OT: Yesterday and Today

[ShipofFools]

I have a brother and 3 sisters. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, both my parents worked and there were days when TV dinners in the foil trays were the best, easy way for us to prepare dinner. As a kid, I always thought they were pretty cool. You could pick what your main course was. The food itself was mostly fair and generic, though I always liked the turkey and fried chicken.

Sometimes my mother would make a concoction of cream of mushroom soup, tuna, and peas, poured over toast. It doesn't sound appetizing, but was really good. As you can guess, there wasn't much in the way of finances for us growing up, but as a kid, we got used to it. Saw an ad from the old days for the TV dinners and it took me back to my youth. Both my parents have since passed and got me thinking they sacrificed much to see we were provided with the essentials needed, even if we didn't always have what the family down the street had.

My dad was an avid Pitt fan. I got my passion for Pitt from him and Tony Dorsett. Looking forward to another season of Pitt football! H2P!!

 

[Section 509]

I ate plenty of those growing up ,never cared for the peas and carrots though

 

[9nationalchampionships]

Grew up on public assistance and drank my share of powdered milf and gov cheese. We never could afford TV dinners! Ate some of those at Pitt in the towers thou. Still remember pocking holes in the potatoes and desert. ugh

 

[ShipofFools]

I couldn't say what those dinners cost, but between them and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese we were happy to get it. My dad was also a fan of cornmeal mush fried for breakfast. UGH!

 

[RaleighPittFan]

I couldn't say what those dinners cost, but between them and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese we were happy to get it. My dad was also a fan of cornmeal mush fried for breakfast. UGH!

My mom made fried cornmeal mush. Pour some syrup on it.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

Grew up on public assistance and drank my share of powdered milf and gov cheese. We never could afford TV dinners! Ate some of those at Pitt in the towers thou. Still remember pocking holes in the potatoes and desert. ugh

I’m not so sure that powered milf is appropriate for kids.

 

[ShipofFools]

My mom made fried cornmeal mush. Pour some syrup on it.

Lots of maple syrup and butter made it almost edible.

 

[razzaba]

I’m not so sure that powered milf is appropriate for kids.

Better than powdered gilf I suppose.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

We NEVER ate in restaurants when I was a kid.

Even when we went on vacation. We had a small travel trailer, and we cooked at the campsite. We took sandwiches with us in a cooler when we would leave the campsite to visit the area we were in for the day.

We did get to go to Big Boy to get a burger when we brought home good report cards.

I remember the big boy balloons with the cardboard feet.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Look! Juicy apple and peach slices!

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I was always pretty lucky my family (especially mom) was fantastic cooks and growing up (and still now) food was not just important but also pretty damn spectacular that I was the house where all my friends wanted to eat over at.

Also lucky, we did go to restaurants as kids, and my parents always allowed me and my brother to eat what what we wanted which usually meant some seafood thing.

But I do have a soft spot for the Swanson Turkey TV dinners................lol

 

[Pitt1975]

I have a brother and 3 sisters. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, both my parents worked and there were days when TV dinners in the foil trays were the best, easy way for us to prepare dinner. As a kid, I always thought they were pretty cool. You could pick what your main course was. The food itself was mostly fair and generic, though I always liked the turkey and fried chicken.

Sometimes my mother would make a concoction of cream of mushroom soup, tuna, and peas, poured over toast. It doesn't sound appetizing, but was really good. As you can guess, there wasn't much in the way of finances for us growing up, but as a kid, we got used to it. Saw an ad from the old days for the TV dinners and it took me back to my youth. Both my parents have since passed and got me thinking they sacrificed much to see we were provided with the essentials needed, even if we didn't always have what the family down the street had.

My dad was an avid Pitt fan. I got my passion for Pitt from him and Tony Dorsett. Looking forward to another season of Pitt football! H2P!!

My mom made the tuna, pea’s, and mushroom soup over macaroni. She would bake it in the oven with some bread crumbs.
I still make it on occasion. Was a Friday Lenten meal.
Corn meal mush is polenta and grits now. Just in a different presentation.
If we had a pork roast. Next day was chop suey with the leftovers, using the canned Asian veggies.
Eat N Park fried chicken was our dinner out on occasion.
Paule’s Lookout for very special occasions.

 

[ShipofFools]

I was always pretty lucky my family (especially mom) was fantastic cooks and growing up (and still now) food was not just important but also pretty damn spectacular that I was the house where all my friends wanted to eat over at.

Also lucky, we did go to restaurants as kids, and my parents always allowed me and my brother to eat what what we wanted which usually meant some seafood thing.

But I do have a soft spot for the Swanson Turkey TV dinners................lol

My grandma's second husband owned a bar in East Liberty. I don't think he made much out of it, but occasionally, he would treat us all to dinner out. He was Italian and I remember he always ordered tripe. It was the only time we would ever go to a restaurant. As a young kid, that was a pretty big deal.

BTW, he passed in 1967 when I was 9 and my older brother told me he was a courier on occasion for the local, shall we say Italian organization. They would patronize his bar sometimes.

Nothing like good home cooking though!!

 

[ShipofFools]

My mom made the tuna, pea’s, and mushroom soup over macaroni. She would bake it in the oven with some bread crumbs.
I still make it on occasion. Was a Friday Lenten meal.
Corn meal mush is polenta and grits now. Just in a different presentation.
If we had a pork roast. Next day was chop suey with the leftovers, using the canned Asian veggies.
Eat N Park fried chicken was our dinner out on occasion.
Paule’s Lookout for very special occasions.

My mom made really good chop suey too. It was a favorite of mine. Poured over crunchy chow mein noodles.

Damn....i wish I would have asked her how to make it...I loved that stuff.

 

[AZULDOS]

I have a brother and 3 sisters. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, both my parents worked and there were days when TV dinners in the foil trays were the best, easy way for us to prepare dinner. As a kid, I always thought they were pretty cool. You could pick what your main course was. The food itself was mostly fair and generic, though I always liked the turkey and fried chicken.

Sometimes my mother would make a concoction of cream of mushroom soup, tuna, and peas, poured over toast. It doesn't sound appetizing, but was really good. As you can guess, there wasn't much in the way of finances for us growing up, but as a kid, we got used to it. Saw an ad from the old days for the TV dinners and it took me back to my youth. Both my parents have since passed and got me thinking they sacrificed much to see we were provided with the essentials needed, even if we didn't always have what the family down the street had.

My dad was an avid Pitt fan. I got my passion for Pitt from him and Tony Dorsett. Looking forward to another season of Pitt football! H2P!!

You Guys are taking me down memory lane! Yes ate that "Tuna noodle casserole" many a day. Also when Pops was laid off at times had the Goverment cheese. The box was a perfect container to place Atari games in. One popular thing we ate was "Chinese Spaghetti". It was not Lo mein per se in that we did not eat out much. but A day after baked chicken or baked whole chicken you would de bone it. Cut up onions, boiled eggs over spaghetti noodles. Pour soy sauce over it. All ingredients us poor folk could muster. Also remember powdered milk. Also chop suey like others described, but we used sometimes a canned pork we would get. In a silver can with a picture of a pig on the outside. It was a government provided product I believe.

 

[pittdan77]

Grew up on public assistance and drank my share of powdered milf and gov cheese. We never could afford TV dinners! Ate some of those at Pitt in the towers thou. Still remember pocking holes in the potatoes and desert. ugh

My mom wouldn't let us drink the powdered milk but she always made something from it. That cheese haunts my memories. She made pizza with it and used sauce she canned from the garden. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't that good, either. The free bread was stale and nasty. Sometime the stuff from the food bank was good.

i hear a lot of people talk about growing up poor in the 70's and 80's but if you didn't have to eat the crap the government handed out back then, your parents weren't really that poor.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

My mom wouldn't let us drink the powdered milk but she always made something from it. That cheese haunts my memories. She made pizza with it and used sauce she canned from the garden. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't that good, either. The free bread was stale and nasty. Sometime the stuff from the food bank was good.

i hear a lot of people talk about growing up poor in the 70's and 80's but if you didn't have to eat the crap the government handed out back then, your parents weren't really that poor.

My Mom cooked with powered milk. She always has some on hand, even today. I have seen bread recipes that include powered milk as an ingredient.

I wish, as 9nationalchampionships alluded to, that my town had powered MILF's available. I would have been interested in that, for sure. They wouldn't even have had to be powered.

 

[ChazzMo]

my mom would mix powdered milk and whole milk to stretch the milk supply for a pay period. I also thought it was a treat if we had frozen waffles with home made simple syrup for dinner, only to realize later as an adult that it was just a way to feed 4 kids cheaply when the grocery budget was blown for the month.

fav dinner as a kid (when we could afford it): fried pork chops and fried potatoes. 🤤

 

[Dointhatrag]

 

[HOF Coach]

I have a brother and 3 sisters. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, both my parents worked and there were days when TV dinners in the foil trays were the best, easy way for us to prepare dinner. As a kid, I always thought they were pretty cool. You could pick what your main course was. The food itself was mostly fair and generic, though I always liked the turkey and fried chicken.

Sometimes my mother would make a concoction of cream of mushroom soup, tuna, and peas, poured over toast. It doesn't sound appetizing, but was really good. As you can guess, there wasn't much in the way of finances for us growing up, but as a kid, we got used to it. Saw an ad from the old days for the TV dinners and it took me back to my youth. Both my parents have since passed and got me thinking they sacrificed much to see we were provided with the essentials needed, even if we didn't always have what the family down the street had.

My dad was an avid Pitt fan. I got my passion for Pitt from him and Tony Dorsett. Looking forward to another season of Pitt football! H2P!!

 

[JS School]

As a kid, I considered tv dinners to be a nice change of pace from Mrs Paul's fish sticks and a can of peas.

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

There is an entertaining channel on YouTube called Weird History, it has many videos about what people had to subsist on in difficult and scarce times, such as during WW2, the Depression, the Dust Bowl, etc. and even further to what people (as well as soldiers) had to eat during the Civil War, Revolutionary War etc. The videos are short and humorous but very interesting.

 

[OH Pete]

I loved TV dinners as a child. Especially the brownies. But the brownie was never big enough and inevitably a few pieces of corn or peas would somehow find their way into the brownie. And in all these years, they still haven't come up with a way to keep that from happening. And the brownie is still too small.

 

[Pantherguy4]

I couldn't say what those dinners cost, but between them and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese we were happy to get it. My dad was also a fan of cornmeal mush fried for breakfast. UGH!

OH MY GOD! I LOVED THAT FRIED CORNMEAL MUSH!

 

[pittdan77]

Did anyone else's mom boil sausage? She would make potato pancakes with it and I can't tell if that's normal or not.

 

[HOF Coach]

Did anyone else's mom boil sausage? She would make potato pancakes with it and I can't tell if that's normal or not.

My Mom boiled hot dogs. Does that count?

 

[Dointhatrag]

TV Dinners were a staple for the kids when the parents went out on their date night. They heated them up before the sitter got there for us.

 

[pittdan77]

My Mom boiled hot dogs. Does that count?

I guess hot dogs fit the German definition of a sausage.

 

[Farnox]

I have a brother and 3 sisters. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, both my parents worked and there were days when TV dinners in the foil trays were the best, easy way for us to prepare dinner. As a kid, I always thought they were pretty cool. You could pick what your main course was. The food itself was mostly fair and generic, though I always liked the turkey and fried chicken.

Sometimes my mother would make a concoction of cream of mushroom soup, tuna, and peas, poured over toast. It doesn't sound appetizing, but was really good. As you can guess, there wasn't much in the way of finances for us growing up, but as a kid, we got used to it. Saw an ad from the old days for the TV dinners and it took me back to my youth. Both my parents have since passed and got me thinking they sacrificed much to see we were provided with the essentials needed, even if we didn't always have what the family down the street had.

My dad was an avid Pitt fan. I got my passion for Pitt from him and Tony Dorsett. Looking forward to another season of Pitt football! H2P!!

I was always partial to the Salisbury steak.

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

My Mom boiled hot dogs. Does that count?

Ugh. Mine did as well, but only for adding them to sauerkraut. Oddly I really enjoy (grilled or even pan fried) hot dogs with sauerkraut on them TODAY … but at the time, as a kid I could barely hate anything more than to be served the steaming pile (analogy intended) of kraut with the shriveled, wrinkled boiled dogs…

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

my mom would mix powdered milk and whole milk to stretch the milk supply for a pay period. I also thought it was a treat if we had frozen waffles with home made simple syrup for dinner, only to realize later as an adult that it was just a way to feed 4 kids cheaply when the grocery budget was blown for the month.

fav dinner as a kid (when we could afford it): fried pork chops and fried potatoes. 🤤

Oh man.....showing my age, but how about those Carnation flavored Instant Breakfast powders than you mixed with milk? My god, they were outstanding. Chocolate and Vanilla were good, but Strawberry, Chocolate Malt and yes, Eggnog were another level awesome!!

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I was always partial to the Salisbury steak.

Turkey. I am not a big mashed potato fan, but I love those fake whipped potatoes and the stuffing and gravy.

 

[ShipofFools]

Oh man.....showing my age, but how about those Carnation flavored Instant Breakfast powders than you mixed with milk? My god, they were outstanding. Chocolate and Vanilla were good, but Strawberry, Chocolate Malt and yes, Eggnog were another level awesome!!

I remember liking the Strawberry and Chocolate Malt the best.

 

[OH Pete]

Did anyone else's mom boil sausage? She would make potato pancakes with it and I can't tell if that's normal or not.

I boil brats and Italian sausage prior to finishing on the grill. Ensures that they are cooked through and helps to keep them from spitting.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

My Mom boiled hot dogs. Does that count?

My Mom did too.

If that's wasn't bad enough, they were served on a slice of bread with ketchup.

I HATED hot dogs, as a kid.

I was in my 30s before I could tolerate a hot dog. And, that was only when playing golf. With mustard, of course.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

Turkey. I am not a big mashed potato fan, but I love those fake whipped potatoes and the stuffing and gravy.

You spend years on this site building your foodie cred, and just flushed it away with one post.

Well done.

 

[HOF Coach]

My Mom did too.

If that's wasn't bad enough, they were served on a slice of bread with ketchup.

I HATED hot dogs, as a kid.

I was in my 30s before I could tolerate a hot dog. And, that was only when playing golf. With mustard, of course.

Same here. No hot dog buns, sliced Wonder bread folded around a dog that was covered in ketchup and relish...UGH! I avoided hot dogs for years also…🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭

 

[PittPharm2002]

Oh man.....showing my age, but how about those Carnation flavored Instant Breakfast powders than you mixed with milk? My god, they were outstanding. Chocolate and Vanilla were good, but Strawberry, Chocolate Malt and yes, Eggnog were another level awesome!!

Not sure if awesome is the word I’d use -
Chalky tasting is more my memory
maybe we didn’t have a fancy enough shaker

 

[jivecat]

Gross……they never served such gross food at the country club. So happy I grew up wealthy.

 

[Joe Magarac]

I was always partial to the Salisbury steak.

Loin of Pork:
French fries
Hot apple desert.
Yum