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!

Australia?

You were lucky, my Gran rationed it via thimbles 🤣.

40 years later I occasionally pour myself a pint of the stuff!

"The spine in the tinned salmon."

They did you dirty there!
"Gather round, children. One vertebra each"

The tv times at Christmas week. See also : tin of quality street

I like that story OP.
We used to have a cooked chicken every Friday for tea.
I actually enjoyed it though, so maybe not relevant.

Sooo many as a Gen X!!! Top 3 - ski yoghurt on a Friday night from Morrisons. 2oz boiled sweets on family allowance days, and not every week! 10p pocket money from Grandma that had to go in my piggybank to save for rides at Blackpool at Easter.

Decent sized towels for after a bath. We had one bath sheet so I was delighted if I found it clean and warm in the airing cupboard. In this house we have two bathsheet size towels each and they're colour coded so nobody uses one that's not theirs.

Another one, 10p pick and mix from the local shop.

McDonald's. I was 11 when had my first one.

Tinned salmon

Yes!! What a treat!

New clothes
vienetta
mcdonalds

Chips that we took to the local lake to feed the ducks.
Home made orange barley water.
Freeze pops.
Cheese straws baked by mum.
Moon cake.

Tomatoe soup cooked on the open fire in a power cut.
Camping in the back garden.
Pretend cooking with old potatoes from the veg garden.

Prawn crackers from the Chinese takeaway.

My mum would walk me home from Brownies. In winter it was quite dark and chilly and we would sometimes buy a portion of prawn crackers from the Chinese we walked past. The crackers were always lovely and warm. It felt such a treat.

Butter

Being allowed to travel in the boot if anyone's parent had an estate car.

Cheese. my mum would rarely buy it but i loved it.

Cheese and potato pie

Also the vending machine snacks after swimming, which we were rarely allowed as my mum would bring snacks from home with her!

Tea out at a restaurant once a year

My dad used to save the wishbone on the Sunday chicken and we’d hook our little fingers round it, pull it and make a wish. I was the eldest, and it was our special thing. He also used to let me scrape round the empty rice pudding dish for the bits of nutmeggy skin 😋

Every Friday my mum used to come home from work after I'd got home from school. I used the key under the mat to get in, as did most people in those days - 1964 onwards. I looked forward to the peppermint aero that she picked up on the way home - complete treat!

Some of these are nice childhood memories and are actually treats!

I was going to say that sometimes on a Friday my dad would get challah from the Jewish bakery (we’re not Jewish) but that was actually a massive treat!

Arctic roll
Camp coffee made with milk
Any type of breakfast cereal - my mum lived in fear of running out of milk, and it was always rationed. There was a grocer's shop literally at the end of the street, so god knows why.
Having sit-down fish and chips at the original Harry Ramsden's, which wasn't far away from us. The cheaper ones from the local chippy were much better!

Being allowed to watch the Simpsons