1834 Diet & Recipes

 This is the Gressenhall Workhouse Dietary for 1834. 

Headings across the top read:

Breakfasts: Bread (in ounces), Gruel (in pints).Dinners: Suet Pudding & Veg, Bread, Cheese, Butter, Meat Pudding with Veg, Broth.Suppers: Bread, Cheese.

In all cases, different amounts are stipulated for men and women. 

The note at the bottom reads:

Old People 60 years of age and upwards may be allowed 1pt of tea, 4oz of Butter and 4oz of Sugar per week for those whose age and infirmities it may be deemed requisite.Children under 9 years of age to be dieted at discretion, above 9 to be allowed the same quantities as women.Sick to be dieted as directed by Medical Officer.

Watch videos of me cooking and eating as a workhouse inmate on my Living The Workhouse Diet channel on YouTube here.

Gruel Recipe (from Aylsham Workhouse, Norfolk, 1847) :
"Half an ounce of oatmeal per pint of water. Boil it."
NB: Some workhouses added flour to thicken the gruel. 
Some gave milk instead of gruel to infants aged 2-5.
Some added sugar to gruel for children, elderly and the sick.
...most didn't.

(Bonus luxury Welsh Gruel Recipe from 1872 donated via Twitter by @LesleyHulonce:
16oz oatmeal
8 pts water
4oz treacle 
Allspice to be used occasionally.)