CROCKERY SIZES IN THE 1960's?

ceridwen

I've got a bit of weight to lose and have decided "To be a 1960s size - I must use 1960s crockery".

I've been able to check out that 1960s dinnerplates were 9" on average (rather than the 12" they currently are).

I've not been able to find anywhere that tells me what size teaplates/pudding bowls/etc were in the 1960s. Does anyone know please?

<visions of MSE'ers heading for granny's crockery with a ruler....:rotfl:>

PS: and so I know I'm not "cheating" - how much of the plate was covered by food? - ie did the "plateable" bit of the plate at mealtimes include that thick "bordering bit" round at the edge?

pollyskettle

Could you search on eBay for 60s plates to check the sizes? I searched '60s tea plate' and the first three were 6.5" diameter

seraphina

My parents use the lunch plates that came with their Denby set for all evening meals (their biggest of the day), which are 9inch and not the 12inch dinner plate. Although this was in the 80's/90's and not hte 60's, food certainly wasn't heaped on with wild abandon to the point where it overflowed the plate. There were seconds available on the table if you fancied, but it was small portions to start off with. And they're both built like racing snakes. I'm a healthy weight now and have been for years but had a blip when I went to college and discovered wine, beer and takeaways!

I do notice now how out of whack people's portions expectations have gotten. On another thread yesterday someone said that they found 100g spaghetti/per person wasn't enough for them so they did more - the reccommended serving size on a packet of pasta is around 75g!

A lot of the food we eat is stuff with rice or pasta, which I serve in cereal bowls or flat bowls, which are that bit smaller and it's easy to give the impression of a bountiful plate of food whilst still having a healthy sized serving.

Also, don't forget about 1960's activity levels:D

ceridwen

A good point about 1960s activity levels I know:D

I walk everywhere thats walking distance and cleaning the washable floors in my house means getting down on my hands and knees to me (rather than using a mop).

I guess thats a start..

Right now - I'm contemplating how big my breakfast portion of porridge should be - and decided 50grams of oats is probably too much and left some of it.

I dont know how much people snacked between meals in the 1960s - I'm just vaguely aware that I'm astonished by how much people do so these days.

I've now got a "Rolls Royce" dehydrator and think "Right ceridwen - no excuses about possibly wasting food now - you can dry all the fruit and vegetables you might otherwise waste if you don't eat them." I'm wondering what scope there is for drying ready-prepared meals (obviously not salad) - but wondering if I could dry any rice dishes, pasta dishes, etc I find I've made too much of.

ariarnia

ceridwen wrote: »

A good point about 1960s activity levels I know:D

I walk everywhere thats walking distance and cleaning the washable floors in my house means getting down on my hands and knees to me (rather than using a mop).

I guess thats a start..

Right now - I'm contemplating how big my breakfast portion of porridge should be - and decided 50grams of oats is probably too much and left some of it.

I dont know how much people snacked between meals in the 1960s - I'm just vaguely aware that I'm astonished by how much people do so these days.

I've now got a "Rolls Royce" dehydrator and think "Right ceridwen - no excuses about possibly wasting food now - you can dry all the fruit and vegetables you might otherwise waste if you don't eat them." I'm wondering what scope there is for drying ready-prepared meals (obviously not salad) - but wondering if I could dry any rice dishes, pasta dishes, etc I find I've made too much of.

Chillli works really well.

There are sites that sell 'proper' dehydrated food for camping. You could see what's out there.

meritaten

just measured mine...........er my cheapo tea plates (the white ones from Asda) are a whopping seven and half inches across!!! my victorian tea plates (displayed, not used) are exactly six inches.
its true that the bigger the plate the more you think you need to fill it! restaurants know this - which is why you will find that most of them use smaller plates and then place them on a larger plate or place setting - this way the portions look larger!
at one time you could buy a size called a breakfast plate - it was in between a tea and dinner plate and would probably be the ideal size if you were trying to cut back on portion size while still looking at a generous platefull of food!

edit - the rim of the plate is supposed to be clear of food - you see the chefs wiping off the rim all the time. but I suspect, in days gone by, this was because the toffs didnt want the servants fingers in their dinner!

ceridwen

Well - today has been "instructional". I left some of my breakfast porridge (as I thought I'd probably measured out too big a helping), left a bit of the bread that was part of my lunch and used a 9" plate to put my dinner on (so couldnt fit on everything I'd cooked)....errrmmm...there is a noticeable amount of food left sitting there "on the side" right now...:o

My other bugbear is that I do like a glass of wine with dinner and I have some glasses of "standard" size - ie the "old" size of 125ml - but I can't find wine in the "old" strength (ie 8%/9% proof) - as these days wine tends to be around 12% proof.

I can deal with that while out and about by choosing to have half a pint of lager per drink (rather than a glass of wine per drink) and stick to the amount I decided way back when....

It's more problematic at home - when I can get the "old" measures of wine - but not the "old" strength... guess I may have to investigate the continental habit of diluting wine with water (um....would that be soda water that I dilute it with then?...). I suppose that's down to this modern British habit of "drinking to get drunk" - which is something I don't understand personally...I just want a glass or two of wine to relax and that's it...

darkblue_2

But is it really the plates fault?

I heard of a diet of using children's cutlery, which is based loosely on the same principle. It's about when you feel full compared to clearing a plate.

Paulie'sGirl

ceridwen wrote: »

My other bugbear is that I do like a glass of wine with dinner and I have some glasses of "standard" size - ie the "old" size of 125ml - but I can't find wine in the "old" strength (ie 8%/9% proof) - as these days wine tends to be around 12% proof.

It's more problematic at home - when I can get the "old" measures of wine - but not the "old" strength... guess I may have to investigate the continental habit of diluting wine with water (um....would that be soda water that I dilute it with then?...).

Hi,

Adding soda water would make it a spritzer, beware the added salt in soda water!

On the continent they just use table water, either fizzy or still. Fizzy table water isn't the same as soda water

PGxx

luxor4t

Hi Ceridwen, great idea!
I had a quick look at my old cereal bowls, there is a wide rim & the actual bowl part is 5.5 inches by 2 inches.

Glad to read that you're not cooking '60's style' ie frying - when I was growing up our neighbours thought my mum was weird because she grilled the bacon instead of lobbing it into the frying pan with eggs & fried bread!

tcr_3

My parents, grandparents had two lots of china. Rough & tumble stuff for day to day life ... the dinner plates were either 9" or 10" ... but they also had their "wedding china" for "special occasions" and it was that which had 12" dinner plates. The wedding china was invariably kept in a glass cabinet, my parents never once used theirs ... I guess there was nothing special to ever celebrate in our house !

It's quite sad, really, when you go into charity shops and discover really old fashioned wedding china which was lovingly looked after, but never used ... and now totally unwanted.