In the 1940's the first half of the decade was consumed by World War II. Although, the American life was still moving forward. In 1942 rationing was introduced into America. Rationing helped equally distribute scarce food supplies. We started to have food shortages because food was needed for the soldiers fighting in WWII. While all of this was happening the government was encouraging homeowners to create Victory Gardens. Victory gardens included fruits and vegetables. Some foods that were rationed included, bananas, sugar, meat, butter, cheese, egss, milk, and tea. A chocolate snack, known as M&M's came out in 1941 due to the need of heat-resistant chocolates to send to soldiers overseas. The rationing in the US ended in 1947 and many new "convenience foods" came out, including dehydrated juice, instant coffee, and cake mixes.
Women's fashion during the 1940's included squared shoulders, narrow hips, and skirts that ended just below the knee, mostly warn during the war. Tailored suits were also popular. Blouses were typically worn with skirts and usually had padded shoulders. Pants/slacks were first starting to gain popularity during the early 1940's.
After the war, a "new look" came about replacing the wartime utility fashions. This "new look" included rounded shoulders, shapely bust lines, closely-defined waistlines, slightly padded skirts, and full skirts that hung just below the calves.
There was a big variety of music in the 1940s this is likely because the radio. This caused a lot of exposure for all kinds of music. The war also had to with the change in style of music that was going on during this period. Some of the most popular music at the time was classic pop. This genre of music put an end to the big band and swing era. This meant that it went from having more focus on the instrumentalist to the vocalist. The vocalist focused more on the emotion of the music whereas the in the big band wing era they focused on mostly the orchestration. Another type of music that started up in the late 40s was rock and roll. Rock and roll was a mix of rhythm and blues and gospel music. This music became a huge hit and spread throughout the world very quickly.
During the 1940's people did a variety of activities. One activity that became very popular was playing Frisbee with pie plates. In 1948 is when Fred Morrison come out with the first ever plastic Frisbee. Comedy movies were very popular and something most people enjoyed to watch in their free time. Also, musicals started to become popular in the 1940's as part of American's entertainment. Other things that people did was listening to the radio for music and live shows and played bored games.