Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

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

Original poster

Things you didn't know weren't normal

1000 replies

Applescruffle · 08/08/2023 18:43

What are things you thought every one or every family did until you became an adult or entered a new relationship?

I'll start. I thought that everyone ate the leftover yorkshires after a roast dinner as desert eg: fill them with cream and fruit or custard or something, basically use them like you would a pancake... no?

I thought everyone peeled mushrooms, I didn't know that not only do people not peel mushrooms, lots don't even know they have peel!! 😱

I'll probably think of more.

Nb: I'm not meaning to trigger anyone's childhood or relationship trauma, I just mean lighthearted things x

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
SammyScrounge · 08/08/2023 22:02

loveyoutothemoonandtosaturn · 08/08/2023 19:09

White bread and butter crisp sandwiches. Grew up on these but my husband is horrified my them.

My auntie used to give me white bread with butter and sugar sandwiches. My Mum was.horrified and had a word with her
So she changed from butter and sugar to condensed milk sandwiches.

whynotwhatknot · 08/08/2023 22:03

didnt know about salads having a dressing till i was an older teen-my mum just put a load of veg on a plate and said it was a salad

if i can ask the people who share towels-what if you all need it at once or someone uses it and its wet

bringthecactusin · 08/08/2023 22:05

And me and my brother also didn't realise that roast potatoes weren't cooked in a chip pan. 🤣

Emeraldrings · 08/08/2023 22:07

SpeedyMackechnie · 08/08/2023 18:55

I thought that the Little Chef would only give you a lollipop if you cleared your plate.

Didn't realise that this was actually my mum and dad's rule until I was in my mid 30s and half way through telling someone at work about it. As in - Little Chef only gave you a lollipop if you cleared your.... HOLD ON.
Slightly embarrassing 😁

I thought the same. Can't remember when I realized it was my parents but at least late teens (and by that time we didn't go to Little Chef anyway!)

Barold · 08/08/2023 22:13

Haha! I have also fallen victim to bal-ash!

We ALWAYS peeled mushrooms in our house and I will continue this tradition forever more. I kind of like doing it too…

I use a mushroom brush

Err…a what? I thought I’d evolved from my common northern roots but apparently I’m still Barold from the Block.

No idea why one of you said crisp sandwiches are weird. They are a delicacy.

We were told that it was illegal to turn the light on in the car if it was moving. I still second guess myself on this one. 😂

I also thought it was normal to have peas and sweetcorn on a Sunday dinner but it was actually just that they were 2 vegetables I liked as a kid.

ours were in the warming drawer at the bottom of the oven.

Fuck me - is that what that drawer is actually for? Warming plates?

Mariposa26 · 08/08/2023 22:14

Titchyfeep · 08/08/2023 20:38

Only just remembered that our family done this growing up.

Show quote history

Me too! Memory unlocked.

BetterWithPockets · 08/08/2023 22:14

Yes to sliced bananas in milk with sugar! Also banana sandwiches. And yes to crisp sandwiches but also chip butties and sometimes, sugar sandwiches (always with marge although I think butter would be nicer? Nutritional value very low though especially as was always on white bread). Also digestive biscuits with butter as another pudding.
My mum also hated custard creams so I thought they were really exotic as we never had them as kids…
Never peeled mushrooms though!
Oh, and calling woodlice chucky pigs…

OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 08/08/2023 22:15

Tulipvase · 08/08/2023 20:34

I was going to ask the same thing!

Also I thought mushrooms were grown (commercially) in a sort of hypoallergenic soil? I just brush them off too. Hypoallergenic isn’t the word but I don’t know what is.

Show quote history

But in the very dim distant past they weren’t, we got field mushrooms, which had to be peeled then fried until they resembled small black pieces of hell. According to my mum.

Gerwurtztraminer · 08/08/2023 22:15

SpanielsMatter · 08/08/2023 19:02

Culture shock

Beetroot on burgers (horrible)
Sausage rolls that contains watery frozen style vegetables ( kiwis do not understand decent sausage rolls)
’Bring a plate’ had to be explained that you also bring food on the plate to a social gathering 🤭
Beef/ Pork ‘flavoured’ sausages with painted on lines and made from … well we won’t go into that one - wouldn’t feed them to the dogs.

If you rent you don’t pay council tax
insurance not compulsory for vehicles and a LOT cheaper for fully comp
Being able to grow the majority of your vegetables year round
Neighbours talk to you, and are helpful. Strangers say hello on walks
Parking for free on the high street - spent ages looking for a pay and display the first time

And I didn’t know till very late that mushrooms should be peeled ( washed, always peeled, no).

Beetroot is lovely on burgers! (Willing to admit it's a bit weird/unpleasant looking).

"Ladies, a plate" was a well known thing moment for 'Poms' in the 60's, my mum had to rescue several new arrivals invited to neighbourhood events by sharing her lamingtons or (gorgeous) home made sausage rolls. (Lets not mention the casual sexism; the blokes brought bottles of DB Brown, whether they like it or not...).

In reverse - I couldn't understand not paying for my doctors appointment first time I went. Was quite shocked not to see an EFTPOS machine behind the reception desk!

Also surprised at seeing people stripping off to sunbathe in central city parks at the first sign of sun. Not normal in NZ to see bikinis in a park, at least when I was growing up.

Barold · 08/08/2023 22:15

Hevasparkle · 08/08/2023 20:40

That gravy is an essential part of a roast dinner, in fact it’s no a roast without gravy.
I was horrified the first time I met my in laws and they served a roast with something called bread sauce instead of gravy. 12 years later I still drop the odd hint but no gravy served in their house as yet…

Madness. Bread sauce AND gravy but if it’s either/or, it must be gravy!

SauronsArsehole · 08/08/2023 22:15

SnowyPetals · 08/08/2023 19:09

I thought everyone ate apple crumble cold. I was gobsmacked to be served hot crumble at my first boyfriend's house. It was delicious, how did my family not know about this?!

We do cold crumble and hot custard or hot crumble and cold custard or ice cream etc.

violetglow7 · 08/08/2023 22:15

Eat the skin of kiwi fruits. I was 25 when I ate one infront of work colleagues and will never live it down. My parents never stopped me as a child 🤣

supercatlady · 08/08/2023 22:15

We had evaporated milk instead of cream or custard. Lovely with strawberries. We would also have bread and butter with our meals and the jam was brought out after if we were still hungry.

Original poster
Applescruffle · 08/08/2023 22:16

if i can ask the people who share towels-what if you all need it at once or someone uses it and its wet

this is adorable 😄 first of all, why are you all going go need a towel at once, unless you are all showering together?? and secondly, it's not one single communal towel but more that all towels are communal. * *

OP posts:
Barold · 08/08/2023 22:16

SlatternIsMyMiddleName · 08/08/2023 20:48

Is this a good time to mention that I had never eaten a Yorkshire pud in my life until my early 20’s?

Even now, 20+ years later, I would say I have only eaten 10 - 20 of them in total.

😱

I’ve easily eaten that many across 2-3 Sundays as a kid.

Hawkins009 · 08/08/2023 22:17

BarelyLiterate · 08/08/2023 19:10

Not wasting perfectly edible food.

I was brought up to avoid waste, because as a family we simply couldn’t afford to waste food. Whenever I see people binning food which is completely fine just because it has hit its ‘best before’ date, or because they have eaten the breasts of the chicken but don’t want the leg meat (yes, really!) I am appalled.

Mostly, I manage to bite my lip, but I did say something when I saw someone about to bin a pack of avocados because they were ‘out of date’. They weren’t even ripe, never mind being off!

That I can understand your perspectives, same with yellow label foods usually a day or two past and still good to eat.

katepilar · 08/08/2023 22:18

Applescruffle · 08/08/2023 21:56

I was trying to find this comment so I could reply!

Bread sauce goes on poultry in tbe same way mint sauce is for lamb, apple sauce is for pork, horseradish is for beef....

It's NOT a substitute for the gravy, the gravy is for the whole meal, the sauces are for the meat.

I also don't understand how these people had bread sauce with every roast. Do they always have chicken?

Show quote history

In my very English family where I worked we could easily have all the sauces with any type of meat. They werent specific to any meat. Plus the gravy.

IClaudine · 08/08/2023 22:18

violetglow7 · 08/08/2023 22:15

Eat the skin of kiwi fruits. I was 25 when I ate one infront of work colleagues and will never live it down. My parents never stopped me as a child 🤣

I thinks that's fine. I slice them and eat them with the skin on. I am sure lots of people eat the skin?

ElBandito · 08/08/2023 22:19

I still peel mushrooms if they have gone a bit unfortunate looking in the fridge. Otherwise I don't.

Original poster
Applescruffle · 08/08/2023 22:20

katepilar · 08/08/2023 22:18

In my very English family where I worked we could easily have all the sauces with any type of meat. They werent specific to any meat. Plus the gravy.

Show quote history

No no no this is illegal. You must eat the correct sauce only with your meat 😄

OP posts:
Mumtobabyhavoc · 08/08/2023 22:20

Tonightsthenight91 · 08/08/2023 21:46

I have read this site for years and never bothered to sign up- but this… this I had to make an account for.

My nan used to crack nuts in her bicep with this action 💪🏽 .. no really. I believed this my whole life until at the grand age of 22 my boyfriend and I were arguing over him claiming it was impossible. I left a message on my nans answering machine telling her to call me back with urgency to set him straight.

she called me back absolutely pissing herself that I believed all this time she was cracking nuts in her bicep when in reality she was using a nut cracker and slipping it in between when I wasn’t looking.

My mind is still blown 10 years after this discovery.

You made me lol. 😂😂
Had you never tried it yourself, or did you think nan was super strong?

Great thread, OP!

JudgeJ · 08/08/2023 22:21

FatCatBum · 08/08/2023 20:29

Aren't mushrooms grown in manure? Why wouldn't you wash/peel them 😱

Show quote history

We used to buy a mushroom bucket, once it was set up we'd keep it in the dark under the stairs and had a good supply of mushrooms. I think they're grown in a sort of fibrous stuff which is why you can just wash or wipe them.

Debini · 08/08/2023 22:21

When I read agony aunt letters as a teen I wondered why so many girls were called “Anon” 😂

BetterWithPockets · 08/08/2023 22:22

Applescruffle · 08/08/2023 22:16

if i can ask the people who share towels-what if you all need it at once or someone uses it and its wet

this is adorable 😄 first of all, why are you all going go need a towel at once, unless you are all showering together?? and secondly, it's not one single communal towel but more that all towels are communal. * *

So if they’re communal, does that mean you’d get out of the bath and grab whichever towel is nearest? Or would one specific towel be ‘yours’ until it was washed?

porridgeisbae · 08/08/2023 22:22

I've never heard of peeling a mushroom, didn't know there was much to peel. But I wouldn't eat the stalks on varieties where the stalk was very woody.

I only learned recently that some people peel carrots before they eat them raw (I eat them raw if I have them usually, as a snack.) Sounds like a waste of fibre to me, but apparently it makes them sweeter. I'll have to give it a go.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In
This thread is not accepting new messages.