typical weekly menus in 1960

squeekymoo

OMG does anyone remember having to pour the milk the milk through the tea strainer to remove the lumps - mum would say its fine for tea but dont use that bottle for cereal.
also did anyone have boiled bacon with white gravy when the bacon joint was boiled with carrot n onion the liquid would be thickened with cornflour served with pease pudding and mash - leftovers made into thick soup with pearl barley & dumplings - I am a veggie now but occasionly cook this for family members when they come over
what about wet sand and jam - ground rice and jam or better still with dark black muscarvardo sugar (the one in the packet with the black lady dressed in her finery , the sugar used to set into a solid block)
greens fairy cake mix that had red and green 'cherries' which were more like jelly tots

noonesperfect

earthmother wrote: »

I haven't read all of the thread, so apologies if I'm repeating someone

I wasn't around in the 60s, but my grandma was still working to roughly the same plan when I was younger (late 70s/early 80s). I don't recall it all, but I know it was fish on Friday, roast on Sunday, and Monday was Stew and Rice Pudding, because both could be thrown together, put in the oven and forgotten about while the Baby Burco did its work, lines of steaming clothes were pegged out or arranged on airers around the fire (depending on the time of year) and you watched the spin dryer because it walked across the kitchen floor and took it's drainage hose, which was supposed to go in the sink, with it. I still remember the lovely smells in that kitchen on Mondays


Mum & Dad often say about Kayli - they remember getting it in little pyramid-shaped bags, and also drinks that came in the same shape packaging (don't know the name).

You could get orange squash (and milk I think) in pyramid-shaped waxed paper packaging.

Luiz

I was born in 1970 so can't quite claim the '60s menu, but I'm sure it wasn't so different, as my maternal line have all been good cooks :-)

We didn't have much money but Dad kept an allotment and we had fruit trees in the garden too. So we were never without fruit and veg - although I did suffer from the occasional glut like runner beans or marrows which could make food a bit monotonous but Mum did try and ring the changes - the marrows would be stuffed until we cried no more! then made into chutney or jam. I don't think marrow works well as jam.

Market day was Friday, and Mum would collect the child benefit from the Post Office and we'd walk into town, or for a special treat, take the bus. Mum had a shopping trolley when not pushing a pram or pushchair and hanging the shopping off them. I've gone and bought a modern one myself now I'm avoiding the supermarkets as much as poss.

Mum would buy almost everything at the market - the veg man was so good there was always a queue there and he was always generous - giving out apples to the children and topping up your paper bags just over the weight. He clearly didn't suffer financially, and he and his staff were always happy and helpful. There was a cheeseman who sold that norwegian cheese that looks like fudge and a cheddar-type cheese called 'orkney red' that would take the roof of your mouth off. There was a fishmonger, a haberdasher (mum bought fabric there to make our clothes) and a hardware shop.

We'd use the local butcher in the village who had a lovely irish setter dog who used to woof at us from behind a gate. Mum always bought a good sized joint - I don't think people bought less meat, they used it all over the course of several days, and chicken and beef was more expensive then. I do this now, and buy proper joints of lamb for instance, which will then feed us for at least three days. At christmas we would have a Capon - I'm starting to see these again in the shops now. Turkey was too expensive.

In fact although my mum bought Angel Delight and Birds Whip, she would turn her nose up at processed foods liked tinned mince and Fray Bentos. She was quite selective in that way. Family favourites included packet mix creme caramel from sainsburys, evap and jelly mousse (blackcurrant was my favourite) and frozen individual mousses that you had to take out to defrost but were still lovely if you had a frozen bit at the bottom. Greens did a packet mix cheesecake that was a yoghurt cheesecake and v yummy - they don't seem to do it now. Yoghurts were also bought from sainsburys during the once-a-month supermarket shop in a larger town nearby - Dad drove use there. We used to shop at Bejams until Sainsbury's opened a freezer centre.

Chocolate was definitely sold in bigger sizes - I still swear creme eggs and mars bars are smaller than they used to be - and favourite sweets included gobstoppers that were huge and changed colour as they got smaller, raspberry fruit laces and Sherbert Fountains. Sweet cigarettes were frowned upon in our house. Parma violets were disgusting but we still bought them - why was that ? I guess it was the same way we watched rubbish tv because there was nothing to compare it to. Oh those were the days.

I'm finding that as I try to head towards a lower carbon lifestyle while watching the pennies, I'm shopping more and more like my mum did when I was little. We've started talking about it more as a family, my husband has similar and different memories, and it's interesting hearing from the mums what they remember too. I'm glad I was brought up able to garden and cook - I feel sorry for those who weren't given such a good start in life - even though we had little money we wanted for nothing. I'm hoping I can do an equally good job with my son :-)

Luiz

moanymoany

Luiz, in France last year I discovered violet flavoured ice cream - just like parma violets. I had a taste - gross!! The assistant was highly amused. I think that choccy bars are much smaller - I'm sure that there was a tele prog that proved that this was true.

Squeekymoo - I do remember those little lumps in the milk. They floated on the tea - yuk!

I love dripping on toast or bread - with a sprinkle of salt (don't tell the salt police.)

WEEGIE

moanymoany wrote: »

Luiz, in France last year I discovered violet flavoured ice cream - just like parma violets. I had a taste - gross!! The assistant was highly amused. I think that choccy bars are much smaller - I'm sure that there was a tele prog that proved that this was true.

Squeekymoo - I do remember those little lumps in the milk. They floated on the tea - yuk!

I love dripping on toast or bread - with a sprinkle of salt (don't tell the salt police.)

Yes you are right, choccy bars are a lot smaller and narrower, just take a look at the 1d caramels(Mcgowans, the one with the cow on it), and you will see what I mean.

csarina

I was married in 1961, at home we had a roast on Sunday, cold meat with baked spud Monday, some form of meat pie on Tuesday, tripe and onions Wednesday, cannot remember what we had the rest of the week. We only had fish and chips occasionally and never from the chip shop, always home made.

When I married I always cooked a roast on Sunday, and still do........but we did not ever have the same meals on the same day each week.

It was years before I used mince from the supermarket, I used to mince my own meat. Shin of beef was used for stew, neck of lamb was another favourite..........steak and kidney pie,shepherds pie, meat and potato pie.....pasta was unknown................it was the early 80's before I used pasta of any sort. ......

moanymoany

Just cleaning the sink after washing up the bread making stuff and I found long strands of gluten in the plug hole which I fished out and was instantly reminded of the 'Energen' rolls 'slimmers' bought back in the 60's.

When we made bread in 'Housecraft' at school, the teacher showed us how to make them. She took bread dough and washed the starch out of it and cooked what was left - hey presto - Energen rolls.

They had hard crusty outsides and a kind of holey 'fluff' inside. As I remember you had to put quite a bit of marge or butter on them to make them palatable! Oh, the irony. That was when few of us realised which were the real culprits in weight gain.

Bambywamby

I was born in the early 70's and in general our weekly menu was the same.

Sunday - Lunch: roast joint, with trimmings and fruit and icecream for afterwards.
Tea/supper: Jam on toast and a cup of tea after our weekly bath.

Monday - Left overs with roasties, baked beans & tomato sauce or bubble and squeak with baked beans.
Tuesday - mums over cooked rubber mince stew, with veggies and bread.
Wednesday - pork and onions with yorkshire puds.
Thursday - Choosies night (anything we wanted on toast followed by trifle)
Friday - Fish and chips
Saturday - (summer) large ham/boiled egg salad (winter) ham with egg and chips.

We rarely had puddings, but there was always plenty of fruit to be had and crisps and sweets were a weekly, rather than daily treat.

culpepper

ooh yes we got a chocolate bar or small packet of sweets on saturday with our saturday comic which mum bought after checking which issue you had last week (to save buying the same one again). Crisps were only for parties or school outings and the same with drinks in a bottle. We only drank tea or water from the tap unless we had a visitor when we would have cream soda and tizer.

skintmumof3

came across this thread whilst doing a search..
just brings back soo many memories......
very absorbing...