What was your childhood diet?

VfM4meplse

Born in 1973.

Reading this thread I'm starting to appreciate just what my mum did for me as a child. Yes she served up some really exotic stuff that I wouldn't touch, but she also made some really nice meals that kids would like too. We were never hungry and it was really tough for her holding down a full-time job and raising 3 children with a husband that went out and earned but did little else.

It's also made me realise what a lazy so-and-so I am, I should make more of an effort to cook something that she'll enjoy when she comes over to visit.

bekkikay

I was born in 1981. My mum was always busy at work and hated cooking. We had a lot of processed food and a shed load of carbs as well as bread with everything! She did make her own chips though which were so yummy, I asked for them all the time. She would always pile the food on to our plates especially when it came to her Sunday dinner. As you can imagine I was quite fat. I've since slimmed down but still have issues with portion control even with my own children. I cooked my own main meals from the age of 9 as my mum had to work and I did cook some rubbish. Vesta curry packets, packet rice, pot noodles and bread, crisp sandwiches, beans on toast were all staples of my diet.
Its only now I'm in my 30's that I have begun to cook from scratch and I think my children have an amazing diet compared to that of my childhood. I encourage my children to learn to cook and they help knead the dough, add herbs and spices, cut up vegetables, pick their own recipes and can cook some basic healthy meals so far.

DianneB

Born 1954 to a mum who hated cooking, I don't really remember much about food until the mid '60's. Mum could make a meal in 5 mins by opening 3 tins! 1 of meatballs, 1 of potatoes and 1 of peas - horrible. Anyone remember Cod balls? they smelt awful and were deep fried. I think I survived on school dinners, they were great! we had puddings! never had those at home although sometimes on a Saturday she would by a Devonshire Split (large bun split and filled with jam and cream) to cut into four for all of us. I remember her once buying me a Kunzle (sp?) cake which I loved. Occasionally we would have chips from the van (never fish). In the early '70's I went to live with my grandmother who was an amazing cook, she had cooked at the local golf club and made curries and her own sheet pasta for lasagne. I don't know how she managed it in her tiny kitchen but she was amazing!! I am a grandma myself now and I still miss her.

VJsmum

walkers60 wrote: »

In reply to VJsmum, we didn't serve gypsy tart with 1/2 an apple - sounds tasty though. Is that because Kent has so many apple trees? Unfortunately I don't live in Kent. We served ours with Dream Topping.

I think it was to make it appear healthy - LOL. Dream topping!!! :eek::eek: This is the first time I have heard of Gypsy Tart being made outside of Kent.

Peggybabcot wrote: »

Well all this talk of gypsy tart, and me missing out at school, resulted in me making one today. It's very, very sweet but my son and hubby loved it.

Awww make us one - pleeeeeaaaaase And Manchester Tart - love it. Perhaps I'll try the Manchester one.

naturaljazz

Born 1959 - Our diet was terrible. School dinner which I rarely ate and jam sandwich at night. No fruit, and only tinned peas on a sunday. I was offered a Penguin by an Aunt in the 1960's and I thought she was getting an animal out of the cupboard (I kid not). I tried a satsuma when i was working at 17, discovered wholemeal bread at 19 when I left home and ate fresh salmon for the first time at 22. Maybe ours was unusual..parents were not poor, just mean.

DundeeDoll

Born1963 parents strapped for cash father meat and 2 veg, allergic to fish. My mum was a marvel at stretching the housekeeping, so like many of you the week had a pattern. Roast on sunday, cold meat monday, shepherds pie tuesday, little pies wednesday, then other days were sausages (toad if money short), chops, gammon with pjneapple (this was as exotic as we got), liver, hm scotch eggs, spanish omlette. We always had pud which is the only time rice or pasta (macaroni) appeared on the menu. Milk was delivered by the coop milkman and paid with plastic coins mum bought from the coop cos they came with stamps. We had a bread man (i loved the smell of his van) and a veg man. Mum didnt drive (and dad didnt shop) so saturday morning was spent walking to the shops with the drag-along. Mum would say we can either bus or you can spend your bus money in the bun shop :P i used to buy one of those icecream cones with marshmallow and hundreds and thousands. For weeks i wanted a meringue dougal. Mum said it would be too sweet, but eventually succumbed, and yes she was right!

GreenNinja

I was born in 1966. My Mum was a childrens nanny before she had us 3 so guess she was well trained in making food from scratch on a tight budget. My Dad had an allotment so we always ate what veg was in season.
Breakfast was a small bowl of cereal followed by something cooked every day, a rasher of bacon with a small piece of fried bread and a few baked beans, or boiled egg and toast or a kipper. We would then have a slice of toast with butter and homemade marmalade and sometimes half an apple or half a banana.
Lunch was vile school dinner with brightly coloured custard slopped over all the puddings which I refused to eat.
Dinner was always made from scratch and could be a kind of bread and butter pudding made with cheese, mince, stews, casseroles, toad in the hole etc all with fresh veg. Sunday was always roast dinner and monday was cold meat with mash and pickles in the winter or salad in the summer. Mum always made a pudding which was maybe stewed fruit, milk puddings or sometimes as a treat tinned fruit and ice cream or a trifle from M&S or arctic roll. Sometimes after dinner we would have a fifth of a mars bar each!
Tea was my favourite which we would have on a sunday and involved scones or sandwiches, bread and butter with homemade jam and home made cakes.

malamay

I was born in 1981 in Canada. My mom worked part time, and did the majority of the cooking. Dad grew a lot of veg, and had friends who hunted or fished, so there was usually something related to this in our massive chest freezer. We grew strawberries, and there was a field of blueberries across the street from us (we lived in a rural area, and couldn't see another house from ours), and we had containers of both in our freezer as well. We always had two or more varieties of fruit in the fruit bowl.

Mom made a mixture of meat and 2/3/4 veg meals, and casseroles. I didn't know what curry was until after I left home. We had a roast dinner once a week, and used the leftovers in sandwiches and casseroles. Lunches were sandwiches, soups, or leftovers. We ate a lot of leftovers. Mom and dad still do now! I'd much rather make leftovers into something new, but they never seemed to mind putting the remains of a roast dinner in a frying pan, or wrapped in foil in the oven to reheat. My favourite leftover dish was always a hot turkey/chicken sandwich (meat on bread, covered in gravy). Mom made her own gravy and yorkshire puddings (although only with roast beef). No one else knew what yorkshire puddings were!

Examples of meals would be: sausages and mash (Dad was picky, and would only buy 'English Banger' sausages), bacon and eggs with fried potatoes, spaghetti bolognaise pasta bake, chicken breasts in sauce or cooked with tinned peaches, quiche with swiss cheese and bacon, chicken casserole topped with stuffing, tuna casserole (no pasta), macaroni and cheese, sweet and sour ribs or meatballs, goulash, fried fish, stews (often with moose or rabbit), pan fried scallops, baked salmon, pork chops (mine covered in mushroom soup), home made pizza (when I was old enough to do it), cod au gratin, 'cold plate' (cold meat and salads). Most of these would be served with carrots and broccoli, or whatever veg dad had grown.

Breakfasts were always hard for me - to this day I have to wait an hour or more after getting up before eating. This annoyed my dad to no end, and he would offer to make me omelettes, french toast, or any type of egg dish. We went through every cereal in the grocery store, pop tarts, toaster strudels and waffels, breakfast milk drinks, etc.

Dad was paid every second thursday, so this was our shopping day. We'd drive 30 minutes to the closest built up area with a selection of 3 or 4 different grocery stores. Dad would scour the weekly flyers, and write a list to buy from each. He would take a cooler filled with ice packs in the warmer weather. For the majority of these trips we would have dinner out - either Chinese, McDonalds or KFC. We didn't have a lot of restaurants close to home, so this was a treat. I can remember hating Chinese (it was Americanised Chinese, so egg rolls, chicken balls, spring rolls and rice dishes), and would throw a strop if we went there, and demand a hamburger. Which they would cook for me at the Chinese restaurant!

We had a pantry in our basement, next to the chest freezer. If dad found a good special, he would stock up, and the excess would be stored here. He'd have tins of vegetables, soups, pasta, meat and fish stored here with boxes of pasta, rice, side dishes (like pasta and sauce flavoured rice or Hamburger Helper), toilet rolls and paper towels. We also had a root celler that was underground but accessed through our basement, which had veg from the garden, mom's preserves, and any cakes that were made for future consumption! Dad built our house, and obviously gave great thought into storing food in the process.

Mom tried to bake often, and there were usually cookies, 'squares' or muffins in the kitchen she had made. Birthday cakes were home made. Often we'd have a cake, trifle or 9x13 dish of something with cream for dessert, or dad would peel fruit at the table for everyone. Mom would make strawberry jam, and pickled her own beetroot.

For Christmas one year, I re-wrote mom's recipes from her book tied together with elastic bands and cellotape into a new hard bound book. I think this was the best present she's had from me to date!

Scrapaholic

I was born in 1952 and I was an only child . My grandad used to be a cook and I remember him making suet puddings in a big white cloth . I think I had cereal for breakfast and the packs of about 6 different ones were a treat . For lunch which we called dinner time , it was maybe a boiled egg , soup or sandwich . In the evening it would be chops , home made mince pie , left over cold meat and chips on Monday from Sunday's roast etc. My mam made nice pastry and plain food . Chicken seemed to be expensive then and sometimes I had a tin of chicken breast which I liked . Don't think I've seen it in the shops since but haven't looked . There was always fruit . We had fish and chips sometimes . My friends dad worked for Scribona , they made cakes etc probably about 1962 and they always had them . Think I was a bit jealous . Crisps and lemonade were also treats as was a rare visit to Wimpy . Yogurt probably was in our local shops when I was about 20 and I remember getting dilute juice in a little sachet called Spree . Sachets of shampoo were also available . We had tinned salmon salad , tongue , which I didn't realise was actually tongue ! Most of all food shopping was from the local shops I don't remember ever going to a supermarket , maybe there wasn't one . I never had Italian , Indian or Chinese food cooked at home don't think I knew anything about it until I was 20 ish . It's been good to look back and remember and I think I was well looked after . I suppose you just accept whats given to you as a child . Think I'll ask our kids what their memories are !

CAT££

I was born in 1980

Mum was a good cook and big supermarkets weren't around in Wales during the early 80s. Fruit & veg would be bought from the greengrocer, bread from the bakery and meat from the butcher, anything else would be bought from the corner shop.

Breakfast was usually ready-brek, Farley's Rusks or Toast & Marmite. Lunches were ham sandwiches, tinned or HM soups, spaghetti hoops on toast or egg on toast and Tea was cottage pies, sausage & chips, chops, stews etc. We never had takeaways, although occasionally we would have a chippy tea on a Friday.

Sunday was always roast dinner and for tea we would have a boiled egg, jacobs cream crackers, cheese, jam & pickles

I remember from 1990 onwards, exotic food became more available and my Mum became adventurous in her cooking and began to make things using pasta, and stir-fry's. I remember when she first cooked using garlic, the recipe asked for a clove, she didn't know what a clove was and believed it to be the whole bulb! The house stank of garlic for a week. :rotfl: