I was born in ‘54, moved back to Scotland when I was three. Mum was a widow, her/I lived in a tenement flat above her Mum/Dad. Mum really only cooked at the weekends because of working full time. Granny did the majority of the food shopping, there was a big Co-Op just a ten minute walk away, she went there most days of the week. The yearly dividend usually bought me new clothes for school. She also used a local butcher, fishmonger, greengrocer.
There were a few meals that only Gran/Grandad ate - tripe being one. Honestly, I’m 69 and can still smell it! They cooked it in milk. Totally bowfin 🤢 Lambs liver was another, I hated it then, really enjoy it now once in a while.
Certain meals always appeared on certain days, e.g. home made soup was a Friday, even though we weren’t RC. It was usually made with flank mutton, always red lentils, never barley, lots of tatties, carrots, neep and leek.
Fish, usually lemon sole was a regular meal, accompanied by chips cooked in beef dripping or lard in a proper chip pan, usually had tinned garden peas with it as well.
Beef stew or mince, cooked with onions, carrots, neep accompanied by mashed tatties and cabbage.
Butcher sausages, usually beef, stewed with mega amounts of onions. Mashed tatties, carrots and cabbage.
Pork chops or bacon with chips, fried egg and Heinz beans. Gammon steak with chips, peas and the obligatory tinned pineapple ring.
Macaroni cheese (mature Cheddar) is the only pasta dish I remember eating as a child. Also had Edam and Gouda, but no other cheeses. Didn’t have lasagne, burgers, pizza, chilli, moussaka, Chinese, Indian, Italian food, duck, venison - all foods I now take for granted and didn’t have until at least my 20s.
No rice dishes either except rice pudding once in a while in the colder months. No avocados, peppers, olives, courgette, mushrooms, broccoli, sweet spuds or any of the other veg that I eat every week now.
Only fresh fruit I remember eating regularly is apples, and lots of straw/raspberries, plums, rhubarb (dipped in sugar) when in season. Also wee satsumas/mandarins but only at Christmas. Occasionally grapes. Never anything exotic like fresh mango, pineapple, limes or lemons.
We rarely had pudding through the week, if we did it would be something very easy like tinned fruit. There was an ice cream shop near us, in summer once I was old enough to be trusted not to drop it, I’d be sent with a bowl to buy us all ice cream. Best ice cream I’ve ever tasted.
Saturday, Mum/Gran always went downtown window/shopping so the meal that night was often an easily cooked/uncooked/ready cooked one. Tinned salmon or butcher bought boiled ham with salad veg - only tomatoes, cucumber and tasteless lettuce, nothing fancy like peppers or spring onions. Sometimes with boiled new tatties, or with bread/butter. Heinz salad cream, never mayo. Meat pies, beans and chips. Fish and chips, mushy peas from the local chip shop, with pickled beetroot and lots of Heinz tomato sauce for me.
Sundays, maybe once a month, we had roast chicken, roast tatties. Lots of the usual carrots and oddly, the only meal I ever remember having cauliflower with. Really tasty gravy.
Only ever had Yorkie puds when we visited family in England every year. I used to ask for them every day, no idea why Mum or Gran never made them back home.
Mum loved tongue, so that was at least once a month. I well remember finding it fascinating watching her peel the outer layer away. Would have this with boiled tatties and the usual veg.
Both the chicken and the tongue would usually do two meals for the four of us, hot the first day, cold the second. Even if there was any more left, we couldn’t really keep it past that as we didn’t have a fridge until I was 11. Or a TV.
As for snacks, when I got home from school in the afternoon, Gran would make me a sandwich to “keep me going”. Embarrassed to write this, but two favourites were sugar and tomato sauce. Not together I hasten to add. Only used butter, never margarine and only white bread, usually what is known as plain up here, has wonderful chewy crusts. In winter, the bread would be toasted in front of the open fire, then liberally covered in honey. My granny loved honey, especially bought still on the comb. Or the toast would be slathered in homemade rhubarb and ginger jam that one of my Granny’s sisters made every year. It’s still my favourite jam.
Really didn’t eat a lot of sweets, crisps, etc. so they did seem like a treat when I got them. Same with cakes. There was always biscuits though usually nothing fancy. I remember thinking Jaffa cakes tasted wonderful the first time I had them.
Breakfasts through the week/Saturdays was usually toast, with e.g. scrambled or boiled egg. Occasionally had porridge, but never cereal. It was just something that was never bought. Sundays was nearly always a full cooked b’fast. Bacon, sausage, eggs.
Overall, it was a pretty healthy diet. Yes, a lot of meat but also lots of fresh veg and fruit if only of a limited variety. No convenience foods except for the occasional fish and chips. Few tinned or packeted foods. No frozen food.
Like others have said, I too was a thin child, as were all my peers. But then, we played outside a lot, even in winter. Also walked everywhere or got a bus if going further afield.