To ask what did your granny eat?

[PassTheCordialCordelia]

I hear a lot of noise concerning how we ought to eat how our grandparent's/great grandparents did, or something of that description. We know that modern, ultra processed foods are crap, unhealthy and usually very cheap, although many foods from long ago were pretty awful too!

So just in a lighthearted frame of mind - what did yours scoff down on?

Mine were fond of home baking, scones, biscuits, etc. Most meals cooked from scratch, although grandmother was a full time housewife, with a space to grow some fruit/veg. I think the large supermarket chains were still extremely tiny when my GP's were alive, so I have no idea if they might have enjoyed more processed stuff if they had lived to see it.

A lot of offal and vegetables from the garden.

My granny drank tea with three sugars, sucked boiled sweets all day and had the occasional omelette or ready meal. She ate like bird and was about 6 stone most of her adult life. Loved a peach schnapps too. She had crippling osteoporosis and died at 73 , she was probably malnourished in a few ways. She didn’t understand the concept of drinking tap water but would have a glass of lemonade when very thirsty. Also loved a mr Kipling slice! She died in 2009 so this wasn’t like years ago. Her husband my grandpa ate more ‘proper food’ meat and two veg but also drank at the pub every day, smoked and had type 2 diabetes, he died of heart complications aged 69. So not everyone was healthier at all ‘back in day’

I’m a bit older than you lot and my nan would be 125 if she was still alive !! She was a great cook and did everything from scratch with fresh ingredients and fresh veg. Nothing was pre bought and she didnt have a microwave so everything was cooked and served fresh. She watched her weight and that of my dad and his two brothers, and helped me to stay a healthy weight without starving. The only time she ever stayed in hospital was as a result of broken bones. She died in her sleep at the age of 94 having been actively involved with her grandchildren to the end.

Boiled potatoes with skins on, boiled bacon and cabbage - Irish 🇮🇪

This.

I stopped for coffee this morning and was very tempted by an apple turnover. Then I saw that it had 420 calories!. My grandma would have shared that between 4. Cakes and pastries seem so oversized, nothing that's just a small bite of something delicious.

Rabbit stew and dumplings. She taught me how to skin the rabbit.

Mince and tatties. Just about every meal. And maybe some scones and rock buns.

I always have Canada Dry, with Scotch, ever since my Scottish granny got me started on it, age 12. Lived to 98.

Anyone remember "paste" sandwiches 🤣 gee, thanks for the offer nan but I'm not that hungry

Boiled eggs for breakfast, meat from the butchers and veg mostly grown organically at home followed by home grown fruit & custard - their garden was out of this world and the stuff of my fantasies😊…… it has 15 new build houses on it now😢.

My grandparents were also Irish and my grandpa used to eat potato raw, he also loved cabbage !

USA, born 1890, 'homemaker' from 1910 - 1970-ish.

Lots of fresh fruit and veg, mostly home grown. Fresh eggs, butter, and dairy. Very little 'processed foods'. Sweets made from scratch.

BUT lots of fried foods, things cooked in or with lard or drippings. Lots of 'starch'; fresh bread, potatoes, etc to make a meal 'stretch'. Preserved fruits she 'put up' herself in syrup. And she was a prolific baker.

I think one thing that differentiates then and now, even for people who eat 'fresh' is that housework back then was WORK. Wringer washers & hanging out laundry instead of machine wash and dry, carpet sweepers instead of hoovers, scrubbing floors then waxing them, etc. Even cooking from scratch was harder work, everything done by hand instead of food processors, insta-pots and the like. Tending the veg garden, the chickens, etc. Life for the everyday housewife back then was so much more labour intensive than it is today. Thank God!

All home cooked, generally meat with vegetables from the allotment and fish on a Friday. We loved Grandma's tripe and onions. Puddings - apple pie, rice pudding, jam tart, egg custard etc. My grandma shopped most days at local shops - greengrocer, butcher, baker. Grandad went to the market once a week and bought eggs from a local farmer. They didn't have a fridge or freezer and made toast over the coal fire (which was the only heating in the whole house). There was a pump in the kitchen to bring up water from the well outside.

My granny, though English herself, was taught to cook by her Italian MIL (my great grandmother) so she cooked all Italian food!

Her Mum had gone off when she was very little and her Dad was a touring actor and sent her to boarding school - so she never learnt any cooking from her own parents (this would be massively outing if any of my family are on here 😂)

Cakes. M&S ready meals. Scones with alarming amounts of cream and jam. Those little marbley sea shell chocolates. Fancy coffees.

I can’t remember food per se, but my Great Aunt used to drink hot water. I found it very odd because I hadn’t heard of anyone else doing this.

My maternal grandmother and her husband died long before I was born.d My paternal grandmother lived in India and I never met her, only had one conversation with her on the phone where she just kept saying my name and crying. So I have no idea what they ate.

I never knew any of my grandparents. It is strange how you can feel the lack and loss of something you never had.

My gran grew everything. Only bought bought what she couldn't grow. Used to make herself an egg custard and my grandad always had a jam sandwich and a bit of cake for his tea

One of my grans was a country girl. Lots of meat and 2 veg, meat and potato pies, whatever my grandad poached.

my other one was well travelled as an army wife so we had Greek and German dishes like moussaka and sauerkraut etc.

Both baked a lot.

I learned to cook at my country grans knee. My own mother doesn’t cook lol.

Porridge. Fried breakfasts with egg, bacon and black pudding cooked in lard. Loads of bread and butter, tons of butter in fact. Cup after cup of tea with lots of sugar. Meals consisted of meat, potatoes and veg. Boiled ham with boiled potatoes and cabbage seemed to be a popular choice.

Absolute crap!
My Grandmother couldn't cook for peanuts.
To name a few of her firm favourites:
Rolls with butter and jam
Tinned salmon on bread with butter
Tomatoes, ham, and butter on bread plus lots of salt on the tomatoes (Note, at least half an inch thick spread of butter).
Countless cups of tea with sugar
Ice cream
Beef pies from the fridge in Tesco
Lots of stories of her and Grandfather living off fish and chips in their younger years
Before anyone asks, lots of offers to cook and cooked meals brought and served up to her.. always refused.
If I ate like her, well, I wouldn't be doing too good😂

One of my grandmothers was French so we had a very varied diet of French food - Ratatouille, Soupe au Pistou, salade Nicoise and gratin dauphinoise are very much still staples of my diet. She introduced me to good food, many vegetables that couldn't be bought in England in the 70s/80s, good wine, patisserie and Pastis. Plus an array of ice cream, fruit and vegetables that weren't readily available in the UK then. She remains the greatest influence on my life in so many ways.

The other was from an English middle class family with a strong heritage of fishing and baking. She made the best fish and chips I have ever tasted and delicious rock cakes. She passed on her baking skills to my mother and in turn, they have been passed onto me.

Shepherds pie, sausage and mash, steak and kidney pie, braising steak, chips and peas, with bread and butter, always a Sunday roast, puddings such as spotted dick, rice pudding, apple pie. Tinned salmon and cucumber sandwiches on Sunday with tinned peaches after. Always white bread. No pasta or rice.

Paste sandwiches - fine
Tripe - Yuck