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Anyone remember National Dried Milk?

(63 Posts)
mae13 Wed 27-Nov-24 03:45:25

Gosh, but I was brought up on it - the rationing that persisted (and got worse!) after the war meant that my little Mum was too undernourished to be able breastfeed me and the fairly new Welfare State provided.

Those lovely white tins with dark blue labelling were a literal lifeline.

Oopsadaisy1 Wed 27-Nov-24 05:03:01

And the orange juice.

JamesandJon33 Wed 27-Nov-24 05:38:00

Yes I do. My dad used to thread string through them and we them as small stilts, when they were empty of course.

Oopsadaisy1 Wed 27-Nov-24 06:06:15

My Dads shed shelf was lined with them, filled with odds and ends, screw and nails.

Calendargirl Wed 27-Nov-24 06:45:13

Oopsadaisy1

My Dads shed shelf was lined with them, filled with odds and ends, screw and nails.

Same here.

Aldom Wed 27-Nov-24 07:28:52

Yes, I remember National Dried Milk.
My premature, twin brothers were born in 1948 and they were fed this. The feeding bottles in those days were 'banana' shaped and made of
glass. It must have been exhausting for my parents during the period when the babies needed feeding every two hours. I also remember the bottles of orange juice and the cod liver oil and malt.

hours

Aldom Wed 27-Nov-24 07:31:52

Oh, and my father made stilts for me with the ND milk tins. smile That's a memory I had forgotten, so thank you for the reminder. My father died when the twins were four years old and I was ten.

Ailsa43 Wed 27-Nov-24 07:34:49

Oh yes I remember it, and the orange juice. To this day in my mind I've never tasted nicer orange Juice..

NannyJan53 Wed 27-Nov-24 07:39:09

My son was born in 1975 and I breast fed him. But he was so hungry he needed a top up! I could buy National Dried milk for 20p a tin, which was cheap then as I think the branded ones were about 80p?

Calendargirl Wed 27-Nov-24 07:51:41

Yes, I bought NDM for my daughter , born in 1974. Much cheaper than Cow and Gate, or whatever else there was.

I assumed it was as good, just paid extra for the brand name of the others.

Greyduster Wed 27-Nov-24 08:26:40

I had my first child in the Far East and National Dried milk was the only baby milk available to us. Problem was, he wouldn’t take it. Our health visitor, in desperation, suggested I try him with Ideal milk, which was then deemed suitable for feeding to babies. When I mentioned this in a letter to my mother she was mortified - had never heard of such a thing! He never looked back - was always a strong, healthy child.

Witzend Wed 27-Nov-24 08:35:08

Yes, I remember it - I had siblings 4 and 6 years younger.
And the glass baby bottles. Not to mention the ‘orange’ juice in the square bottles with blue tops! How yummy was that?
(The less said about the cod liver oil, though, the better.)

cornergran Wed 27-Nov-24 09:03:18

Looking at a packaging exhibition with a friend yesterday we spotted NDM and off we were reminiscing about the empty tins lining shed shelves. She’s a few years younger and was amazed when I told her there is a photo of me being fed with one of those glass bottles. I must find it and send a copy to her. Probably the only person on the planet to dislike the orange juice. It had to be watered down for me.

Primrose53 Wed 27-Nov-24 09:09:48

My Dad also used the tins for screws, nails etc.

My Mum kept one of those banana shaped bottles in our sideboard for as long as I can remember. When she died and we cleared her house it wasn’t there. I would have kept that.

Sarnia Wed 27-Nov-24 09:17:40

I don't want to hijack this topic but another GN has mentioned orange juice, so here goes.
Did anyone out there have a spoonful of Virol every day? I loved the malt flavoured stickiness. It was given to toddlers to build them up. I was very put out when the Virol was replaced by a daily cod liver oil capsule. Yuck!

Chocolatelovinggran Wed 27-Nov-24 09:43:51

Oh how I hated the daily dose of malt, and the sticky orange juice.
They must have had some benefits, however, as I grew from a sickly child into a healthy adult and then a sturdy ( chunky?) old woman.

annodomini Wed 27-Nov-24 10:01:59

We were all breast fed and I don't remember any dried milk in our household. But orange juice was another matter. Before my dad caught the bus to work, he would bring the three of us our orange juice. I used to say, 'Me first, cos I was born first!' My sisters were unimpressed! We also had 'Radio' malt and - when I was six, and recovering from pneumonia - Virol. How I hated that stuff! It was supposed to make me grow up big and strong - and here I still am!

Weaty Wed 27-Nov-24 10:11:31

Does anyone remember Rose Hip Syrup? We used to collect the rose hips as children, some one collected them in a lorry from which we earned pocket money.

JamesandJon33 Wed 27-Nov-24 12:49:10

My children had Rosehip syrup. I think it was discontinued due to its high sugar content. I had an awful fishy ,white, gloppy strengthened ! Scott’s Emulsion. Utterly horrid. I loved Virol though. My daughter hated it, still retches at the mention .

vintage1950 Wed 27-Nov-24 12:53:49

I loved Virol. There was also some stuff, very similar, with the rather sinister name of Radiomalt.

Greyduster Wed 27-Nov-24 12:54:51

I must be the only person on earth that loved Scott’s Emulsion!! I also liked Virol. I gave my children rose hip syrup. An absolute no no now, of course, as is Ribena. I was contemplating collecting rose hips and making some syrup myself, but if it’s as much faff as elderberry cordial I’ll leave well enough alone.

DanniRae Wed 27-Nov-24 12:58:00

I still have an empty tin of National Dried Milk in my dresser!

SueDonim Wed 27-Nov-24 13:48:18

My son was born mid-70’s. I used to buy NDM but not give to him, I used it to make milky puddings. It was taken off the market not long after due to high salt content causing kidney damage in babies. sad

Scott’s emulsion was vile. Cod liver oil & malt was just about tolerable. We were given Minadex at times. It was sort of dayglo greeny orange!

After an illness we were given Parrish’s Food, a tonic which at one time was alleged to contain arsenic, although that has now been debunked.

SueDonim Wed 27-Nov-24 13:50:21

I also recall that when I had my sons in the 70’s tins of evaporated milk had instructions on the side on how to dilute it to make it suitable for babies feeds!

Kate1949 Wed 27-Nov-24 14:26:24

My husband loved cod liver oil when he was a child. He used to swig it from the bottle when his mother wasn't looking.