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!

Since virtually all my clothes were hand me downs from my elder sister, or from cousins who were much better off than us, but were also rather fatter (so the clothes would swamp skinny me) the day my DM actually bought me a new summer dress - from a shop! - really stands out. I’d have been about 9.

Chocolate bar. Dad used to come home from the pub with a paper bag and inside was a chocolate bar for each of us. If it was a mars bar we used to cut it into about 5 pieces and put it in the fridge and have a piece every day to make it last

A shot of Advocaat on Xmas day
leftover fried potatoes with a fried egg for breakfast
Coke or shandy at the pub with a bag of crisps
frozen ready meal (vesta curry or lean cuisine)

Ditto. You can still get them in places like The Range, but I’ve never been able to indulge in nostalgia because one of my sons has a nut allergy so as you’re never sure what you’re going to get (part of the joy!) we couldn’t take the risk.

The bashed up crumby bits - yum!

Orange juice in a teeny glass made from concentrate

Vienetta awful things but considered the epitome of luxury

a soda stream when fizzy drinks were an absolute rarity

Chinese takeaways once in a while maybe once a year

holidays abroad which we only had 3 times but no one else had them so it felt like absolute luxury

but on the other hand we didn’t have a video and only had 2 awful tv channels that started in the afternoon and finished really early. It wasn’t perfect.

Having a day off school to go to the cattle market and having a bacon sandwich, with my dad and about 200 farmers.

I'd have to be nearly dead to get a day off school so I'm amazed that this ever happened.

This was how we learned to judge fractions really accurately.
My Grandma used to bring one between us (I was one of 4 dc).
Whoever cut it got last choice so you made sure you cut it into 4 even pieces

Mind, they were a lot bigger then.

Ice Magic!

Pretending to go off to bed with my younger brother.. ‘good night everyone’… then being allowed back down to watch TV … I felt so grown up !

Getting to drive in the back of my dad’s work van amongst the pipes and equipment.
Vesta chow mein.
A pile of spam or chopped pork sandwiches at my nannas house watching Saturday afternoon TV.

Orange juice and a slice of fruit cake. On the train to Dublin maybe once a year and from the train dining trolley.
Cream buns on a Friday. A boil in the bag curry and rice.

Yes! I loved these!

Also poppets or revels at the cinema.

My mum used to make “home made McDonalds” which was basically oven chips and frozen burgers served with nesquik milkshake

A bottle of dandelion and burdock.

Going to the corner shop for sweets. Buying Caramac, mint Aero and/or Bournville chocolate.

Malt loaf with butter

Yes, I’d like to know this too. I still think it’s the best ice cream ever. Is it because it’s not particularly expensive?

Vesta packet curry watching Sunday night at the Palladium during school holidays when we got a tv in the mid 60s.

I used to think sliced white bread was a treat as we usually had freshly baked brown bread you had to cut yourself! And I thought shop bought cakes were a treat as we usually had homemade cakes! Looking back I feel like such a fool! Also I remember my auntie getting us all McDonald’s takeaway when I was about 18 and thinking that must be what it’s like to be rich!

Being allowed to lick the cake mix off the spoon used to make the cake. Eitherwise known as lick pooney.

Also, my dad used to pop to the outdoor every Sunday night, and used to buy me and my two sisters a chocolate bar each.

Good memories ❤️

Bananas. Even as a child they were my fav thing in the world. I can remember mum cheering me up after a rotten day where I'd caught my fingers on a heavy BBQ lid, by offering me a nana! I still love them and have one most days for lunch. I have no idea why they were rationed as a kid, unless a lot more expensive to buy back in the 70's?

Going to the Beefeater and having an ice cream in a bowl shaped like a swan. And eating it with a long-handled spoon. Ultimate decadence!

Seems really retro now, but M&S started selling sandwiches which was very much a new thing and nowhere else was doing it. We thought it was super exciting if we went into town on Saturday and my parents bought four different sandwiches and we cut them into four and had a quarter of each. The flavours seemed really exciting at the time. I remember that we used to buy one bacon and egg, one tandoori chicken, one with salmon and watercress, and I can't remember the forth one. I occasionally buy a sandwich there and while they're fine, they are very much unexciting and I could make a better sandwich at home. I'm not sure how much is a drop in standards and how much is the lack of novelty.