Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Five normal things in your home that your mother wouldn't have had a clue what to do with

145 replies

sadpapercourtesan · 05/02/2021 17:18

Excluding obvious tech stuff like mobile phones, Alexa etc. I'll start:

Olives - we always have at least 2 kinds, my mother would have thought they were poisonous berries

Cat tree/electronic cat toys - one did not provide entertainment for cats when I was growing up! Ours have more stuff than the kids Grin

Different oils - extra virgin olive for salads etc, sesame, sunflower. I don't remember mine actually having any, she didn't really cook with oil

Trainer socks - one of my DC will ony wear these. My mother would have been utterly confused about socks which stop at the top of the foot and leave your ankles bare. She was obsessed with pulling your socks up and not getting cold ankles

Sour cream - I seem to get through so much of this for various things. She would have wrinkled her nose and thrown it out!

OP posts:
Defiantly41 · 05/02/2021 17:29

Yes to all of the above plus:
Tinned beans and pulses (except baked beans)
Dried pasta (tinned spaghetti only)
Garlic cloves
Avocado
Almost the entire spice rack

My dad was born in the mid 1920s, he associated any kind of spice to be to disguise meat that was "on the turn"

sadpapercourtesan · 05/02/2021 17:30

My dad said exactly the same about spices! That they were for disinfecting iffy meat Grin

OP posts:
waitingforadulthood · 05/02/2021 17:32

Oil definitely- only a small bottle in the medicine cupboard! All of yours
Plus noddles. I have loads (udon egg rice medium thick etc) she'd have wondered what on earth I did with them

DDIJ · 05/02/2021 17:35

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

nimbuscloud · 05/02/2021 17:41

Scented candles - when i was a child candles were kept for emergency use in a power cut
Ready grated packets of cheese
Frozen pastry from shops

Ear thermometers

angorarabbit · 05/02/2021 17:42

The only olive oil in our house when I was a child was in a tiny bottle in the medicine cabinet....it was warmed up to pour into your ear in order to remove wax, with a big wad of cotton wool plugged in to stop the oil from leaking out!

reluctantbrit · 05/02/2021 17:43

my wok (she actually bought it as a gift years ago but she would never use one herself)
garlic press - she hates the smell of garlic so wouldn't have a clue how to use it
cheese grater, she eats cheese in a sandwich but never grated in hot food
Muesli and porridge oats. For her that's food if you have an upset stomach. For clarifycation, I am German and very thin porridge is something if you are recovering from stomach issues. No idea if it works, I find all kind of porridge revolting.

Letseatgrandma · 05/02/2021 17:44

Fresh spinach
Garlic
Curry powder
Sky
The induction hob!

NomadNoMore · 05/02/2021 17:45

Alcohol! She still wouldn't, tbh
Any vegetable that wasn't peas or cabbage
Any fruit that wasn't apples, oranges or bananas
Avocados "horrible slimy things"
Garlic

All four of her kids are enthusiastic cooks and eaters

FossilisedFanny · 05/02/2021 17:46

angorarabbit I was just going to say the same ! I can picture the bottle now, it was square with the label all soaked in olive oil.

SirVixofVixHall · 05/02/2021 17:46

My Mum was born in 1935 and would have been familiar with all those things OP. Socks for tennis with no cuff but a pompom at the back to stop them slipping have been around since the late seventies . Olives often seen at dinner parties in the sixties and seventies, and sour cream used in recipes.

sadpapercourtesan · 05/02/2021 17:47

Yes to the candles, I remember boxes of plain white candles in the pantry which were for power cuts (which seemed to happen fairly often)

And "veg" in our house meant frozen peas or carrots.

OP posts:
sadpapercourtesan · 05/02/2021 17:48

Not where I grew up @SirVixofVixHall Smile

OP posts:
DDIJ · 05/02/2021 17:49

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

Auldspinster · 05/02/2021 17:50

My mum is 74 and is familiar with all these things, clearly a hepcat!

quarentini · 05/02/2021 17:50

The oven
The hoover
The microwave
The washing machine
The dishwasher

StrangerHereMyself · 05/02/2021 17:50

How old were your mothers??? Are you sure you don’t mean grandmothers? (Literally went back to check the OP) My late mother would have been eighty this year, but at various points in her life depending on her mood, would have had the ingredients list of an entire Pakistani/Cantonese/Italian restaurant in her cupboards. I grant you she’d have had trouble getting her head around my passion for kimchi.

She would rightly have frowned at my environmentally unsound weakness for various disposable cleaning wipes. And for some reason she felt that hair conditioner was an affectation rather than a necessity as I do.

StrangerHereMyself · 05/02/2021 17:53

And she’d have been gobsmacked, though deeply envious, of my pyrolytic self-cleaning oven.

Chutneywashisname · 05/02/2021 17:55

Gosh so many things

Cartons of soup. Growing up soup was dried and in a packet.

Dog trainers - I’m not sure if they even existed but if they did, it would have been viewed as having more sense than money.

Pet food - pets were fed scraps from dinner plates.

Central heating. We’d have been told to put more clothes on if we were cold.

Shopping - we went shopping for specific items as needed. The idea of shopping for pleasure was unheard of.

Listening and respecting children’s opinions. Growing up we did what we were told. End of.

DuaLipaSuction · 05/02/2021 17:56

My DM? It would be everything in the kitchen apart from the kettle...

Chutneywashisname · 05/02/2021 17:56
  • more money than sense even!!!!
LubaLuca · 05/02/2021 17:57

Cats - we weren't allowed pets when we were growing up.
Garlic - I didn't try it until I left home. She's never cooked with it (too exotic).
All herbs and spices - as above.
Mozzarella - I don't think she'd know what it is if I showed her a ball of it, although she has eaten it.

I had those little sports socks with pompoms back in the olden days.

DuaLipaSuction · 05/02/2021 17:57

Socks for tennis with no cuff but a pompom at the back to stop them slipping have been around since the late seventies .

So is it just me that didn't know what the pompom was for? Grin

umpteennamechanges · 05/02/2021 18:01

My DM is only in her 50's so I don't think there is anything to be honest...

RawlinsonEnd · 05/02/2021 18:05

There's nothing I can think of, my mum's only in her 60s, still working, and keeps herself up to date!
Except perhaps some of my beauty products, but that's because she doesn't bother with that sort of thing, not because she's old.

Swipe left for the next trending thread