Old Style Shopping list

[Deleted User]

Well back in pre-historic times 1940s-50s we went shopping almost daily as my Mum never owned a fridge,freezer,microwave,electric kettle washing machine,t.v. ,in fact I can remember my Dad bring home a Morphy-Richards electric iron that was plugged into the double adaptor in the middle light (no wall mounted three ring mains in those days) and she ironed on on an old army blanket with a sheet over the top, so no ironing board either .
Plastic was almost unknown everthing was made in brown or black bakerlite which shattered when it got too hot.

Milk was kept cool in a bucket of cold water in the larder, and food was still on ration until 1954 when I was almost 12.Fruit was apples,rhubarb and virtually any berries that grew wild, oranges if we were lucky.
Rarely bananas,never anything exotic at all, and pineapple came in a tin from the U.S. when my aunt who lived in New Jersey made up a big parcel to send to my Mum every few months

We had an uncle who had a market garden in Herne Bay so in the summer we would go on the steam train to visit him and come home with a big box of strawberries which were gorgeous.

You had your school uniform which had to be taken off when you got home from school and brushed and hung up, and old clothes to play in.
Sunday best which was for going to church in and nothing else, and definitely no designer gear of any sort You got told what to wear, and when, and how to behave and God help you if you didn't.

Food was no where near as varied as it is now.the only take-away was fish and chips and you didn't get that often. You certainly didn't walk along the street eating it. It was briought home and kept warm in the oven until the table was set with knives and forks and bread and butter and a big pot of tea (no teabags)Then you all sat together at the table to eat (elbows off the table as it was considered rude)Sounds archaic doesn't it.
Puddings were almost anything with custard or rice (no boiled rice) spices were cinnamon or mixed spice in fruit cakes.
Shop bought cakes my Mum cosidered were for lazy women who couldn't be bothered to do their job of cooking for their family.
Chicken was a Christmas treat, (never tasted a turkey until after I was married) not a weekly one, and it was usually one from our chicken run which my Dad killed and my brothers and I had to pluck (feathers were saved for cushions)I can remember my Mum going over the bird with a small candle stub burning off the stumpy bits.

Recycling was unheard of as nothing got thrown away if it had any use left in it . Bin men came to the back door to pick up the dustbin and returned it empty afterwards, no plastic bin bags.Milk and bread was delivered along with coal. Things weren't wrapped in so much plastic as they are today Sugar was bought in a conical poke depending on how many points you had left from you ration book.Eggs were bought at 1d ,1/1/2d and 2d each and you always took a container to put them in. Any wrappings were saved to light the kitchen range in the morning and baths were once a week .Hair was washed with grated green fairy washing soap and the washing was always done on Monday in a big tub with a blue 'dolly' to get stuff white
My Mum had a scrubbing board (and so did I when I got married ,cost me half a crown)it did the collars and cuffs of Dad's shirts and after the shirts were boiled and scrubbed they would be dipped in a solution of Robin starch and ironing to a crisp finish.

Bedding was washed in the bath with a handy child to pound it with their feet (normally me as I was the smallest)
Mum's always seemed to be doing something and rarely sat down until the evening then they would be knitting or sewing the childrens clothes.Shoes were often mended on the cobblers last and my Dad would batter metal 'blakeys' into my brothers shoes to make them last a bit longer.Clothes were bought 'to grow into, and not out of', but best of all Mums and Dads were always there when you were ill,sad, or naughty, and a cuddle would make things right, or a wallop would make you think twice about misbehaving.
Neighbours looked out for each other and their children and didn't expect to get paid for it, and if there was a birth, a death or marriage neighbours would be there to help out as everyone was in the same boat.
Folk seemed kinder than today and shared more.There wasn't a great deal of one-up-manship as everyone was fairly hard up.
Even if you had money there was little to spend it on as the shops weren't around like today and clothes shopping was done by need, not want, the same with food shopping.

Mind you I enjoy todays central heating and hot showers and wall-to-wall carpets and the availability of labour-saving gadgets I see no point in wearing myself out going over the carpet with a sweeper as my Mum did.
I like my Hoover and my washing machine.
My Mums prized possessions were her children and her wireless.She was bombed out twice, and each time she survived with both intact.
Her radio was a huge brown highly polished box of a thing which we were never allowed to touch in case we did something wrong to it.She polished it daily until her death in 1962 and it still worked perfectly It had been a wedding present from her colleagues at where she worked in 1935.It was our sole source of entertainment in the house and out of it came music ,news,comedy programmes and plays,along with ludo,snakes and ladders,draughts,domino's and cards that was it for entertainment.I wouldn't have swapped my childhood for anything though It made me the person I am today

mardatha

Me too, I think we had far better childhoods than my grandkids do today. I can remember back to the late 50s. You got an old shopping bag and asked for 3lbs of tatties please and they took the bag off you and shovelled the tatties in. You always went to the Store cos they paid the Divi.
I was never in, outside all the time playing or helping my dad with the garden or going long walks with him on sundays. At night I used to read under the bedclothes with a torch or listen to Radio Luxemburg Hair was washed once a week with Dreen shampoo and dried with a towel.
Nowadays I still dont buy anything that's superfluous like kitchen roll or tissues or showergel, I just don't need it cos I've always managed without, plus I hate being cluttered with things. This cleaner for this;that cleaner for that;the other cleaner for everything else - that does my head in!
I really do wonder though, if there was as many children with ADD (or whatever its called) and related syndromes -and also allergies, around then? I don't think so.

shandyclover

Although born and bred in UK, in 1981 when I was 13 I moved with my parents to the Indian subcontinent, where they ran a humanitarian aid project. So my brother and I grew through our teens, finished school, went to college, began our working life and met our spouses all abroad. In '96 I came back with my English husband (a fellow volunteer I married) and then 3 kiddies 5 years and under to travel all over UK and introduce the grandchildren to whoever hadn't been able to vist us abroad.

We stayed in a rented holiday house and I remember the first trip to sainsbugs to buy some detergent for the washing machine, standing at the beginning of the ailse and being shocked that the ENTIRE ailse was all detergent and being overwhelmed trying to chose! In India there was about 4 brands and that was it - simples.

I confess I do buy most things on that list now - feeling a bit spoilt!

fabric conditioner - the cheapest and only use for woolies. Want to start using vinegar when current bottle runs out.
hair conditioner - we all have long hair except hubby - though usually buy the cheapest, and we bought this in India too.
kitchen roll - don't buy cause the girls are too free with it and will use it rather than rinse out a jaycloth.
shower gel - do buy for hygiene reasons but usually refill with cheap bubble bath.
antiseptic gel - do buy also for hygiene reasons, carry in my handbag and if someone is ill will use by their bed - but I made my own version of this anyway in India.
moist wipes - don't use in the house but usually have a packet in the car.

wotnext

Panty Liners
Prepared vegetables
Kids yoghurts
Pre-made pots of jelly
Pre-rolled icing and pastry
Microwave rice

FrugalLina

I love this thread and it really has me thinking - loving all the replies and comments!

• I can't remember exactly when tampons came in (but I remember reading the early ads in the 60s)
• Deodorant for, um, you know down there
• Athlete's foot spray
• drinks in cans
• Strawberries in winter
• Ready meals (apart from Smash and Vesta)
• Plug-in air fresheners

The biggest change did happen with supermarkets, especially the really large ones that do sell just about everything. It is a very good tactic, making luxuries appear to be essentials in a way.

mytimetoshine2012

Jackio- your story is amazing!!

My nan never trusted pasta apart from spagetti but she said that people didn't have that until about 1930 ish.

I love reading about old Britain and in one of my books someone was marvelling over the first gas ovens and the novelty of not having to build a fire from scratch for everything. It seems so taken for granted now that we just *have* these things. God only knows what the kids of today are taking for granted. I remember being without a mobile and having to use call boxes but I bet they won't!

Underwired bras
mouthwash
creams for everything ie burns, bites, stings etc
Creme fresh!

It's an interesting thread!

mummygems

Zepsgal What programme was it that you watched? I love things like this lol.

I am 33 this year but I remember when I was really little we had hardly any money when my Dad left my mum and there used to be a green fruit & veg van that came around the steets and we always got bits from him - including corn kernals for popcorn. I can still remember the smell of that van lol.

My mum also used to go to the local butcher, greengrocers and bakery for her shopping. I dont remember going to the supermarket as a kid at all. I do remember when they built the local Tesco store near my mum as they built it on the land that me, my brother and all our friends used to play on!

Sadly we no longer have any of the shops my mum used to go to for her "weekly/Daily" shop. I often think how lovely it would be to shop like she did in those different stores but apart from a Greggs(!) we dont have anything like that now. We have the local market but thats hit and miss!

I sometimes think its a shame that my kids wont know anything other than supermarkets. Our local greengrocer is over 10 miles away now.

I also remember that going out for a treat meal i.e. a special birthday etc was usually a Little Chef meal or Happy Eater )

I was speaking to some friends yesterday about how ill my little ones have been since September - germ after germ and I can honestly say that apart from suffering terribly with tonsilitus as a kid I dont recall ever being ill. I dont remember having coughs or colds etc. I got the usual chicken pox but so did everyone. They are all my age or older and none of them can remember a childhood being ill all the time (unless we just cant remember lol).

I must admit that I do have a fair few different bottles of cleaners for this and that but decided last week that once they are all gone its going to be one thing for all.

I do think my generation and the generation we are raising take too many things for granted and I hope I can educate my children well enough that they dont end up thinking the world owes them a living!

Thank you to everyone for sharing your stories I love reading them.

allybee101

Lovely stories to read on a sunny Friday lunchtime! Thank you to all who've posted!

[Deleted User]

mummygems How I too barely remember being ill much, usually if someone went down with chicken pox or measels or mumps then all the children would play together, that way we all had it more or less at the same time and got it out of the way My Mum once had my two brothers and I down with chicken pox, whooping cough and mumps one after the other so we built up an immunity to most things.I have never been vaccinated in my life for anything, even polio.yet my children when young got every jab I could get so they wouldn't get ill.

Mind you back then there were no NHS until 1948 and visits to Drs were rare.My Dad was a chemist, so we would get dosed up with what was called 'Dads Black Bottle ' God know what went in it, but it tasted foul and cured almost anything as long as it wasn't a broken bone.Often we said we felt better rather than have some of his dreaded 'black bottle'

I can remember him stitching my knee up back in 1947 when I had gone over in the snow (dreadful winter that year) and I don't know what was worse the stitches ( cat-gut ones that he removed when it had healed) or the yellow iodine that was liberally painted over it to keep it clean.I think I was about 16 before I ever saw a Dr in 1959 and that was for severe migraine that started when my periods started at 14.strangely enough after I had my children I doubt if I have had more than about five since 1969, thank goodness.

Ches

mardatha wrote: »

I really do wonder though, if there was as many children with ADD (or whatever its called) and related syndromes -and also allergies, around then? I don't think so.

I was born in 1942 and went to a very small Church of England school in our village. I remember one highly strung girl having a screaming fit about something and the teacher plunged her head straight into a bucket of cold water. She never had another and I don't remember her Mum or Dad complaining either.

I remember baths in the tin bath in front of the fire and icicles on the inside of the windows in winter. The loo was a bucket and chuck it in a little wooden hut in the garden which you accessed by way of a neat brick path between clipped hedges.

I think it strange to see for sale yorkshire puds/ frozen roast and baked potatoes/ice cubes and things such as throwaway cleaning wipes/dusters etc.