If It Wasn't Meat, What Did They Eat?

Greying_Pilgrim

JackieO, suki1964 and SavingQueen I too recall Lucozade being regarded as a 'restorative' for the sick - rather than the modern day 'drink of athletes'.

The only reason why when I was a kid that we got so much as a sniff, swig or sup of the stuff was because my uncle ran a rural garage/filling station. He carried a selection of sweets & 'pop' in the shop - Lucozade was one (R whites and Corona were other brands I recall). I have no idea why he stocked it, although the village had a high proportion of older folk - and perhaps 'Phyllosan - for the over forties' * had been discontinued by that point. I recall him giving me a bottle once - all for myself - heaven! (I'm sure I shared it........grudgingly ). But also his mum (my gran) lived across the road and she had bottles of it from him. We kids would be delighted if a new bottle was in the kitchen when we went to visit, as there would be a chance we would be offered this with our 'supper' rather than a cup of tea. My gran always used loose leaf tea, and in all the years I knew her, never invested in a strainer _pale_ :rotfl:

And yes, I agree with other posters, Sunday 'roast' was primarily pork or beef with chicken being a treat (perhaps once a month) but as the years rolled on, chicken became the norm and beef became the treat. Mum & Dad have resorted to M&S meal deals now for Sunday lunch - see convenience will out!

Our food was traditional British stodge too, and Mum wouldn't entertain 'foreign muck' either. To give you an idea, red lentils were seen as exotic! We actually looked forward to cottage pie if it had lentils in it :rotfl:The lentil packet lasted from one year to the next! Must of been put in by the half teaspoon or something! Now I'm a vegetarian and I get through 2kg bags of the stuff in no time

Greying

* don't get the idea I'm ancient - I just got dragged around alot of museums as a child - plus I've parents who are forever exclaiming, 'how much? that's 10 bob in old money' ......:rotfl:

Butterfly_Brain

Sandwiches were a mixture of all sorts ........dripping sprinkled with salt, sliced banana with sugar, condensed milk, fried egg, but my favourites were crisps or fishfingers with lots of salt and vinegar or ketchup

suki1964

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Sandwiches were a mixture of all sorts ........dripping sprinkled with salt, sliced banana with sugar, condensed milk, fried egg, but my favourites were crisps or fishfingers with lots of salt and vinegar or ketchup

Even now at hitting 50, I add crisps to a sandwich or make just a crisp sandwich for tea, something that neither mother or mil would have entertained ( I so don't feel grown up yet)

Nowdays my fav comfort sandwich is pepper salami, dairylea, coleslaw, and cheese and onion crisps in a baguette.

And it has to be golden wonder cheese and onion. No other hits the spot lol

madnotstupid

enjoying this thread. I'm a child of the 70s and we most of our evening meals were based round beef or pork, with the exception of fried haddock once a week and macaroni cheese the day before pay day!

My granny fed me and my brothers, my ma, my auntie and my cousins every lunchtime while I was at primary school. I think she fed us pies bought from the bakers most days - what people in Scotland used to call mutton pies tho' I suspect even defra might have questioned that! My Granny was at best an indifferent cook, why she ended up feeding us all I'll never know,cos it was a hassle for her. Years later she was being assessed by occupational therapist to see what help she needed at home. They told her to get the ingredients to make a pan of soup so that they could see how she coped. She turned up with a tin of Heinz cream of chicken.:rotfl: Pity the ready meal culture came too late for her - she'd have loved it

Torry_Quine

In the late 60's early 70s I can remember that in winter mum always made a big pot of soup and that was our meal for Thurs and Friday supper. It was scotch broth then tattie soup, then lentil soup. Saturdays were home made chips with cold meat and beans while watching Dr Who.:eek:

At lunch on school days we had things like toast toppers and for a treat instant whip.

[Deleted User]

Its strange but a way I have of economising is to translate the decimal money back to 'old money and I think 18/- for a newspaper ,no way :)and when I see bread at thirty bob a loaf I shudder :)
Our milkman came with a horse and float, and the horse was the most bad tempered nag I have ever had the misfortune to meet I had to save it bits of carrot as we used its ...errr bits it left in the road in the garden .My Mum or Dad would say to one of us children the milkmans, due have a walk up the road and see if 'Jimmy' (the nag) has left us a present.My two older brothers had an inate way of vanishing about 5 minutes before and it was left to me to walk up the road and shovel the disgusting stuff into a bucket, a job I loathed with every fibre of my being ,especially when the ungrateful beast used to try to bite the hand that fed him bits of carrots.Our milkman Mr Saunders was a lovely chap though and was always laughing at me and the nags mutual hatred.He thought it was a hoot and said I was the only child he ever tried to bite.I was sorely tempted at times to give the miserable beast a short sharp tap on the nose but I'm sure it knew and would grin evily at me and show his 'orrible yellow teeth when ever I was close by.The best day of my life was the day the nag dissapeared and Mr sauders arrived with an electric float.Hopefully the eveil old beast made a good pot of glue for someone.today it would have ended up in a burger I expect :)

Linda-Lou

Glad to see the memories still coming in!
Forgot to add last time:-

Granny and Grandad ( Dad's side ) had a long back garden. Grandad grew his own veggies- potatoes, onions, cabbages, and had tomatoes on the kitchen windowsills.
Granny kept bantams in a run at the far end of the garden, and I can remember going down with a wicker basket to collect the eggs. I think I can remember sometimes having to slip a pot egg under a hen when I took the egg out.
Granny also had a walk-in "larder " in the kitchen, a cold cupboard with shelves all round, and all her stores neatly arranged. Just by the door was the "safe" - a sort of box / cupboard, free standing, with mesh sides, where the butter, cheese and cold meats were kept.Does anyone else remember these? She also used to pickle shallots and red cabbage. My favourite was a large onion, from the garden, sliced thinly into a shallow bowl and covered with vinegar, and I think some sugar. My Dad copied this idea, and a real treat at home was a cold meat sandwich, with " Dad's onions".
Another favourite, always for Saturday tea, was corned beef on toast, with a poached egg on top. Mum didn't have a " poacher", and did the eggs the old fashioned way, in a pan of boiling water with a splash of vinegar. Suppers were not a regular thing, just a warm drink and maybe a plain biscuit, but on occasions Dad would get out the ( home made ) toasting fork, and we would do toast in front of the open fire.

I too remember the lucozade in the orange film wrapper, and still think of it as something to have when feeling poorly!

Lovely thread, thanks everyone, take care xxx

Mojisola

JackieO wrote: »

today it would have ended up in a burger I expect :)

Far more likely to have ended up on a plate in those days!

ash28

suki1964 wrote: »

Even now at hitting 50, I add crisps to a sandwich or make just a crisp sandwich for tea, something that neither mother or mil would have entertained ( I so don't feel grown up yet)

Nowdays my fav comfort sandwich is pepper salami, dairylea, coleslaw, and cheese and onion crisps in a baguette.

And it has to be golden wonder cheese and onion. No other hits the spot lol

If my mother ever bought crisps, which was rare, we had to have them with bread and butter.....like you I still love a crisp sandwich.

My own kids were fascinated in horrified sort of way the first time they saw me have crisps and bread - they would have been teenagers at the time.

The other one was a mashed potato sandwich......I still like one of those with a bit of ketchup.

The kids (in their late 20s and early 30s now) will eat both of those.

Eyeore

This is a great thread, I love reading about cooking through the ages. I grew up late sixties early seventies and my mum worked so we had lots of crock pot meals, my main memories are of me saying what's for dinner? And my mum saying 'it's a surprise!' meaning it was a slow cooked stew with lots of lentils and barley to bulk it out - still makes me shudder . . . . Blurghhhh
;-)