What did you/your family consider a treat growing up that really wasn’t?

[ClassicStripe]

I’ve just randomly remembered that when I was younger me and my sister thought it was the most amazing treat to have our mum’s bath water after she was finished with it. She didn’t even use bubble bath so it was literally just lukewarm water but we absolutely loved it. This was in the early 90’s and we had regular hot warm bubble baths which makes it even stranger that we were so pleased by using mum’s old water!

I still do this today but the grown up version. Scoop of lemon or elderflower sorbet into a long G&T. Marks the start of summer evenings here 😁

Pot noodles and that reconstituted orange juice in cans

Yes, they do still exist, one stops outside my house every few weeks,it's as though the sun has been turned off!

I remember my dad coming home from work on a Friday night with his wages in a brown envelope. The only shop still open was the off licence so it was a massive treat going in there each week. My DB and I would get a carton of Ribena and a sherbet dip dap. We’d argue over who would get to put the empty corona bottle from the week back in the crate as it meant we got to go behind the counter to do so!

Gino Ginelli tutti frutti ice cream!

Being very old I recall having lemonade floats at Pablos in Blackpool, this was when they were in a little back street around, I think, Cental Drive rather than on the prom, if they're still there!

Ah, I don't live in the UK anymore. Are they pricey there still then?

We never really had meals out, but occasionally we used to stop at a little chef on the way to or from holiday - it always felt like a massive treat!

Camp coffee! My gran used to make it for us, very sweet. And a snowball at Christmas!

Child of the 60's here from a hard-up working class household. So almost any food not served at mealtimes, shop bought cake, new clothes that weren't handmedowns from a bigger, taller friend, crisps and fizzy drinks (a 'once a year at Christmas thing') fish and chips, any kind of hobbies (I had riding lessons but only because I worked at the riding school to earn them), days out...

It sounds grim when I come to tell it, but because everyone was in the same boat and there was no competition, keeping up with the Jones', it was actually a very happy time.

My brothers and I used to take it in turns to get the really long till receipt when the first big supermarket opened nearby in 1978 and my parents switched from daily shopping at the butcher, baker etc to a weekly shop for everything.

I have no idea what we did with them but omg we wanted those receipts so much….

Clarks shoes. Branded trainers. Ours were from the market. The only time I had Clarks shoes (the magic key!!) was when I was a bridesmaid.

Marks & Spencers was mega posh. Our clothes were from the market or from Primark (before it went fashion, when it was embarrassing).

Do you remember the TV jingle "Gino, oh Gino Ginelli!"?

My dad would inevitably follow this up with "you have got spots on your belly!"

Cracked us up every time. Happy days!

Scraping the plates into the pig swill bins after school dinners.
This was a privilege only accorded to the most trusted and responsible suckers.
I can’t help thinking there might have been a bit of a Tom Sawyer painting the fence thing going on here.

I remember the big supermarkets opening too, and how slow the tills were! And how long people took to pay by cheque, my mum used to be spitting feathers at the 'cheque people'.
I found the piles of old cardboard boxes on the packing bench very exciting and used to bring them home to build dens from them.

• 1 for the tiny glasses of orange juice. Also, at my grandmother's flat, throwing the day's rubbish, wrapped carefully in newspaper, down the chute and hearing it echo down eight floors to the big bin in the basement. Oh, the thrill!

A Texan bar after swimming and a line of Cadbury's Fruit and Nut on a Saturday, but disappointed if Whole Nut was bought by mistake.

Being the closest to the fire when lying on the rug watching TV and swapping with a sibling when things got too hot.

She thought it was... me, not so much!

Early 90's and my parents didn't have a lot of money. Biggest treat ever was crumpets done under the grill with fresh butter on. Yummy

In my (ancient) day, it was a very occasional tin of Trout Hall orange or grapefruit juice. For quite a while I thought grapefruit juice was the height of luxury!

Rice Krispies or Cornflakes. We were a wheatbix or All Bran house. Once Santa brought a variety pack of little cereal boxes and we kids were delighted!!

In the mid 80s when fizzy mineral water became a very trendy thing, I remember my mum buying a bottle of Perrier and us all being bamboozled by why people chose to drink it. I think my dad said it was like Alka-Seltzer and chucked it down the sink!

Yup, plus getting the sole cherry out of the tin of fruit cocktail! 🍒

Heau heau! Your dad wasn't wrong!

Brown bread for Sunday tea.