Eating habits....then and now.

[bafta16]

I was born in 1957. I was never much a of a breakfast person. I liked cocoa pops and sometimes toast. Lunch was school dinners. Primary school was big helping of ghastly food which we more or less had to eat.
Dinner was 5pm. Something like shepherd's pie. I lb of meat for 4 people. Tinned fruit maybe. Supper a couple pf plain biscuits.
Moving to Secondary, less lunch, sometimes a bag of donuts or some chips. I wonder how many calories...maybe 1,500 or so? No alcohol in the house.

Now I am constantly grazing and/or stuffing my face. I do wonder what on earth has gone wrong. Somehow I need to re educate myself.

Born 1972.

breakfast was cereal - usually Weetabix or Cornflakes, often with hot milk and sugar in the winter.

lunch was school dinners at primary - horrible soups, lumpy mash. But fish and chips on a Friday was a big treat!

at secondary, in true Scottish fashion, lunch was mostly chips. I usually ate my packed lunch by break time, so we’d go to the chippy and get potato scallops. Or a melted cheese roll. In the school canteen we’d get chips and cheese, with unlimited refills of fizzy raspberry juice 😱 . That was late 80s.

My mum worked full time, and got a big promotion when I was about 7, so we ate a lot of the new processed foods as she couldn’t do it all. Anything that could be put on a baking tray and shoved in the oven - chips / turkey burgers / turkey cheeseburgers / cheese hamwiches, Findus crispy pancakes, chicken kievs, etc. Usually served with beans or frozen mixed veg. Ice cream in a tiny pot or Angel Delight to follow. If she did cook, it was meat and potatoes: mince and tatties, cold sliced lamb and boiled potatoes, gammon steak and chips. On Saturdays we’d have burger and chips on the sofa while watching the Dukes of Hazard on TV, it was a big treat. We never ate out and had takeaway once a month at most - usually from the chippy, battered sausage and chips was my choice. My mum was often on a diet so she’d have chicken fried rice instead - she thought it was healthier.

i eat a very healthy and varied diet today, but I still have a big weak spot for junky processed food - crispy breadcrumbs, salty ‘meat’, processed cheese. It’s a once a year thing though.

I actually grew up thinking I hated veg and salad - turns out my mum doesn’t like them so she assumed we wouldn’t 🙄 and tbf no one ate much of them in the 80s. I live in France now, where salad isn’t just a garnish - my mum still goes on about the ‘fuss’ I make over cooking ie preparing veg and salads daily, and the ‘enormous’ salads that we eat most days. The difference between French food and Scottish food isn’t as wide as it was, but it’s still there especially in the relative cost of meat / fish / chicken (France is really expensive), the availability/ quality of fresh fruit / veg / salad and the amount of processed food (loads more in the UK and it’s marketed as a ‘treat’ or a ‘luxury’ - in France it’s seen as a necessary evil if eaten at all, luxury products are far more likely to be ‘real’ food).

we ate well in the 50s/60s..but.not big portions, Sunday was usually a roast, following day,minced shepherds or cottage pie, Tuesday cold cuts.. Sunday was pudding. Everything was home made right down to the drinks, lemonade or ginger beer. I never developed a liking for coke or pepsi,can't stand them. No one was overweight.

Snacks? No chance. I remember eating a bag of raisins and the brown paper bag too!
Yes, breaking off a bit of cooking chocolate in deperation.
The whole " coffee shop " thing is a massive explosion. The bleak Northern outpost that was my home town had a bakery with a few plastic seats and one cafe. At some point there was a flurry of excitement when frothy coffee appeared on the scene.
Cake? No, unless it was made by Mum.

@Mixymaxymoxy I think in France there are markets selling produce which comes from the ground or the sea? Fresh?

I was thinking about this the other day - particularly about my packed lunch in primary school. I was born in the 80s. My usual lunch was a sandwich on white bread, a packet of Hula Hoops and a supermarket version of a KitKat or Penguin. I’m a primary school teacher and that would not be seen as a ‘healthy’ lunch today, but all my friends pretty much had a variation of my lunch in the late 80s/early 90s.

We might have had a biscuit and glass of squash after school, then tea would be around 5:30pm. Tea was usually something like meat, potatoes & veg, shepherd’s pie. We’d often have a pudding of tinned fruit. My mum would always make a crumble or pie on a Sunday, with leftovers on a Monday. We’d have a digestive or rich tea biscuit before bed.

We would choose some sweets or a chocolate bar from the shop on a Saturday.

My packed lunch and after school/pre-bed snack of a biscuit would probably be frowned upon by lots of people today. But there was no constant snacking, etc. We were all always a healthy weight, enjoyed food at meal times but didn’t really think about food at other times of the day.

I’m not really sure what conclusions I’m making. Lots of children today would be given a ‘healthier’ lunch but maybe a lot more food? Lots also won’t be given a biscuit after school/before bed, like I had, but will be given a ‘snack plate’.

Why do children "need" snacks everywhere they go? I suppose life is just so much busier and time spent in cars has increased.

@TheImpOfThePerverse2026I had the same experience the first time I tried Bolognaise at a friend's. It was the most delicious food I'd ever had. I didn't try pizza or curry till I was about 20. Everything was quite basic at home. My mum made a chili every now & then but I hated it (love it now!).

I grew up in the 70s/80s & would frequently skip lunch at school as it was so disgusting (my brother was allowed packed lunch, I wasn't). One particular nasty teacher would make you eat it so I became terrified of lunchtimes at school. Luckily i love all food now & have a good relationship with it & eat a very balanced diet

Also, I vividly remember a time when I was 11 years old and my auntie was looking after us after school. This was quite unusual as my mum was always around after school. She put 3 biscuits on a plate, so I took one, gave one to my brother and was about to give the other one to her when she gave another plate to my brother. I just couldn’t fathom this! No one eats 3 biscuits!!!

So I think what I’m concluding is what we all know. A biscuit is ok. My weekly Saturday chocolate bar/sweets were ok. The problems start when we start seeing 3 biscuits as normal and a chocolate bar every day as normal.

Anyway, a lot of this is me pondering to myself. It’s interesting to think about what about the 80s/90s eating was better and what is better now. Eg. Do we now give children ‘healthier’ snacks but do they eat too much? I’m not sure…? Off to ponder this some more!

I recall people talking in muted tones about a teacher who " ate yoghurt" It was regarded as highly unusual ( along with other foreign contraptions like duvets)

This made me laugh, @bafta16. I vividly remember the first time I ever knew of the existence of yogurt. A friend's mother served me some (I think it was strawberry-flavoured) in a glass dish. Mind blown. I went home begging my mum to get some.

(Btw we always knew duvets as ‘continental quilts' 😁)

OMG "continental quilts" Worrying about if they were clean or not? How did it work? Would be we all become French overnight?

I mean you’re acting like your diet in 1957 was strict but you also say you had chocolate cereal, tinned fruit and biscuits every day. And then at secondary you ate doughnuts or chips (easily more calories than a normal sandwich). Your diet was never ideal…

Continental quilts was what everyone tended to call them iirc - duvet as a widely accepted term came later. Here they are as seen in 1975!

And a very Good Morning to you. I am not acting like anything. I was writing down a few ideas. Although I haven't done the Maths I'm pretty sure I was consuming a lot less calories and moving more.
Did I mention biscuits? I'm not sure. Of course it was far from ideal. It was a different time, rationing had finished a few years previously.
The donuts were instead of lunch when we were "doing a project " in town.

I was born in the 80s so grew up on potato Waffles, crispy pancakes, tinned veg, sugar puffs, etc. Also had an American parent so often ate Lucky Charms, Aunt Jemimas, Jiffy Cornbread mix and American sweets. Water was for mixing with Kool aid.

When I look back at photos of teenage me I looked so unhealthy 😔 I was always skinny but my face was spotty, puffy and had a sickly complexion. I'm camping right now and am missing salads, fruit, grains, and fresh veggies. If I ate now like I did back then I would feel awful.

Packed lunches were never a thing in my day. You either went home or to the canteen. There was no choice and you were forced to eat every single thing. I can vividly remember boaking on stone cold semolina with a horrible teacher standing over me.

Continental quilts were seen by lots of people as being inferior polyester filled ones. The real ones were Norwegian and came in a box with a Viking longship on them. They were £50 odd in the early 70s and everybody here called them downies- many older people still do.

Yes, and they are amazing and varied. Brilliant value for fruit and veg, salads cut from the field that morning, piles of fresh herbs and not a plastic wrapping in sight!

I was born in the late 60’s. I never liked breakfast, lunch was a packed lunch of some like tuna and egg mayonnaise sandwich with brown bread, an apple and a club. Lunch in the school holidays was either I made cheese on toast or if my mum was at home cauliflower cheese. Dinners were home made spa Bol with wholewheat pasta, home made minestrone soup, fish and chips with homemade chips every couple of weeks, roast dinner with a three week rotation of meat, homemade french bread pizzas, a tropical chicken dish with rice. Lots of meals were cooked in the pressure cooker.
we had homemade cakes, pies, quiches etc and once a wire an instant whip.
I think we ate very well.

@RaraRachael Packed lunches hadn't been invented inn the early 60's. We had "big girls" who were the servers of the hideous food. Swede featured quite a lot and vile gloopy puddings. There was one teacher who my mother adored who was an absolute monster, doled out huge helpings and forced me to eat it. Of course I couldn't tell anybody about this.

I was born in the mid 70's.

Breakfast as a child was cereal and milk (I remember Frosties most of the time) and / or toast and jam

School lunches - at primary was mince/stew/mash/fish in breadcrumbs etc and the ubiquitous school puddings with custard. At secondary I had a lot of baked potatoes with tuna and cheese - maybe a bit of salad on the side

Dinner was mostly meat/chicken, pots and two veg, plus macaroni cheese made with whole milk and a mountain of orange cheese. On Fridays we had a take-away (alternating chip shop and chinese) and on Saturday dad cooked - either a stir fry or what he called paella (essentially risotto!). There was often tinned fruit or crumble type pudding

Snacks were biscuits - we had a plain biscuit and chocolate biscuit tub and they were always full - crisps and lots of home baking.

I ate a lot of sweets too - stuff that wrecked my teeth.

Very little fresh fruit - maybe the odd orange or apple.

I definitely didn't get my 5 a day as a child.

I think the biggest difference now is not quantity but the proliferation of 'snack' foods which are nearly all ultra processed and contain stabilisers and emulsifiers. I'd much rather my mum's home baking !!

Born in 1980.
I remember meals in the late 80s/early 90s being
Breakfasts: cereal,eggy bread or "breakfast slices" from Sainsburys.whixh were strips of thin spam style meat.V greasy but tasty.
Lunches.
School dinners which I remember being nice.Mince and onion pie with peas or something and chips.
Dinner.
Corned beef stew,cod in butter sauce with potatoes,burger,mash.peas and gravy.
Sometimes dm made "potatoes in milk" which were basically a thinner potato dauphinoise.
The only takeaway we had was a chippy sometimes on a Friday or Saturday evening.

Great thread. I’ve loved reading the contributions!

I was born 90s, childhood memories are of the 00s really. My family were vegetarian, which was unusual then where we lived.

I hated breakfast with a passion. I’d cry as my dad tried to get me to eat burnt, over buttered toast. Great start to everyone’s day. On the Saturdays I’d get a pain au chocolat from M&S about 10am. Amazing. Has formed my eating habits for life 😂

Morning playtime I would have a piece of fruit that I would decide whether or not to eat depending on how bruised it had become in my bag. (Standard apple, banana or tangerine).

School lunch for vegetarians was a rotation of quiche, flan or omelette (which were all actually the same thing) or an extremely mild vegetable curry or baked potato with beans and cheese. On the weekend I’d have a cheese sandwich and grapes. My dad grew grapes in his greenhouse. They had seeds and were soooo bitter, but I loved them.

After school, I’d be issued my ration of two chocolate fingers. Excellent. No notes. Once I started secondary and letting myself in after school this changed to a butter sandwich. Don’t ask. I can’t explain.

Dinners I remember:
macaroni cheese
ratatouille
“Mexican bake” (I think it was a Delia special?)
broccoli cheese (like cauliflower cheese but broccoli)
lentil goulash
lentil soup followed by plum crumble,
Spag Bol with lentils
Extremely mild vegetable curry
Stuffed peppers
cheese on toast

Once I started secondary and got to stay up later, I’d get to join for a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit.

Treats:
Chips from the chip shop on a Friday night
On Fridays I would get either 50p or £1 to spend in the sweet shop on the way home from school
A meal out at the local vegetarian Indian restaurant
Pizza (my parents hated it!)
I coveted a McFlurry and when I finally had one it was a massive let down
Fizzy drinks, I would have done anything as a child for some Coca Cola!

Delia? First name only. She was your friend.

Pressure cookers...I had completely forgotten them. My mother would bang the top of it with a broken wooden spoon.

Born 1959 in a tiny Yorkshire Dales village with a tiny primary school the size of a big house.
Breakfast was a poached egg on toast or porridge. My mum used to swirl golden syrup and a dash of Carnation milk into the porridge to make it more attractive.

Lunch: Most kids went home for lunch, except the ones from outlying farms. The big school down the valley used to send up dinners in heated boxes on a van. Lunch at home was usually a cheese sandwich or half a tin of tomato soup with half a slice of bread. I was a faddy eater and the first time I had to stay for school dinner I was forced to eat some weird pie thing. It took me all the dinner hour to force it down and I promptly threw it up again. Was punished for that
Tea time was tinned sardine sandwiches with a bit of salad if it was available. We didn't have fridge so stuff went off in summer.
Supper: A digestive biscuit or a Farleys rusk with a glass of milk.

On Thursdays we were allowed sweetie money which was enough to buy 4 little chews, or 4oz of sweets from a big jar or a bag of crisps.

In school we had a scone and small carton of milk at 11, our own lunch at 1 (cheese/ corned beef/ ham sandwiches). Toast after school, dinner at 6, something with potatoes or chips and peas/ carrots or beans. We had fruit/ yoghurts and then beans on toast or a toasted cheese sandwich before bed. Didn’t ever drink water, just milk. Fizzy drinks on birthdays or occasions only. God if I could stick to this now!!

My dad was the wheatabix king of the road. Lashings of milk and off he would goto work on his bike. We got up ready for school and we would have dippy toasted bread and boiled eggs for breakfast. Mum made a special lunch on Sunday, always a roast with crusty dumplings and roast potatoes. Yum. After we had ice cream a big bar cut up so we had a small slice each.
School lunch or a pack of sandwiches. Yuk. After school mum made sandwiches usually and cooked for dad.
Now I am fishaterian and start the day with a glass of milk like mum gave us back then. I was born in 1950. No one was fat back then but food was expensive.