The main constituent of the workhouse diet was bread. At breakfast it was supplemented by gruel or porridge — both made from water and oatmeal (or occasionally a mixture of flour and oatmeal). Workhouse broth was usually the water used for boiling the dinner meat, perhaps with a few onions or turnips added.
What did Victorians eat in the workhouse?
In November of 1845 the diet of the Workhouse inmates consisted primarily of bread, meat, potatoes, sweet milk, sour milk, oatmeal and tea. All of these were supplied to the Workhouse by various contractors, most of whom were local.
What did the poor Victorians 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 workhouse children eat?
The simplest diet was No. 3, which offered an unvarying menu of bread and gruel for breakfast, and bread and cheese for supper. Midday dinner was also bread and cheese five days a week (with extra soup on Thursdays), and meat and vegetables on the other two days.
What did poor Victorians 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 meat did poor Victorians eat?
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.
How did poor Victorians cook their food?
Few of the poor had ovens and had to rely either on open-fire pan cooking, buy their hot food out, or make do with cold meals.
What did poor Victorian kids eat?
Poor families ate more carbohydrates, such as bread, potatoes and porridge oats, as these were cheaper and more filling. Bread with lard or dripping spread across it was a staple meal. Seasonal vegetables were also a large part of their diets. These include onions, turnips, cabbages, apples and parsnips.
What did poor people eat?
The poorest people ate mostly potatoes, bread, and cheese. Working-class folks might have had meat a couple of times a week, while the middle class ate three good meals a day. Some common foods eaten were eggs, bacon and bread, mutton, pork, potatoes, and rice.
What did the poor peasants mainly eat?
Peasants tended to keep cows, so their diets consisted largely of dairy produce such as buttermilk, cheese, or curds and whey. Rich and poor alike ate a dish called pottage, a thick soup containing meat, vegetables, or bran.
What did Oliver Twist eat in the workhouse?
Nine-year-old Oliver Twist is a resident in the parish workhouse where the boys are “issued three meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week, and half a roll on Sundays.” The workhouse is run by Bumble the Beadle, Limbkins is Chairman of the Board of Guardians for the workhouse.
What did workhouse inmates eat?
The main constituent of the workhouse diet was bread. At breakfast it was supplemented by gruel or porridge — both made from water and oatmeal (or occasionally a mixture of flour and oatmeal). Workhouse broth was usually the water used for boiling the dinner meat, perhaps with a few onions or turnips added.
What were the three harshest rules of the workhouse?
Rules: The daily work was backed up with strict rules and punishments. Laziness, drinking, gambling and violence against other inmates or staff were strictly forbidden. Other offences included insubordination, using abusive language and going to Milford without permission.
What alcohol did poor Victorians drink?
Beer and gin were cheap, costing about 1d. Drink was also easier to get hold of than clean drinking water. This meant that many people drank alcohol instead and drunkeness was a problem in some areas. Illness and death were common, especially in children.
What did Victorians drink before dinner?
The custom of afternoon tea served before dinner, with milk and sugar, became well-established in Britain in the early 19th century. A selection of tea sandwiches and biscuits, petit fours, nuts and glazed fruits would be served on the most beautiful china with the tea, and sometimes alcohol.
How much was a loaf of bread in Victorian times?
loaf cost about 1.4 pence (remember there were 240 pennies in a pound in those days). Add in the cost of milling and baking, plus some profit, and the loaf might sell for perhaps 2 pence.
What did Victorians drink?
A glass of hock after white fish or claret and port after salmon. Following entrees chilled champagne, a favourite with the ladies, might be served. But it wasn’t all alcohol in the Victorian home. Lemonade, root beer, hot tea and, yes, Perrier that had recently being introduced, were all popular beverages.
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 sandwiches did Victorians eat?
The Sandwiches
A picnic sandwich for most families would be a substantial pairing of thick-cut whole wheat bread with fillings of salted meat and salad such as cress, lettuce or celery. Cheese was also a popular filling, often grated and mixed with cream or chopped nuts. The sandwich was a wholesome feast.
How many meals a day did Victorians eat?
Sir William Harrison thought that in previous times (not specified) there had been four meals eaten a day, that is breakfast, dinner, nuntions (or ‘nuncheons’, taken about noon) and late supper. Nuncheons was usually something eaten by workmen who were given payment for it…
How did Victorians keep meat fresh?
The meat was rubbed with salt, placed it in wooden barrels and topped off with water, making a brine. The brine kept the meat moister and more palatable than drying, and it prohibited the growth of harmful organisms.