Episode 32 - Frozen Assets
How Freezer Locker Plants were at the forefront of food preservation during World War II
For this supplemental post, we’ll be looking closer at some primary resources regarding freezer locker plants! Episode 32 was all about how local freezer locker plants helped their communities with an alternative food preservation method to canning, and in the process, helped kick-start the frozen food industry to grow into what it has become today. Listen to the podcast episode HERE!
Frozen foods were a convenient food in that they eliminated waste product, saved time, and preserved the food as close to fresh as you could get. Unfortunately, like these packages of Birds Eye in a grocery store freezer case, commercial frozen products did require the use of ration points.
The good news for consumers was that freezing your own Victory garden produce was easy and inexpensive, so long as you had a freezer locker plant nearby and there wasn’t a waiting list to get a locker. The price for yearly rental of a locker ranged from about $12 to $18 depending on where you lived and the size of your locker. (1942-1945 dollars)
Some farmers were able to afford freezer chests for their homes which made freezing food even easier! It’s incredible how much food they were able to preserve with just these chest freezers — saving gas and rubber, while lightening the load on the local food systems.
Freezer locker plants also wrapped and froze their own products to sell to their customers or cut and wrapped meat for their customers as illustrated in the photograph above. They offered a whole range of services from butchering to curing to freezing. Meats weren’t the only thing they worked with. They also froze and packaged their own vegetables and fruits.
The benefits of frozen food were sung to the rafters: they had better flavor, color, texture, and nutritional value than their canned counterparts. Plus, frozen foods were easier to process and store, not to mention children could safely assist in the preparation for the freezer. The biggest downside was travelling to the freezer locker plant, which used vital gasoline rations and added wear to rubber tires. These downsides were worth it to anyone who had a locker, especially when they could eat fresh-tasting foods in the winter and off season.
Cookbook Feature: June Frost’s Recipe Book, date unknown (but it’s marked with the “Food for Freedom” emblem and talks about the war)
I made a very meaty Meatloaf and a simple, delicious Ice Cream Pie!
I found with the bacon and sausage that 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt was far too salty. Reducing the salt to 1/2 or 3/4 tsp. should be a better amount. I also used turkey sausage to reduce the amount of fat, because I find that meatloaf can be too greasy if the fat content is too high.
I made a graham cracker crust pie, which was an authentic choice for this time period. I thought it might cut better frozen and be more in line with my family’s tastes. It was delicious!
RESOURCES
Websites:
Frozen Food Locker film (no sound). Shows footage and explains about what happens at a frozen food locker. Prelinger Archives.
Images:
Freezer locker plants and cooperatively owned cold storage rooms are important in the agricultural improvement program of the [Tennessee Valley] Authority. Photograph shows a view of one at White Pine, North Carolina. Such structures are designed for local materials and the simplest possible workmanship because the purpose is to encourage rural residents to plan and erect them on their own initiative. U.S. Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information. Library of Congress, 1933-1945.
Preparation for point rationing. While mother keeps handy her war ration book two, daughter examines the frozen foods which require removal of point stamps. Palmer, Alfred T., photographer. Farm Security Administration, Library of Congress, Feb 1943.
Saving Victory Garden for Winter. Witchita Falls Record News, Kansas. 5 Jun 1944. Accessed via Newspapers.com.
“The Latest in Farm Freezer Design”, Electricity on the Farm. May 1943
“Frozen Food Locker Plant”. This article featured building schematics for a freezer locker plant in Alabama. American Builder, June 1943. Accessed via Internet Archive.
Stamping cut of meat before removing to freezing room. Cold storage locker, Casselton, North Dakota. John Vachon, photographer. U.S. Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information. Library of Congress, Oct 1940.
Books/Magazines/Articles:
June Frost’s Recipe Book, date unknown.
Electricity on the Farm, April 1942.
Electricity on the Farm, May 1943.
The Home Freezing of Farm Products. Nancy K. Masterman and Frank A. Lee. Cornell Bulletin for Homemakers. Bulletin 611, June 1943/Reprinted November 1948.
Locker Logic: How to prepare fresh foods for freezing, frozen foods for eating. Kane & Harcus Co. Everett, Washington. 1946.
Locker Logic - Food for Victory Edition: How to prepare fresh foods for freezing, frozen foods for eating. Kane & Harcus Co. Everett, Washington. 1943.
Cooperative Frozen Food Locker Associations. L. B. Mann. U.S. Farm Credit Administration, 1948. Accessed via Internet Archive.
https://archive.org/details/CAT31315436/mode/2up
“Preserve vitamins for Winter meals.” House & Garden June 1942
How to Prepare Vegetables and Fruits for Freezing. Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry. U.S. Department of Agriculture, May 1944.
“Save Game Meat — It Is Valuable.” Wildlife Leaflet 246. United States Department of the Interior First and Wildlife Service, October 1943.
“Radio Round-Up: A weekly service for Directors of Women’s Radio Programs”, No. 172. U.S. Department of Agriculture, 5 October 1945.
“Frozen Assets: Family Style.” Sigmund Sameth. Coronet, January 1943.
“Frozen Food Locker Plant.” American Builder, June 1943, pp. 46, 96-97.
“The Army Made Two Million Customers.” The Refrigeration Industry, November 1945, pp. 24-25.
“Frozen Foods and the Farmer.” Electrical West, April 1944, pp. 79-80.
“Cold Storage Locker Plants in Ohio.” Bulletin 668. R. W. Sherman. Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, Wooster, Ohio. December 1946.