What family dinners did you grow up with?

[ValkyrieAssassin]

Both my parents were excellent cooks. And I and my sister relished food in a very big way so I expect it was quite satisfying to cook for us. For context i was born in 1973 and Dsis in 1976. I am not from the UK which makes a difference I think because meat was cheap when I was growing up. Not particularly well off- thoroughly middle class as both parents were teachers (DM part time from when I was born).

Our fairly regular family meals

• french onion soup
• pumpkin soup
• chicken noodle soup
• minestrone with homemade meatballs
• spanakopita
• beef wellington (every single birthday)
• chicken schnitzel with apple sauce, mash and peas
• beef filet on mustard crouton with brandy cream sauce
• semolina gnocchi with spicy tomato basil sauce
• pumpkin gnocchi (homemade) with sage cream sauce
• rissoles with mushroom gravy
• sausages and mash
• seafood pancakes
• chicken and veg pancakes
• bacon and sweetcorn chowder
• homemade asparagus soup (my mother was a Delia Smith devotee)

Most of this I would never cook in a regular week. It's mainly pasta, tacos, pasta and easy because I have children with a range of SEN that makes eating generally difficult for them.

I am feeling nostalgic this afternoon and am curious what sorts of dishes you had while growing up, and if you make them now for your own family or not.

Born late 60’s

home made burgers and home made chips
spaghetti bolognaise
home made minestrone soup
tropical chicken (chicken and pineapple recipe) with rice
Different roast dinners on a three week rotation
homemade French stick pizzas
curry and rice

lunches
cauliflowers cheese
macaroni cheese
pasta with tuna and sweetcorn

Child from 80s

Beef stew and dumplings
Homemade pie and mash
Roast every Sunday
Fish from the local fish market
Stir fry
Curry
Sweet and sour chicken
Visiting my Nan she would make rhubarb crumble with birdseye custard and sometimes stewed gooseberries.
Then I lived on frozen pizzas in the 90s

Beef goulash with red peppers and thick smoky paprika sauce. I still dream of my mum's goulash
Spag bol
Lamb hot pot with crispy potatoes
Shepherd's pie
Keema mince with peas and rice
Beef rissoles with hand cooked chips
Home made pizza with a savoury scone base. Sounds disgusting but it was delicious.
Irish stew
Home made Cornish pasties

I grew up in a pub so we would often have whatever was the special for that day:

Spaghetti Bolognese
Cheese pie with beans
Yellow fish with peas and bread and butter (smoked haddock poached in milk)
Mince and mash
Roast dinner most Sundays and then a Monday would be cold roast meat with chips and fat peas.

We are super busy so I don't cook as much variety as I'd like but I think the kids will remember the following as staples:

Leek and potato soup
Spag bol
Roast dinners
Cottage pie
Butter chicken
Lasagne
Macaroni cheese with roast broccoli and cauliflower
Turkey pasta bake
Carbonara

@ValkyrieAssassin I'm trying to work out from that list where you grew up and I'm failing :-) I grew up in England and these were our common things:

Fish pie
Shepherds pie
Toad in the hole
Bangers and mash
Kedgeree
Lamb neck stew
Spaghetti Bolognese
Fish pie
Roasts
Various Indian-inspired things
Lots of salads
Suet puddings

All very delicious: Mum was a good cook and also relied lots on Delia Smith and also Jane Grigson.

Lamb/pork chops with jacket potato and veg
Shepherds pie
Spaghetti bolognaise
Cauliflower cheese
Liver and onions
Lancashire hotpot
Roast
Bubble and squeak
Toad in the hole
Sausages and mash
Moussaka
Chilli

Fish and chips (fish usually done in the bright orange crumbs)
Mince with mash and veg
Fry (sausage, egg, mushrooms etc)
Liver, onions veg
Salad
Home made soup
Home made steak & kidney pie
Fairly basic stuff
Chicken was for special occasions

Fish, rice, fruit and repeat with some variation of type of fish and type of fruit.

Born late 70s
Lots of freezer food.
Potato waffles
Turkey drummers
Crispy pancakes
Scotch pies
Homemade ,things like mince and tatties.. soup..
Kedgeree , chops, gammon,,
Also tinned chicken supreme on toast
Fish and chips on a Thursday homemade fish from the fish man

Lentil soup
Scotch broth
Kidney soup🤢

In 70s: roast dinners, boiled bacon and cabbage, liver and onions with mash and greens, casseroles, savoury mince, homemade chips with egg/ sausage.

In 80s: spaghetti bolognaise, chilli con carne, fish pie, casseroles, roast dinner, lasagne, toad in the hole.

Mum always cooked from scratch.

Fried meat/roasted meat, veg and potatoes.

So bland I wouldn't say I liked food as a child. A casserole was fancy, mum worked full time and had no passion for eating savoury, had a very plain palate - she could make a good pudding. Dad was a good cook though, suppers and breakfasts were his speciality and were always cooked to perfection with a bit of imagination.

@TomPinch @ValkyrieAssassin Cypress is my guess.

Microwave meals mostly.
admirals fish pie 🤢
findus crispy pancakes
microwave lasagne
goodfellas pizza
ready made carbonara pasta 🤮
Bernard matthews Turkey drummers

No veg (fresh or otherwise) - how we didn’t just shrivel up I have no idea!! Born in the 80’s but remember this in the early 90’s.

All absolutely vile and most of it went in the bin it was so grim. Never buy this sort of food as an adult nor would I feed it to my kids!

Born in Ireland in the 80s- stew at least once a week, roast chicken and potatoes twice a week, fry/sausages and chips once a week, fish fingers and chips once or twice a week and chipper on a Friday night. We had peas and carrots with everything!!! Us-too much pasta

Spaghetti bolognaise
Shepherds pie
Full English Breakfast for dinner
Chicken goujons with potato wedges
Sausage casserole or tray bake
Hot dogs
Chicken drumsticks with corn on the cob and coleslaw
Stuff on toast - 3 kids plus whatever friends we'd bought home. Mum would put jugs of beans, tinned tomatoes, fried mushrooms and scrambled egg in the middle of the table then a production line of toast would appear.
Pizza and garlic bread
Soup with crusty bread or toasted sandwich
Pork spare ribs with whatever veg we had to hand
Pork chops with veg

As a child we were v poor.

No breakfast or lunch. We never drank anything but water.

We had 1 pint of milk a day between 6 so us kids weren't allowed milk.

My mum could make a fray bentos pie do 7 people (after my sisters husband lived with us).
When she asked "how many potatoes do you want" she meant pieces not whole potatoes, we were allowed 3 max.

No rice as dad had fought in Malaya. No pasta as it wasn't available until the potato shortages.

Stew - I used to pick out the carrots, potato and one dumpling.

Chips were the best once we could make our own at about 10.

Rice pudding made with evaporated milk.

Boiled potatoes most days.

Roast on Sundays with dry meat. I'm a vegetarian now I think likely due to this lol.

I've never really enjoyed food.

Cheese, onion and potato pie
Prawns in garlic butter, served with rice
Spaghetti bolognaise
Smoked haddock kedgeree
Sunday roasts
Quiche with new potatoes and salad
Baked potatoes with cheese and salad
Casseroles
Beef in Guinness
Steak and kidney pie with vegetables
Lentil soup and various other homemade soups
Cauliflower cheese

Sausage casserole
Roasted veg with cous cous and cheese
Curries
Vietnamese dishes

My mother was an excellent cook and everything was made from fresh ingredients. We ate well and healthily. I remember moaning we never had anything to ‘grab and go’ like my friends’ - like white pre sliced bread and cheese slices or biscuits! Only now do I appreciate the effort and my own kids should be so lucky!

Mum always cooked from scratch , my dad had 2 allotments , so very fresh vegetables daily . For a few years they kept chickens so fresh eggs and being a country boy / man he also had no qualms on ringing a chickens neck , so fresh chicken as well . Meals were usually a meat and lots of vegetables & potatoes. Always a Sunday roast . Mum was a great cook so homemade puddings , Apple pie / crumble. Apple & blackberry when we could pick them . Rhubarb from the allotment , trifles as a treat.
Stews , casseroles , can even remember liver & onions ! As a hobby my dad loved fishing , even out to sea on a boat so freshly caught fish was often on the menu ( I have a lifetime have of skate ) loved mackerel .

Born in the late 80’s

spag bol
roast every Sunday (not anymore)
minced pancakes
sausage, mash and beans
chicken biriyani (grandparents are Indian so this was a staple in our house)
mince curry
gammon egg and chips
fishfingers and smileys
jacket potatoes with cheese and beans
we used to have kfc once a month (back when you got a Viennetta with a bucket)
steak, chips and peas
burgers & chips
as I got older we would get Chinese every couple of weeks aswell.
cottage pie
sausage casserole
fry ups
beans on toast
sardines on toast (except my dad would have tuna on toast as he hated sardines)
my favourite, on a Sunday we would have very early at like 1, so in the evening after our bath and whilst watching heartbeat we would eat cheese toasties 🤭

'chicken' with leadshot in it ( it was rabbit and they didnt want to upset me!)

Amazing Sunday Roasts
Soups and stews reflective of my maternal grandmother’s heritage as an Eastern European Jew
Stuffed leaves (see above)
Applecake
Codsroe dishes
Fish that wasn’t breadcrumbed and sometimes had head on
Curry because my Mum bought a cookbook about it mid 70s
When they became available - aubergine and courgette dishes involving tomatoes and subversions on grandma recipes

The bad stuff - commercial stuff that was supposed to save time - vile crispy pancakes that made me ill as did all those battered and breadcrumbed things with ‘flavour enhancer’ with hidden allergens

My mum was a chef and good at it. She liked to experiment but also wanted to stay true to her working class roots (she snubbed downward) I had a lot of everyday meals Danish meals like sausages (medister) . Bacon and parsley sauce. Frikkadeller, pork loin, danish beef with fried egg and soft onions, Fried liver and boiled potatoes (she pan-fried it to leather I hates this dish and we had it a lot as it was one of her favourites all the way into my adulthood she would.proclaim me a fussy eater because I didn't like this dish) but we also had more adventures dishes and she was a wizz with left overs. My stepdad is a hunter so game featured heavily in our meals. I still enjoy game now.

My dad (they divorced when I was. 5) cooked more Mediterranean and Asian. I liked most of his meals apart from his obsession with banana on rice. I do NOT like hot bananas. Still now.

Stepdad is actually also a decent cook but I can remember him and I eating the same 2 -3 days in a Row. I guess he didn't much enjoy cooking. Now in his 70s we get overfed by him and he is an adventurous cook. My dad nolonger cooks but enjoys taking us out for lunch/dinner...

Born in ‘72.

A freezer thing (crispy pancake / frozen sausage / turkey burger) with either boiled carrots or tinned peas and sweetcorn. Frozen chips or smash.

or

Salad, which consisted of one sliced tomato, some cucumber, some lettuce (all separate on the plate) and either some crap ham or a hard boiled egg, with salad cream and white bread and marg.

or

Very occasionally my mum would decide to cook something like a coq au vin or a chilli. Never ended well.

I left home and discovered food can actually taste of something. It was quite a revelation!