What products do you miss?

[Deleted User]

Olde english spangles,strawberry mivvis,Sharps toffees and the super Palm Toffee bars (banana splits) that cost 3d and removed your fillings in seconds that the school dentist had spent many hours putting in :) and the best of all Abbey Crunch biscuits,nothing even comes close to them on the market today

I too remember going into Sainsburys in Lewisham with my late Mum and queueing for it felt like hours :) and her handing over her ration books to buy sugar in dark blue pokes by the 4ozs, and loose tea and the best of all seeing the man who weighed out the butter get a chunk off the big lump of butter with his two wooden paddles and weigh it and wrap in greaseproof paper.He always got the exact amount to the ounce.It was 4ozs and I always hoped he would get more, but he never did.He could tell by just looking at it exactly how much 4ozs were. He also cut the thinnest bacon via an big hand cranked slicer and could shave ham to tissue paper thinness:):)
You could buy eggs at a penny halfpenny each, or tuppence if you wanted bigger ones .When Sainsbobs opened their first supermarket in Lewisham they used to sell eggs in plastic boxes for three for elevenpence ha'penny.,clever marketing as it was just under a shilling.Bread too was always unsliced and just under a shilling a loaf.When it went up to a shilling my Mum predicted rioting :):) as it was far too expensive at a bob a loaf:):)
The first sliced bread I saw, she bought in Lyons which was also a cafe and a bakers the bakers part was called Tip-Top Bakeries and it came in waxed paper, not plastic wrap which was handy as you could use the empty wrapper to wrap packed sandwiches in.
Mum wasn't keen on sliced bread as she had a bread knife that my Dad sharpened every Saturday on a stone wheel that you could use in surgery :) we were warned never to touch it almost from birth as it really would take your finger off (my middle brother took the tip of his off, and had to have it sewed back on at the local hospital, he then got a hiding from my Dad afterwards for disobeying him)
Mum would slice the loaf brilliantly, and she always buttered the slice before she cut it off the loaf.
I was never keen on gypsy tart but my two daughters were .I liked cheesecake which was pastry and jam on a flaky pastry base with icing coated coconut shredded on top.I think its called London cheesecakes(dunno why there's no cheese in them )
The baker delivered bread three times a week, also had gorgeous doughnuts with cream in that was a treat when it was your birthday :)I saw the first 'Dunkies' (doughnuts with a glace icing coating and made in a ring shape) and the milkman and his horse and cart daily apart from Sundays.The orange squash from him came in third of a pint bottles (like school milk bottles) and had a green foil cap and was absolutely gorgeous.We always had gold top milk at the week-end and my brothers and I would argue over who got the 'top of the milk' on our cornflakes or porridge.The tops were cardboard and the birds would try to peck them off to get to the milk. Mum also used Vim for scouring and would 'donkey stone ' the front doorstep, and 'dolly blues' in the washing which was done in the boiler or sink and wrung out on the mangle.The bedding (blankets)were washed when the winter turned to spring with being put into the bath with an obliging child(usually me) to trample over them.

Woolies were washed in Lux soap flakes or Dreft and there were no such thing as 'conditioners' and the ironing was done with a heavy iron heated up on the kitchen range.Mum would pick it up and knew how hot it was by spitting slightly on it for the 'sizzle effect'.She never burnt anything and my Dad's shirts gleamed white, and always were starched by dipping into a bowl of Robin starch.
Summer shoes were usually white and cleaned with white cleaner in a block and left to dry off on a sunny windowsill.I can still remember the smell of plimsolls dried to almost cardboard after over 60 years:):):)smells played a large part of your childhood.The smell of lavender wax polish on the lino and furniture, metholated spirits on the window cleaned by my Dad with scrunched up newspapers.The smell of a coal fire lit with wood scavenged by my brothers from the local market on a late Satuday evening.The smell of parrafin lamps hanging up in the market on a winter afternoon, and the smokey smell of fog in the winter which was dreadful in London in the early 1950s.

candlelight_2013

Jackie, we must be of a similar age (68) no offence meant if you are a lot younger. I remember almost all of the things mentioned in your post. My Nan always buttered the bread before slicing it wafer thin. I always think of her when I slice bread because mine is always on a slope, try as I will to make it straight.

Candlelight x

sophsnan

monnagran wrote: »

Another vote for Royal Scott biscuits.
And frozen Florida concentrated orange juice - made a fantastic orange sorbet when mixed with whipped up egg whites.
Frozen Lemon Mousse made a delicious quick pudding when half thawed and mixed with crushed up Crunchies. My children loved it.

There was a cleaning product that I have racked my brains to remember the name of. You used it on floors and it cleaned them and when dry the the floors shone. Magic on quarry tiles.

The cleaning product you are talking about is called Klear it is still sold in asda

TudorRose

I remeber Kunzle cakes but they were one of the few cakes I disliked because of the topping.
I used to love the cheesecakes that JackieO mentioned. They were lovely with thick, coarse cut coconut. Think they must be a London area thing. I grew up about 20 miles from London & haven't seen them anywhere else since I moved away 40 years ago. I also loved the cakes that were made from the fruit cake trimmings at the bakers. They were like a light bread pudding between two thin layers of shortcrust pastry. They were cooked in a large tin as a tray bake then cut into squares and sold. Another thing that I think was only found in the South as have never seen them for sale where I live now.
Does anybody remember the flavoured cheese triangles? They were like Dairylea but came in different flavours. Very exotic for the late 50s/early 60s. I used to like the tomato flavoured one.

kaydn

Hi Ches sherbert fountains are sold in home bargains 4 for £1 along with tubes of black jacks, fruit salad

johanne

skintmumof3 wrote: »

a frozen whipped topping for puddings.. cant remember the name..but it was delicious.....x

nicki wrote: »

I miss Spira chocolate bars and I remember a whipped frozen desert topping as well. My nanna used to put it on the tinned fruit cocktail for pudding when I stayed over

It was called Superwhip and was from sainsburys if I remember right.


(Nicki is my sister so I too had it on tinned fruit cocktail at my Nans lol)

Years ago cadburys brought out a chocolate bar called "Yuletide" at Christmas and it was amazing! it had fruit and spices in it... but alas it was limited edition and they've never brought it out since. It was amazing though!

CurlyTop

Wow, this is so taking me back.

Abbey Crunch biscuits, yep I'm with you JackieO they were faberoo.

Loved Mint Cracknel, a two piece chocolate thing that was like shards of green sugared glass you bit in to, that was covered in milk chocolate.

Ice breaker - light blue wrapper that was a block of chocolate that had crunchy bits in.

Milk Tray in a bar - basically about half a dozen of the popular chocolates that you would get in a box of milk tray but in a block of chocolate.

Peppermint chew bars - they were long, thin, pink chewy and a waffle pattern that came in a greaseproof type paper. Loved them to bits.

Royal Scot biscuits - that's all my DH goes on about. Reminds him so much of his late grandparents and lots of happy memories.

I remember going to Lewis's (big dept store in Liverpool) and queuing in their food hall to buy broken biscuits. They had big metal boxes of different flavours and then a box made up with the broken biscuits. My mum figured that biscuits ended up broken when popped into the biscuit tin anyway with my and my brothers and sister always being in and out of them, that it was cheaper to buy them broken and she was right. Only broken in half mind, but you still got a good mix of flavours.

My all time favourite has to be one that I'm not sure ever went on sale here. My late dad worked as a bus driver and occasionally got to do the biscuit bus - this was the bus that was laid on to take the workers from the local biscuit factories home. When you were on that duty you were allowed to go into the factory shop. It was pot luck what he came home with, usually lemon puffs, reject penguin biscuits but the best was Chocolate Olives. They were round and shaped like a farleys rusk but smaller but they were covered in dark chocolate. As they were the rejects, there were tons with extra thick chocolate on. Yum yum in my tum.

Oh happy days, fond memories. Admittedly full of sugar but hey, I'm still here and they were eaten in moderation. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it !!!!

baconandcabbage

Hot Crunch Pudding, Secret Chocolate bars. Spira, pizzas from Safeway with pickled onions on them. Hedgehog crisps, pizzawiches anyone remember them? Ketchips, Marmite Bagels they were out about 4/5 years ago not for long they were horrible toasted just nice sliced out of the packet

Re stardrops i haven't seen it for a few years but i used to buy it when i left home at 18

Revlon Outrageous Shampoo Vo5 elixr shampoo matte mousse concealer.

There is more but i can't think atm i will be back

TravellingAbuela

I remember the cheese triangles in assorted flavours but can't for the life of me think of their name or even who made them. I always hated the Cheese and Onion one!

In the early 50's I had an aunt and uncle who emigrated to the USA. They used to send us presents of foodstuff only available there as a treat. The thing I looked forward to most receiving was Cheez Whizz - a cheese spread in a jar made, I think, by Kraft. It had a multitude of uses - sandwich filling, spread on toast and browned under the grill, thinned down as cheese sauce etc. I can almost taste it now! It never did make it's way over here much to my dismay!

Hobsons_Choice

I miss REAL Cadbury's chocolate. Since they were taken over by that American company (Kraft) the chocolate is sickly and the filling is gooey.
Tastes nothing like the original imo.