Grocery Shopping Seventy Years Ago Unlike today, back in the 1940s people in St. John’s would stock up with groceries in the Fall to last all winter. Today with groceries readily available all winter shopping habits are far different, and daily shopping is more the norm. I recently came across a Fall shopping list below prepared for my Mother in Law, Mrs Ernest Shute of St. John’s, sometime in the 1940s. The order was for a large family of eight. It gives some idea of the eating habits of families in those days. It is also interesting to note that coal and wood were the methods of heating back then. Dad’s Grocery List September Butter 5 cases 5 ton soft coal Milk 4 cases 5 ton hard coal Tea 10 lbs 1 steamer birch chunks Sugar 5 bags Flour 5 barrels B. powder 5 lb B soda 1 large Vanilla 1 large bottle Icing sugar 5 lbs Cake flour 5 boxes Molasses ? Cocoa 5 lbs Potatoes 5 bags 1 barrel salt ribs Carrots 2 bags 1 barrel corned beef Turnips 2 bags 2 fresh hams Cabbage ? 2 sides bacon Peas split 10 lbs 1 lb apricots Peas green 10 lbs 1 box dried prunes Beans white 10 lbs 1 box Delicious apples 1 box cream corn 1 barrel Gravenstein apples 1 box oranges 2 boxes chocolate bars 2 boxes chocolates John Cornick Halifax, Nova Scotia   Submitted By: John Cornick