Eating in the 50's

[downsizingnow48]

My Dad spent 25 years as a catskinner on subdivisions in southern California and had pretty much 100% say about what, when, and how we ate. He got home usually at 4 or 430 and dinner was on the table at 5. Not 501 either. Us kids were not allowed to sit at the table before dinner was served, but once it was there we had to be visibly moving toward the table. Steak or roast beef and potatoes was the main course, we sometimes got pork chops or roast pork and potatoes. Maybe chicken once every couple weeks. Anything else was a novelty except for Friday - as a Catholic family that had to be fish or pancakes. At no time was there a TV dinner or anything else prepared other than what my mother cooked in her kitchen. We always talked about what was going on with all of us. Sitting in front of the TV or reading a book or something like that was never even thought of.

 

[Bird]

Dinner at 5 p.m.? I loved Winter because we had supper earlier. Dad always said you could work outside until it got dark, so we got to eat earlier in the Winter and had to wait until later in the summer. And yep, all 7 of us sat down at the table together for breakfast and for supper until I was 16 and Dad bought a service station. From then on, one of us was at the station until 10 p.m. every night, so he and I never had supper together after that.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I could tell fake potatoes instantly, it meant we were eating out. We grew a couple acres of potatoes, no fake ones at home.

 

[Will_C]

TV dinners? They were our "treat" on Saturday nights when my parents went out and we stayed with Grandma. Cant believe we thought they were wonderful-wouldn't eat one now if I was starving!
Our meals were regular too-lunch at noon and dinner at 5:00. My father was a diabetic, so regular meals were a medical necessity for him. I didn't eat separately until my brother and I played sports after school and we didn't get home until 6:00-and we ate what was left-No separate meal for us.

Will

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Rarely got tv dinners, so they were like a treat to us. I liked them.

 

[TomSeller]

To think people ate dinner at 5 pm. These days people work well past 5, let alone get home by 5.

It would have been the 60s but I recall my Dad taking us all out to dinner at Denny's. On the way home, one by one we all asked him to stop the car.... So we could get out and puke. We all threw up, we were not used to restaurant prepared food, we never had it before.

 

[Woodeye]

Real marshmallow, they were sold four in a cellophane pack. A rare treat but clearly remember them being far superior to what you see today.

 

[Looking4new]

Funny you mentioned mashed potatoes....

Yesterday, one of the kids wanted mashed potatoes to go with the ribs I was going to smoke/BBQ. We did not have enough time to make the potatoes from scratch, so I asked the wifey to looked for frozen mashed potatoes. She found some and we had them with dinner and they were REALLY good! :thumbsup::licking: Don't know the name though. :confused3: Took 3 minutes in the microwave with a bit of the lid off. Two minutes with the lid completely off and another few minutes to cool off a bit.

There must have been some push to sell instant mashed potatoes back in the day because my mom tried to sneak them into our dinner but my dad and I did not like them. Wifey mentioned using instant mashed potatoes yesterday and there was a resounding NO from the eaters to be. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

I'd find it hard to believe that anyone could tell the instant mashed potatoes (properly prepared) from the others. This reminds me of my maternal grandfather refusing to eat sweet potato pie, but he liked pumpkin pie. My grandmother fed him a lot of sweet potato pie, but called it pumpkin pie and he liked it just fine.

They taste like wall paper paste to me.
On the recommendation of a waitress in a restaurant I frequent I had some mashed potatoes 2 years ago. You guessed it, they came out of a bag and tasted like wall paper paste.

 

[George2615]

And don't forget about canned Spam. I liked fried Spam sandwiches but hated the gelatinous substance that formed in the can.

 

[Looking4new]

And don't forget about canned Spam. I liked fried Spam sandwiches but hated the gelatinous substance that formed in the can.

There is where we differ. I like Spam and scrape off the gelatinous stuff. It keeps easily in the truck in my cooler. It is better than nothing to eat.