The Unexpected Dinner Guests

“Freezer Living… better living for your family!” from 1959  — With a freezer anything is possible from soup to nuts. And if you have one, I know I hardly need to tell you what you can do with it. For short notice and quick serving, however, there is nothing better than stew, beef, veal or what you prefer, complete with its vegetables…

For the Last Minute Dinner Guest

For last-minute menus, for the moment when your husband walks in the front door with an unexpected guest, or your darling child asks, "Mother, may I ask Mary to stay to dinner?" a reserve shelf is the only answer. You can think of it in two general categories: instantaneous and one hour's notice.

The former is definitely the moment for the can-opener. While your husband is mixing cocktails, it is but the work of a moment to get out a can or two — soup to begin with. This is usually the night you have decided to have the hash from yesterday's roast. Then open a can of sliced pineapple and garnish the hash with pineapple rings sautéed in butter or slipped for a moment under the broiler or, open a can of grapefruit which you keep already chilled in the refrigerator against just such emergencies; this makes a refreshing last-minute salad. Always keep a can or two of fruit in reserve in the refrigerator.

Keep a bottle of sherry on hand even if you don't drink it. A tablespoon or two per cup added to the soup, a wine glass of it to chilled canned fruit for dessert adds special flavor to an otherwise routine dish.

The second category for your emergency shelf includes the quick mixes, biscuits, cakes, the package desserts which you can use on just a little longer notice— when, for instance, your husband telephones from the office. The list of such items is wide and varied. The secret is to stock them, however, with three or four definite menus in mind.

With a freezer anything is possible from soup to nuts. And if you have one, I know I hardly need to tell you what you can do with it. For short notice and quick serving, however, there is nothing better than stew, beef, veal or what you prefer, complete with its vegetables. Dishes such as macaroni and cheese are emergency assets. And, of course, desserts of all kinds.

I hold no brief for the emergency dinners which you buy and store away; they add nothing to a hostessreputation, whereas a fragrant, well-seasoned homemade stew rich with chunks of good meat, plenty of vegetable and gravy, plus a biscuit or two hot from the oven, and a fresh green salad—mmh! what more could any unexpected guest ask for! — By Helen Sprackling, 1960

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia