You Know You Are Old When

[ultrarunner]

We only used dishwasher to store canned goods… house came with it in 1957…

 

[sixdogs]

Fine China often goes begging.

I remember 50 years ago it breaking up families on who got the good China.

We headed that off at the pass and about two years ago I stopped using the cr@p dishes for everyday use and started on the good china. It's all I use now and I feel good about. Wife is slow to join in but I'm using the good dishes before heirs take them to the thrift store to donate.

 

[scootr]

I don't ever remember them giving grocery discounts, I do recall you could cash them in on stuff...luggage, a portable radio, etc.
Grand Union supermarkets had their own trading stamps called plaid stamps.

My Mom shopped at a Farmers Market grocery that took the green stamps and sold larger quantity items, I guess a predecessor to Costco. She Took me with her to carry, I didn't mind cause I always got to pick something special.

 

[newbury]

After having gone through about 7 estates of relatives in the last decade it seems

I'm using the good dishes before heirs take it to the thrift store to donate.

this is the way to go.
Get some use out of it.

 

[Jstpssng]

Do you guys remember being kids in the summer and after dinner the only rule was “to be home when the street lights came on”?

What's a street light?

 

[MossRoad]

We built a new house with a high end dishwasher 25 years ago and wife has only used it a handful of times. She is very particular and just doesn't like dishwashers. It's in nearly the same condition as installed and she uses it to store mugs. I wondered where they went.

I've learned a lot of housewife-type women don't like dishwashers. A lot of homes have them but don't use them. They must not work as intended.

Our current one works great! Despite my comments about wimpy, it's not. Here's what I wrote about it a while back...

We are religious about running soft water to the dishwasher. The first one got plugged with lime. That's not what killed it, but it seriously lowered the wash quality. So the last 3 have all been spotless inside. No lime or calcium buildup. The new ones are also water savers, so they use less water and have to have smaller jets than the old ones to increase pressure. So another reason to only use soft water. I do have to say that our current Bosch is very quiet. Only when it fills at first can you hear any moans and groans, clicks and clacks. After that it's a nice quiet woosh. You can have a normal conversation in the kitchen with it running. The old ones sounded like a power washer inside a box of broken glass!

It's a lower end Bosh unit.
We usually run it 3-4 times a week. It'll clean glass baking dishes with burnt on crud no problem. We use Finish Powerballs for detergent finish JetDry rinse aid. My wife and I really like it.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/bosch-100-series-24-front-control-built-in-hybrid-stainless-steel-tub-dishwasher-with-puredry-50-dba-white/2638241.p?skuId=2638241

 

[MossRoad]

What's a street light?

It's those things that are often mistaken for UFOs after a night out drinking.

 

[MoKelly]

What's a street light?

Well - it’s a light that illuminates the street.

Maybe this will help:

 

[bigtiller]

I sure miss my Corelle but my new bride grew up with Fiesta so we she has been buying Fiesta for 40 years.

I think they are heavy, bulky and noisy, but that's what she wants so that's what we use.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Remember Fire King Jadeite by Anchor Hocking? It came in bags of flour free or hardware stores sold it. We have a whole green set, even the divider plates. Then (late 80s?-90s) Martha Stewart collected it and the price skyrocketed. Now I don't think it's collectable just like Carnival glass.
My mother has a set of silverware. I don't mean silver plated but solid silver. They're very soft and easily bend as well as tarnish black. I remember my Grandmother polishing them for company, birthdays or holidays.
She even has a silver tea set on a cart.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

My ancestry is 90% British, then Scottish and a little French. My Grandmother meals were a big deal, all these special dishes for different things as well as silverware everyday use. Cloth tablecloth and napkins. Breakfast at 7am, lunch noon, dinner 6pm...right on the dot.
Very prim & proper. The blessing, home made everything including dessert.

 

[garry1p]

When I was growing up we had a different way our family had dinner.

Mother would cook she and my dad would sit down and eat then she would set 3 plates on the table put food in each plate then my brothers and I would eat. We never ate as a family.
The idea of everyone sitting at the table and passing food around was totally foreign to me.

 

[goeduck]

Yep - this was most certainly a city thing.

When city kids came over at night, they were so amazed to see so many stars.

 

[goeduck]

When I was growing up we had a different way our family had dinner.

Mother would cook she and my dad would sit down and eat then she would set 3 plates on the table put food in each plate then my brothers and I would eat. We never ate as a family.
The idea of everyone sitting at the table and passing food around was totally foreign to me.

Of course, you boys ate like animals. Joking.

 

[goeduck]

You are old when you no longer can finish a regular sized meal.

 

[masseyrider]

My ancestry is 90% British, then Scottish and a little French. My Grandmother meals were a big deal, all these special dishes for different things as well as silverware everyday use. Cloth tablecloth and napkins. Breakfast at 7am, lunch noon, dinner 6pm...right on the dot.
Very prim & proper. The blessing, home made everything including dessert.

Beans on toast, bangers and mushy peas with brown sauce on everything?
Colors? Brown, off brown.
Only culinary saving grace I see there is possibly the "little French."

 

[masseyrider]

You're old when you start everything you say with, "I remember when..."
Talking about food I remember listening to one of the guys in the locker room bragging about his mom making Salisbury steak for dinner.
I had no idea it was just a hamburger patty smothered in gravy. To top it off his was a frozen dinner.
Hearing the word steak I just thought it was a way to cook a good cut of meat.
"Ooo, salisbury sounds fancy."
At the time I didn't realize how good I had it. Old man butchered our own baby beef (about a year old, grass fed) and Ma cooked every meal.
We ate the best cuts all the time including pork and free range chickens. Veggies fresh out of the garden. Fruit, fresh in season and canned and frozen year round.
Redneck? Hillbilly?
A little bit. But we ate like kings on the farm.
Hot dogs, frozen dinners, frozen frech fries/dinners were something poor city people ate.

 

[WM75Guy]

I still have an orange Fiesta saucer that is radioactive. I used for Geiger counter training when I taught hazmat classes.

Fiestaware (ca. 1930s)

 

[MossRoad]

I sure miss my Corelle but my new bride grew up with Fiesta so we she has been buying Fiesta for 40 years.

I think they are heavy, bulky and noisy, but that's what she wants so that's what we use.

Our daughters use Fiestaware. So for about 7 years on our travels to and from Pittsburgh we'd stop at the factory in Newell, WV.

Homer Laughlin China Company​

Fiesta Tableware Company - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Pretty neat place. You can set up a factory tour if you want to. Gotta do it in advance.

 

[scootr]

Mom had 5 kids. She fed the kids first, mostly pastas and casseroles. Then she and Dad sat down to something better. We survived.