Back to 1950s cuisine to cope with COL

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 13/01/2026 19:37

What you’re cooking now seems perfectly normal and not “50s” in particular.

Hwebs and spices aren’t expensive though. And things like curries or stir fry etc are notoriously cheap so not sure why that’s not included now.

Edit - sorry I tried to post this hours ago before the whole herbs and spices debate kicked off!

Original poster

Bleachedjeans · 13/01/2026 18:54

ArtTheClownIsNotAMime · 13/01/2026 15:36

I've read them and should have expected a tetchy reply as you seem to take everything personally. All you've clarified is you no longer buy ras el hanout which is a small outlay cost and excellent value as a little goes a long way.

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Ok 👌

OP posts:

Strangeencounter · 13/01/2026 16:15

FurForksSake · 11/01/2026 22:40

My meal plan is

Sunday - roast, meat costs somewhere between £6 and £20, all of the other elements are really negligible, a few potatoes, couple of carrots, broccoli or cabbage and whatever else we fancy. Often works out around £2 a head.
Monday - leftovers. Tomorrow is ham, egg, chips and beans as we had gammon today. I’ll make some homemade chips with some potatoes from the bag I used today.
Tuesday - curry / stir fry / stew - if I’ve done a big joint I’ll use the meat from Sunday, otherwise it will be chicken thighs.
Wednesday - jacket potatoes and home made chilli. I make a massive batch in the pressure cooker with lots of different beans and carrots / onions / celery and two big packs of mince. It lasts four weeks for four people, five if I do the portions!
Thursday - pasta and a sauce, sometimes home made, sometimes a healthy jar. Sometimes just tinned tomatoes, garlic and herbs.
Friday - something easy, frozen bits or omelette, beans and toast, eggs and soldiers
Saturday - random. Often something a little elevated.

it makes my life easy and I don’t need to buy tonnes of meat.

I like this meal plan. Thank you!

FurForksSake · 13/01/2026 16:07

I’ve just put a chicken curry on for dinner. Gone are the days that that would be four chicken breast and cream etc etc. Today it’s chicken thighs (I do buy skinless boneless ones), frozen butternut squash (bought for soup I never made) and red lentils from a big bag. It’s all in the pressure cooker and it will be delicious. It’s definitely less chicken and more other now.

Spookyspaghetti · 13/01/2026 15:58

If you go to an ‘international’ supermarket/mini mart you can usually pick up massive bags of herbs and spices a lot more cheaply.

VictoriousPunge · 13/01/2026 15:44

sewingstockings · 11/01/2026 21:35

You can grow a lot of your own herbs. I have bay bush too. Just bought last year. Most other stuff in pots. Shop own brand spice, cheaper than named brands. I chop and freeze a lot in the summer for winter. I still have frozen peppers that we grew in the summer.

I would love to know how you manage to grow peppers. I tried this year in my small greenhouse and finally got a tiny one in December.

I'm in South Devon. My tomatoes and cucumbers do fine. I tried to grow peppers from seed - maybe that's my first mistake?

Dweetfidilove · 13/01/2026 15:38

BlackForestCake · 11/01/2026 21:26

Some do, and post on here saying they do.

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I didn't know this was a thing 😳.

whymadam · 13/01/2026 15:38

Octavia64 · 11/01/2026 21:36

I bought a load of cheap pots in b and m and got some compost and I’ve planted out some of the herbs that you can get in supermarkets in pots.

basil dies each year so I have to rebuy each spring but the rosemary, sage, camomile, mint, parsley and oregano are still going great two years on and it’s fresh out of the garden as well.

Basil grows amazingly well from seed! Look for 'British basil' seeds.

Brefugee · 13/01/2026 15:37

Bleachedjeans · 11/01/2026 21:18

I started a similar thread a while ago and I wonder if the responses are the same. I now make Sunday roasts with chicken followed by a meal of leftover chicken , veg etc on Monday. Homemade meat pie, egg and chips, stews, salads made with basics: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber. Cut down massively on ‘fancy’ veg, herbs, spices. I’m really missing steak, asparagus etc. even my favourite ratatouille seems expensive these days and not the budget meal it used to be. I’m a keen cook but I’m now cooking like my grandma!
Still trying to maintain standards: no UPF, crappy pizzas, nuggets.
Anyone else?
Not really AIBU but I like AIBU 😊

you should buy seasonally. That means there's about a month in the year when you eat asparagus, strawberries etc.

Bulk up with the cheap stuff.

It's not really rocket science, though, is it? Not eating everything and making the next meal with leftovers is normal. Have you suddenly had a drop in income?

ArtTheClownIsNotAMime · 13/01/2026 15:36

Bleachedjeans · 13/01/2026 15:30

Read my posts and you’ll understand what I meant about cutting down on herbs and spices.

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I've read them and should have expected a tetchy reply as you seem to take everything personally. All you've clarified is you no longer buy ras el hanout which is a small outlay cost and excellent value as a little goes a long way.

CaptainMyCaptain · 13/01/2026 15:35

FurForksSake · 13/01/2026 15:32

Growing and eating berries in season is infinitely cheaper. I grow strawberries and blueberries and they’ve cost me very little as I use the same plants for years.

I use frozen berries in my overnight oats. A couple of quid and the bag lasts ages.

FurForksSake · 13/01/2026 15:32

Growing and eating berries in season is infinitely cheaper. I grow strawberries and blueberries and they’ve cost me very little as I use the same plants for years.

itsthetea · 13/01/2026 15:32

Herbs and spices are quite cheap for the value you get

some things / ratatouille for example or “fancy veg” - is probably better when things like corgettes are in season

salads make with carrot and cabbage at this time of year so you may still have savings to make to go towards a steak

Original poster

Bleachedjeans · 13/01/2026 15:30

ArtTheClownIsNotAMime · 13/01/2026 15:24

Cut down massively on ‘fancy’ veg, herbs, spices.

Cutting down on herbs and spices seems like such a false economy. I buy 1kg bags of spices for a few quid and they last months. A 49p pack of coriander or basil will do multiple meals. And both make cheap ingredients taste so much better.

Read my posts and you’ll understand what I meant about cutting down on herbs and spices.

OP posts:

SatsumaDog · 13/01/2026 15:27

We’ve always used leftovers, but our cooking has definitely become more basic and more like what my mother used to cook 70/80’s. Padding meals out with more potatoes and seasonal veg and using single serving leftovers for lunch the following day (made easier by working from home). Fruit wise I tend to stick to bananas, apples, pears ans oranges, avoiding berries and the more exotic fruit. Snack stuff like crisps, biscuits and chocolate is rarely bought. I‘ve also given up alcohol, although DH still drinks. I reckon we could save a fortune if he stopped.

ArtTheClownIsNotAMime · 13/01/2026 15:24

Cut down massively on ‘fancy’ veg, herbs, spices.

Cutting down on herbs and spices seems like such a false economy. I buy 1kg bags of spices for a few quid and they last months. A 49p pack of coriander or basil will do multiple meals. And both make cheap ingredients taste so much better.

Dliplop · 13/01/2026 15:21

MindYourUsage · 12/01/2026 10:58

Cannot beat sausage mash and baked beans tbh.

My mum maintains that "old fashioned" processed foods are fine such as beans, all bran, Weetabix, suet, pease pudding (if you can find it)...

And since I have discovered that mash freezes exceptionally well with butter and cream added, I have it all the time.

That’s my processed food belief 😂. Cheerios, Cornflakes, baked beans, marmite, soy sauce, stock cubes, ketchup/mustard etc. plus oat milk for my tea because I love it and my kids aren’t affected by it.

I think I’m doing normal cooking but it’d be recognizable to people around the world at various time

TakeALookAtTheseSwatches · 13/01/2026 15:15

We're a family of 7 so we rarely have enough leftover to do one more meal let alone several. I've got to be honest I quite often go for cheap pizzas and stuff like that because it is the cheapest way to feed so many people.

CaptainMyCaptain · 13/01/2026 15:12

I've just had a flyer from Farmfoods through my door which was advertising a 1kilo chicken for £1.99 . I'm not sure how much meat is on a 1kilo chicken but I'm sure some people would be tempted. It's clearly labelled as coming from Brazil and I can't imagine what conditions it was kept in to be sold so cheaply. Is this a forerunner of the USA chlorinated chicken? I would rather eat lentils.

This post isn't in response to any other posts on this thread but is related to COL and I needed to vent.

ginasevern · 13/01/2026 15:01

I was born in 1957 so basically grew up with 1950's cooking. My mum made:

Homemade faggots (proper ones, nothing like the ones you buy frozen)

Pea soup (she'd boil a ham hock and take off the meat which she added to a soup of soaked boxed peas, celery, onion and carrot) served with crusty bread - bloody delicious.

Rolled and stuffed breast of lamb

Roast belly of pork with apple sauce

Pan fried liver with onion gravy

Toad in the hole

Steak & kidney pudding

Boiled gammon joint with parsley sauce (the rest of the joint did for sandwiches)

Various omelettes with chips or new potatoes

Smoked haddock with poached eggs on top

We always had a roast on Sundays but usually lamb or beef. Chicken was a luxury back then. Battery farming didn't exist and frozen chickens only become available around the late 1960's. We did have our own chickens but kept them for eggs, not meat. We also grew all our own veg, plums and apples.

SabrinaThwaite · 13/01/2026 14:48

My DM always did extra vegetables and we’d then have bubble and squeak the next day.

Original poster

Bleachedjeans · 13/01/2026 14:43

knitnerd90 · 13/01/2026 10:14

I understand the basic gist of not buying specialist ingredients for a single recipe, but food prices have changed so much. Chicken is now relatively much cheaper (due to huge changes in breeding and reading) and red meat more expensive.

really the key is planning and not wasting. I never regard using leftover chicken for sandwiches instead of a second dinner as wasteful. I don’t get enough leftovers to make a second meal and I’d still need a sandwich filling.

similarly if you do buy herbs, spices, etc, you need to be using them all and not wasting half packets of things.

With prices today I would judge that fewer meat based meals would work out more cheaply. What’s saving money for the OP is less “1950s” and more the repetition and control.

Yes, I agree. When COL really kicked in I thought about the meals my grandma used to make. Her repertoire was small but her food was good. So I started replicating her cooking for a few days a week. Her ‘potato hash’ for example was potatoes and onion with pieces of meat scattered in, sometimes a carrot chopped small. The portions were smaller, too!

OP posts:

Original poster

Bleachedjeans · 13/01/2026 14:37

JustOnePersonNotAnOctopus · 12/01/2026 13:15

So you’re just on the wind up then! Why don’t you get a hobby.

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No, I’m not ‘on the wind up’ - it was my reaction to a silly person who asked did I throw away cooked chicken. It’s difficult to answer ridiculous questions seriously.

OP posts:

Original poster

Bleachedjeans · 13/01/2026 14:27

Worralorra · 12/01/2026 09:37

If one good thing comes out of the COL crisis, it will be the return of “1950’s-style cuisine” in terms of making healthier, unprocessed food more common!
And less waste…
I’ve been following my DM’s example for years now (she grew up during WWII and rationing). I “process” all my veg as soon as I buy it to prevent waste, meal-plan and bulk cook, too.
A (reduced price - I seek out and purchase beef, pork and lamb when it’s on offer and freeze it) Sunday roast does us for three meals if I carve and portion it out effectively, potatoes are parboiled and any more than we need for the roast are then frozen for roasting next time, cabbage and leeks are braised and portions frozen and carrots are prepared for the freezer. Yorkshire puddings are made from scratch and in a quantity that allows 2 per person only.
I also make a lot more soup and we often have this with bread as a main meal (vegetarian, too!)
Portion control also plays its part. I also process chicken breasts so that a portion weighs 4oz (the bits I cut off go into a container for casseroles, risotto Etc.) and a 500g pack of minced beef makes us 9 portions of dinner (cottage pie and pasta sauce normally).
If everyone is able to do this, imagine the skill set being learned and the savings made?

yes I do this kind of thing, too. DH ca me home from Aldi with a ton of veg at 8p each. I peeled, prepped, blanched and froze and ended up with a freezer drawer full of ready vegetables. He spent less than £1. 😀

OP posts:

SabrinaThwaite · 13/01/2026 14:21

CaptainMyCaptain · 13/01/2026 11:58

Possibly. Although there would have been oranges and lemons, spices etc available in Cairo. I was born in North Africa in the mid 50s and my parents were amazed at the abundant produce on sale as opposed to post war Liverpool.

Edited

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My in laws arrived in Istanbul at the end of the 50s (from Ireland and Scotland) and were overwhelmed by the variety of foods available - plus so exotic compared to the plain cooking they had been brought up with.