Show Us Your Vintage Groceries!

[Mid-fogey]

With much...

...modern packaging the emphasis is on recyclability, light weight to keep down shipping costs, or display.

When something isn’t packed that way it stands out. I got some Allen Edmunds shoes and the boxes were ornate, and my wife bought me a shaving brush from England and it came in a neat little slip box and was neatly wrapped in paper.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'd think the ultimate in recyclability would be to use packaging that could easily be used for some other purpose around the house once the product was gone. Coffee cans are one prime example of this, and cracker tins are another -- very few homes in the Era didn't have a button tin that used to contain Uneeda Biscuits.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I use an old Potato Salad container filled with ice to keep my lunchbox cold at work.

 

[Gingerella72]

I remember the first time I stumbled onto this site http://www.packagemuseum.com/, I checked the basement and found out the old cans my Dad uses to store nuts and bolts and things were a lot older than I thought.

I love how on the photo of the All Bran cereal box, it says in big letters right at the top, "RELIEVES CONSTIPATION."
lol

 

[Mid-fogey]

Boy...

I'd think the ultimate in recyclability would be to use packaging that could easily be used for some other purpose around the house once the product was gone. Coffee cans are one prime example of this, and cracker tins are another -- very few homes in the Era didn't have a button tin that used to contain Uneeda Biscuits.

...that's the truth. When we do get something that isn't a blister pack, throwaway package, we often use if for something else.

Here's a funny thing. A glass fruit jar with a threaded top exactly fit the grease trap on our stove. So it has a new job.

 

[Lady Day]

I was at a coffee shop with a friend a couple of weeks ago and they had an amazing display of vintage groceries. I snapped these with my phone.

LD

 

[Lady Day]

LD

 

[LizzieMaine]

What's For Lunch?

 

[scotrace]

I'm looking for the right vintage tin to store coffee beans in.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm looking for the right vintage tin to store coffee beans in.

 

[scotrace]

Yes, something very much like that. Not having much luck.

 

[Viola]

Did you ever find your coffee tin? It's funny you mentioned coffee specifically because I want a vintage Maxwell House (no other brand will do) tin. Yep. Because I am, as I have been told, crazy.

They're shockingly expensive though. I think I may have to revert to my original idea of looks-old-but-not tins and boxes. Mortons' salt, Keenes curry powder, stuff like that.

 

[Gregg Axley]

It's not vintage, but I have a late 60's Folgers coffee can that I put my "weekend" coffee in.
It fits in the shelves of my cupboard, so I've kept it all these years.
BTW I knew the former owners, my grandparents.
The lid doesn't quite fit on there as well anymore, but it does store coffee well.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

There is, however, no force on earth that could cause me to try vintage canned finnan haddie.

You really should send The Potted Meat Museum a photo of that one.

http://www.pottedmeatmuseum.org/?page_id=2

 

[Gregg Axley]

Now I've seen everything the internet has to offer...and I didn't think it was possible.

 

[scotrace]

Lots to see here at this Shorpy Image.

 

[Giftmacher]

Does someone remember "American Milko"? Found an empty can on the loft in the old house, where I used to live. Comes from 40-50's I presume.

 

[MrSpadesGirl]

Lots to see here at this Shorpy Image.

Neat photo. I noticed that the crate of Tropical Fruits to the right of the picture is from Lake Placid, FL which is about a 2 hour drive from where I live now and about an hour away from where I grew up. They were one of our big high school football rivals. It made me smile.

 

[fortworthgal]

Yes, something very much like that. Not having much luck.

I wish I'd checked this forum earlier. We had 5 of those old style coffee tins - Maxwell House, Folgers, Community Club, and 2 others I can't remember. Some of them even had dates on them. We were cleaning some things out, didn't have a place for them, and *gave* them away to one of my husband's coworkers who loves vintage packaging. Not that they didn't go to a good home... but if I'd seen this thread I would have just mailed one to you! Rats.