Scout Breakfast Menu

In 1940, the Santa Fe advertised that passengers on the Scout could get “delicious Fred Harvey dining car meals for only 90¢ a day!” That breaks down to 25¢ for breakfast, 30¢ for lunch, and 35¢ for dinner. By 1941 the cost of three meals had increased to $1.50, so this menu, which offers a full breakfast for 25¢, must be from 1940 or before.

Click image to download a 754-KB PDF of this menu (including both the a la carte card shown here and the attached flyer).

The a la carte menu card shown above included items as expensive as 40¢. However, paper clipped to this menu was a flyer that offered full breakfasts for 25 cents (about $4.50 today) including juice, bread, and beverage with a choice of entrées: ham and eggs, corn fritters and bacon, oatmeal, or dry cereal.

The Scout took three nights to get between Chicago and Los Angeles, so for variety’s sake the Santa Fe offered a slightly different menu for the second night. The green a la carte card was the same as the first menu, but the paper clipped flyer, as shown below, was a little different, offering bacon & eggs instead of ham & eggs and French toast instead of corn fritters.

Click image to download a 737-KB PDF of this menu (including both the a la carte card and the flyer shown here).

The menus firmly state, “Please do not request substitutions.” On the above menu, that meant that the orange juice was only available with the bacon & eggs or French toast, not with the cereals, while the apple sauce and black raspberry jelly were only available with the cereals, not with the other entrées.

Nevertheless, 25¢ was a good deal considering the orange juice alone was 20¢, bacon & eggs alone was 40¢, bread was 10¢, and a pot of tea was 15¢, meaning patrons could save up to 60¢ by getting a 25¢ meal. Of course, it possible that portions might have been smaller when part of the full meals.


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