Mary Berry and Judith Chalmers tell you how to stock your freezer! 1976.

[Redheadedstepchild]

Just thought I would let you all know:

(Run time 6m39s)

So many useful tips!

You just have to watch it. I can't explain.

I have a massive presentation to prepare and I'm watching bloody Mary & Judith like a crack addict!!!! They've just done creme caramel now in the shitest TV kitchen I've ever seen. I was permanently on edge, convinced that one or other of them was going to end up with 3rd degree burns.

I'm not sure I can cope with the chips. I'm convinced they will need a trip to A&E or set the whole shit kitchen on fire.

I was wincing during the flapjack one when she first got hold of a potentially red hot metal spoon and then used it to stir a non-stick pan.

When freezers were a relatively new thing, there was much advice about what people should do with their brand new freezer, and the first thing you were told to do when you switched it on was to fill it with several loaves of bread, because they said it used more electricity to chill the empty space otherwise. People took them at their word I think, and tried to keep them as full as possible.

Mary Berry has toned down her very posh accent, since this show was made.

I think the chip pan one is only available on the, 'Dark Web.'

I've managed to watch the chip one, but it won't let me link it here. Clearly considered far too edgy for modern viewing 😂. I'm pleased to report that there were no A&E visits, despite vast quantities of boiling fat and polyester all in the room together.

I'm certain I've seen/read things from both of them saying that they became good friends, and Mary Berry saying that Judith Chalmers gave her really good advice at the start of her tv career.

If you like this, there is an amazing 70s programme called Money Go Round (I think that's it) on there as well.

I didn't realise 😎

You joke, but one of the more memorable Mythbusters was the damage water in a chip pan can do ...

meanwhile here's H&S made fun 🤔

A baby belling!!! I had one of those in the early 90s, I forgot they existed!

I was 18 in 1976 but I do most of this. I have a chest freezer big enough to put a body in. Plus an American fridge freezer in the kitchen. We live quite rurally so can't pop to a shop easily.
I do remember being told to keep the freezer as full as possible for efficiency.

I grow my own fruit and veg so in summer I have half of it filled with home produce.
The other half is frozen meals I've made, bread and meat.
The kitchen freezer is organised by drawer, veg, meat, bread, ice cream/ cakes, puddings.
I do eat seasonally up to a point as I try not to buy imported food if we produce it here.
I reuse containers but write date and contents on a sticky label.
My neighbour has apple and plum trees but ""can't be bothered " so I pick peel chop and freeze as much as will fit in my freezer.

I have more time as I'm retired but I did all this when working with children at home.

@Papergirl1968
Potatoes are just potatoes, different varieties like apples. Supermarkets calling them "baking" potatoes doesn't mean anything. Some varieties are better for roasting/ mash / baking but you can use any.

Well you can use any but ones with a waxy texture don't crisp up nicely and crush rather than mash. Summer potatoes can also be higher in sugars so can go quite dark and taste burnt before they're properly cooked if you try to roast or fry them. I do like new or salad potatoes roasted in their skins, though.

Similarly, you wouldn't want a very floury potato boiled or steamed with a salad, unless you were going to mash them, 1970s school dinner style. 😁

She's giving me 'Young Margaret Thatcher' vibes.

The chip pan was very easy to find (and full of ads). We had one like she used! Her hair was visibly flopping by the time the chips were cooked but it seemed to have no effect on Judith's!

Ha, when I wrote that post I was trying to think back as to whether we defrosted them or not 😁 I still can’t remember but I suspect a bit of both.

I use any potato for anything, I don’t have a discerning potato palate 😁

Love these old clips.

I have about 10 of Mary's cookbooks, but from when she had a resurgence in popularity after Bake Off, I really think she has excellent recipes which always work, aren't complicated and always taste great, I get many compliments.

I'm sad to say I don't think Judith says" you do you", I think she says "oh, do you?" in her rather RP voice.

Cheryl Baker and Mark Curry cook blue string pudding on The Saturday Picture Show. As beloved by The Clangers. Allegedly.

Both savoury and sweet versions. I have no idea whether or not this was meant to be taken seriously but they did put the recipe on the screen for you to note down with pencil and paper.

Remember to enter the competition at the end. If you know which city the Pope lives in you could win a multipractic handblender. Or a cookbook something to do with, "Starving Children In Africa." as second prize

"Be careful of the blue food colouring on the worktop."

Yes Cheryl.

I used to put blue food colouring in my bleached tortured hair when I was a punk. That's great about the blue string pudding.!

@Redheadedstepchild thank you for directing me to one of the worst things I've seen cooked (not even sure not quite boiling spaghetti counts as cooking) in a long time. Not sure what child watching would want to win a blender or the starving kids in Africa book, let alone eat either dish!!!! Also don't remember cheese sauce made from granules, but I definitely wasn't living the dream in the 1980s.

Cheese sauce granules are made by the esteemed Bisto brand. Still available today in all good grocers.

ah, thank you @Redheadedstepchild this is the thread that keeps on giving.😂

Me too! I have lots of bones for stock, herbs etc. I'm a child of the 70s, obviously.

Loved the Victoria Wood and Julie Walters sketch, too.

What's your method for making herb oil for freezing please? Do you cook it or just chop loads of herb and mix with oil?