---
title: Mrs America buys food with care
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mrs-america-buys-food-with-care-1942/
description: A twelve-panel cartoon sheet in black and white showing a housewife figure, 'Mrs America', planning, comparing prices, reading labels.
section: Collection
---

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3. Mrs America buys food with care

[![Mrs America buys food with care, 1942 US poster: A twelve-panel cartoon sheet in black and white showing a housewife figure](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mrs-america-buys-food-with-care-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mrs-america-buys-food-with-care-1942.jpg)

# Mrs America buys food with care

A twelve-panel cartoon sheet in black and white showing a housewife figure, 'Mrs America', planning, comparing prices, reading labels, watching scales and carrying her own packages. The everywoman character (plain folks) models each shopping habit, and the closing line ties thrift to the war effort (transfer).

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Mrs America buys food with care
1 Plans before she buys; pennies go farther
2 Shops around to learn where best buys are
3 Compares prices of foods with equal food values
4 Reads labels to know what's in food packages
5 Compares costs per ounce or pound of different sizes
6 Buys by weight, not by a dime or a dollar's worth
7 Buys by grade to get the quality she pays for
8 Watches scales to make sure how much she gets
9 Learns the seasons when different foods are cheapest
10 Checks her purchases before she leaves the store
11 Carries her packages to save delivery, tires, gasoline
12 Keeps up to date about the foods her family needs
Wise buying helps win the war
[in panel 2 shop signs:] BRIGGS / GRIGGS
[in panel 6 signs:] 20c ALB. / 3 FOR 10c
[in panel 7 cans:] A / B / C / SUPR / FANC / DELU
[imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1942-O-456148
From Consumers' Guide, U. S. Department of Agriculture
Distributed by Consumer Division, Office of Price Administration, Washington, D. C.
```

[← Mrs America buys clothes with care](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mrs-america-buys-clothes-with-care-1942/) [Murder in Cold Blood: Let's Force the Japs to Pay (TCOP Poster Studio) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/murder-in-cold-blood-tcop-1942/)

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