Figure 1.--World War II introduced many consumers to frozen food. Tin, aluminum, and other metals were needed for war production. This affected canned food availability during the war on the home front. Canned food became essential for feeding GIs fighting the Axis around the world. Many Americans at home tried frozen food for the first time. The first frozen vegetables came in small white cardboard boxes. You can see the little white box in figure 2 of the Life ad. A fullcolor, full page ad in Life would have been a very expensive expenditure for a product that was not yet being sold widely. The illustrator is Harry Beckhoff.

We see an ad for Birds Eye Frosted Foods, frozen vegetables, in a 'Life Magazine' ad (February 17, 1941). This is very interesting. At the time, America was finally emerging from the Great Depression and American companies were reporting great earnings churning out refrigerators, washing machines and automobiles dripping with chrome detailing. At the time, German factories were churning out artillery, tanks, aircraft, and U-boats. Reich Marshall Göring famously told Field Marshall Rommel who complained about American equipment reaching the British Army in North America, "That's nonsense, the Americans only know how to make refrigerators and razor blades." The Reich Marshall was right about the refrigerators. Americans in the late-1930s and early-40s were the first generation of Americans that began to have refrigerators. Before that, Americans had ice boxes. The early refrigerators had no room for frozen food. There was only a small compartment for ice. High end refrigerators might have ice cream compartments. So it is interesting to see a 1941 ad for frozen food. We do begin to see grocery stores adding frozen food display case, but it was still not very common. All this was about to change, but then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, thrusting America into World War II (December 1941). World War II introduced many consumers to frozen food. Tin, aluminum, and other metals were needed for war production. This affected canned food availability during the war on the home front. Canned food became essential for feeding GIs fighting the Axis around the world. Many Americans at home tried frozen food for the first time. The first frozen vegetables came in small white cardboard boxes. You can see the little white box in figure 2 of the Life ad. A fullcolor, full page ad in Life would have been a very expensive expenditure for a product that was not yet being sold widely. For the most part mothers during the War purchased frozen food for immeduate use, not for storage. The big change did occur very rapidly after the War (September 1945).

Created: 12:22 AM 5/5/2025
Last updated: 12:22 AM 5/5/2025