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Original poster

Bad childhood dinners

116 replies

driggle · 04/12/2018 18:47

While eating ham, egg & chips tonight (childhood fav) I was thinking about the dinners I used to have as a child. My mum only cooked things that were frozen, tinned or came out of a packet. One particular meal we had a lot was Birdseye beef in gravy (which you boiled in the bag it came in) with plain pasta bows. At the time I actually enjoyed it but the thought of eating that beef now makes me gag a little. I remember it being chewy but my mum would cook all meat until it had the texture of a shoe, so I didn't know any better!

What childhood dinners did you eat that you couldn't imagine eating now?

OP posts:
Greensleeves · 04/12/2018 18:50

Smash and baked beans
Pilchards on toast
Cup a soup in a bowl with dry bread
Tinned meatball "casserole"
Tinned macaroni cheese

All guaranteed to end in tears and being told to "EAT IT!"

bellalou1234 · 04/12/2018 18:54

I remeber that beef, did it have carrots in? No one can remeber it when I was telling them. I used to have mine with champion bread

MrsJayy · 04/12/2018 18:54

We got food parcels because my dad was onstrike there was a lot of mystery meat in tins that was stretched out with smash and baked beans least we didn't starve but bleurgh!

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General food
retainertrainer · 04/12/2018 18:55

Liver and onions,I can still feel the grainy-ness of the liver on my teeth 🤢

PlateOfBiscuits · 04/12/2018 18:57

I remember that beef. Absolutely loved it. I remember having it with yorkshire puddings.

sparklyllama · 04/12/2018 18:58

Rabbit...…...when I had a pet rabbit in the garden.
Why Mum...…..why!!!

Witchofzog · 04/12/2018 18:58

Spam. Cold spam at that with chips. I HATED spam.

Brown paste sandwiches Envy

itbemay · 04/12/2018 18:58

Fray bentos tinned pies and mash

Spam

Pork chops - I know not horrific but I can't eat them now!

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 04/12/2018 18:59

Mums sweet and sour pork. Mum was an ace cook but that pork was a crime.

Witchofzog · 04/12/2018 19:02

Also we often used to have leftovers which was fine but nrver with fresh gravy or beans so they would end up a congealed mess and the beans would be solid on top with cremated exploded beans

chocoholicanon · 04/12/2018 19:05

Liver and bacon, liver completely over cooked and tough, bacon undercooked and flabby.

ifigoup · 04/12/2018 19:08

My mum was quite a good cook, but for some reason she always served courgettes boiled. They’re so mushy and gross like that.

Urbanbeetler · 04/12/2018 19:09

A very cheap unbranded luncheon meat from the cash and carry which was pale pink with white lumps - it was so fatty. Dad bought a case of 144 cans! We had it in rissoles, fried, in salads, in a kind of spaghetti sauce, casseroled, battered... were we grateful when it was finally finished.

Moominfan · 04/12/2018 19:09

Carrots and peas boiled beyond recognition. Being made to sit and eat it. Now I love carrots and tolerate peas.

Moominfan · 04/12/2018 19:09

Eurgh meat paste sandwiches

ArseholesOnToast · 04/12/2018 19:10

My mum used to do a lamb stew that used to turn my stomach. Grey, fatty, never served hot so the fat started to congeal 🤢

She was a shocking cook - think fish fingers black on the outside and still a bit frozen in the middle but that rank stew was the worst.

I still can’t stomach lamb or even stews now.

treaclesoda · 04/12/2018 19:11

I'm very fortunate that I have no bad food memories. My mum was a great cook.

But she did occasionally allow us to eat Findus crispy pancakes (presumably giving in to us begging for them) and whilst I remember them fondly, I don't think I could bring myself to eat one now!

Lovethetimeyouhave · 04/12/2018 19:13

Stew... chicken stew and right at the end she'd pour the contents of bisto gravy into it until it went really thick...

bushtailadventures · 04/12/2018 19:14

Spam on cheap white bread spread with margarine with a sprinkling of fag ash . My stepgrans idea of a good tea, makes me feel slightly ill now, thinking about it.

goforkyourself · 04/12/2018 19:16

God my mum's cooking was all post-war grimness. Dry over cooked meat with boiled veg (still is... my poor dad)

itbemay I couldn't eat pork chops for years until I moved abroad and discovered lovely succulent tasty chops.

Greensleeves · 04/12/2018 19:16

DH and I occasionally snarfle Findus crispy pancakes as a slutty snack when the kids are in bed Blush

Just thought of another one, my stepdad used to buy these big sacks of frozen TVP and make gross bolognese. Inexplicably it always had globules of bright orange oil pooling on it. With spaghetti that had been boiled into oblivion and then left to go cold and set into a lump

Joinourclub · 04/12/2018 19:17

My mum was a good cook. But I can’t see myself ever eating corned beef or tinned pilchards again!

MrsJayy · 04/12/2018 19:17

My mum discovered homepride sauces and she used to do this chicken in white sauce she flung a tin of sweet corn in was rank looked a bit vomity

Joinourclub · 04/12/2018 19:19

And yes itbemay pork chops is probably my worst childhood food memory!

VisitorsEntrance · 04/12/2018 19:19

My mum was, and still is, an amazing cook.
She used to cook from scratch every day and was a rather frustrated SAHM.

She would end up cooking very unusual things. The only thing that she cooked which I hated was bobotie.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobotie

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