What Did People Eat In The 1950's

Itismehonest

Can anyone remember Vesta meals?
I think they were probably from the 60s, though. They must have been one of the first processed meals.

I used to have a little bottle of orange instead of the bottle of milk at primary school. My first day at school they gave me milk, which didn't stay down _pale_. I was sent home & was off school for a week. I think they decided I was probably allergic to milk so gave me the orange instead
I still had to take my turn as milk monitor, though. As I recall every winter the milk froze & pushed the cream up so there was a stalk of frozen cream sticking up from the bottle with the bottle top stuck to it. In spring the bluetits would peck the tops open & in summer the milk turned. All in all I think autumn must have been the only season when anyone could drink the stuff.

ammonite

I'm only late 20's but you know...this whole thread reminds me of being at my Nan and Grandads (where I was frequently as a child). Conny milk, tinned fruit, boiled eggs...ahh the glorious days!

Loved all the home cooked food. Hated Thursdays at Nan's in the 80s though......Liver night *puke*

WeegieWumman

Chris25 wrote: »

For some weird reason, I've just remembered that my mum used to boil the potatoes unpeeled & then when cooked, they were heaped into a bowl in the middle of the table & we peeled them onto our side plates.

This was quite a common practice. particularly among farmers. The unpeeled potatoes for poultry, pigs and humans would be boiled in a big pot and the amount for the family was taken out and served as you describe.
The part of the potato immediately beneath the skin was thought to be the most nutritious. Each person took as much or as little potato as they wished and the surplus, plus the skins were thrown back into the pot to feed the livestock.

chirpychick Like today, the portion sizes served in the 50's depended upon the individuals needs. A miner required more than an office worker.

CupOfChai

JackieO, you mentioned London Cheesecake?

About a year or two ago I lived in Hertfordshire, and all the bakeries sold it, including the Greggs (I think it was the "regional product"). I'm not from round there/here and thought it a bonkers invention!

This thread makes me think of the differences and similarities in what we cook for ourselves as adults and what our mums cooked when we were growing up (or whoever brought us up, I'm not saying it had to be a mum!). I think the main difference is I often use fresh garlic which I doubt my mum has ever brought into her kitchen, and I use herbs more. She also doesn't cook rice (though eats it, from takeaways and the like) and has a weird thing about pasta that it can't be eaten more than once a week as that would be bad for you, yet eating potatoes every day is fine! Whereas I cook all 3 about equally. I cook more than she does now too, she seems to have stopped bothering to cook from scratch as much now that her children are adults. However I learned from her example back then and that of all the women in my family, and also have demanded several of her dinner recipes from when I was growing up so I now cook them for myself, as well as demanding my favourite home-cooked meals when I visit!

I think today's children will probably have the same sort of memories of food as all you children of the 50s have, as I'm also only mid-late 20s but still have clear memories of the food I had. Someone said about the dried peas that you soak with the tablet in a bag? Can you still get them?

ETA I remember being given milk in school too, when I was very small. I simply refused to drink it because being sat in a crate in a corner of the room all morning it had gone warm, fetid and disgusting. The teacher would give out seconds of milk to children who wanted it, that being the bottles belonging to those who didn't want it. I could never understand why some kids would go mad for seconds of the filthy stuff.

WeegieWumman

CupOfChai wrote: »

Someone said about the dried peas that you soak with the tablet in a bag? Can you still get them?

ETA I remember being given milk in school too, when I was very small. I simply refused to drink it because being sat in a crate in a corner of the room all morning it had gone warm, fetid and disgusting. The teacher would give out seconds of milk to children who wanted it, that being the bottles belonging to those who didn't want it. I could never understand why some kids would go mad for seconds of the filthy stuff.

Yes, The dried peas are still around, I still buy them. Batchelors Bigga dried peas in a 250g cardboard packet. (tablets included).
Excuuuuuuuze me! I loved the school milk. There were only a couple of pupils who refused it. I'll have you know that I'm anybody's for milk, eggs and sweet things. lol

Owain_Moneysaver

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

If people went out for the day someone would likely be carrying a bag or holdall of some sort. That usually contained a Thermos of tea and sandwiches, maybe a picnic of some kind which would be eaten in the park or another public place like that.

we had a little kettle and a 'camping gaz' stove

carlislelass

I was born in the 50`s, remember spam, luncheon meat etc...also mum getting a lamb roast for 7/6p and it doing 3 days

hermum

Itismehonest wrote: »

Can anyone remember Vesta meals?
I think they were probably from the 60s, though. They must have been one of the first processed meals.

I used to have a little bottle of orange instead of the bottle of milk at primary school. My first day at school they gave me milk, which didn't stay down _pale_. I was sent home & was off school for a week. I think they decided I was probably allergic to milk so gave me the orange instead
I still had to take my turn as milk monitor, though. As I recall every winter the milk froze & pushed the cream up so there was a stalk of frozen cream sticking up from the bottle with the bottle top stuck to it. In spring the bluetits would peck the tops open & in summer the milk turned. All in all I think autumn must have been the only season when anyone could drink the stuff.

I was thinking of Vesta meals earlier & wondering when they first hit the shops. They were so exotic, I bet they actually tasted disgusting but the idea of adding water to stuff & ending up with an actual meal was so exciting.
In the 70's Co-op opened a freezer centre in Plymouth & I remember they sold Duck in orange & coq au vin, they were 25p each & very sophisticated.
I'm so glad that we haven't ended up taking a tablet a day, instead of eating food which I remember being a very nasty rumour.
I wonder how many kids of today will be talking about their childhood food in 50 years now.
They may be saying, can you remember when we used to eat all those dreadful processed foods, McDonalds burgers etc. I'm so glad we all eat proper meals cooked from scratch.

adelight

It seems like most people lived in the country or villages, but what was it like living in a city? My Mum's family are from the black country and lived in back to backs, flats and finally terraced houses in the late 70s/early 80s. From what I'm told the food was beyond grim, you were lucky to get meat (not offal) once a week and the whole family had that bulging knee look where the knee was the widest part of the leg.
As soon as anyone in the family got outside space it was used for growing food. A garden was purely functional not about patios and flowers. Maybe that's why I find it so outrageous when people grow no food in their gardens or have an allotment but don't grow in their garden

Mojisola

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

we had a little kettle and a 'camping gaz' stove

Whenever we went on a picnic, the old primus stove would come out with us - the forerunner of the camping gas stoves.

hermum wrote: »

I was thinking of Vesta meals earlier & wondering when they first hit the shops. They were so exotic, I bet they actually tasted disgusting but the idea of adding water to stuff & ending up with an actual meal was so exciting.

They were a boon for backpacking campers! And you're right - they were so exotic - Indian and Chinese food - so modern!