What Did People Eat In The 1950's

Farway

Itismehonest wrote: »

Incidentally, who remembers the Co-ops of the 50s & 60s with their 'divi stamps"? They also had the cashier whizz-along-a-wire-in-the-air things. I can remember watching those with fascination while Mum shopped.

I remember even before divi stamps, you gave the counter assistant your divi number and it was written down in a book, then a slip was put int eh whizzy thing along with the money

I can still remember my Mum's number as it was very important not to forget it & lose out on divi

bearcub

Possession wrote: »

The worst thing is she tells you how many people love them and how delicious they are. About a year ago we went to dinner at their flat and were ambushed by a huge dinner of roast potatoes, baked beans and spam sausage rolls, possibly the most bizarre meal I've ever had. Still, I'm obviously pleased she is still able to do this at age 90!

:rotfl: Well done, GM, I say! (But please don't invite me round!)

maryb

Extract from a 1950s cookbook owned by my MIL

Glasgow soup
1/2 lb mince
1 large Spanish onion
1/2 teacup rice
4 breakfast cups cold water

Put mince into cold water, stir thoroughly until broken up and boil for an hour and a half. Add rice and salt to taste and boil half an hour longer. A good soup for children when adults eat separately
:eek::eek::eek:

And the smell of butter beans still makes me heave

EllaRose

My mum was born in '51 and she recalls plenty of meat, including liver and hearts, which she hated. She said chicken was a luxury. Vegetables were your standard greens, peas, carrots.

She recalled her excitement though at her weekly luxury 'treat' - a glass bottle of Coke and a packet of crisps! :)

luxor4t

MiL's specialities (Scottish Borders) according to DH (born 1956):
- tripe (he says it stank out the flat!)
- white fish boiled in milk (he was stood over till he drank the fishy milk _pale_)
- every kind of offal
- 'bought in' steak pies
- 'bought in' white & black pudding
- 'rollmops' from the Saturday fish van
- dry salad of lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced, peeled cucumber & spring onion. With H**nz salad cream.
- Mince (just with onion & boiled in water) with either boiled potato or butter beans
- boiled chicken (rare treat) The water was cooked, skimmed and served as soup with shredded carrot next day.

Forgot to add, DH could only have bread and jam OR bread and 'marg' never both. He has both now - and gets looked at, daggers!

jools27_2

maryb wrote: »

Extract from a 1950s cookbook owned by my MIL

Glasgow soup
1/2 lb mince
1 large Spanish onion
1/2 teacup rice
4 breakfast cups cold water

Put mince into cold water, stir thoroughly until broken up and boil for an hour and a half. Add rice and salt to taste and boil half an hour longer. A good soup for children when adults eat separately
:eek::eek::eek:

And the smell of butter beans still makes me heave

Never heard of that, and sincerely glad!!!!
Mid day meal was generally called lunch, but school meals in the Glasgow area I remember being called "dinner schooll", I remember being fed a very odd meal at secondary school of sweet and sour spam, think I might have preferred the sausage rolls! My mum was a school janitor, so the awful school milk could often be found in our fridge, no wonder I still hate the stuff!!!!!!!!

mardatha

I loved school milk, still love milk I had the glass bottle of coke and pkt of crisps every sat when my dad came home from his one pint in the pub, plus pocketmoney on fridays. In my Fife granny's you got your "denner" at 1pm and your tea at 5pm.My mum was Glasgow Irish and she cooked an awful lot of fried cabbage lol. My mantra for the co-op was "half a pound o mince and half a stane o tatties please" - said all as one word in case I forgot bits

Pollycat

EllaRose wrote: »

My mum was born in '51 and she recalls plenty of meat, including liver and hearts, which she hated. She said chicken was a luxury. Vegetables were your standard greens, peas, carrots.

She recalled her excitement though at her weekly luxury 'treat' - a glass bottle of Coke and a packet of crisps! :)

Yes it was a luxury, more expensive than beef, pork or lamb.

The only time we had poultry was at Christmas when we had a capon that my Grandma used to pluck herself.

My Grandad had an allotment so we used to have lots of lovely fresh veg - peas, carrots, cauli, cabbage, sprouts.
He also grew strawberries and gooseberries which you don't seem to hear of nowadays.

Mum used to buy fresh fish from the mobile 'fish man' every Friday.

Not sure if it's been mentioned earlier, but does anyone remember the massive pats of butter and lard that shops used to have on marble slabs? They were about 18" in diameter and the same tall and you used to buy a quarter of a pound and it was wrapped in greaseproof paper.

Grandma & Grandad used to make their own preserves - jam, beetroot, pickled onions, red cabbage and the most wonderful piccalilli - your eyes watered when you went into the kitchen when she'd got a batch of that on the go.

She also made raspberry vinegar which she swore cured sore throats with a bit of hot water stirred in. I think I might still have the original recipe in her handwriting which probably dates back 50 years.
Grandad used to like it on his pancakes.

I remember that there was only one variety of crisps - plain.
We used to crush up a bag then sprinkle vinegar into the bag - how innovative was that!

And bread came in that waxed paper that you could use on slides in playgrounds to make them super slippery.

quintwins

I'm only in my mid twenties but i find this thread interesting and just wanted to add i have gooseberries in my garden, no idea wat to do with them tho.

sb44

quintwins wrote: »

I'm only in my mid twenties but i find this thread interesting and just wanted to add i have gooseberries in my garden, no idea wat to do with them tho.

Take a look in the greefingers forum or the old style, I am sure you will find lots of info there.

Here is one link to a post on the old style forum https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/89560 .