How To Get Dinner on the Table in 30 Minutes (A 1950s Guide)

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Sometimes, every housewife needs to get a super fast dinner on the table. And vintage homemaking had an answer for that too! This cold-weather dinner comes from a 1950 Better Homes and Gardens magazine. It has step-by-step instructions on how to get dinner on the table in 30 minutes start to finish.

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How to Get Dinner in 30 minutes

Here is your answer to getting a free afternoon for sewing or shopping, or a few glorious hours of just-do-what-you-please. This is the vintage way of getting that 30-minute meal that all the modern dinner helpers tout.

The Menu

The menu includes an appetizer, meat and two veg, a salad, bread, and dessert. The meal isn’t adapted to young children — you would probably serve cottage chese or a poached egg, tomato juice, a piece of toast, plain yams with butter, and plain gingerbread for dessert as a nursery supper.

• Chilled tomato juice (as an appetizer)
• Sausage Patties
• Candied Yams
• Pineapple Rings
• Cabbage Slaw with Pepper Rings
• Hot French Bread
• Gingerbread Layers with Whipped Cream
• Hot Coffee

The Shopping List

This shopping list is for a dinner for 4. Obviously, I triple this amount.

• 1 lb. bulk pork sausage
• 1 20-oz can of yams
• 1 loaf French bread
• 1/2 pint heavy cream
• 1 package gingerbread mix
• 1 head cabbage (probably still only need 1 head of cabbage if serving more people)
• 1 green pepper
• 1 bunch parsley (may not need to increase this either)
• 1 medium white onion
• 1 20-oz can of tomato juice

You will also need some of your pantry staples:

• Salt
• Pepper
• Butter
• Brown sugar
• White sugar
• Vegetable or salad oil
• Eggs
• Vanilla
• Tabasco sauce
• Coffee
• Milk
• Lemons
• Celery salt

Making the Meal Step-by-Step

1. Preheat the Oven

Come to the kitchen at 5:30 pm. Dinner will be served at 6. The first thing to do when you come into the kitchen is turn on the oven to 350° F. The whole meal will go into the oven to cook for about 20 minutes, so while the oven preheats, you will brown the sausage and prep the yams and pineapples.

2. Start Cooking the Sausage

Put the skillet on to heat while you slice the sausage. Slice the roll of bulk sausage in 1/2-inch slice and allow 2 patties per person, or make 2-oz. patties, and allow 2 per person. Put the patties in the pan and begin browning them over medium heat while you move on the the yams.

3. Prepare the Yams and Pineapple

For the candied yams, drain the yams and put them into a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle them with brown sugar and dot with butter. Drain the canned pineapple. Put the pineapple slices on top of the yams, sprinkle with more brown sugar and dot with butter again.

4. Finish Browning the sausage

While you prep the yams and pineapple slices, you will need to flip the sausage patties when one side is brown, and then brown the other side. When both sides are browned, drain off the excess fat. Add 2 tablespoons of water (have a lid ready), cover the pan, and let the patties steam a bit.

5. Make the Dessert

Empty the gingerbread cake mix into a bowl. Mix it up following the directions on the package. Pour batter into 2 greased 8-inch cake pans.

6. Put the Meal INto the Oven

It should now be 5:40. Put the whole meal into the oven. The sausage patties in their skillet and the casserole of yams and pineapples goes into the bottom of the oven, and the gingerbread goes on the top shelf.

7. Finish the Little Extras

Slice the french bread, buterr the slices, put the bread back together like a loaf, wrap the loaf in its paper bag, and slide it into the oven to heat.

Start the coffee.

Whip the cream. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla. Chill the cream after whipping.

Warm the plates and chill the salad bowls.

8. Set the Table

Set the table with napkins, silverware, glasses, salt and pepper. Don’t foget a centerpiece — the article suggests a small potted plant, which I love. I would also add a runner and placemats or a tablecloth to dress up the table. Plates and salad bowls are served up in the kitchen.

9. Make the salad

Shred the cabbage and cut up the onion and the green pepper. Toss the slaw with the dressing. Here’s the recipe.

Pour the chilled tomato juice and add a dash of Tabasco sauce and a dash of celery salt.

Fix the ice cubes and pour water.

10. Serve the Dinner

Take everything out of the oven. Leave the gingerbread in the pans while you dish up the plates.

Put the sausage patties, yams, and pinapple on the table. Put the bread in the bread basket. Fill the salad bowls.

Turn out the gingerbread onto the rack

Bring the tomato juice to the table and call everyone to the table. Serve the tomato juice first, then bring the warm plates, salad bowls, and the bread basket to the table (or serve from the sideboard or tea cart).

After everyone is finished, clear the table. Put the gingerbread layers together with the whipped cream and sprinkle with chopped nuts or leave plain. Bring it to the table and serve there. Pour the coffee at the table also.

Vintage Cooking Notes

Just a note from personal experience, this whole 30-minute limit only works if:

• The tomato juice was put into the fridge to chill when all the groceries were delivered in the morning.
• Your kitchen is organized and set up for work.

You can, however prepare things in advance. For example, you can use leftover baked or boiled sweet potatoes. You can also make the gingerbread from scratch in the morning or just before you start everything else, tacking on about 15-20 minutes at the start of cooking. If you are increasing the quantity of people served, add extra time as well.

Recipe: Shredded Cabbage Toss (1950)

References

Better Homes and Gardens, February 1950

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