One Upmanship.

Vinho Verde. It was slightly fizzy, as I remember, and rather moreish!

Students used to have spag bog parties with the aforementioned Mateus rosé. What was the green one in a similar bottle, something Verde?

Yes merlot I can't believe now that a lb of steak made a stew for 4 and a lb of mince made a cottage pie for 4. I think the weights have been " altered"

We ate a lot less in those days though didn't we? The plates were smaller and meat and two veg was just that.

Tea and coffee was served in a cup and sandwiches contained just one filling - usually cheese or ham.

Our fridge was small and fitted under the worktop and we didn't have a freezer until five years after we were married.

We didn't feel we were going without though.

That's right annsixty, the tins were verging on being at dangerous as corned beef tins- and Frey Bentos made both!

I've just got to ask,were those the ones where you levered the top of the tin off and then cooked the pie in the bottom part of the tin?

I'm going to get one at the weekend just to annoy DH!

I doubt whether one Fray Bentos pie would feed five these days, they've probably shrunk in size, certainly the filling has!

You can get several varieties these days - chicken and mushroom, mince and onion, steak and ale as well as steak and kidney. They must still be popular.

Frey Bentos steak and kidney pies.
You've taken me right back to my childhood. They were a huge treat. My mother used to make extra gravy, and one pie fed a family of five! With mash and veg of course. I haven't tasted one for years!

My DH hated those pies! Soggy pastry. Every time we see one in a shop, he says 'remember those? yuk' I may get one to see if they have improved.

I remember those packs! And nicking the capsule to see what it tasted like....we had a very bland 'lemon' meringue and I felt sick for hours! Never confessed either
Friday night treat was homemade pizza and a bottle of cheap red plonk. You can still get Frey Bentos S&K pies in tins, I actually liked them, but it's years since I bought one.

I think you can still buy the kit, annsixty - not sure if it is exactly the same
(it's so easy to squeeze a few lemons, add cornflour and egg yolks! Why did we ever use the packet mix?)

Yes there was a gelatine capsule ,not unlike a cod liver oil capsule which had to be carefully dissolved or someone would get a mouth full of synthetic lemon flavour.

What wonderful Friday night treats we had.

Once the baby was in bed we'd settle down to a very sophisticated evening of a Vesta curry and a bottle of 'Rosie's Mattress' in front of our favourite telly programme at the time - The Mod Squad.

Pudding after the Sunday roast was often a lemon meringue pie which came in kit form - a box containing various packets.

Oh yes Vesta curries! Whenever a certain friend asked us round for a meal she would serve up a Fray Bentos pie from a tin! I remember Matteus Rose, we made a lamp from an empty bottle and DH would take Party 7 tins of beer along to parties.

Chow mein is a bit of a memory jogger - I haven't seen it on a menu for years, but there was a time when it was my automatic choice at any Chinese restaurant...

The Vesta Curry was... unspeakable..

I liked the bit where you fried the crispy noodles and crisped up and popped! Simple pleasures for simple mind! x

Yes I had forgotten Vesta. They used to make curries. My mum's neighbour used to make Vesta curry every Friday night and bring some in for us to enjoy. The rice was placed in a ring and the curry placed carefully inside.

Vesta Chow Mein - The height of sophistication. x

The foods that were considered very sophisticated in the late 60s - 70s were cheese and pineapple on sticks, cheese hedgehogs, (already described) anything at all with rice, curries, very basic, cheese straws, vol au vonts (can't spell it.) and Coq au Vin

My husband made chili con carne circa 1974 and one of the guests ended up in hospital, too much chili I guess.

The wine I remember being very popular was Liebe Frau Milche and Mattheus Rose.

Cooking rice meant putting the rice into a huge saucepan of boiling water.

Sorry about the bad spelling.

I used to bake every Friday and put the cakes into a cake tin. I can remember baking Ginger Sponge Parkin and raspberry buns.

I remember when a shop opened locally that sold a cake that could easily be passed off as home made and would fool even the mother-in-law.

With 3 sons I seemed to spend my whole life cooking.

Noooo! I like my Advocaat [or, eggflip as my mum used to call it] unadulterated.

Oh Snowballs. My mother in law loved them.

An Advocaat snowball perhaps merlotgran?

I have never eaten the inside – or any part – of a monk's habit either. Sounds foul.

Perfect combination, absent. Unidentifiable cheeses coupled with a rough old red wine that tasted like the inside of a monk's habit, What more could we ask for?