Remember Eating in the fifties.

Butterfly said:
We got to eat our dinner on TV trays (gotten with Green Stamps) in front of TV ONLY when Walt Disney Presents came on on Sunday night. Otherwise it was absolutely all at the table and you were not allowed to be excused until everyone was finished. We weren't even allowed to answer the phone during dinner.
Click to expand...
Oh, lol, hadn’t thought about the green stamps in decades. My mother used to collect those and make me lick them and stick them in the books. Probably why I hate to lick envelopes. Thanks for the memory!
 

Not much has changed.

images
 
With 7 children (I was the middle child) we ate homemade stews (with big chunks of onion) and homemade beans that cooked on the stove all day. Still can't eat either of them to this day. Don't remember any pasta. Mom made pies and cakes. Campbell's soup for lunch (tomato) and sometimes vegetable soup (undiluted) on mashed potatoes. We all ate at the dining room table after mom and dad got home from working at the hosiery (sock) factory at 6 p.m.
 

I was a little girl in the 50's and my Mom had a tradition with our weekly meals. On Monday nights we had soup and steak for dinner. Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday we had macaroni and meatballs and salad. On Friday we had fish for dinner. Saturday was whatever my Mom felt like cooking. I hated the Monday soup because it had Lima Beans in it that I didn't like so when my Mom wasn't looking my older sister would take them out of my soup and eat them. I still hate Lima Beans.
 
For me, post war 40's and early 50's home meals were of the meat and potato variety eaten around the kitchen table. At least two weekly meals were leftovers. Restaurant meals were burgers and fries and quite rare; only once in two or three months. In the County Seat, there was one Chinese joint, there were no Mexican or Italian food sources. I was in high school before I ever tasted Pizza or Tacos.
 
I remember fresh bread. Our landlord in Los Angeles baked bread and always brought us several loafs. We would cut it still hot, slather it with butter, and shove it in.

When we moved to Orange County, the Helms Bakery Truck came every day through the neighborhood. Fresh baked bread, donuts, and pies. Yummy, yummy, yummy.
 
In the 1950’s, you had to eat what your Mom prepared, or you didn’t get dessert; she “wasn’t running no restaurant,“ and we were always told that people were starving in Africa and China, and would have been so glad to eat what we had. We ate unhealthy, with real butter, lots of calories, and brown gravy sauces if any. Dad would sit at the dinner table, and talk about the latest guy at his office who had dropped dead of a heart attack. This wasn’t surprising in light of their diet and the fact that so many smoked like chimneys. Lots of guys died in their fifties in the 1950’s when cholesterol wasn’t thought about or treated, and smoking was common... :oops:
 
jujube said:
My mom was a good cook; she canned and froze vegetables and fruits that we grew in our big garden. There was always plenty to eat on the table. It wasn't fancy eatin' but it sure was GOOD eatin' And there was always some kind of dessert.....it might just be Jello but it was there.

My mother would have never considered cooking different meals for different members of the family. What was on the table was what we were eating that night. Didn't like the liver? Well, fill up on the mashed taters and green beans. Didn't like green beans? Well, you won't die if you don't have a green veggie for one meal......fill up on the mashed taters. Didn't like mashed taters? Well, eat your bread.

Vegetarians? Had never heard of them back then. Vegans? Didn't Flash Gordan wipe them out in an interstellar battle? Fruitarians? Naw, we were Methodists. Methodists ate everything.

My mom could take a pound of cheap hamburger, a large chunk of Velveeta, a handful of noodles and a jar of mixed vegetables and make a casserole that makes my mouth water to this day just thinking about it. In fact, she still can. At almost 95, she can WORK that kitchen.
Click to expand...
My mother and I didn't get along, but she was also a great cook... Today, as I write this, I'm trying to recreate what I called her "Hungarian spaghetti." All that I can remember is that it had celery in it and wasn't as red/saucy as the Italian kind. I called my daughter and a cousin trying to just get the basics right - and neither of them had her recipe. Oh well, my memory has faded along other lines as well, so maybe I won't notice than mine doesn't come close to the wonderful taste of hers.
 
Aneeda72 said:
Oh, lol, hadn’t thought about the green stamps in decades. My mother used to collect those and make me lick them and stick them in the books. Probably why I hate to lick envelopes. Thanks for the memory!
Click to expand...
I had forgotten about green stamps too - until I tore apart a staircase last year and found a bunch inside! Just a brutal reminder of all the little details that have escaped my memory. But, this site has been helpful in jogging my old brain!
 
I found a bunch of green stamp books at a yard sale in the 90's and bought them for a dollar. I looked on line and there were still redemption centers! Sent them in and got a blender, I think. You can STILL redeem them, but you have to have a certain amount of filled books.
 
[QUOTE="Empty, post: 1310877, member: 8505
My mother and I didn't get along, but she was also a great cook... Today, as I write this, I'm trying to recreate what I called her "Hungarian spaghetti." All that I can remember is that it had celery in it and wasn't as red/saucy as the Italian kind. I called my daughter and a cousin trying to just get the basics right - and neither of them had her recipe. Oh well, my memory has faded along other lines as well, so maybe I won't notice than mine doesn't come close to the wonderful taste of hers.
[/QUOTE]

I came by this recipe for "Hungarian Spaghetti":

Cook and drain spaghetti/noodles

Saute onions.

Cook hamburger, drain grease, add onions, 4 laurel leaves, black pepper, salt & paprika to taste.

Put half of the spaghetti/noodles in bottom of greased baking dish

Add all of the hamburger mixture on top of spaghetti/noodles.

Put the rest of the spaghetti/noodles on top.

Spread sour cream over noodles.

Cover with shredded cheese (recipe doesn't say what kind)

Bake in oven at ? (recipe doesn't say) for ? (ditto) until cheese is "melted" and has "some brown spots"

Cut like lasagna.

Sounds like "heart attack in a pan" but my mouth is watering......
 
JaniceM said:
Two dishes I remember:
my mother's version of "SOS"- a potful of boiled hamburger and flour, served on toast. I asked my father what SOS meant, and he said it stood for "SAVE OUR STOMACHS"! :eek:
The other was "tuna-noodle casserole." That was kinda gross, too.
Click to expand...

My mother made that and served it over boiled potatoes, we ate a lot of potatoes when I was a kid.

Sometimes she took a shortcut and used a can of cream of mushroom soup.

My mother called it hamburger stroganoff we called it BARF just to upset her.

I still make it a couple of times a year.
 
jujube said:
[QUOTE="Empty, post: 1310877, member: 8505
My mother and I didn't get along, but she was also a great cook... Today, as I write this, I'm trying to recreate what I called her "Hungarian spaghetti." All that I can remember is that it had celery in it and wasn't as red/saucy as the Italian kind. I called my daughter and a cousin trying to just get the basics right - and neither of them had her recipe. Oh well, my memory has faded along other lines as well, so maybe I won't notice than mine doesn't come close to the wonderful taste of hers.
Click to expand...

I came by this recipe for "Hungarian Spaghetti":

Cook and drain spaghetti/noodles

Saute onions.

Cook hamburger, drain grease, add onions, 4 laurel leaves, black pepper, salt & paprika to taste.

Put half of the spaghetti/noodles in bottom of greased baking dish

Add all of the hamburger mixture on top of spaghetti/noodles.

Put the rest of the spaghetti/noodles on top.

Spread sour cream over noodles.

Cover with shredded cheese (recipe doesn't say what kind)

Bake in oven at ? (recipe doesn't say) for ? (ditto) until cheese is "melted" and has "some brown spots"

Cut like lasagna.

Sounds like "heart attack in a pan" but my mouth is watering......
[/QUOTE]


That's like the way I make baked spaghetti- only I use spaghetti sauce instead of sour cream.
 
Aunt Bea said:
My mother made that and served it over boiled potatoes, we ate a lot of potatoes when I was a kid.

Sometimes she took a shortcut and used a can of cream of mushroom soup.

My mother called it hamburger stroganoff we called it BARF just to upset her.

I still make it a couple of times a year.
Click to expand...

Hamburger & cream of mushroom soup- that sounds kinda good!
 
Creamed Tuna on Toast.Hubby and I still eat it all the time.Couple of cans of Aunt Penney`s White Sauce,large can of tuna and a jar of sliced pimentos. Quickest and easiest meal I make-toasting the bread takes longer than anything else lol.
 
I spent most of the 50s living in the Middle East, so it seemed to be all salad and orange juice!
During the brief interlude in England, my mother cooked everything from scratch and there were a lot of stews and pies....and proper puddings with custard.
 
We had a chocolate candy bar on the shelf that was very similar to our Hershey bar. The cost was 4 cents, compared to Hershey’s for 5 cents. It only stayed around maybe a year or so. The name was Klein’s. Anyone have that in their area?

We also had a hamburger joint owned by former Baltimore Colt Gino Marchetti. The cost was 15 cents for one or 7 for $1.00. Even ad s 12 year-old, I had to eat 3 before I had enough, along with fries and a shake. I could get a burger, fries and shake and change back from my dollar.
 
You mean before we stopped eating all those bad food. Before so many people got sick from eating all those nasty fats, yes I mean those that are now proving they are not in any way as bad as the healthy stuff.
IN the last couple of months I have stopped eating a lot of processed stuff. I don't eat any of the so-called health foods. I use lard for a few things that bring back those memories of burgers etc.... So far I have stopped taking two medications and lost 17 lbs.
Not only do I remember them I now eat them cooked as they were then.
Thanks to all on this topic , found a few things to try out.
 
Oh LARD! Iremember my Mother had a can of reusable lard on the back of the stove. Didn't think about it till you brought it up! You could never do that today!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top