CARE packages

Cafe Society
1

According to Wiki, the first CARE packages contained:
[ul][li]one pound of beef in broth[/li][li]one pound of steak and kidneys[/li][li]8 ounces of liver loaf[/li][li]8 ounces of corned beef[/li][li]12 ounces of luncheon loaf (like Spam)[/li][li]8 ounces of bacon[/li][li]2 pounds of margarine[/li][li]one pound of lard[/li][li]one pound of fruit preserves[/li][li]one pound of honey[/li][li]one pound of raisins[/li][li]one pound of chocolate[/li][li]2 pounds of sugar[/li][li]8 ounces of egg powder[/li][li]2 pounds of whole-milk powder[/li][li]2 pounds of coffee[/ul][/li]Here’s a photo.

I see that the margarine is canned. I think I see canned bacon. (A&B brand, third row down and second from the right, below the oleo margarine.) I assume the ‘liver loaf’ is the paté next to the (assumed) bacon. I can’t identify the four soap-like things at the bottom, nor the flat bacon package-shaped things next to them.

I’ve never seen canned bacon or canned margarine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen steak & kidneys in a supermarket. I’ve only seen lard in the refrigerated section. I’ve never seen it in a tin. Are any of those things still commonly available in U.S. supermarkets?

2

Might be the lard. I’ve seen it in that form, although not for years and years.

Those are the chocolate bars. I think.

3

It looks like the lard is in the tin under the coffee, on the left.

I thought of that after it was too late to edit. I think you’re right.

This is what I see, in columns from left to right:

  1. Coffee, coffee, lard, raisins
  2. Flour, rice, corned beef
  3. Sugar, honey, apricot preserves, Prem (‘SPAM’), the soap-shaped blocks
  4. Braised beef & gravy, steak & kidneys in gravy, liver paté
  5. Oleomargarine, oleomargarine, sliced bacon, the four (now identified) chocolate bars
  6. ‘Nura’ (I don’t know what that is), powdered milk, powdered eggs.
4

In 1945 the US Army was still giving cigarettes to GIs.
:slight_smile:

5

But I change my vote to chocolate.

6

Vermont Country Store and a few other speciality places of similiar ilk sell canned bacon. It’s useful for camping or emergencies, but not common at all. Canned lard can be found in groceries in areas where there are a lot of immigrants who expect to buy it that form. Canned margarine never heard of it here probably because plastic tubs are cheaper than putting the stuff in cans.