Refrigeration
The new refrigerators changed the way women shopped and cooked, and the
way families entertained. 1930's cookbooks included frozen vegetables
patented by Clarence Birdseye in 1925 and on the market in 1928.
The small ice cubes made possible by the freezer unit changed American
drinking habits, making cold water, soda, and lemonade available all
year-round. Ice cubes also took the place of shaved ice in home treatment
of fevers, sprains, and headaches.
The freezer unit was too small to store more than a tray or two of ice
cubes or small packages of frozen vegetables. Not until the 1950s did
refrigerators have freezer compartments large enough to store bricks of
icecream from the grocery store.
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