A quick look at what people had to eat in the Colonial Era.

1. What and when did
people eat?
Could you live like this?

2. When did people eat?
● Breakfast: early! sunrise-if poor, late (9 or
10) if rich)
o There was no meal called “Lunch”
● Mid-day was “Dinner”
o the biggest meal of the day
● Evening was “Supper”, usually light/small
o Just before bed.
o Pretty close to sunset...

3. What did they eat?
Varies by location, by class, by season.
● But homemade bread with every meal
There is no “typical” meal for Colonial America!
● Everyone was a Locavore!
Everyone brewed beer/made cider
● Coastlines had access to fish
● Lots of hunting.

4. Breakfast Options
● Bread & Milk
● Porridge that had been slowly cooking all night or
cornmeal mush, either with molasses or honey
● Mug of beer or cider (fermented and alcoholic)
● Wealthy: tea/coffee, maybe biscuits with butter
Mid-Atlantic:
● Scrapple-cornmeal and head cheese mix (dutch)
● Sweet cakes fried in fat (dutch)
South added Turkey to the above...

5. Dinner options
● Beer/cider with stew on stale bread
● Pork, corn and cabbage and whatever roots
were available at the time, plus seasonal
veggies; turkey and chicken common, beef
rare
● Middle class had two courses: soups, meat
pies, puddings, side dishes of pickled
veggies, cheese, dried fruits, eggs/egg dish

6. Supper
Whatever leftovers there were from the earlier
meal; it is a bedtime snack that is not common
● Gruel (boiled oats/cornmeal/barley)
● Boiled potatoes with salt
● Middle class often had eggs- omelets were
popular

7. Your task
Take the list of recipies: http://goo.gl/6dVsrL
Make a shopping list. Remember:
No refrigeration
No grocery stores
It takes 3 months to grow things
Animals are raised or hunted.
Good Luck!