Back in the day houses were built with cold rooms for storing the root vegetables you couldn't buy from supermarkets during the long winter months. Jarred and canned preservatives were also very popular.
Warehousing at home.
My grandparents had a four year supply of food in their basement at all times.
They also had a huge garden in their backyard. Small houses, with large gardens.
I’ve been picking up packs of lids since they reappeared from the last run on anything canning related. Glad I did.
Yeah it was great. People didn't earn as much money back then, but they didn't spend very much either, in spite of the large families. They just made a lot more food at home, and there was always plenty to eat. A large feast, at least once every week. Family gatherings.
This is part of the secret behind the single wage earner family. Most of what they needed they provided for themselves, including clothing. Women made new clothing all the time. Bedding, curtains, etc, everything cloth related. Women also knew how to sew and knit.
Cars changed everything, but cars were not really commonly owned until well into the 1950's. People were very self sufficient until cars made it easy to go and get stuff. They had to be.
If we have to be again, we will be.
The funny part is, the more self sufficient they force us to be, the less control they have over us in the big picture.
Good reply
People didn't earn as much money back then
Because they were busy canning food and tending to their miniature farm, which doesn't generate a paycheck and the savings isn't as much as they could earn in that same time. Opportunity cost and specialization are real. The fundamentals of the capitalist free market are under attack right now. They're trying to break the system of feedbacks that make the market function so when it all goes to complete shit they can be our saviors. "Just try this communism folks. We would never let such a calamity happen with all our wise and benevolent planners."
This is part of the secret behind the single wage earner family.
The big secret behind single wager earner families was in the form of basically static inflation and no tsunami of third world immigrants sucking up social services and voting themselves more every year.
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