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

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

I was a child in the 70's and can only remember eating chicken on a Sunday. Monday was chicken broth with pearl barley. Fridays was definitely fish and chips from the chippy. On other days, it was things like corned beef hash on a slice of bread, meat and 2 veg meals, Findus Crispy Pancakes (steak/mince ones) and to spice things up, we'd occasionally have a Vesta Prawn Curry! Ah, those were the days. Can't remember many more .......
TMD xx

katholicos

SailorSam wrote: »

Now we're being told to cut down on fat and grill things rather than fry them. I remember if we were ever having bacon as kids we wanted to to soak bread 'in the dip'. The dip being the fat the bacon had been fried in. .......... eeemm dip butties.

We had 'dip' too! We used to have bacon, mash and cabbage and then mum would pour the bacon dip all over the mash and cabbage. Gorgeous!

lindseykim13

I'm going to dig out my little book of war time meals see if i can find anything of use in it.
Although i'm an 80's child we were meat and veg apart from the odd fish fingers/eggs meals lol
We still eat meat most days with my own children although i try to do 2 fish/non meat meals a week.
Will get back to you on that cook book.

lollipopsarah

Gosh I remember we always had school dinners, so tea was the evening meal - round the table with bread and jam/peanut butter etc.
Sunday road was always chicken which was then stretched with the occasional curry, I can't remember ever having any other roast.
In my teens we loved it when dad went to the fish shop and got great big bits of coley which he covered in bread crumb and fried in the biggest frying pan, it was lovely, as was his meatloaf (but i'm sure the meat was also better then)
xx

lindseykim13

My wartime recipe book has listed in 'main meals' beef hash, devilled fish, roast hearts, tripe and onions, corned beef rissoles, fillets of pork, mince slices, savoury meat role, American mince, liver and bacon with rice, smothered sausages, beef a la mode,tripe casserole.
Looks like a lot of meat to me.

tori.k

I remember offal was a regular feature in our house, Friday was usually fish dispite not being religious and a fair bit of game due to being rural, thinking back chicken was a rarity, think the biggest change is in portion size was more veg less meat with spuds in one form or another being the biggest serving, Jam & bread was often for lunch for us kids. food was seasonal,simple and repetitive.

System

As a child of the 60s we used to have rabbit stew quite regularly. Thursdays were really special, we had steak. I used to hate the fish on a Friday and even now I am not a great fish lover.

Sundays was always a roast, be it beef, pork or lamb

ash28

I was born in the mid 1950s and meals as I remember, were breakfast, hot bread rolls - my father used to get them from the baker's, straight out of the oven - the baker was at the end of our street, the shop used to open about 6am - they must have been working from about 3am, or porridge, or weetabix or toast. Lunch was at school - school dinner - no packed lunches.

DInner was usually always meat - mince and dumplings, stewing steak, steak and kidney, liver and bacon casserole, corned beef stew, mince and onion pie, corned beef and potato pie, bacon and egg tart - it was called a tart, in reality it was a plate pie, fish - we lived near a fishing port - so fresh fish was plentiful and cheap, fishcakes made on the fish quay. Lots of cabbage, potatoes, carrots, swede, spouts, leeks, tinned peas and tinned carrots. And fish and chips every Friday from the chip shop. Bread and butter with lots of things. Yorkshire pudding, dumplings or pastry with most meat meals.

Sundays were usually lamb or beef and occasionally pork. On Monday we would have a fry up - all the leftover veg and sliced cold meat, sliced beetroot and pickled onions.

Tinned fruit and evaporated milk or as a treat sterilsed cream - came in tins, rice pudding (sometimes with a bit dried fruit added), jam tarts, scones, butterfly cakes, chocolate cake, plain sponge, treacle tart, broken biscuits (from the shop), jelly (sometimes with fruit added) and custard, blocks of Walls ice cream....

Salad was a lettuce leaf, few slices of cucumber and tomato and some ham. And usually we only had salad for Sunday tea, Sunday lunch was usually about 2pm - just in time for dad to get home from the pub. Sandwiches were ham, corned beef or cheese or jam. Toast could be made using a toasting fork in front of the fire - many a winter supper for us as kids.

Big jug of cocoa in the winter with breakfast and before bed.

"Dip" - bread in the bacon fat or in the fat off the lamb on Sundays.

The only pasta was macaroni, I never had chops or steak as a child, I never had broccoli or any of the other, what my mother or grandmother would call "fancy stuff". Their idea of exotic was a tin of salmon....

One of my favourites was new potatoes and bacon with the bacon fat poured over the potatoes...

Molly41

SailorSam wrote: »

Now we're being told to cut down on fat and grill things rather than fry them. I remember if we were ever having bacon as kids we wanted to to soak bread 'in the dip'. The dip being the fat the bacon had been fried in. .......... eeemm dip butties.

My husband adores this but has to have bread fried in it. He only has that very occasionally. Are you from up north?

Molly41

ash28 wrote: »

I was born in the mid 1950s and meals as I remember, were breakfast, hot bread rolls - my father used to get them from the baker's, straight out of the oven - the baker was at the end of our street, the shop used to open about 6am - they must have been working from about 3am, or porridge, or weetabix or toast. Lunch was at school - school dinner - no packed lunches.

DInner was usually always meat - mince and dumplings, stewing steak, steak and kidney, liver and bacon casserole, corned beef stew, mince and onion pie, corned beef and potato pie, bacon and egg tart - it was called a tart, in reality it was a plate pie, fish - we lived near a fishing port - so fresh fish was plentiful and cheap, fishcakes made on the fish quay. Lots of cabbage, potatoes, carrots, swede, spouts, leeks, tinned peas and tinned carrots. And fish and chips every Friday from the chip shop. Bread and butter with lots of things. Yorkshire pudding, dumplings or pastry with most meat meals.

Sundays were usually lamb or beef and occasionally pork. On Monday we would have a fry up - all the leftover veg and sliced cold meat, sliced beetroot and pickled onions.

Tinned fruit and evaporated milk or as a treat sterilsed cream - came in tins, rice pudding (sometimes with a bit dried fruit added), jam tarts, scones, butterfly cakes, chocolate cake, plain sponge, treacle tart, broken biscuits (from the shop), jelly (sometimes with fruit added) and custard, blocks of Walls ice cream....

Salad was a lettuce leaf, few slices of cucumber and tomato and some ham. And usually we only had salad for Sunday tea, Sunday lunch was usually about 2pm - just in time for dad to get home from the pub. Sandwiches were ham, corned beef or cheese or jam. Toast could be made using a toasting fork in front of the fire - many a winter supper for us as kids.

Big jug of cocoa in the winter with breakfast and before bed.

"Dip" - bread in the bacon fat or in the fat off the lamb on Sundays.

The only pasta was macaroni, I never had chops or steak as a child, I never had broccoli or any of the other, what my mother or grandmother would call "fancy stuff". Their idea of exotic was a tin of salmon....

One of my favourites was new potatoes and bacon with the bacon fat poured over the potatoes...

Totally reminiscent of my childhood although I was born in the 1960s but to older parents who had been through the war.