For poorer children there would have been fewer options. Farmers tended to eat better with a diet of meat, vegetables and fresh milk. Popular foods included beef, mutton, port, bacon, cheese, eggs, bread, potatoes, rice, porridge oats, milk, vegetables, flour, sugar, treacle, jam and tea.
What food did the poor Victorian children eat?
For many poor people across Britain, white bread made from bolted wheat flour was the staple component of the diet. When they could afford it, people would supplement this with vegetables, fruit and animal-derived foods such as meat, fish, milk, cheese and eggs – a Mediterranean-style diet.
What did Victorian children eat and drink?
Small children drank milk and babies were breast fed for as long as possible by working class mothers. Not only was breast milk clean, it was free. To sum up, all of the food the poorer Victorian people ate was seasonal and therefore cheap.
What did Victorian children drink?
Godfrey’s Cordial was a patent medicine, containing laudanum (tincture of opium) in a sweet syrup, which was commonly used as a sedative to quiet infants and children in Victorian England.
What was Victorian childhood like?
Life for Victorian children was very different from our lives today. Children in rich households had toys to play with and did not have to work, but children in poor households often had to work long hours in difficult, dangerous jobs. They didn’t have toys to play with but sometimes made their own.
What did Victorian children eat for breakfast?
A typical breakfast might consist of stoneground bread smeared with dripping or lard (consisting largely of healthy monounsaturated fats), accompanied by a large bunch of watercress, rich in vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.
What did rich Victorian children eat for breakfast?
Middle and upper class breakfasts typically consisted of porridge, eggs, fish and bacon. They were eaten together as a family.
What did kids eat for lunch in the 1800s?
The light meal homesteaders’ children carried to school was called “lunch.” They ate lots of sandwiches, but what kind of sandwiches? They might have had cornbread and syrup, or bread and lard, maybe with a little sugar, or bread and bacon. It was a special treat to have a sandwich with meat in it.
What kind of candy did Victorians eat?
In the Victorian era, one of the most popular sweets to eat during the holidays was called “sugar plums.” The candy was made of nuts, spices and sugar, and rolled into a ball. The dark color had the appearance of a plum, and that is where it got its name despite there being no plums in the dessert.
What did Victorians snack on?
According to Mrs Beeton’s book, baskets would often be filled to the brim with fruit turnovers, cheesecakes, ‘cabinet’ or sweet steamed puddings, blancmanges and jam puffs.
How much was a loaf of bread in Victorian times?
A loaf of bread cost about 3 d (pennies). Most of the week’s money was spent on bread leaving little for other necessities. The weekly shop could also include milk, cheese and potatoes. Poor families could only afford meat once a week – this would have been saved for Sunday lunch.
What did Victorians put in milk?
Boracic acid in milk
Boracic acid was believed to “purify” milk, removing the sour taste and smell from milk that had gone off. Mrs Beeton told consumers that this was “quite a harmless addition”, but she was wrong.
What did the Victorians eat for dessert?
Sorbets were popular as courses in their own right during elaborate meals, as well as for a quick pick-me-up at a ball. Both cream and water ices tended to be served as part of the dessert course, which in a Victorian meal came after the fruit tarts, puddings and cakes we associate with dessert today.
How did Victorian children have fun?
Board games such as Snakes and Ladders, Ludo and Draughts were popular indoor games. Outdoors, Victorian children played with toys like hoops, marbles and skipping ropes, with friends in the street, or in the school playground. They played chasing games such as Tag, Blind Man’s Bluff, and played catch with balls.
How were Victorian kids treated?
With no laws to protect children, this meant they had few rights and were badly treated. Seen as simply the property of their parents, many children were abandoned, abused and even bought and sold. Thought to be born evil, children needed to be corrected, punished and made to become good citizens.
What did rich Victorian children wear?
Children tended to wear miniature versions of adult clothes. Boys wore dresses until they were about five years old. Once of school age they wore suits or short trousers and jackets with a cap. Sailor suits were also fashionable.
What was a poor Victorian diet?
For the poorest a sandwich of bread and watercress was the most common. At the start of the week, porridge made with water might be possible. Lunch involved bread, combined with cheese if possible or more watercress. At the start of the week, soup could occasionally be bought as cheap street food.
What did child convicts eat for dinner?
Convicts called their midday meal ‘dinner’, and they often returned from their worksites to eat it at 1pm. It was usually 450 grams of salted meat (either mutton or beef), cooked again into a stew, and some bread.
What were 3 of the foods that were given to poor Victorians in workhouses?
Potatoes or other Vegetables. Pickled Pork, or Bacon, with Vegetables. Meat Rice or Suet! Pudding, with Vegetables.
Did Victorians eat salads?
But during the Victorian era, salads were usually reserved for the upper class. Lettuces were highly perishable and therefore expensive, particularly during the colder months when they were out of season. Resourceful Victorians got around this obstacle by using hothouses to grow salad greens and other vegetables.
What did kids eat 100 years ago?
Bread, potatoes, cabbage, beans, and various kinds of cereal were the base of local cuisine. There was usually only one dish per meal on the table on regular days. On holidays, there could be several dishes served during the same meal, but they were the same as those cooked on regular days, as a rule.