Everyone eats melba toast when they're ill

[ProbablyLate]

When I was young if I ever had a day off school poorly, mum would make me homemade melba toast by cutting the crusts off some bread, toasting it, then slicing it in half horizontally (like making two thinner slices) then grill it with what had been the inside of the toast slice up so it curled up.

I thought, until yesterday, that this was a perfectly standard off-ill delicacy and offered to make some for DH if he had a bad reaction to his vaccine. He was perplexed by the concept and consultation with a wider group suggests this was not as common a practice as I had been led to believe.

So two questions for you all:

1. Is homemade melba toast something that for you goes hand in hand with a day off ill?
2. If not did your parents/carers have any special recipes reserved for the suffering?!

No. Heinz tomato soup

No to melba toast. Glass of lemonade with a spoonful of sugar for an upset stomach (parents are Irish and I think this is quite common there). Honey and lemon concoction boiled on the stove for colds.
Dry toast if we’d been sick and were just starting to eat again.
Lucozade was for hospital recovery only
I now give my own the lemonade (without the sugar) for upset stomach, and Heinz tomato soup and toast when ready to face food.

@Scatterlingsofafrica

I was given “Maizena” - something made by cooking cornflour with milk and sugar - delicious!

OMG 😳

I never got Maizena when I was ill but when it was cold outside. Man, I loved that stuff! My favorite was the strawberry flavored one. That's a true blast from the past. I haven't had it since my grandmother died in 1978.

No to Melba toast. We had lucozade, weak milky coffee, custard

Heinz tomato soup
Mashed banana and yoghurt
Warm milk with honey
Chamomile tea

Not melba toast

I had hardcore Mexican parents who had to witness you bleeding or something horrible to warrant any day off from school from illness.

They weren't mean people at all though.
My mother came from a farm family (her mother was illiterate) so she valued education and never took a day off from school and was the first in her family to get a high school diploma.
My father only went to school until the 2nd grade (age 8) and had to leave to work to help support his family. He NEVER gave me or my sister a break from school.

If I was truly ill (we had to be sent home by the school nurse), I got Vick's Vaporub slathered on me and possibly a camomile tea. That was it!

I hate camomile tea.

They made being at home so absurdly boring, I'd will myself to get better. 😝

1. no never
2. cheese savoury things in shape of hearts, clubs, spades, diamonds

Depending on the illness more recently it's been plain rice - the best thing to eat when recovering from anything tummy related.

An OXO cube dissolved in booming water on a mug. My dad used to call is 'square meal in a bucket'

An OXO cube drink sounds like a kill or cure remedy!

OXO cube in hot water is my dad’s Sunday treat! He has it every week between church and Sunday lunch.

Plain toast and Lucozade in that orange crinkly wrapping

No melba toast here - Heinz tomato soup was my illness food, or plain yoghurt if tummy upset to aid gut bacteria.

No to the Melba toast.
Yes to ordinary toast.

Also, flat cream soda.

I serve Gatorade and oyster crackers to my own DCs when recovering.

Don't be ridiculous Op. it's Heinz mushroom soup when you're ill!

This thread is so funny. Such a middle class thing to do 😂.

Have you ever tried it with caviar or smoked salmon?

And egg in a cup when you're ill. Boiled egg and butter in a mug and cut into pieces by stirring with a knife served with toast soldiers

Me too.

@334bu OMG yes!!

Are you Irish or Irish decent? I am but my DH never experienced egg in a cup!

I have that to my own DCs!

@IrishBloodLondonHeart was it flat lemonade? I remember having that!

2 arrowroot biscuits with water or weak juice. Melba toast sounds much more exciting.

Are you Irish or Irish decent? I am but my DH never experienced egg in a cup!

Irish descent....County Donegal on both sides. Come to think of it , my husband thought it was odd too.

@334bu cork and Leitrim here!

Do you remember red lemonade?

@AGirlCalledJohnny It’s almost as if I could detect a note of sarcasm in your post, but that can’t be right, because flat 7up is indeed a cure-all. Although for a sore throat a rub of the ould green scapula will make short work of it altogether.
And dry Marietta biscuits are the proper first meal for an invalid.

1. No never. But having been a silver service waitress as a student, I did learn how to make good melba toast (which involved rubbing the two "raw" sides together to get rid of the crumbs before toasting the 2nd side).

1. Bovril on toast (the bovril nicely melted into the butter ) was the "comfort" food my mum made us when we were ill - a tradition we continued with our ds.

Red lemonade new one on me. However, up here in Scotland we call lemonade " ginger" no matter its colour

Talking of orange fizzy drinks and Scotland, how could I forget about Irn Bru much better than Lucozade

I never got it when I was wee as my mum wasn't brought up in Scotland and she hated Irn Bru - but dh swears by it and converted me and ds follows in his footsteps