1940s Mining Life

A miner would work underground for eight hours at a time and would get very hungry. His wife had to prepare his lunch and put it in his snap tin. He usually had sandwiches filled with dripping (mucky-fat), or bread and jam. Meat, egg, fish and butter were rarely taken underground as snap because they quickly went off in the hot conditions. They were also more expensive than 'dripping.'The food had to be kept safe from mice and rats and sealed from too much coal dust. They would also have taken a drink in a 'Dudley', a round metal container or cold tea in an old pop container.