I found a shopping list from 1969

[Trouthallgrapefruit]

Interesting isn’t it!

My mum also bought tongue in the ‘70’s, I actually like it and had it in a naice Italian restaurant during the ‘90’s.

Thank you so much for sharing that. The writing is identical to my granny’s (born 1884).

"Incidentally, to get to the shops I had to cross a busy main road."

I walked to school on my own in the late 70s, from aged around to six to nine, for about a mile including crossing main roads (always at the zebra crossings). Seems incredible to think of it now!

We moved just before I turned ten, obviously I continue to walk to school on my own, until secondary when I took the school bus, then bus and train, when they stopped our school bus.

I've still got my Mams Bero book from the 70s and my Nannas from the 50s. They are in the conservatory, but I'll go and dig them out in the morning as I know they have the coffee kisses recipes in them. I'll post a screenshot of they do.

@Kabloom Do thank your Dad for enlightening us - and tell him to get well soon.

This is a lovely thread, thanks so much @Trouthallgrapefruit for sharing 😊

Sorry, just noticed you said you'd bought one recently.

Just to mention about the flour etc. Back in 1960s Yorkshire, most people had a traditional pudding after noon dinner or tea (meal after 5pm). Add to that pie, cobbler, dumpling, cake and biscuit making, and you'd go through a lot of flour and butter every week.

People ate very differently back then. Main meal portions were far smaller, and there was virtually no pasta or rice served. It pretty much was meat, two veg and potatoes.

When I think back, there really wasn't a lot of calories in a main meal unless you had a pastry dish. My old school dinners must have only had about 200 calories in them without the pudding.

No wonder everyone looked like a rake. 😂

It was 15th February 1971

This is lovely and brings back memories of going to the shops. A time when everyone was less rushed and supermarkets did not exist until the early 70’s. The writing is standard cursive which all children were taught, hence all our grandparents have the same beautiful handwriting.
Rows of shops always including greengrocers, butchers, grocers and newsagents. I was 4 in 1969 so do remember this but also remember a safeways opening and the excitement of going there.
I would have thought that the 60’s housewife would have baked a lot - I seem to remember my great aunt always cooking and baking

I don't think I fancy the Blue Band margarine. Hopefully that was for baking cakes and not spreading on bread.

My mum used to make coffee kisses. I’d completely forgotten about those.

@ArcticBells show us!

Be-Ro cookbook

You can still get blue band margarine I'm some places. It's a bit like Stork. Cheap and cheerful for baking (though questionable these days regarding trans fats I guess)

I'm surprised there's no lard on the list.

They liked to make the tubs bonny in those days as everyone reused tubs for keeping stuff in.

My mother would do her shop in person at the grocers but it would be delivered later in a huge cardboard box as we didn’t have a car (late 60s).

Oh, the excitement of opening the door to the delivery man , then the delights of unpacking to see if there were any treats for us, then playing with the cardboard box (it was usually big enough for us to sit in and pretend it was a car).

My nan wrote like this x

My mother did a brief stint in a primary school kitchen. The school dinners were very carefully calorie controlled to make sure children had plenty of energy, Just think of what went into them;

1. Gravy. If the meal was a bit light on calories, they melted blocks of lard into it and/or gave two ladlefulls instead of one. Also why Muslim children had to have a pile of grated cheese rather than vegetables/potatoes with gravy.
2. Pastry. Lots of lard in it - that's why it was so brittle, you had to hit it hard to break it up.
3. Spam fritters. High fat meat, plus batter.
4. Mashed potato with margarine.
5. Custard with almost everything.
6. Cake and custard.
7. Tinned fruit in syrup. And custard.
8. Jam in semolina and rice pudding.
9. Gypsy tart and cream.
10. Occasional ice cream. Frozen custard.

I'm pasting a link from a debate in 1971 where it says 'It (the school meals service) provides in the schools of England and Wales over 900 million school meals a year. The school meal gives the average school child at least one-third of his nutritional requirements in a day.'

https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1971/mar/08/school-meals

Maybe as the book progresses we’re seeing the children grow up, as in the early weeks there’s a lot of Stergene (for washing nappies maybe) and at the end more cereal and cream soda!

Yes I imagine the lard still came from the butcher , as it’s noticeably absent.

An ordinary household would have used a lot of flour back then, as everyone cooked everything "from scratch" as it is so charmingly called these days.

They may have baked their own bread, would have made pastry for meals such as chicken & leek pie or steak & kidney pie, made Yorkshire puddings and dumplings, suet pastry for sweet or savoury puddings. Then there would be cakes, biscuits, scones and tarts for treats or lunch boxes.

I've got a couple of old Be-Ro recipe books, I often used to make coffee kisses, using Camp coffee of course!

@Kabloom best wishes to your Dad for a speedy recovery.

I remember in the 80s my mum used to buy 2oz of two kinds of meat every week. This was to do my dad's lunches, and some lunches for the rest of us, you would get one thin slice on a sandwich. It seems like a ridiculously small amount, I can easily use 100g of meat for 4 sandwiches!

These were the days when a small glass of orange juice was sold as a starter in restaurants.

I recall the pop-man delivering American Cream soda and 'Dead Lion and Burnt Dog', (dandelion and burdock) once a week in the late 50s early 60s, we too made ice-cream floats with the Cream soda. Is anyone else old enough to remember Pablos in Blackpool when it used to be an ice cream parlour in a backstreet off, I think, Albert Road or Hornby Road, not the chip shop now on the prom? They made the most amazing ice cream floats!