1950's Childhood.

We always had to share fruit; my sister and I, so it was an apple cut in half, one piece each, same with an orange or banana, so I suppose it eked it out that way.

Love that Elegran, but we didn`t have Camp Coffee, we didn`t have coffee at all, not till just into the 60s. Agree that fish fingers were around, I remember having them from about 1958.
And we DO eat turkey at times other than Christmas, not all the time, but maybe every couple of months.
I remember we only had a cooked breakfast on a Sunday, and we kids had half a fried egg each, never a full one. My mother bought a bag of sweets on a Saturday, they were kept in the cupboard, eaten rarely, and had to last till the following Saturday. My grandma used to cut a Mars bar into 5 pieces between us when we went visiting, it was the treat of the week.

I think families were more diverse in the 1950s than they are now, especially in their eating habits. Looking at the list merlot(?) posted, I noted that curry had been around in the UK since the establishment of the British Empire. Certainly my mother cooked it, but only for adults as she didn't think it was suitable for children. She would never have given Camp Coffee cupboard space. Coffee was always percolated with beans freshly ground in a ceramic coffee grinder attached to the kitchen wall. It was served with a bowl of sugar cubes because they take longer to dissolve than granulated sugar. (Yes, with silver sugar tongs.) I have never been offered or eaten bread and dripping. Nor would I want to.

Our bath was in the bathroom and not made from tin, but I did wear long woollen socks in the winter.

Yes, that's what I was referring to!

We're getting dangerously close to that hovering thread now.

Of course! Think of the germs if you did it with your fingers...

Two lumps in place of one teaspoon, Ana. Picked up with your DGM's best silver sugar tongs, of course.

No Maggie, we only have turkey at Christmas - never thought about having it at any other time of the year!

No one in the family takes sugar in their beverages so I just keep a small bag of granulated for visitors and the gardener. I wouldn't know how many sugar lumps to use!

Elegran, been reading The Hobbit with my grandson. Parentses is what Gollum would have said.

I have no idea, Ana! We probably just only ever saw it at Christmas and have well, stuck with the idea that it's special. Like turkey. You'll be telling me next that you have turkey all year round.

Why?

And cubed sugar is still posh in this house. We only buy it at Christmas!

number I remember my mother sending me to the corner shop for what she called 'doofers'. I was so excruciatingly embarrassed I wrote it on a piece of paper to hand to the store owner. Of course he didn't know what 'doofer' meant so I had to say sanitary towels
I hated going back there afterwards, although he didn't bat an eyelid.

I take issue with the assertion that fish didn't have fingers in the 50s!

"The first fish finger in Britain was a resounding success when it was launched in 1955. More than 60 years later the frozen brick of fish is just as popular."

I think we can relate to these

I mistyped there - should have been "cost £1 a week, and my parents' council flat . . ."

A quick look showed me one flaw - my grandparents council house cmy ost £1 a week, and parents's council flat was £3.50 a week rent (that was considered very expensive - known as an "economic" or realistic rent - no, I don't mean economical - and those houses were let to professional people like teachers)

Your minimum amount for rent is £100 pcm, which at that time would just about have rented you Buckingham Palace.

Of course, wages were far lower, too. My father got £9 a week as an experienced qualified teacher. It would have been impossible for him to pay £100 a month rent.

I have not looked any further, but I would suggest that you do some research and find some more realistic figures.

If you lived during the 1950's, please complete this short survey about housing then. It'll only take 2 minutes and it would help me so much! Thank you in advance! www.surveymonkey.com/s/F8NYCZH

I clearly remember our butcher, a character larger than life. A booming voice, and if the meat came to fourteen and sevenpence halfpenny and I had a pound note he would holler, "How much change is that then?" And stare at me as I tried to work it out in my head. So very embarrassing, and all the housewives in the queue watching and laughing. Oh he thought it was a huge joke. I wasn't very old - if I had more confidence I would have said "Ten bob, please". I might even have got it!

I bet it did Mrs Mopp. She also used to make her husband walk behind her when they went out. I don't know where she got her ideas from, they had absolutely nothing, even living in a room in someone else's house. Bless her.

Stomach pork, that is hilarious!! I bet it gave the butcher a giggle !

And my mother-in-law who (as they used to say) thought she was better than she was, used to ask for stomach pork, as she couldn't bring herself to say belly either!

My DH says that when he was small he bought his mother a packet of sanitary towels for Christmas. He had no idea what they were but had
seen her buying them in Woolworths so he knew she liked them.

When we were first married, we lived just a few doors from our local branch of the Co-op, so knew the young man who managed it very well. One day, I needed sanitary towels in a hurry, but didn`t want to ask Fred for them........so hubby went instead, and came home with them wrapped in newspaper!