Revisiting food from your youth.

"School food: The piece of cod that passeth all understanding!" Molesworth. ?

I enjoyed my mum's cooking - however some of the food served at school I never want to see again.

Gristly meat (you weren't allowed to leave it)
Strange clear lumps in the custard
Tapioca
Sago
A strange pink pudding with desiccated coconut
Stuffed heart
White sliced bread with dinner when there was a potato shortage one year

My sister and I called those Frey Bentos puddings "leather puddings" . Gross.

Mam and then I used to make stew with neck of lamb. Took a lot longer to make because you had to cook the lamb, let it cool down, pick off the meat and pick the solid fat from the stock but it was so worth it.

Things I had when living with my parents that I will NEVER eat/drink again;-
Bev coffee
Corned beef
Jellied veal
Pork strips (with the fat poured over)
Boiled suet puddings - with jam
Tapioca
Sago
Boiled beef
Carnation milk
Peas pudding
Plaice
boiled fish
Neopolitan ice cream
Family circle biscuits

yuk yuk - at least we never ate Fray Bentos pies!!!!!

Crumbs! This has brought back lots of food memories from when I was first married! We lived on foods like these. I've tried some since and found them yuk I have to say. Mind you the pies were better than my mum's and nan's pastry - always thin, almost white and very crispy!!! I used to love jiffy jellies - and when I cut my chin open that was the only thing I could [or wanted to] eat!

I remember though not liking cheese or tomatoes - but now I love them both though I still give rhubarb a miss. How our taste buds change!

I too remember Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie and steak and kidney pudding from my childhood. Also the Vesta ready meals - you can still buy them from ebay!

Wasn't the Vesta with crispy noodles the Chow Mein not the curry. Either way I loved them both.

I have never eaten pies, burgers, sausages or faggots, etc. As a child school dinners were always a misery as there was always meat involved and everyone had to have a bit of everything on their plate whether they liked it or not. I hated meat and still do - I can't work out why they felt it was essential to force children to eat something they clearly didn't like. I often ended up in tears at lunchtime.

It is actually breast of lamb, and yes I used to buy it too from the butcher in Northern Ireland when money was short, stuff it, roll it and braise it in the oven, in the same way as Vq and my mother did. Loads of flavour. Another very cheap cut my mother used to use was ribs of beef. They were known colloquially as "ladder staves" and were very good and meaty; and cheap - the butcher almost gave them away. These days they are very trendy, known as short ribs, and very expensive, but what a dish they make, slow cooked in the oven with red wine, the meat falling off the bones. Time I bought some more!

lamb flank ? We use it for making scotch broth as its hard to get mutton nowadays

I think they call it belly nowadays.

It was the ribs and belly.

I've just looked online and a lot of the celebrity chefs have 'discovered' it and come up with complicated recipes. All we used to do was put in it a casserole dish with a drop of water and bang it in the oven on a low gas for a couple of hours. Then we'd use the greasy water to make a gravy. Oh the wonderful days before we worried about sugar, salt and fat.

I've never heard of lap of lamb

Fray Bentos pies were always a staple when we went on holiday. Mam would buy a few extra items a week for a couple of months before we went away so that she didn't have to spend too much money on food.

We used to have butterscotch Angel Delight with chopped Mars Bars mixed in.

But my favourite home meal was lap of lamb. It was the only food that mam let us eat with our fingers (well you had to). The grease and gravy would run down our chins as we chewed the meat of the bones. It was the sweetest meat ever. When I grew up and had my own place I used to buy lap of lamb from the local butcher for 10p a pound. One day he commented on how lucky the local dogs were so I told him we didn't have a dog. We ate it. After that he always made sure we got the best pieces .

Lap of lamb isn't the same now that they trim it, stuff it and roll it. The other day I saw lamb ribs on sale so I guess that's the boney pieces we used to have. They were a lot more than 10p a pound though

mcem we had bridies from our local bakery ,quick to heat and sometimes still hot when we got them ,tinned pies seem all wrong somehow .I do the jelly in wine glasses for my girlies we layer it up with diferent colours and top it with fruit and cream .Keeps them amused for a wee while

The first meal I cooked as a married woman was a Fray Bentos pie and I never liked them!
Mention of Angel Delight reminded me of my children's favourite squint jellies.
Half-fill glasses with red jelly and prop them up on something in the fridge so that when set, the surface of the jelly is at an angle. Then top up with pink Angel Delight.
Being aware now of AD ingredients I have never offered this to DGC's!

When GS was younger, I thought I would buy some Angel Delight, much beloved of his mummy back in the day! I looked at the back of the packet and read the ingredients and the amount of salt and sugar scared me off! It never occurred to me to worry about what was in it when I fed it to my two. They loved it, so did I!

I've never had a Fray Bentos pie...I did used to buy Birds trifle with pink custard and hundreds and thousands and artificial cream when my daughter was small.It was so useful having everything in one box.I vaguely remember it as being far too sweet though so unlikely I'll try it again .

I've never had a Fray Bentos pie...I did used to buy Birds trifle with pink custard and hundreds and thousands and artificial cream when my daughter was small.It was so useful having everything in one box.I vaguely remember it as being far too sweet though so unlikely I'll try it again .

I've never had a Fray Bentos pie...I did used to buy Birds trifle with pink custard and hundreds and thousands and artificial cream when my daughter was small.It was so useful having everything in one box.I vaguely remember it as being far too sweet though so unlikely I'll try it again .

I've never had a Fray Bentos pie...I did used to buy Birds trifle with pink custard and hundreds and thousands and artificial cream when my daughter was small.It was so useful having everything in one box.I vaguely remember it as being far too sweet though so unlikely I'll try it again .

I've never had a Fray Bentos pie...I did used to buy Birds trifle with pink custard and hundreds and thousands and artificial cream when my daughter was small.It was so useful having everything in one box.I vaguely remember it as being far too sweet though so unlikely I'll try it again .

I've never had a Fray Bentos pie...I did used to buy Birds trifle with pink custard and hundreds and thousands and artificial cream when my daughter was small.It was so useful having everything in one box.I vaguely remember it as being far too sweet though so unlikely I'll try it again .

What memories, Spam fritters and Fray Bentos pies. The TV dinners were an innovation when I was first married but the portions were considered quite small by my husband. I never did like powdered potato. I remember buying four rashers of bacon from the butcher as we didn't have a fridge and bags of chops from Hull market at the close of trading as they were cheap, we shared them with friends - happy days.

How nice to hear about all these forgotten delights.
Fray Bentos pies were a staple once a week in our early married days, so easy! The ready meal of the day.
I have to report that DH had a hankering for fried slices of Spam ( with eggs) ........it was delicious!

We still eat Brains faggots occasionaly. In fact I think I have some lurking at the bottom of the freezer.
We had Fray Bentos pies and Vesta curries when we first married, I haven't bought them for years.
Our first night holiday meal was always tinned corned beef Smash potato and beans. Smash is fairly edible if you add quiet a bit of butter