Eating in the fifties
 

WHEN YOU READ THIS YOU WILL WONDER WHERE THE YEARS WENT.........


EATING IN THE FIFTIES

Pasta had not been invented. It was macaroni or spaghetti.

Curry was a surname.

A take-away was a mathematical problem.

Pizza? Sounds like a leaning tower somewhere.

Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.

All chips were plain.

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

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

Brown bread was something only poor people ate.

Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking.

Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.

Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.

Chickens didn't have fingers in those days.


None of us had ever heard of yogurt.

Healthy food consisted of anything edible.

Cooking outside was called camping.

Seaweed was not a recognized food.

Kebab' was not even a word, never mind a food.

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

Prunes were medicinal.


Surprisingly muesli was readily available. It was called cattle feed.

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

Water came out of the tap. If someone had suggested bottling it and charging more than gasoline for
it they would have become a laughing stock.

The one thing that we never had on at our table in the fifties...was elbows or hats!

Thanks Ditter - Those are all so true!

is that true, rice was never served for dinner? I was born in '59, and had rice with chicken in about '65 or so.

thanks for the memories... sure do miss the simpler times

Wish it was still that way. Thanks for sharing.

We frequently had chicken and rice for dinner in the fifties in Virginia.....although I admit my mama was a yankee cook. :)

Jan in VA

Thanks for sharing these, Ditter. Oh, back in the days......:)

Yes!! Cubed sugar was reserved for Grandma and Grandpa....for coffee after Sunday dinner. Grandpa used to have us stick out our tongues and he would "swipe" the cube across it.....sounds really gross now....but was wonderful back then!

First time I ever saw cubed sugar it came with the polio vaccine in it.

Me too. :)

I am from 1960 and I remember the chips had a separate sachet with salt and where plain end of 60s or start of 70s paprika flavor was added. Cubed sugar with polio vaccine I also remember that. Chocolate bar was plain milk or plain dark. Tang drink powder was good. The grocery shop only had baskets for the shopping. Then we got a supermarket with shopping carts/trolleys. Single or 2 portion servings did not exist all was family size. Food had no use by or sell by dates yet almost never something went bad or off. No e-numbers. Foods had more flavour more taste. Meats did not shrink in the pan after cooking. Bonbon fancy chocolates where only bought or gifted at Christmas.

No kale? Yay! Nasty stuff!! Cooked or raw....no thanks!

Sandy

yes and we had to line up in the cafeteria to get it

and the cans at the grocery had the price stamped on the can - they didn't expire because if they raise the price women bought the cheapest can.

The no elbows were a strict rule in our house. Also no singing....that would have been a rule they made up for me! Yep, that's the way we rolled in the 50's. Smile inducing post!!! Thanks.

Oh, yes kale. Used to have to help momma wash the kale and the spinach and it was cooked together in ham broth. Yum! My kids won't eat it.

We had elbow macaroni or homemade noodles, never heart of spaghetti or other pastas. Made our own butter, canned veggies from the garden and apples from the orchard. Mom made our own bread and cinnamon rolls or biscuits. Didn't buy a lot from the store or go very often.

Used to eat plums off the neighbor's tree along with all the other kids... BUT we got in big trouble when we threw rotten tomatoes at cars - they all knew who did it... Neighbors watched out for neighbor kids. AND the neighbor's knew who's kid lived where. BUT it was ok to get a cookie and milk from a neighbor.

.....hmm, yes/no on all except the last one!!!!! My pet peeve nowadays....still not allowed at MY table!!!!!

light bread was what you bought at the store. biscuits were made 3x a day. Learned to eat cold oatmeal and like it cause papa had breakfast before I got up and he had the hot oatmeal. DH laughs at me cause at 70 I still like cold oatmeal. lol No boxes of cereal at my house, cobblers instead of pies, chickens were killed & cleaned Sunday mornings before church so lunch would be ready to cook when we got home. Always a bowl of bacon, grease and all, and biscuits on the table to grab if you were snackable. Walked 3 blocks home from school to eat lunch every day, got a nickel after lunch to buy treats at the corner grocery store. Nickel would buy a box of pretzels or a sack of 2 for 1 candy. Those were the good old days, today kids don't know what they missed.

Rice sometimes WAS our dinner!!! In the late 50's. We would have white rice with milk and brown sugar. Do I need to say we didn't have much? We ate it and we're glad to have it. Thanks, Ditter, for the reminder of how far I have traveled in life. We did not, however, have to eat Spam. That would be a whole 'nother thread! :D :wave:

I came from New England, so Saturday night supper was codfish cakes, Boston baked beans, and B&M brown bread from a can. MMMMMM....

Yes, things were easier and more simple. We sometimes had rice with milk, sugar and butter for dinner. Biscuits and white homemade gravy was always a favorite. Sauerkraut was considered a vegetable. Sometimes no supper and very little else. We were poorer than church mice.
I have come a long way and really wouldn't want to go back.
Nice of you Ditter to remind us.

So true except for pizza. We made Chief Boyardee when I was a child. my brother burned me twice with the oven. I also ate a McDonalds too because we had the 2nd restaurant that open in the fifties near LAX. They only sold single burgers, fries, soda and hand made shakes. Once was mentioned on the Monopoly game.

When we did not have oatmeal for breakfast, Mother would make us kids flour pudding. Water to a boil and stir in white flour, PLEASE make sure there are lumps, the very best part. I made it a number of times just for fun for my kids, they enjoyed the lumps also.
Brings back fond memories of the things listed.
Thanks Ditter for jogging our memories.

I remember when the first pizza shop came to town. Ohhhh....it was sooooo good! And take-out (Chinese, BBQ, chicken, etc.) was unheard of. After 50 years of cooking, I love take out!

My family is from Missouri and I was born in '59. Everything was fried. I didn't know meat could be cooked any other way until I married my ex who's from CA...lol. We rarely ate out. I do remember 1 time getting a bucket of KFC while traveling. One of my earliest memories is eating mac & cheese (homemade of course) at my great grandparent's house and marveling at the little lumps of golden cheese. Boxed mac & cheese is terrible compared to this!!!

Ha. ha. cute!! I watched a show on Italian immigrants in the 1800's and the powers that be wanted them to feed their children oatmeal for a good breakfast. The Italian's thought that was pig food!! sometimes i wish for the 50's again though.

thanks for the memories

That's funny, our Polio vaccine was a pink liquid in a tiny cup that the teacher made sure the whole class drank at the same time.

OH YES!!! We cannot get brown bread down here. (See Anne with a big sad face.)

Thank you so much for the walk down memory lane. I remember my Mother and Grandmother walking out the back door grabbing a chicken kill it, clean it cut it up and that was dinner along with what came from our garden. Killing hogs in the Fall and the wonderful smell coming from the smoke house. I guess the only unhealthy thing we ate was my DM poured bacon fat in everything she cooked of fried.

Oh for my Mum's rice pudding made with Carnation canned milk!! We used to fight over who got the skin off the top!

We ate a lot of rice, but never did I see it ate with gravy till I got married in '62.. as a kid we ate it with sugar and butter, and I do that till this day...grew up in East Texas, and we never had broiled steak, pizza, seafood, except maybe a perch or two, spaghetti, but plenty of pork and chicken, and anything grown in a garden. And Hamburgers didn't grow in the garden.. We didn't have sliced bread till I was 15. Oh gosh!! I forgot, I'm old!!.

Sounds familiar.

We only had rice when my mother made turkey soup. She couldn't make it without it lumping up on her she said . I first had it as a side dish after I became an adult. Maybe it is processed differently as I don't have any problem making it. I'm from new england so maybe a regional thing.

Me too. MMMMM

Thank you so much. This does take me back.

That was GREAT!!....and we had rice with our pigs in a blanket (cabbage rolls)............Don't forget corned beef hash from a can !! LOVE that stuff !! and fried Spam with eggs..... Woo Hoo !!!