How do you remember food being ‘different’ when you were young?

[Geekster1963]

I remember that between October to March time we had mashed potatoes and April until September it was always boiled new potatoes we never had mash in summer or new in winter.

My Mum used to buy a big crate of oranges around December time and keep them in the porch, they were the nicest oranges ever. We never had them in the spring/ summer.

I remember the first time we had lasagne when I was about 18 we felt very exotic.

I never had anything like curry until I left home at 21 in the early 90’s.

@ SheGotBetteDavisEyes: you only need about one for each person, but it really does give it a lift.

I'll try it Disgrace, thank you!

We ate fish for Sunday breakfast.

Smoked haddock, scrambled eggs and a croissant is my favourite breakfast!
You do realise that in twenty years time your children will be feeling superior to you too?

I would add that we had a lot less processed foods We are very lucky nowadays

Sounds contradictory, are you actually saying that processed food is better?

My mum was a reasonable but very plain cook. Her repertoire was quite narrow. We always had either cold meat or egg and chips on Mondays. Sunday was always a roast, usually over cooked beef. It’s taken me years to want to eat beef again. We never had pork so chicken or lamb was a real treat. She couldn’t do roast potatoes and would par boil them and finish them in the chip pan. We never had Yorkshire puddings. She could do pastry though and made wonderful cakes.

We never had anything other than plain English food. After I got married mum and dad came for dinner and I cooked spaghetti bolognese. She wouldn’t eat it, and pushed most of hers onto dad’s plate.

Definitely, we didnt even have a fridge until the early 60s so ate lots of tinned cream, evap, fruit etc. Mum shopped daily for any fresh goods. Fruit and veg by season only and only oranges and bananas from overseas.

Yes

and we still eat kidney and liver and bacon. And we still eat out main meal sitting at the table as a family. And fizzy drinks aren't daily drinks still in our house. Are all those so odd?

No. Pretty run of the mill to be honest.

I want to know what "surprise peas" are

I remember in the 60s spaghetti used to be really, really long. Like, about 2 feet long. And came in blue paper. Does anybody else remember that?

I can remember it and I bought some in Italy recently just because.

See up thread, you can get it from Ocado

I can remember boil in the bag kippers with a blob of butter in the pack, I loved them as a child but cn't eat them now.

Bread and jam was classed as breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee, the coffee was made with all milk.
Sugar on bread or condensed milk on bread was another option to eat.
Porridge, Rice Krispies or cornflakes were the main cereals, anything else was considered too expensive, my favourite was a muesli type called Country Store.
Tinned peaches or fruit cocktail with evaporated milk, or jelly with evaporated milk was a dessert.
Mum used to buy Gerber baby orange juice in bottles that you diluted, she then added a load of sugar to it.
Chips were home made and a regular meal along with baked beans and sliced corned beef from the deli counter.
Roast beef was usual on a Sunday, with yorkshire puddings eaten first, with roast potatoes and cooked marrowfat peas with roast veg. Mint sauce was added to lettuce and spring onions as a dressing (with lots of sugar and vinegar added again) Leftover meat was used with fried onions and veg and added stock/gravy and worcestershire sauce as a sort of casseerole the following day.
Satsumas and nuts in their shells were always in my christmas stocking.
A mars bar would be cut into slices and eated over a day or two, as were fry's cream bars.
Sunday tea consisted of a salad which was usually round lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions, bread and butter with the cheese dish out to help yourself, usually cheddar and cheshire or wensleydale. Ham or corned beef was usually present. Followed by home made pies or sausage rolls, jam tarts or maids of honour and a nice cake.
I followed the tradition of Sunday tea for a lot of years, my family still miss it!
We also had to ask to leave the table, and had to reply to anyone who asked if we'd had enough that "Thankyou but I've had a sufficency, any more would be a superfluency!"

If you were ill you were fed Birdseye boil in the bag cod in parsley sauce alongside a glass bottle of lucozade.

It was a treat to be allowed the Kellogs mini boxes of cereal - they were only bought in the summer holidays and you only had one packet of them to last.

Breakfast in our house was a cup of coffee!!

I wasn't allowed down from the table until I had finished everything my plate and yhat included eating kidney which made me gag and always will, why my mother forced me to eat things which made me feel utterly appauled to eat is beyond me - stuffed hearts was another that was disgusting to me.

Spag Bol was mince, onions, tinned tomatoes and tomato puree.

Chips were cooked in the Chip pan which was about 20 yrs old. Yes to the regular corned beef and baked beans with them.

There were no snacks, just bread/toast or what biscuits were in the cupboard. All limited to how much you ate.

I can remember going to friends houses all day in summer holidays and never being offered any lunch, you want home and ate your dinner - absolutely famished.

Fizzy drinks - Nope!

Sweets - Sundays, when staying with my Dad, 50p mixup and that got you a lot of sweets.

School lunches at junior school were lovely, I was a free school lunch child ... We would get 2 roasts a week and sponge cake with mint custard. I hated leaving Juniors.

Satsumas and nuts in their shells were always in my christmas stocking.

I still put these in DD's stocking. The other thing in the toes of ours was always a shiny coin. We used to get 50p or something but DD gets £2 and a few chocolate coins.

Hi Furrycushion. Surprise peas were dehydrated petit pois. I think it was before we had frozen peas. You poured boiling water on them and cooked them for 10 minutes I believe.
There was a joke Des O’Connor told.
Q. What do you get from Surprise peas?
A. Chapped legs.
Oh how we laughed - humour wasn’t quite as sophisticated in those days.

Sorry, haven’t RTFT, but!

Bananas tasted. So Much Better.

Gravy pie. - Ok it was liver and kidneys with gravy but i woldnt eat liver or kidneys so it was a gravy pie.

i agree with the comments about the quality of food and the amount of biscuits / sweets / pop people have access to now.

If I wanted dessert it was tinned fruit or frozen mouse things from the freezer.

Knorr packet soups with my Mum's homemade dumplings.
Cereal with sugar for breakfast and supper.
Tea with 2 spoons of sugar in it
Pek tinned ham which was disgusting
Campbells meatballs, ditto
Blue band margarine, absolutely rank
I grew up in a 'eat what you're given or go without' home (which was the norm in the 60's and 70's) and often went without. On the plus side though my Mum made lovely cakes, pies and scones, all from her Be-ro booklet. I still follow their recipes when I bake.

In the seventies apples actually tasted like an apple. We would even sometimes get a worm in them! They did taste delish. Best of organic I imagine in those days ....

My mum baked a lot too. Desserts all the time lots of homemade cakes scones so much home baked goodies in those days! Must have been those generations ...

Baked Alaska. Has it died? It is never eaten now to my knowledge ...

I used to drink coffee and tea from a young age, Kia-Ora squash, and Coca Cola. I was allowed wine and lemonade or shandy with meals from about the age of seven. I didn't drink tap water until I was in my 20s.

DDs (13 and 9) only have fizzy drinks and sugary drinks occasionally, drink lots of water, DD1 has the odd cup of tea, DD2 doesn't like it, neither drink coffee and neither have touched alcohol nor have any interest in it.

Baked Alaska is alive and well - I had it at The Ivy last week. They set it alight at the table and everything. Yummers.

I remember from primary school in late 1990s that packed lunches were quite unhealthy compared to today- nearly everyone would have a sandwich, bag of crisps and chocolate biscuit bar every single day in their lunchbox

DF used to buy fresh ground coffee ("Importers" on Ealing Broadway) and we'd have freshly Moka'd coffee every day. It was only when I started taking it to school in a Thermos I realised it was a bit niche.

Just remembered trifle. I hated it and still do.

Rabbit stew! Chicken tasted amazing and ww often had homemade puddings-treacle tarts, steamed puddings etc. Lush.
In my house now I don't have a freezer and fruit IS A bloody luxury (it's expensive! ) so we eat it seasonally.
There's not much different about the way we eat now tbh, except you can't buy rabbit anymore (maybe in waitrose for £££ but not whole from the greengrocer! )and I cba to make puddings.