Childhood dinners that made your heart sink?

[Harveypuss]

A lighthearted post!

Do you remember any childhood meals, that when you asked your mum (or dad) "what's for dinner?", their answer made your heart sink?!

Mine was Lamb's hearts. My Mum cooked these often, presumably it was a culinary delight and was probably cheap, but I hated them (this was back in the late 70s so you ate what was given or went hungry). I don't know what she did with them, but they were as tough as old boots and really chewy. I'm sure offal like that is probably quite delicious in some top-end restaurant but dear Mum didn't cook it like that! I'm in my 50s now and I've only just told her I hated that meal. She was mortified!

We have this with our son now, aged 17. He hates pasta and when we have a family pasta meal, I cook him something different. He's off to Uni next year, so don't know how he's going to manage as I'm told all students live of pasta as it's really cheap...!

What was your least favourite childhood meal...?

Sweetcorn fritters. My mum would say "but you like pancakes and you like sweetcorn!" To this day the idea of them makes me retch, I just couldn't get them down.

A mid week “dinner” of boiled potatoes, braised steak and boiled veg. It was the pared down version of “Sunday dinner” that was always a fabulous roast. I enjoyed hearts and liver, cook them for the dog mostly now but always pinch a bit

Liver

Kedgeree

Boil in the bag fish

Liver

Liver. Cooked in a slab like the sole of a shoe. Revolting.

Liver!!

Liver. Not helped by my mother's cooking but still can't touch it.

Macaroni cheese, just gloopy shite that for some reason was on every bloody menu pre covid.

Soya mince, I will never forget the smell of it.

Pork chops

Liver

(I've clearly found my people)

It's the texture. Hated it.
But then my Mum had a go at putting it through the mincer, and it was fine. The taste is fine, but the texture still makes me shudder.

Liver and bacon.

Although as I got older I grew to like it (I would still complain about it though out of habit!)

Liver
Soup

Steak and kidney pie. Mum would say "Just leave the pieces of kidney at the side of your plate." But the whole thing tasted of kidney!

Liver with VESSELS in it. I became veggie for a couple of years after that meal.

I didn't love piquant lamb slices with boiled potatoes with eyes, but they were an economical way to stretch the roast leftovers.

Monday's Sunday roast leftovers. Cold hard bits of meat with congealed fat on the edges, gravy dregs and mashed potato and veg.

I was never a fussy child but cold fat on meat gives me the heaves I used to spend ages cutting it all off and my dad used to be really disapproving and tell me off. Ugh.

Vegetarian shepherds pie. Lentils and potato, but not cooked nicely!!!

Monday's meal which was always left overs from Sunday dinner.

Liver and bacon
Snake & Sidney (steak & kidney) pie
Shepherds pie
Faggots

Spam

Chicken fricasse. At infant school. I just couldn't bear it. We had no choice but to eat it.

Liver

Kidneys

Also quite a lot of my mothers more original efforts 😂

On the bright side her soups were amazing.

My mum was an excellent cook! I think we were the first family in the county to have Cajun Salmon and tagliatelle 😅

Liver served at school 🤢

At home my mum served corned beef, boiled potatoes and broad beans ( for some reason served grey and tough). It was so dry. Always broad beans... why mum why?

Liver. Fish fingers, which I just wouldn't eat. For lunch or tea: beans on toast, sandwiches. I have no idea what I ate for those meals most of the time. Must have filled up on dinner, which I liked as long as it wasn't liver or fish fingers.

Before I saw any other responses I immediately thought 'liver and onions' - I see I'm not alone!
Also bubble and squeak. Why not take all the scrapings that should go into the compost, squash them together and burn them in a pan, then call it a meal (not envy)