastry is much easier and more quickly made than cake. When making pastry, keep these rules in mind. Fat makes a pie crust crisp, therefore, to economize on shortening will produce poor pastry.

The amount of air which is incorporated in the dough makes the crust flaky, so the dough requires careful handling. Water makes pastry tough and only enough should be used to hold the dough together.

Pastry flour is recommended because if absorbs less moisture; however, the regular family flour will give good results.

If all the ingredients are cold, the dough will be much easier to handle. Chopping the fat into the flour is recommended. Do not chop the fat into the flour too thoroughly; mix until the consistency of coarse meal.

Add only enough water to hold the mixture together. If too much water is used it will be necessary to use more flour when the dough is rolled out, and if that is the case, the pastry will be tough from handling, and the fat and flour will not be in the right proportion.

Handle the dough as quickly and lightly as possible.

Mrs. DeGraf’s Cook Book (1922)

A hundred-year-old cookbook emphasized the importance of breakfast. Here are a few excerpts:

Breakfast – One of the Important Events of the Day

Breakfast in most homes is, without doubt, the simplest meal of the day and the one requiring the least thought and effort in preparation. But when we consider the fact that breakfast is also the first meal of the day and is the one that should furnish the necessary food principles to the body to aid it in starting and carrying on the work for the day, we can readily understand the importance of this meal and why it is necessary to begin the day with proper food. 

The right kind of food, properly prepared, keeps the body in a healthful condition. And a healthy body is able to resist and throw off disease; an undernourished body is very susceptible to germs and will not recover from a severe illness so readily as one that is properly nourished and kept in a resistant condition.

Many persons consider breakfast of so little importance that they omit this meal entirely. This seems a mistake, for in the morning the stomach is practically empty and, in order “to start the day right,” some food should be taken unless for some good reason a physician has advised otherwise.

Again, breakfasts are often eaten very hurriedly, which is wrong. In order to receive the greatest benefit from the food, it should be thoroughly broken up in the mouth so that the digestive juices may begin their action. If food is not broken up before entering the stomach it must done there and this means a strain on that organ. Overwork will gradually cause it to weaken; so in time the stomach will not be able to perform its functions properly.

It may seem difficult to get the variety in our breakfast menus that the large number of luncheon and dinner dishes afford, because there is a limited number of so-called typical breakfast dishes. But there is an endless variety of methods of preparing these different foods, so that there is really no need of monotony at this meal.

Mrs. DeGraf’s Cook Book (1922)

Ever wonder how many pounds of various fruits and vegetables are in a bushel? Apparently this was considered important for cooks to know a hundred years ago because it was on page 10 of the 1922 edition of the Good Housekeeping cookbook.

Now that I think about it, when was the last time I bought a bushel of anything? . . . . hmm, maybe I bought a bushel of apples 3 or 4 years ago.

Sometimes time seems to fly by and I get little accomplished. Maybe I need a “time budget.” A hundred-year-old magazine had an article written by a homemaker who described how she used a time budget to keep organized:

The Time Budget 

Before I discovered the magic secret of the time budget my housekeeping drove me to despair. There was always a mob of duties clamoring for my attention at the same time, and not enough hours in the day for half of them, to say nothing of opportunity for needed rest and recreation.

A magazine article opened my eyes to the possibilities of a definite plan for the housewife’s working day. At once I adapted the suggested schedule to my particular needs and began to follow it. And, what a transformation it worked!

Formerly, on some days, I would drudge from morning till night, not even taking time to put on a fresh dress for evening, and sometimes I would give up the unequal struggle and simply loaf through the day. Now, instead of either dawdling along aimlessly, or desperately attacking anything I happened to think of, everything goes by the clock. There was a definite time for getting breakfast, washing dishes, cleaning the kitchen, setting other rooms to rights, bedmaking, each day’s special task, lunch, washing dishes, rest period, dressing for the afternoon, several hours for recreation or congenial employment, dinner, and an outing or a restful evening at home.

The daily time budget involves several other worry-saving methods. One is the children’s schedule, by which the routine of their day is fitted into my plans. Another is the making of menus for a week at a time. The plan which contributes most to my own health and happiness is the weekly schedule, by which the various tasks necessary for the upkeep of the house are allotted to particular days. I no longer bear the burden all at once, but do each days’ allowance- clearning the kitchen, polishing the silver, or mending – and everything is kept in order with a minimum of worry and drudgery.

The use of a time budget is a financial blessing as well. Supplies can be bought more economically for a week or a month, than if someone is sent in frantic haste for a can of something or other a few minutes before the meal. Then, too, the practice of economizing, in time leads, to a greater care in the expenditure of the household money.

In my case the time budget has proved to be an undoubted success, and I am sure my family now enjoys my society more than when they sed to find me discouraged, cross, and – I may as well admit it – untidy, at the end of a far form perfect day. H.S.S.

American Cookery (August/September, 1922)

The weather is delightful. It’s time for a picnic. Here are some hundred-year-old tips for an automobile picnic.

For picnics the beverages and hot dishes may be prepared at home and carried in thermos food jars. The cold dishes may be packed in a small portable refrigerator. The biscuits, sandwiches, cakes, and cookies should be carefully wrapped in wax paper and packed in boxes. Ice creams may be taken in the freezer. Hot sandwiches and bacon may be cooked over the coals or on a portable oil or alcohol stove. In some menus it may be desirable to omit or modify a few of the dishes, if the food is to be carried several miles.

For Luncheon and Supper Guests (1922) by Alice Bradley