What did your granny teach you?

Snowy_Owl · 10 April 2013 at 8:23PM

A conversation on masterchef has got me thinking.

Greg Wallace: How did you get into cooking?
Contestant: My gran taught me how to make fairy cakes when I was wee and it went from there (basically)

So:

My gran taught (I only knew 1 of them!!) taught me

- how to also make basic fairy cakes / sponge cake
- how to iron(starting with hankerchiefs)
- how to make a proper pot of tea and make up a tray for serving ( cups & saucers, milk, sugar biscuit tray etc)
- to also have a can of salmon / meat in the cupboard in case pf emergencies (i.e. guests) so you can make up some "piecies' (sandwiches / rolls for those outside Scotland)
- that a basically stocked food cupboard & household essentials can take you far
- make sure your other half knows how to make a basic dish / meal. May not have been too healthy but he could use "the panny" to make a fry-up. Because my other granny did everything for my other grandad, he was apparently cr*p at anything household after she died in the 70's- couldn't even boil an egg. But then, he did learn somewhat, AND used his charm to get the local ladies providing food & dishes for him!!!!:rotfl:

So what did your granny teach you??

Snowy

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good_advice · 10 April 2013 at 8:29PM

My 2 grans taught me = not a lot!
x1 died when I was a toddler and the other rarely visited us.
My mum did not teach me much either! but she did teach me how to knit.
Most of my learning has been from books and now the computer.

luxor4t · 10 April 2013 at 8:30PM

I spent a lot of time with both my grannies - I knew I was lucky.

I think the most unusual thing I learned was to put garlic into a roasting joint of beef. It was a big secret in the early '60s as some family members thought garlic was 'foreign muck'

madmary_2 · 10 April 2013 at 8:33PM

My Granny taught me to play the piano, to love music of all sorts, to sew (she bought me my first sewing machine), to cook and to walk long distances. She was an amazing woman.

Mary

Snowy_Owl · 10 April 2013 at 8:37PM

Good advice - sorry - i hope I didn't offend.

basic knitting was another thing but i was kind of put off cause I couldn't automatically do it really quickly like her & watch the telly at the sam time.

Through basic routines, mum taught me the basic routine of menu planning and then making up the shopping list. This is something I only recently got back into doing since getting married

shandyclover · 10 April 2013 at 8:50PM

How to pack a silk dress in tissue paper so it did not have to be ironed when I went to a wedding.

The correct place to take up my trousers to.

How to make mousakka.

To not waste anything (she even put an aging lettuce in the soup).

How politeness and good manners will still get you better service, even in this day and age.

babyshoes · 10 April 2013 at 8:59PM

*How to make tea PROPERLY - including 'hotting the pot' and setting the tea tray correctly. From the moment I could reach the kettle I started learning.

*To embrace labour saving devices. She had a microwave before most, and loved using it. She also loved to learn about other advances, even if teaching her to use a mobile phone was a long, painful exercise! I remember her and my great aunt (her sister) marvelling at the brightly coloured, compact tampons I had in my pocket one day, and reminiscing about having to wash their cloths/rags each month - the sheer drudging chore of it and the embarrasment value for a teenage girl having to hang them on the line to dry.

*To have confidence in my own self worth and my own abilities. Valuable stuff that.

Plus a lot more, but these ones in particular have stuck with me.

elsien · 10 April 2013 at 9:04PM

On the OS front
1) that you don't need scales when cooking, just keep chucking stuff in till it looks/feels right. (Ok, I never got the hang of that one.) And that it is a mortal sin to buy ready made sausage rolls.
2) That giving a biology lesson whilst cleaning out the lambs hearts prior to stuffing is guaranteed to put people off eating it.
3) That you absolutely have to buy a tin of peas and a tin of tomatoes every time you go shopping, and you have to take a tin of salmon and a tin of fruit when you go somewhere for tea.

Pink. · 10 April 2013 at 9:08PM

My Granny taught me lots of Old Style things, but the most important advice she gave me was to see the funny side of things and have a postitive outlook on life.

She lived through two world wars and lost two husbands and two children before she died, but one of her favourite sayings was, ''Laugh and the whole world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone.'' It stood her in good stead for 97 years.

Pink

daz378 · 10 April 2013 at 9:11PM

she didnt teach me much.... bless her .... although i remember her saying ... i will put her in workhouse

good_advice · 10 April 2013 at 10:10PM

Snowy_Owl wrote: »

Good advice - sorry - i hope I didn't offend.

basic knitting was another thing but i was kind of put off cause I couldn't automatically do it really quickly like her & watch the telly at the sam time.

Through basic routines, mum taught me the basic routine of menu planning and then making up the shopping list. This is something I only recently got back into doing since getting married

Snowy owl, you did not offend.
People lead diffrent lives..Mine was def. fend for yourself from 16..Yes 16, I found some live in work and went on from there.
So diffrent from my own children.

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What did your granny teach you?

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