Canning and freezing were a vital part of emergency preparedness. 

With the threat of explosive communism hanging over their heads, Americans were terrified of losing their lives, and their freedoms. Because of the constant bomb threat, Americans had to prepare themselves for the worst. They built bomb shelters in their backyard to escape to if the nuclear war began. In these bomb shelters, loving wives stocked the walls with canned food to ensure the safety of their families after the bomb went off. Because of this, women canned everything from peaches to chicken.  

Here we see step by step instructions on freezing goods for your kitchen. 

Women were forced to learn the skills to keep their family safe in the bomb shelters. The fine art of canning food was taught to women by example, and also through cookbooks designed for it specifically. Books like How to Prepare Foods for Freezing,[1] or Finer Canned and Frozen Fruits[2] gave step-by-step instructions on how to can, and use the new technologies developed for freezing. The images to the left and right show the intense directions and process involved in emergency preparedness. These cookbooks helped Americans stock their pantries for the worst-case scenario. And from that pressure, America is left with the strange culture of canned fruit and vegetables.

These women were prepared for anything, quite literally. And cookbooks showed them how to be the perfect housewife with miles of canned fruit.