This recipe is for a sandwich that could have been eaten at any time of day. The ingredients listed are simple; bread, Spork, cheese, butter, and tomatoes. Other meat substitutes could be used besides Spork. Sandwiches could be eaten at home or sent along with workers or children for lunch. This recipe aligns with the attitude towards fast-paced efficiency by maintaining simplicity. The precise measurement for bread slices at a half inch is reminiscent of the focus on rationing food in the form practical increments. Finally, the option to substitute the bread at the recipe’s end demonstrates the wheat demand placed upon Canadian farmers in World War II. This recipe’s small details show us the different areas of focus and concern for Canadian food production.

These are not standard recipes, rather they are guidelines for mothers compiling their husband’s and children’s lunch boxes. These guidelines have been chosen to draw upon details that will generate both answers and questions about the 1940s. Both the husband and children’s lunch boxes require a sandwich, beverage, and sweets/dessert. The cooking manual may be insisting upon the need for sweets to be incorporated into each meal because sugar could have been considered a viable source of energy for an individual finishing their work or school day. Sandwiches being made significant for both men and children is most likely attributed to the ease of sandwich making, its nutritional potential and its cost efficiency. Under “The School Lunch Box,” the preference to dried fruit over fresh is explained by preservation habits during World War II, when less fresh fruit was available.