My mum was not a good cook & meals were v basic & plain. She overcooked everything & had zero interest in it. I thought I was a fussy eater until I stayed with someone who was a good cook & I realised that food could taste delicious!
Once I was old enough I taught myself to cook & I am told I'm an excellent cook. My dc have v different experiences than I had around food.
Typical childhood dinner were:
Fried lamb chops, overcooked till like shoeleather, tin of peas, plain boiled potatoes. No butter or herbs etc
Mash, made by badly mashing boiled potatoes without butter/ milk/ cream etc. They were always lumpy & I recall an odd metallic taste. Tin of beans, greasy Fried egg cooked in oil. This dinner made me gag one time
Beef stew, sauce made from a packet of oxtail soup. No other seasoning. Lumps of beef, carrots & onions cooked in oxtail soup served with the lumpy mash
Leftover stew (always lots funnily enough) was converted into cottage pie on the second day with the same dry mash on top.
Fried gammon steaks with a ring of tinned pineapple, frozen peas, oven chips. I quite liked this dinner
Roast stuffed heart or beef- cooked till it was literally like chewing leather
My 2 fav dinners were roast chicken, roast potatoes, marrowfat peas & gravy
Or omelette served with sautéed left over boiled potatoes. She was v good at both of these
My father didn't cook & if he was in charge we'd get a fry up / chip shop chicken & chips or Chinese. We loved the rare occasions when he had to look after dinner!
Things got easier for my parents once M&S opened a food hall in their town