Portion sizes when you were young

LameWolf

Bathory wrote: »

I remember growing up and having more fat and less sugar in my diet. Milk was always the full cream variety. Sometimes the bluetits would get at it first and peck off the caps so then we had to resort to the Nessels condensed tinned milk which was horrible in tea.

I remember my grandmother leaving out washed, empty yogurt pots for the milkman to put over the tops of the milk bottles, to keep the bluetits from helping themselves.:o

Farway wrote: »

I was told, people are starving in India, and they really were, leave nothing of rationed food on your plate

I didn't know rationing - born in 1960 - but my mother's favourite line was "There are starving children in Biafra who'd love that food. Get and eat it!"

suki1964

LameWolf wrote: »

I remember my grandmother leaving out washed, empty yogurt pots for the milkman to put over the tops of the milk bottles, to keep the bluetits from helping themselves.:o
I didn't know rationing - born in 1960 - but my mother's favourite line was "There are starving children in Biafra who'd love that food. Get and eat it!"

It was the starving children in Biafra that we were told about as well. I remember quite clearly wondering how I could send my school dinner to them as I certainly didn't want to eat it lol

Talking about increases in plate sizes etc, I was making muffins today in a new tin and they are HUGE. I dug out an old tin I've inherited from the 60's and the new tin has cups at least a third larger. And thinking on we were fed fairy cakes which if we were lucky had fruit in them or water icing and sprinkles on the top. Nowadays they are called cup cakes and have butter icing the size of the bun mounted on the top

Pollycat

LameWolf wrote: »

I didn't know rationing - born in 1960 - but my mother's favourite line was "There are starving children in Biafra who'd love that food. Get and eat it!"

Are you my sister? :rotfl:

Butterfly_Brain

Pollycat I have now gone back to buying most of my meat from the butcher, the local farm or a variety of farmshops, luckily we have quite a lot around here, my favourite one is in Ivinghoe, who does sausages to die for. It doesn't come in plastic, it actually tastes like meat, not watered down yurk, and it is not as expensive as you might think because I only buy exactly what I want.
I shop monthly for meat and it has saved me more than a few pounds because I find that I now buy less meat and stretch it out.
DH and the sprogs don't realise because you can taste the meat and they don't miss the huge portions.
Plus I know exactly where my food has come from.

I do use Aldi and buy stuff on offer, but I am going over to the grow your own, buy local more and more these days.

I am angry that the PTB have allowed bee killing pesticides to be used in Herts, Beds and Bucks Just for rubbish rape crops :mad::mad:

dandy-candy

suki1964 wrote: »

Talking about increases in plate sizes etc, I was making muffins today in a new tin and they are HUGE. I dug out an old tin I've inherited from the 60's and the new tin has cups at least a third larger. And thinking on we were fed fairy cakes which if we were lucky had fruit in them or water icing and sprinkles on the top. Nowadays they are called cup cakes and have butter icing the size of the bun

There's a a cup cake chain in my local shopping centre which sells "individual" cup cakes with the icing on top as high as the height of the sponge again. It must be a packet of butters worth of buttercream, looks absolutely disgusting - I would feel sick eating that much fat!

Auntie-Dolly

I think my upbringing is why I have such difficulty refusing food now. Looking back, we must have been fairly poor and the stories on this thread bring back many memories. We only had ice cream for desert on Sundays and my Dad would get the lions share of a small block with wafers. The rest was shared between my Mother, sister & me. We never left food and ate what we were given including the neck of lamb stew with pearl barley my Mother used to make which I loathed with a passion. The fact that food is now plentiful and delicious in such contrast to what we had as children makes it almost impossible for me to turn it down when offered, even if I'm not hungry.

moneyistooshorttomention

Like a lot of us I guess - I was brought up on a very limited variety of foods and didn't like some of them. So I certainly understand the temptation to have nice-tasting food when its there. Its a large part of the reason why I am very keen on trying new foods/new ways of doing "old" foods.

I do find I get bored with a particular food after a while though - perhaps the temptation for nice-tasting food would go if you "bored yourself" with it by having it once too often to be "interesting" any more?

One of my former workplaces had a tradition for a while of Marks & Sparks cream cakes for all possible excuses - now I'd gone shorter on the cream than I would have like previously, so I thought that was nice to start with and had my share of them. But, after a while, I had had every variant they do of them once too often and got "bored" with them and then wasnt tempted any more and would only take a bit of cake if someone brought in something "new" I hadn't tried yet.

sugarbaby125

kiss_me_now9 wrote: »

I disagree. My parents dinner set is from their wedding in the mid 80s and it's bigger than the set that I bought last year from Morrisons and the set I bought back in 2008 from Woolworths. I feel like that purely depends on what plates you own!

I think a lot of it is that we've moved as a society out of restriction from rationing and into an age where we can have anything we want. We don't just see this excess in food, but in benefits, the NHS and even education. People feel like they're 'owed' whatever they want and don't have to go without any more. We've created a society where we can get whatever we want whenever we want without 'real' consequence (cos why does it matter that you don't have a job when you can pop to cash converters and get that Xbox with your JSA payments?) and consequently people take advantage.

That is such a sweeping generalisation that you are making about JSA claimants. It is obvious that you have never been unfortunate enough to find yourself claiming JSA.

I am currently a claimant. I am confidently job hunting, but finding that I am being subjected to age discrimination at only 53 years old. I am a single parent with a 15 year old son at home, as my other 3 children are adults with independent lives.

The only time I have ever been to a Cash Converters or similar environment in my life, was when I was so financially desperate, that I had to sell a belonging that I and my children could be calm about having to part with.

I would never wish a life of Benefits on any man, woman, disabled or able bodied person, or family, as life is then reduced to compromise, struggle and tightening your belt in ever decreasing circles, especially in the Winter months.

When I have been in full time employment, no matter how low paid, I have been so comfortably off financially compared to life on Benefits, that I can save. These savings are then the difference between just existing and surviving a life on Benefits when through no fault of my own, my job has disappeared. We can not plan for circumstances beyond our control, when it comes to employment.:eek:

I really deplore the lazy journalism that gives other employed people the impression that relying only on Benefits will give you a comfortable existence and give you the big TV, Sky and all the other material wants, when the opposite is true.

I was once interviewed and filmed in my home for a 'Benefits Street' type Documentary for BBC2, but I knew even as I was being filmed in my home, that I did not fit the 'scrounger stereotype' of a Benefit claimant, so was likely to end up on the editing floor and I did!!!! :j

The media does not want shining examples of the harsh reality of life on Benefits to be broadcast. Without financial support from better off family members or savings from periods of employment, I would be even more depressed and despondent.

sugarbaby125

Pollycat wrote: »

I think it's a pity that such a nostalgic, interesting thread has taken such a nasty turn.

I have the following things to say about Butterfly Brain's post below:

Not everybody has paid National Insurance (nor income tax).
Some people have never worked and are better off financially than those who work on minimum wage.

Some people afford 50" TVs and new cars on the benefits they receive.

You are getting your knowledge from the media I presume. The only people claiming Benefits that have over large TV's, SKY etc, get loads of handouts from their family members on a regular basis who are employed, in my personal experience. Everyone else I know, or is a friend of a friend, is always struggling to pay for the basic bills, put food on the table and simply exist on Benefits. There is never any money left over for the luxuries of life, like purchasing a £4.99 Cinema ticket.

The amount of people in the UK who have never worked or paid any form of National Insurance is so minute, that is probably about 0.01% of all types of Benefits claimants.

I am on JSA, and I receive Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit for my 15 year old son. Four months ago when I was in full time employment, we could go out for family meals in a restaurant, afford takeaways occasionally and have days out. I could also afford to save £300 a month from my monthly wage. Now on Benefits, I can not afford to save £3 a month. It is the 6 weeks holidays and as my son has learnt to be careful with money, he still had his £150 of birthday money he got from various relatives on his 15th birthday. He paid for the new trainers he needed himself, as I could not afford to buy them. He has also paid for the odd trip to the Cinema (£4.99 a ticket locally), as I can not afford to give him money for days out or the £5 a week pocket money he had received each week when I was employed.


I do receive Housing Benefit, Discretionary Housing Benefit, and Council Tax Benefit, but the only reason that I am not in arrears for my rent or my Council Tax, was my forward planning when I was employed. I had a month of rent in credit plus I was paying my rent in advance. I had paid the year of Council Tax upfront, so when I found myself unemployed, this prepaid money made all the difference before my Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit was awarded and payments of both were finally paid to my landlord. The Discretionary Housing Benefit was only awarded for 6 months with no guarantee that I will be awarded it in the future when I next apply. I would then have to pay £17.10 a week towards my rent from my Benefits. :mad:

I had to stop all Direct Debits that were not strictly essential when I became employed, as I can not afford £35 for a missed Direct Debit. The 2 children's charities I liked to support had to go and my 2 funeral plans as that saved more than £40 a month, that on Benefits I could not find. :eek:

I already had pre-payment meters for my Gas and Electricity, with lots of extra money loaded on both, so that was another buffer I could use now I live on Benefits.

That is what the reality is like of life on Benefits in the UK:(

Pollycat

sugarbaby125 wrote: »

You are getting your knowledge from the media I presume. The only people claiming Benefits that have over large TV's, SKY etc, get loads of handouts from their family members on a regular basis who are employed, in my personal experience. Everyone else I know, or is a friend of a friend, is always struggling to pay for the basic bills, put food on the table and simply exist on Benefits. There is never any money left over for the luxuries of life, like purchasing a £4.99 Cinema ticket.

The amount of people in the UK who have never worked or paid any form of National Insurance is so minute, that is probably about 0.01% of all types of Benefits claimants.

I am on JSA, and I receive Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit for my 15 year old son. Four months ago when I was in full time employment, we could go out for family meals in a restaurant, afford takeaways occasionally and have days out. I could also afford to save £300 a month from my monthly wage. Now on Benefits, I can not afford to save £3 a month. It is the 6 weeks holidays and as my son has learnt to be careful with money, he still had his £150 of birthday money he got from various relatives on his 15th birthday. He paid for the new trainers he needed himself, as I could not afford to buy them. He has also paid for the odd trip to the Cinema (£4.99 a ticket locally), as I can not afford to give him money for days out or the £5 a week pocket money he had received each week when I was employed.


I do receive Housing Benefit, Discretionary Housing Benefit, and Council Tax Benefit, but the only reason that I am not in arrears for my rent or my Council Tax, was my forward planning when I was employed. I had a month of rent in credit plus I was paying my rent in advance. I had paid the year of Council Tax upfront, so when I found myself unemployed, this prepaid money made all the difference before my Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit was awarded and payments of both were finally paid to my landlord. The Discretionary Housing Benefit was only awarded for 6 months with no guarantee that I will be awarded it in the future when I next apply. I would then have to pay £17.10 a week towards my rent from my Benefits. :mad:

I had to stop all Direct Debits that were not strictly essential when I became employed, as I can not afford £35 for a missed Direct Debit. The 2 children's charities I liked to support had to go and my 2 funeral plans as that saved more than £40 a month, that on Benefits I could not find. :eek:

I already had pre-payment meters for my Gas and Electricity, with lots of extra money loaded on both, so that was another buffer I could use now I live on Benefits.

That is what the reality is like of life on Benefits in the UK:(

And in the post of mine you quoted - which was posted over a week ago, btw - I said this:

Pollycat wrote: »

I think it's a pity that such a nostalgic, interesting thread has taken such a nasty turn.

So why are you trying to take it off-topic again?