How times have changed

Oh yes loved the Vesta curries. Never had a sweet and sour though.

Remember Vesta well, it was the first thing my BF (later husband) cooked me in his University halls in 1970. It seemed ok then but I bet we’d find it disgusting now!

Has anyone tried camp coffee in ice cold milk?
I was at the boat show in the 80s and this was being 'demonstrated'
It's absolutely delicious.

My Gran always drank Camp coffee. I remember the bottle with the Indian and soldier on the label. I quite liked the taste too.

Yes saggi we got vitamins etc from real food too- but these were winter supplements i think? And sueki44 i DO remember the double ended cans too but seemed like a faff to be honest-i also still do love a birds trifle,justwokeupand peaches,but carnation milk(my mum liked this)was always too syrupy sweet for me.Further update on vesta chow mein- i cooked mine for tea earlier for myself only- i admit at first i glanced at packets briefly so ended up frying the wrong noodles first,but(luckily!)had 2 packets so was able to compensate- did in pan on hob like the old days and seemed to be same(if a bit blander)Have done online check& you can still get chow mein one in a few supermarkets but only poundstretcher seem to do others.will be going there soon... I remember birds did a special sherry trifle too for while,which was very 'sherry-tasting' but think it died out after a while- the sherry one out last christmas was nowhere near as nice- couldnt taste any sherry flavour at all!

Blimey camp coffee! Takes me back to my gran.

My parents height of sophistication was a hostess trolly. They never entertained but we used to have it wheeled out every Sunday with cucumber sandwiches and home made cake. Bless them we thiought it was posh

No id never had a sweet& sour vesta- i think with hindsight the yellow colour in the risotto was perhaps one of the dreaded 'e'numbers so thats why it was removed- they COULD have replaced it with saffron or turmeric to colour it as suggested?but maybe that would have changed the flavour then

Oh that tiny tins of cream that you had to whip for about 20 mins to get it stiff. Loved it with grans apple pie

I don't think we can get anything delivered to the door here, apart from the 'wet fish' man who comes round the village on Fridays. When I was at college in the early seventies we were given a vesta box each Sunday evening for our meal as the cooks didn't come in and we could make it ourselves.

Sorry meant the yellow in paella one- do they still do 'dream topping'?it was in packets and you added milk & whipped it till your arm achedbut it tasted really creamy.mum used to get one when she got birds trifle as she said there wasnt enough creamy topping in trifle packet- so must have been a birds product too then?

I bought a pack when newly married (70's) as my husband was curious.
One mouthful was all it took to tell us we'd wasted our money. Never again.

Yes online search confirms dream topping is birds and it is still available in supermarkets-its like reliving the whole 60's&70's

Its plain that vesta meals are much like marmite-you either loved em or hated em! i liked vesta but hate marmite,Bovril spread though is yummy- some of my grandkids love it too, on toast

Because you are on Facebook onestepbeyond. You may not think you are but that is where I saw your comment.

I mentioned it because marionh may not know that her thread is elsewhere. She has 55 replies now on Facebook - by people who saw it there and not on Gransnet.

Only 3 replies on Twitter but a retweet and 14 ‘likes’ so lots of people reading you there onestepbeyond.

I don't like curry although I like chilli in some foods and onion bahjis and vegetable samosas. That's as far as I go.

Me too, BBbevan
I'd almost forgotten about it but I'll buy some next week to see if I still like the taste...if I can find where to buy it.

I was born during WW2 and remember how little choice , compared to today, there was in food. The only reason we didn't try Vesta meals was because my mother was deeply suspicious of anything new, so it was the usual delicacies like stuffed hearts! To be fair money was very tight and she couldn't afford to experiment.
I do remember Virol, not a favourite, but loved the government provided orange juice, in a bottle like a medicine container. I was lucky enough to miss a really disgusting concoction called Scott's Emulsion, which was fishy tasting and hated by my brothers and sisters. It was not around by the time I arrived.
When I first went to eat in an Angus Steak House, when I was about 20, I thought it so sophisticated. So much has changed.

My Mum made 'curry'. It always had raisins in it and apple plus left over Sunday joint. I thought it was great but had never tasted the real thing g in the 50s

I remember the Vesta curries and chinese meals, but newly married we cooked our own curries which were much better.I can’t have takeaways delivered ( too far from them) or fish and chips either but make our own, probably healthier.

Me too!

I loved Vesta Beef Curry was addicted to it at one time

have been trying to decide between Indian and Chinese.

Why not order both?

Gaggi3 Scott's emulsion was, unfortunately, still around after the war. I remember being dosed up with it and it's foul, fishy taste. But I loved Virol.