Eating in the uk in the fifties (1 Viewer)

May 7, 2011
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EATING IN THE UK IN THE FIFTIES



* Pasta had not been invented.

* Curry was an unknown entity.

* Olive oil was kept in the medicine cabinet

* Spices came from the Middle East where we believed that they were used for embalming

* Herbs were used to make rather dodgy medicine.

* A takeaway was a mathematical problem.

* A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.

* Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.

* The only vegetables known to us were spuds, peas, carrots and cabbage, anything else was regarded as being a bit suspicious.

* All crisps were plain; the only choice we had was whether to put the salt on which came in a blue screwed up bag or not.

* Condiments consisted of salt, pepper, vinegar and brown sauce if we were lucky.

* Soft drinks were called pop.

* Coke was something that we mixed with coal to make it last longer.

* A Chinese chippy was a foreign carpenter.

* Rice was a milk pudding, and never, ever part of our dinner.

* A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.

* A microwave was something out of a science fiction movie.

* Brown bread was something only poor people ate.

* Oil was for lubricating your bike not for cooking, fat was for cooking

* Bread and jam was a treat.

* Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves, not bags.

* The tea cosy was the forerunner of all the energy saving devices that we hear so much about today.

* Tea had only one colour, black. Green tea was not British.

* Coffee was only drunk when we had no tea….. and then it was Camp or Bev, and came in a bottle.

* Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.

* Figs and dates appeared every Christmas, but no one ever ate them.

* Coconuts only appeared when the fair came to town.

* Salad cream was a dressing for salads, mayonnaise did not exist

* Hors d'oeuvre was a spelling mistake.

* Soup was a main meal.

* The menu consisted of what we were given, and was set in stone.

* Only Heinz made beans, there were no others.

* Leftovers went in the dog, never in the bin.

* Special food for dogs and cats was unheard of.

* Sauce was either brown or red.

* Fish was only eaten on Fridays.

* Fish and chips was always wrapped in old newspapers, and definitely tasted better that way.

* Frozen food was called ice cream.

* Nothing ever went off in the fridge because we never had one.

* Ice cream only came in one flavour, vanilla.

* None of us had ever heard of yoghurt.

* Jelly and blancmange was strictly party food.

* Healthy food had to have the ability to stick to your ribs.

* Indian restaurants were only found in India .

* Cheese only came in a hard lump.

* A bun was a small cake that your Mum made in the oven.

* Eating out was called a picnic.

* Cooking outside was called camping.

* Eggs only came fried or boiled.

* Hot cross buns were only eaten at Easter time.

* Pancakes were only eaten on Shrove Tuesday – and on that day it was compulsory.

* Cornflakes had just arrived from America but it was obvious that they would never catch on.

* We bought milk and cream at the same time in the same bottle.

* Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.

* Prunes were purely medicinal.

* Surprisingly muesli was readily available in those days, it was called cattle feed.

* Turkeys were definitely seasonal.

* Pineapples came in chunks in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of a real one.

* We didn't eat Croissants in those days because we couldn't pronounce them, we couldn't spell them and we didn't know what they were.

* Garlic was used to ward off vampires, but never used to flavour bread.

* Water came out of the tap, if someone had suggested bottling it and charging treble for it they would have become a laughing stock.

* Food hygiene was only about washing your hands before meals.

* Campylobacter, Salmonella, E.coli, Listeria, and Botulism were all called "food poisoning."





However, the one thing that we never ever had on our table in the fifties …. ELBOWS!!!





 
2

2657

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Peaches 'clung' to tins

Salmon and tuna only came in tins (everyone kept a tin in case of surprise visitors on a Sunday)

Chicken was a luxury.

Good old days ???::bigsmile:
 
Jun 2, 2010
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Condensed milk (conny onny) was a sandwich spread::bigsmile:

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Snowbird

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We didn't just have fish on Fridays, it didn't come from the chippy either, it was either brown or a nice rainbow colour :Smile:

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keith

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Aug 25, 2007
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And life expectancy was 65. :whatthe:

Of course, that's why the government of the day also set the retirement age at 65 in 1948. :Eeek:

That way they wouldn't have to pay many of the pensioners. :RollEyes: Nothing changes then with politicians.
 
Jan 4, 2012
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It all may seem a little basic but, the taste was SOOo much better than proccesed c--p nowadays--unless my taste buds have dissappeared over the years,along with my spelling :thumb:

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sedge

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I disagree about the cheese. There were in fact 3 sorts of cheese in the 50s. Proper cheddar, with a rind, cut in wedges or processed in rectangular shapes, no rind and of the cosistency of the 'Sorbo' balls we used to play with (and at which my mama turned up her nose) PLUS that delicacy in tinfoil triangles in a carboard box - Kraft cheese spread.

Hovis was eaten, it came small and unsliced, was more expensive than white and you only had it once a week on a Wednesday, unless you had visitors for Sunday tea in which case you didn't get any on Weds.

Bread and jam was commonplace every day food, because your mother had made the jam. Never strawberry, as they were too expensive to jam - it came in a variety of other flavours mainly goosegog (why is it pink Mom?) plum or damson.

Peaches (for Sunday tea with evaporated milk) and plums (for winter pies) were bottled in Kilner jars in the summer too.

You had runner beans cos you could grow quite a lot in a small space and then they were salted in those great big sweetie jars, and your Mom had to buy about 3 whole blocks of cooking salt just for them whereas a block would last ages just for chucking in the veg etc that was being cooked.

Fish only happened on Tuesday at our house since the fishmonger didn't open on Monday and anyway, you had to eat the meat left over from yesterday on Mondays, didn't you? Mom used to go up the town religiously every Tuesday morning. Fillet of plaice sprinkled sparingly with golden breadcrumbs shaken out of a cardboard cylinder container and shallow fried, served with boiled spuds, tinned peas and parsley sauce.

Wednesday was baking day - jam tarts, scones, small cakes of different kinds.

Rice did indeed only come in a pudding dish but you have omitted frogspawn pudding and worms pudding (large tapioca and macaroni) which you sometimes got for a change as apparently your Dad preferred them ....
 

sedge

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Yukkk.

Sardine & Shrimp paste with a liberal coating of salad cream for me.
 
Jul 24, 2009
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Frog spawn pudding, or sago to give it it's proper name, was my favourite. You can only get small , tinned rubbish now.
Loved toast or pikelets toasted on a coal fire. Pikelets were brought round by a chap with a bike with a basket on the front, which is also the same sort of bike I used to deliver meat on when I was a butchers boy.

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Scout

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we went down the shops
me ma and me
to get some kippers
to take home for tea



cant rember any more
 

Stephen & Jeannie

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You are so wrong !!!

Pasta had been "invented"........It came in tins masquerading as Heinz spaghetti in tomato sauce ! Utterly disgusting stuff !!:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 

ShiftZZ

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Sunday was a roast, whatever it was you had to eat it,
Monday (washing day) and leftovers.

In the autumn, we would get sent out to collect blackberries and my mother would wither make blackberry pudding (suet) or pie for tea.

We would also get turnip mash/ bean mash with a fried chop on top, drissled with the fat from the chop.

Would get sent to the chippie with a bowl, a shillings worth of chips, peas in the bottom, all wrapped up in newspaper then run home as fast as you could.

I remember mother opening two bags of crisps, putting them in a bown, warming them up in the oven as a treat.

Sunday afternoon, always tinned fruit, tinned milk and bread and butter.

School dinners, loved them, proper food, proper dinner ladies, I can still tast the food today.

If the food was iffy, you had to add brown sauce nothing was wasted..

My mother would also pickle onions, often at the kitchen sink, tears running down her face..

My grandmother would buy green and red Fairy soap, hang them in onion bags in the outside shed so they would dry hard, she thought it was better for washing collars and other bits, I can still smell that to this day.

Sunday night, bath in front of the fire, tin bath. Outside toilet, newspaper, having to take your jumper off as your pants were help up with braces.

I think it was colder in those days, frozen milk at school, ice on the inside of you bedroom windows, no central heating, just a hot water bottle, and woolen blankets.

Short pants to go to school and you home knitted Balaklava..

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Last edited:

Campercaillie

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sedge

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My nephew had a bit of trouble with saying the name of what Carnation put in tins that you had on your tinned fruit, or jelly.

In our family, it's always been Operated Milk since then.

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Spacerunner

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I can remember the few meals that were available as breakfast.

Fat bacon, pig's head brawn, bread and milk (that made my kids physically sick when I made it!), a pick over of the six'penn'th of stale cakes from the local bakery.

The stale cakes was the most popular......the chickens got the left overs.
 

sedge

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Oh I hated my liberty bodice with a passion. Never had a new one of hardly anything underneath as I had a sister 4 years older. That girl was light on clothes AND shoes, Dangnabbit. Grrrrrrrrr. Think that's one of the real reasons I opted for a totally different senior school !

Mom always said I was heavy on clothes. However, she omitted to remember sis had worn it for two years or summat before I ever did.

I now have Tshirts and other garments I've had since the early 1990's and I still wear them, just not for best. Some garments are even older and have come back into fashion!

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May 10, 2012
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Mum used to put the fat from the Sunday roast in a bowl.
It used to set with a white covering and we had it bread.Think it was called bread and dripping:thumb:
 

Snowbird

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Mum used to put the fat from the Sunday roast in a bowl.
It used to set with a white covering and we had it bread.Think it was called bread and dripping:thumb:

Ahhhh Sunday roast...I remember that, my mother used to send me round next door to borrow there joint so she could make a drop of gravy :ROFLMAO:

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