Reading through this reminds me of being a kid at family gatherings and asking about the keepsakes in a box that would find their way out to where I was with the oldest relatives. I learned that our families were lucky enough to be able to barter for gas or rides to get to grandparents' farm at least once a month if not once a week. Milk, eggs, fresh fruit and vegies. In other words, they had survived crossing the ocean and starting over in 1850s on one branch; had dug deep and pioneered on three others. They raised families and helped neighbors during the Great Depression of the thirties so a little hardship in getting manufactured goods could be lived with. Royal Baking Powder had a recipe book that dealt with the basics of biscuits and cakes etc from the twenties. The Household Search Light Cookbooks were like the America's Test Kitchen of today. Basics were taught at grandma's or mom's elbow --- the joy of cooking a full meal with Grandma sitting in place and letting me run the cookstove (wood fired) to do Sunday dinner in the early sixties was great. I even learned how to make a smooth, thin gravy for the roast beef. During the second world war Grandma didn't do as much cookie baking as she did when I arrived in the fifties. Perhaps they should've continued rationing sugar and flour??
WilliP