Plan fun meals for a crowd with these 1950s meal plans from vintage magazines. You’ll find several menus plus a video of some of the vintage recipes.
I love sharing vintage meal plans from vintage magazines and vintage cookbooks because it’s a fun look into the past. You can find hidden gem recipes, and also just enjoy seeing what families were eating in the past.
Today I have one focused on families, and the best part is I’ve joined with my friend Anna from Cooking the Books on YouTube to bring you a video featuring some of these recipes!
Anna creates fun videos on her channel, trying vintage recipes she finds in her amazing collection of vintage cookbooks. They are some of my favorite videos on YouTube, and we’ve gotten to know each other recently because of our shared love of vintage recipes. We thought it would be fun for me to share this meal plan and for her to make some of the recipes.
As always with these vintage meal plans, I’m not able to find every recipe to share, but I often go back and recreate them, so if you see one that I didn’t find that sounds good, let me know in the comments. And don’t forget to pick up my Retro Meal Planner to put your own meal plans into.
1950s Meal Plans for a Crowd
This meal plan comes from a 1954 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. They said these meals were meant to be “pretty as may.”
Copenhagen Breakfast
- Ham and Cheese Platter
- Eggs
- Glorified Porridge
- Danish Coffee Ring (linking a Swedish version, but the recipe is very similar)
- Strawberries
- Hot Coffee
Party Best Luncheon
- Ham-Asperagus Hollandaise
- Baked Waffle French Potatoes (waffle-cut fries)
- Pineapple Spears, Iced Relishes, Assorted Pickles
- Peppermint Meringue Balls with Velvety Chocolate Sauce (recipe coming soon)
Family Favorite
Cooking the Books tried out several of these recipes and shared how to make them and a review. Be sure to check out her video and subscribe for more of her great vintage recipe videos.
- Barbecued Frank Bake
- Cream-Fried Potatoes
- Buttered Green Beans
- Tossed Salad
- Toasted Buns
- Sundaes with Spicy Pineapple Sauce
Company’s Coming
- Ham-Loaf-Ham (turning ground ham back into a ham)
- Sweet-Potato Bake
- Buttered Peas
- Spring Salad Mold
- Hot Parsley-Buttered Rolls
- Old-Fashioned Rhubarb Pie
Spring House-Cleaning Day
- Boiled Burgers on Bun Halves*
- Green Limas with Bacon Dressing
- Carrot Sticks, Green Onions, Fresh Garden Radishes
- May Fruit Dip (this seems to be fruit on cocktail picks with cups of powdered sugar to dip them into)
- Sugar Cookies
*The burgers were meant to be a quick meal for a busy cleaning day. The basic instructions are to spread mustard on four half buns, season 1 pound of ground beef with salt, pepper, and minced onion, and spread it on the buns. Broil for 12 to 15 minutes.
When looking at these menus, you can also use them as inspiration, but make them modern. For example, the Company’s Coming menu could be an actual ham, baked sweet potatoes, buttered peas, a fresh salad, rolls, and pie. That would even make a great Easter dinner. Use these menus as fun inspiration to change up your everyday meals or get adventurous and try them as they are!
More 1950s Meal Plans To Try
Want to try some more vintage meal plans? I’ve got a lot of great ones on the site for you to try.
And don’t forget to go give Cooking the Books a follow and let her know I sent you. You will love her videos!
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