1940s Mining Life
5/21 
Kitchen range, a coal-fired fireplace which included an oven and a hob
© National Coal Mining Museum for England (Photo: National Coal Mining Museum for England)
© National Coal Mining Museum for England (Photo: National Coal Mining Museum for England)
Food could be cooked on the kitchen range, which ran on coal. Sometimes children did not want to eat the food that had been cooked, but people had to be careful with their money and could not waste anything. So children who did not eat the food in the evening would often find the same food in the morning.
The bottom oven of the range was used for baking, and on Sunday they cooked roast meat. They had pork most Sundays and women cooked it on a rack in a big tray and collected all the meat juices to make gravy. This was stored in a dripping pot.
The bottom oven of the range was used for baking, and on Sunday they cooked roast meat. They had pork most Sundays and women cooked it on a rack in a big tray and collected all the meat juices to make gravy. This was stored in a dripping pot.