To be slightly horrified now by what I ate as a kid in the 80s?

[NotWantingToBeRude]

Breakfast was a bowl of either Coco Pops, Frosties or Sugar Puffs. (At least they didn't sell Froot Loops over here I suppose).

Packed lunch in my My Little Pony or Care Bears lunchbox was a sandwich (usually some form of processed meat, occasionally even jam), a pack of crisps, a chocolate bar and a juice box (Ribena or Um Bongo). Never any fruit.

Snack on arriving home from school would be not crisps and chocolate, possibly a Pepperami. Sometimes we’d stop off for pic ‘n’ mix.

Dinner included a full dessert every single night, usually with custard or cream.

Is it just me or would this not be considered so acceptable now?

I always see this argument that kids in the 80s/90s were outside all day and that there wasn’t much - if any - processed or packaged food, or we didn’t snack. And it’s absolute bollocks. I think it’s just generic ‘the past was better - we never had all this’ rose tinted glasses.

I certainly wasn’t outside all day, my mum wasn’t sending me off on my bike with a sandwich wrapped in brown paper and an apple not to be seen again till dinner time. Truth be told we spent a lot of time in front of the tv, sat in the back of the Toyota with a bottle of coke and a packet of crisps whilst our parents were in the pub (realise this wasn’t all parents!) and when we were left unsupervised in the park there were several seriously questionable characters hanging around.

OP has also covered the sugary cereals. I remember Mr Men jellies, munch bunch yogurts, a whole plethora of biscuits and chocolate bars, monster munch, space raiders, discos, frozen pizza, vienetta, Findus crispy pancakes, uncle bens sauces, capri sun, panda pops - blue raspberryade!, sherbet dib dabs, 10p mixes, Sarah Lee gateaux and strudel, space dust, fizzy Vimto, angel delight, ice magic topping, smarties still with the e numbers, frazzles, caramac, - just off the top of my head!

I never drank water, only ever juice (from concentrate), squash or pop.

We did actually eat fairly healthy dinners as a family and vegetables did feature, and we did get fruit. But yeah, it wasn’t some utopia of whole foods and minimal snacking.

My lunch box was white bread with sandwich spread, skips a lion bar and capri sun:-)

@BritishFoodFan the dispute wasn't about whether it existed or that people ate it though?

@AliasGrape agree

I'm 45 and my diet in the 80's was very similar, although did also have fruit and veg.

But laugh at this, my mum used to cut me up an apple or strawberries and put sugar on it!!! Was lush but I wouldn't dream of doing that with my kids.

I think it's just we didn't know in the 80's how bad sugar was.

My diet was good, my DM was into healthy eating.
Sunday - a different roast on a four week rotation, home made cake.
Monday - curry with the leftover roast meet
Others days meals such as spag Bol, cauliflower or macaroni cheese, tropical chicken which was a pressure cooker chicken and pineapple recipe with rice, homemade minestrone soup with crusty bread, homemade chips with homemade burgers (every couple of weeks). All meals were completely made from scratch. Pasta was wholewheat, packed lunch’s were brown bread egg or tuna or both and a penguin bar and piece of fruit. I was never a big breakfast eater but I remember shredded wheat and weatabix. Occasional fish and chips and ate out a few times a year. Out shopping on a Saturday I could choose something from the bakers, I usually picked bread pudding or soup and a roll.
Birthday party food was handmade, big cake, fairy cakes, cheese straws, sandwiches, jelly and ice cream.

i always had sugar with my strawberries and cream, still do,
and on my shreddies

I do think "puddings" have been a bit demonised in that people used to bake more at home & they were far less processed and had less sugar. My mother made things like rice pudding with not a lot of sugar, homemade crumbles that were mainly fruit (again, not much sugar added compared to shop bought). The key ingredients were nutritious unprocessed ingredients like milk, eggs, rice, flour, butter, cream and fruit. These are not bad things for growing children to eat.

A few years back i worked out the nutrients in her old recipes for jam roly poly, banana bread, carrot cake etc and they were miles healthier than shop bought versions.

@SheridansPortSalut It’s not only the UPF which have indeed got worse - also the almost complete absence of fibre and any vitamins at all!

people weren’t overweight because they ate much less, overall, I think, vs the ingredients being massively different

My mum was like this! We had wholemeal everything and weren't allowed the sugary cereals aimed at kids so could never get the free toy. It was always branflakes with extra fruit chopped up on top.
Now I'm older I'm glad my mum ingrained healthy eating in us all. We were only allowed fizzy drinks on a birthday or Christmas. This was in the 80s and we were not posh by any stretch.

Yes I think this is true.

My father was never overweight and as a child he even had sugar sandwiches

My 80s and 90s lunches and breakfasts were he same. From what i remember my friends were too. But our tea was traditional english meals like roasts, shepherds pies, meat and chips. We did eat lots of veg but not much. We were allowed one small choc bar and a packet of crisps a day. Times were tough for us money wise at times so i’m guessing parents were happy to just feed us. You also forget that many of the fruits/vegs were more seasonal/less imported or more rare.

I don’t really give it a thought tbh. I was a very active kids with lots of energy and did lots of outdoor/physical activity. As a 40+ adult i eat nutritionally better but i still love my crisps!

I had a wholemeal mum too.

Findus Crispy Pancakes…. They were bright orange! I loved them though. Our treat meal was fishfingers with cheese melted on top.

I know someone who works as a school lunchtime controller and she says more than half of pupils have processed crap in their lunch boxes, and plenty of sugary items too (despite the school policy on chocolate etc

I do school dinners 90% of the time but I don't understand why it's ok to have chocolate sponge & custard for school dinner pudding but no chocolate in a packed lunch.

On the rare time we had strawberries with ice cream we did put sugar on them. 😂🙈

I'm not understanding how lower income families could afford all the kids to eat sugar puffs or cocoa pops every morning.

Homemade porridge was so bloody cheap! With the cream off the top of the milk poured ok top, it was so good too.

I'm not sure anyone worried about processed meat. I'm older than you but we just ate whatever really and my parents ate spam sandwiches to the end of their days (86 and 94). I'm not sure how much people worried about fruit, either. Likely a sandwich, penguin biscuit, apple or yoghurt in a 70s lunch and very few worried about white bread.

But laugh at this, my mum used to cut me up an apple or strawberries and put sugar on it!!! Was lush but I wouldn't dream of doing that with my kids.

But was the fruit more bitter then?

No it wasn’t 😂

Just popping by as someone who will give her daughter a jam sandwich in her lunch box around once a week…

I still have coco pops for my breakfast now and I’m 33 😂

Really you are shocked by sugar puffs? I think you are being ott, s your diet 100%better now because surely that's what matters .

Fruit in the 70s and early 80s was expensive and usually seasonal they were not thrown in lunch boxes to he wasted because a kid preferred a biscuit or took 2 bites and binned. You have not been harmed because of a ham sandwich.

I didn't eat like that, but most of my friends did - my parents were ahead of the times I think.

Our dinners were pretty much always home cooked. Irish & french family so lots of stew, veg, potatoes but lots of cream, butter & cheese 😋