Chilling moments in fridge history

After reading an old post on this blog, I popped down the vintage refrigerator ad rabbit hole and am going to pull you in too so I won't be alone. 

Here's where the goosebumps started:

The caption freaked me out a little. It reads like the title of a Twilight Zone episode, or a commentary of today's political climate. Either way, I'm scared. It makes me long for the days when we only had to worry about cameras in microwaves.

This ad is less menacing:

It still hints of some looming doom, but the trepidation is leavened by the idea that you can do something about it. You can defend your household. Or at least your leftover tuna casserole.

If the fridge in your house isn't up to the task of actual defense, it could always hide in plain sight, disguised as a bedspread.

Contact paper anyone? Decoupage? 

This ice box provides a different kind of camouflage, though there's no guarantee of safety for that tuna mac:

I've never seen anything like it, outside a hospital sandwich vending machine, or a diner pie-go-round.

My favorite part is the name, though. I'm adopting it as my new cussword stand in:

Rotafrig.

I'll proclaim it while evaluating just how much tuna I should stock up on, and where the heck I'll store it.

ROTAFRIG!

If you need a distraction from your own prepping, scroll through more fridging fun by clicking here. 

Enjoy! And prepare!

Cheesy Tuna to Tame that Man-Child Brute

Here's the last entry I'll be posting from Who Says We Can't Cook!, this one filled with savvy advice for today's modern miss and would-be fascinator.

"It is wisdom as old as the hills that the way to get along with a man-child is to feed the brute," Mary Haworth advises readers of our WNPC cook book. "Lots of famous fascinators can't cook but I am convinced that nothing gives a woman greater self-confidence as a woman than the ability to cook well."

Analyzing females and foods, she believes "The womanly woman has a congenital urge to cook well. She cooks to please her man almost as instinctively as the vamp powders her nose."

And, as a final warning, Mary points out, "The lovable woman is a nurturing woman and men don't leave them because 'you can't hardly get them kind no more'."

Her preferred Lenten dish, good any Friday, and heavy enough to please the most masculine appetite is:

Tuna and Mushrooms with Cheese Sauce

Wash and slice 1 3/4 pounds fresh mushrooms and saute in butter or margarine 5 minutes. (Or use canned button mushrooms instead--4 or 5 small cans well drained.) Get approximately 3 pounds white canned tuna, drain off oil and break or cut into fairly large bite-size pieces.

To make the sauce, melt 1/4 pound butter or margarine, blend in 10 tablespoons flour and cook two minutes, stirring constantly. Add to 5 cups heated milk, tablespoon Ac'cent, 1/4 teaspoon saffron, and 2/3 pound very sharp cheese cut into small pieces. If you like, substitute 2/3 cup of sherry for 2/3 cup mil. Cook, stirring constantly, until cheese has melted and the sauce begins to bubble.

Add tuna and mushrooms to sauce. Now season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve in chafing dish or casserole. This serves 13, so reduce ingredients proportionately for smaller number. Incidentally, the saffron makes the dish.

There's Always Room for Tuna Jello

Caption: "A real treat for lunch. For guests--jellied tuna fish."

I suppose it's safer to feed it to guests than to the children of the house.

Get-out-of-Purgatory-Free Sunday Night Salad

Eating this salad of a Sunday evening must result in a partial indulgence at the very least.

Sunday Night Salad

4 good size, cold, cooked beets, chopped coarsely

1 tablespoon minced onion

1/2 cup celery, diced into small pieces

2 teaspoons vinegar

1 can tuna fish (seven ounce size)

Mix and blend with mayonnaise to taste - about 2/3 cup.

Serve on crisp lettuce cups or circled with sliced cucumbers.

Garnish with a ring of green pepper and a dab of mayonnaise. This amount serves four.

Cannes Seafood Casserole

This artist says "I try to turn out a painting that will speak for itself."

If the statement also holds true for recipes, I'd say that this one deserves a spot in the Cannes Food Festival.

(Get it? Cannes? Oh never mind.)

It's another fine example of the heavy reliance on canned food products during the sixties. With all that white sauce, butter, and cheese it might be rather good using fresh ingredients. I'd probably hold off on the hardboiled eggs, which also seems to be sixties thing.

Have a look.

Seafood Casserole

3 hard-cooked eggs, sliced

2 cups medium white sauce

1 can shrimp cut in halves

1 can tuna, well drained

1 cup bread crumbs mixed with 1/2 stick melted butter

1 2-oz can sliced mushrooms

1 can crabmeat

1/4 lb. grated cheddar cheese

Place in buttered baking dish, layers of sliced egg, shrimp, tuna, mushrooms and crabmeat, pouring white sauce over each layer. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Cover top with buttered crumbs. Bake in 325 degree oven for 45 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.