Before modern technology how did a low-middle income family feed itself during the winter?

Question

I'm thinking about Britain but if you know about an area that is similarly seasonal your info is welcome. So what I'm wondering is what did people eat during the winter, did every family have its own food store, or was it managed by a town, or a local ruler? How did people ration it out, and what were the economics involved? It's just a matter of curiosity.

Answer 1

In the period I study, Earl Modern England and Europe (1500-1700) most towns had their own grain store which was managed by the Town or City corporations; councillors, aldermen, mayors etc. In times of bad harvest these corporations would monopolise the local stocks and only pay such suppliers as there was set prices, thereby ensuring the poor of the town were not priced out of the market. Some were more effectual than others in managing the supply and demand. There are many instances of grain riots in England and Europe, at times when the corporations had not responded to the crisis quickly enough. Other towns were models of organisation, e.g. Lille (now in France, then in the Walloon province of flanders.) As for individual stores it is hard to know, but I have recently studied accounts for a lower gentry family in early seventeenth century and they were buying enough grain to last a couple of months at once, therefore they must have had to store it somewhere. Those on lower incomes would obviously not have been able to buy as much grain at once. As for perishables, low income families in rural areas would have fed themselves by slaughtering and preserving their own animals, getting dairy from their own cattle, eggs from their own hens and vegetables preserved from the summer harvest. Most rural dwellers would have enough land (even if its just leased) for one or two animals Larger local landowners would have also supplied them (at a cost of course).

Answer 2

A great question!

In medieval times people killed their livestock at the end of autumn and salted the flesh. Turnips, onions and apples were gathered and stored. People who lived on the coast also stored dried salted cod. Those were the staples in medieval Britain. The dried meat and fish were usually stewed, with onions and turnips added for flavour along with any herbs the family had dried. (Needless to say, it didn't often make for gourmet eating but it provided necessary nutrition. The better off could afford pepper or other spices to improve the flavour. )

Throughout the year, milk was made into cheese, which, if properly stored, could keep for years. (The hard cheeses for which Britain is famous were first developed centuries ago.)

Grain was harvested and stored and made into gruel or bread as required. In Scandinavia oats and rye were made into flatbread which did not moulder and lasted for months. (Something like Ryvita)

After potatoes became common in Europe, they became more important to the diet than turnips, and were likewise stored in the autumn to provide sustenance through the winter

Under the feudal system, in times of very severe hardship it was incumbent on the local lords to prevent starvation by opening their kitchens to the locals. Monasteries and abbeys often provided food for the indigent, which is why the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII was such a disaster - many poorer folk starved to death - the charity of monks and nuns was the welfare system of the time.

It is recorded that Henry VIII's cast-off Queen, Katharine of Aragon, was so moved by the plight of the poor that even when she was herself in relatively dire straits, she daily provided as much food as she could for those less fortunate, which is one of the reasons that she was so greatly loved by the English people.

If a town was under siege then the rulers or city elders might gather up whatever food was available and ration it out. Usually able bodied men got more than women; children and the elderly received even less.

Answer 3

Well in America early 1900's
From what my grandmother told me when I was little, they home canned food from the summer when things were plentiful, fruits and veggies.( and not just one person , the family would get together and do this)

Most of all most meals were things like soups, cooked lentils, beans and items from their farm, milk, eggs, butter,bread,biscuits all made at home. and they traded with neighbors for items during the year.
They rarely ate meat unless it was something like duck or rabbit that had been hunted, or traded with a neighbor.
Some foods could be stored longer by keeping them cooler in special storage since they lacked refrigeration.
It was a matter of eating what you had and eating what was plentiful when it was available.
Too bad most people now days haven't a clue about the amount of time and energy and family participation it actually took to prepare a meal for a family. My granny showed me how, and I am forever grateful that I know how to make bread the "old fashioned" way! and a pot of beans with a ham bone! and real apple pie crust and all!

Answer 4

Food such as grain for bread was stored in granarys safe from vermin.
Other food like meat was smoked or salted to preserve it. Cottages in rural areas were built with a smoking chamber halfway up the chimney for this purpose.
Vegetables such as cabbages were available all through winter and fruit could be stored for long periods in the right conditions or made into preserves.

Answer 5

when the yank mentions canned food it means bottling over here,we had that too but people were very self sufficient.
although drying was mostly done centrally there were home
dryers but with small capacity. Nearly everyone kept
livestock and eggs were 'put down' as they called it in a
bucket or barrel of Waterglass which preserved them for
nine months,people were innovative and for instance would
catch wild rabbits,ducks,fish and together with the eggs would go door to door selling.Apples were stored in straw,
plums and soft fruit bottled and jammed,veg. was stored
under soil and straw in clamps,carrots,taties,turnips,
parsnips most people had a plot of land,and the population was much smaller.

Answer 6

Meat was salted and of coursepigs can survive through winter and be killed when needed.

There was a time when the only veggies you got were those in season.

Apples kept throughout the winter.

Other fruit were bottled in Kilner jars - a bit like home made canning.

There was sharing in those days. swop plums for apples for example. I don't think there was formal sharing - not in UK

Answer 7

They will are good for health, however if you are asking which is better for diet in such a case all vegetables would do well

Answer 8

They stored the food they had produced in the growing seasons.