What Did People Eat In The 1950's

Owain_Moneysaver

Byatt wrote: »

I was once mugged for my toffee apple.

And probably didn't dare tell Mam as it would be your fault for not sticking up for yourself.

Byatt

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

And probably didn't dare tell Mam as it would be your fault for not sticking up for yourself.

I didn't dare tell because I felt so bad about losing it, as you say...I should have stuck up for myself, There was no way she would have got involved. :cool:

Mojisola

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Sunday dinner, when everybody was there would be, for many kids, the only day of the week where they got the same as the parents and elder (working) sons. Most likely chicken, the youngest getting the wings, then going up the ages until the working males got the breasts.

Chicken was a "special occasion" food until the late 1950s unless you bred your own.

I remember how exciting it was when we received a chicken sent from country relatives for Christmas and Easter! They used to be got ready for the table, sewn into a jute feed sack and put on the train with a homemade label sewn onto the front. Dad used to go up to the station to collect it from the train guard.

Itismehonest

Posh alert.

We did have turkey for Christmas. It came complete. _pale_

Mojisola

Itismehonest wrote: »

Posh alert.

We did have turkey for Christmas. It came complete. :pale

Definitely posh! :rotfl:

lizzyb1812

Right into the early 60s chicken was a special occasion food where I lived - only seen at Christmas. Mince was the chief meat and without oats or lentils my mum would make a pound of mince stretch ever so far - by necessity not choice. And we were not poor by the standards of the day - my dad had a decent white collar job.

Best breakfast ever is the one I used to have in summer as a child - cornflakes, cold milk, a bit of sugar and fresh raspberries from the garden - guess what I'm growing in my garden now?

EllaRose

What a lovely thread to read.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Mojisola wrote: »

Chicken was a "special occasion" food until the late 1950s unless you bred your own.

I remember how exciting it was when we received a chicken sent from country relatives for Christmas and Easter! They used to be got ready for the table, sewn into a jute feed sack and put on the train with a homemade label sewn onto the front. Dad used to go up to the station to collect it from the train guard.

Compared to lamb, beef, pork, or anything else, it was still a cheaper meat. Most of the restaurants were serving horse as steak at the time, but that was too expensive (and kept rather quiet at the time, too). I suppose if the kids had been given little more than two slices of bread a day all week, there was a bit more cash for the chicken on Sunday. I think other weeks were hearts, mostly. Or whatever else wouldn't last the weekend at the meat market where the old man worked.

But like I said, not everyone was able or willing to make proper meals all the time.



Mind you, the odd pint of cockles or winkles would occasionally make its way home, immersed in eye wateringly strong vinegar, to be consumed at the kitchen table with the aid of pins and copious quantities of ground black pepper.


But never eels, never pie and mash/liquor, never fish and chips - 'cos they were 'common' and she wouldn't allow common food indoors. But other families would have them.

WeegieWumman

Mojisola wrote: »

Chicken was a "special occasion" food until the late 1950s unless you bred your own.

I remember how exciting it was when we received a chicken sent from country relatives for Christmas and Easter! They used to be got ready for the table, sewn into a jute feed sack and put on the train with a homemade label sewn onto the front. Dad used to go up to the station to collect it from the train guard.

Not only did we receive chicken from country relatives but also eggs. Each one was individually wrapped in newspaper and packed into the big cube shaped biscuit tins.

BitterAndTwisted

Boodle wrote: »

I always thought it was a regional thing. Reason we call the meals the names we do: we have four meals a day, the third being a smaller meal at tea time, therefore we have to say lunch at noon and dinner in the evening. If we used dinner for noontime, what would we call the evening meal if it isn't late enough for supper? No pretence to be middle class... was just a bit of common sense so we didn't get confused I imagine a lot of families are the same when they want to give the children something quite substantial after school to keep them going until the family meal when the second parent arrives home.

It could be regional but it's more likely to do with class. No working-class person I have ever known has referred to a late meal at home as a "supper" but I know an awful lot of middle-class people who do.

As children we never got anything substantial to eat after we got home from school, that would have been a slice of bread and butter and a glass of milk if we were lucky and there was enough left. For the most part fathers got home from work well before 6pm so people had their "tea" together then.

I stopped calling a midday meal "dinner" and an evening one a "tea' once I started moving in different social circles to the one I was born into. I have never eaten a supper in my life. Actually, I lie: I've eaten lots of them but only in Scotland.

Oh, and another thing: most ordinary folks didn't frequent restaurants and were not made welcome in them in any case. If they are out, it would be in a cafe. I never ate a meal in either until I was in my late teens. The closest we ever got to it was fish and chips at the seaside.

The short version of "what did people eat in the 50s" is plain food and lots of cheap carbs and veg. Meat was more likely to have been offal than anything more lean and fancy. If lean meat could have been afforded it would have been stretched like elastic and served in very small portions. Tint compared to today. I remember Sunday lunches when we kids got one thin slice of meat each. And the remains of the roast was always served on Mondays, so mothers didn't have to slave in the kitchen making a whole meal from scratch while they were doing the full family's wash at the same time. By hand.

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.