Keeping Food

Kept it in an ice box which had a drip pan that had to be emptied every day! The Ice Man would deliver blocks of ice in various sizes. He would have the truck stop at all the houses which displayed a card indicating the size of ice you wanted - 25 50 - 100 lbs. He would bring it into the kitchen carrying it with tongs over his shoulder covered with a leather cloth. As chipped the ice in his truck, we would wait patiently for him to give us chips to suck on - what a treat! We would wait for the ice man to come like the children of today waited for the ice cream man. Food was kept wrapped in wax paper or a container in the icebox. My mother would keep fresh vegetables in the cool dark area of the basement. My parent’s kept a large garden with several fruit trees. Most of our food was raised in the garden. Mom would put a pot of water on the stove to boil then go out to the garden to pick the corn - that was fresh food!!!! She would can 50 qt. of tomato juice. She canned beans, peaches, apple sauce, relishes Everything was neatly stored in the basement. Mom would bake bread while we were in school. We would come home for lunch and the aroma of fresh bread was wonderful!! Cinnamon rolls were our favorite! She would say You can't just eat bread - you have to have a balanced diet!