What food was a luxury in your home growing up?

[TherealBolton]

Eating out

As a child we were never taken out to eat in a restaurant, it was always home cooked meals, which were delicious. We had the odd takeaway which was usually fish&chips, very rarely a takeaway from the local Chinese restaurant.

Eating out was a rare luxury in the 70's and early 80's. Tinned salmon or ham was a Sunday tea treat. We didn't have crisps or nuts except at Christmas

sixties kid here : anything not home made was considered a treat ! How did I think shop bought Victoria sponge or Mr Kiplings Fondants were better and more exciting than my Mum’s home baking which was great ? I also remember the launch of the first Vesta Beef curry - very exotic dried food - think space age- Mum made a ready meal for two stretch to a family of six by adding extra rice. We thought it was amazing !

McDonald's happened once a year when we went to see the Christmas lights. Never went out any other time.
Vienetta if it was a special celebration.

For us Nutella was an outrageous extravagance. More than 50 years later I have never bought a jar, although I enjoy it. Even now it feels like succumbing to a purchase of the evil Nutella will jumpstart a rapid and unstoppable slide into bankruptcy 😂

Chicken was a rare treat. Mum went to M&S for it. We never had any takeaways as my dad didn't approve. Mum loved fish and chips but could only have them in a cafe, never at home.

The little tubs of frozen Florida orange juice. It came in tubs about the size of of a small drink can and had to be mixed with water. My Mum always insisted it was far superior to any other orange!

Meat
Vegetables
Fruit
Milk
Cheese
Sauces
Eggs
Seafood
Fish
Pickles

If it came out of a packet or tin, it was acceptable unless it required milk and butter to make up - that made it an unnecessary luxury and would reluctantly be reconstituted with a quarter of the amount in milk and no margarine 'because you don't need it'. Except for soup - that had to be rendered beige by the addition of a mug of half milk and water to make it less salty have no flavour.

Takeaways didn't happen until my older brother started buying chips on a Saturday afternoon on the way home from work (and it was a Chinese chippy, so I very quickly found out that Spring Rolls were amazing - I suspect the salt content had something to do with that) and we never ate out. And I mean never.

You had a FRIDGE!!! 😳

I'd not had a Vesta curry since I was in my teens, many years ago, but got a sudden craving for one a couple of weeks ago. I managed to track them down and made one last week. I'm not sure I've ever had anything so revolting! Unfortunately the only place I could get them from only sold them in packs of three so I'm stuck with another two!

Posh fruit like grapes and fresh pineapple (in the 70s).

Prawns were for special occasions too.

God no, it’s completely different.

Steak. A rare treat and one piece was divided up for the whole family. Two square inches each, if you were lucky.

I don’t think takeaways existed when I was growing up, apart from fish and chips. We had that about twice a year, so probably also a luxury. I can’t remember eating out at all, unless on holiday.

Takeaways- not because we couldn't afford them, my parents were successful business owners and we were pretty affluent. My mum was a stay at home mum and cooked everyday. I can remember once that we had a Chinese when I was growing up - watching the 1990 World Cup.

Likewise my dad's cooking. He was a trained chef and an excellent cook. But due to putting every waking hour into his business (or drinking) I can only think of twice he cooked for us during my entire childhood.

Ice cream
Fizzy drinks
Ribena was a staple 😂
But anything else branded

Tinned fruit cocktail and dream topping and frozen concentrated Florida orange juice, all on Sunday.

Chocolate. My mum bought a mars bar on a weekend then cut it up into small pieces I was an only one and usually had two pieces. My mum was always on a diet ! Think that’s why I love chocolate now and can’t get enough of it sadly.

How funny ! I’ve not had one to enjoy since about 1972. I will resist the temptation to shop for Vesta…however this thread has got me thinking about butterscotch angel delight and arctic roll….

Fizzy drinks (a bottle a week from the Corona Man)
Trifle
Chocolate spread
Bacon (only had it at Christmas for breakfast)
Tinned salmon
Cream cakes (naughty but nice)

Funny as my mum never bought marg, we were a proper butter family.

Belgium chocolates, actually from Belgium. We have family there and my grandma would bring it back after visiting.

That's about it. Reading this thread I think I was probably quite spoilt in terms of food. We were reasonably well off and both my parents were quite adventurous cooks and made food from different countries.

My mum used to cut a mars bar into five pieces and it had to last five days. It want a money issue!

Nothing really.

But if you compare how much we ate out / ordered takeaways to how much I do now, it’s a massive contrast.

Mr Kipling French Fancies which we're eaten only when extended family came to visit (about twice a year)
I still only ever buy them on special occasions
Variety pack of cereal was a very rare treat.
And we never ate out!

I’d advise leaving yourself with the pure memories

I had similar thoughts about Findus cheese crispy pancakes - it turned out they taste like a mouth full of chewed up cheese and onion crisps. It was a sad day..

I'd not had a Vesta curry since I was in my teens, many years ago, but got a sudden craving for one a couple of weeks ago. I managed to track them down and made one last week. I'm not sure I've ever had anything so revolting!

My memory of them is dim, but I do recall that they were a whole lot better if you left them to soak for half a day before you cooked them. The same with all the Vesta dried meals.