Foods lost in your Childhood?

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Blackhorse

Blackhorse

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A blast from my past.  Haven’t seen it since I was a kid.  I guess it’s only delivered to certain states now.  Noticed it on Amazon.  Having peanut butter toast this morning.  Yuuuuuuuuumy!

A 3-pack of 40 Oz “jars” was $13.92 delivered. Exp. date is Nov. 21, 2021.


 
I buy Peter pan peanut butter all the time here. I get it from Walmart and Kroger. Good stuff
 
Chow Mein dinner "kits".....from back in the '50s.

Yep.....canned Chow Mein, the noodles, the rice, etc. could all be bought, pre-packaged in a boxed set.  All you had to do was heat up this swill, and good housewives could serve it their smiling-with-anticipation, families a nice meal in 15 minutes.  That's what the label said. Great for the little woman who didn't have time to cook.  My mom used to buy it in Macy's.  I'm Italian...trust me, my mom could cook!  She bought this stuff because my sister and I loved the novelty of eating the exotic authentic, Chinese food, from a can!  We always  ate those crispy fried noodles first.  I won't tell you what my mother thought about this food -and what it looked like on a plate.

Heady stuff.... from back in the 1950's -when served off of Melmac dinnerware.  It didn't take much to please us blue-collar working folks, back in the day when cars were not built to be "rolling, living rooms".

Don't judge me.
 
Melmac!  Still use Melmac Hercules movie plates from McDonalds we got when our kids were little.  I well remember the set we had when I was a kid...squarish plates, rounded on the corners...mixed pastel grey, mint green, coral, periwinkle blue, etc.  Went well with the cafe style table with the bent chrome tube style legs and grey pearlized Formica top we always ate at in the kitchen. (See next Post)

Re the dinner kit...still made but I think without the hard noodles I remember.  Just get ‘em as a side.  Two cans: one with meat sauce goop, the other with vegetable in water?

 
Water chestnuts still make me dry heave because of those Chinese can kits. I think my mom bought La Choy brand, with 2-3 cans, all tape sealed at the rims into a tower of cans. One had those orangish hard noodles. That was one of my least favorite quick meals. But it didn't prevent me from loving Asian foods. My goodness did that stuff taste like chemicals.

I think I notice the absence of candies the most. I don't know if they stopped making them or if they just don't get the grocery store placement like they once did. And the fact that most places aren't going to take up valuable space to sell 5cent candies...if there is even such thing as 5cent candies anymore.

 
Zeno Marx":3bsrp0je said:
Water chestnuts still make me dry heave because of those Chinese can kits.  I think my mom bought La Choy brand, with 2-3 cans, all tape sealed at the rims into a tower of cans.  One had those orangish hard noodles.  That was one of my least favorite quick meals.  But it didn't prevent me from loving Asian foods.  My goodness did that stuff taste like chemicals.

I think I notice the absence of candies the most.  I don't know if they stopped making them or if they just don't get the grocery store placement like they once did.  And the fact that most places aren't going to take up valuable space to sell 5cent candies...if there is even such thing as 5cent candies anymore.
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Water chestnuts are one of my favorites.

Something I haven't had in a while is Skyline Chili, they are still around but haven't had the chance to stop and get any in a long time
 
If you go to Walmart and most Krogers you can get the Chef Boyardee throwback recipes which are much better than the current recipe. I discovered these when I was on an extended business trip to Southern California last summer.
 
THANKS!!!!......for the nostalgic pics of Melmac unbreakable dinnerware.... and pics of those old fashioned, Formica kitchen sets that everybody had. All the bottoms of the chromed steel legs used to rust on the table and chairs- where the wet mop hit them when mom washed the floors.

The Chinese food from the cans was...I'll be kind, disappointing. Great if you liked onions, celery, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts (that looked like worms), and those crunchy water chestnuts...all cooked and steamed into a vegetable "glue". Pour it all onto a mound of some bland, overcooked, white rice, sprinkle it with the crispy noodles, squirt some salty soy sauce on it, and you can swear you were in some classy Chinese restaurant! La Choy and Chun King......no words.

I remember eating this banquet, as I sat, with eyes glued to the TV set, watching The Mickey Mouse Club. Spin and Marty, and The Hardy Boys were my role models.

Only fellow members of the Jurassic Club will remember.
 
LOL...I won’t do a “who’s your favorite Mousekateer?” thing. I will share a remembered episode of Spin n Marty though. One of the boys got a new pair of Levis and they were WAY too new looking to wear to some hoedown? Is that right? So anyway, hijinks ensue while our hero’s proceed to “age” the jeans by kicking, beating, dragging, the poor things...all over the place. I don’t remember how they turned out.

Times & issues were quite a bit simpler then.
 
Blackhorse":j4qximib said:
LOL...I won’t do a “who’s your favorite Mousekateer?” thing.  I will share a remembered episode of Spin n Marty though.  One of the boys got a new pair of Levis and they were WAY too new looking to wear to some hoedown?  Is that right?  So anyway, hijinks ensue while our hero’s proceed to “age” the jeans by kicking, beating, dragging, the poor things...all over the place.  I don’t remember how they turned out.

Times & issues were quite a bit simpler then.
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IIRC, Marty (the blonde-headed dude) had the jeans; Spin kicked'em all in the dirt. Then drenched'em in the horse trough to get'em nice and soft!!! Amazing what an old fart remembers ;) ;) :cheers: FTRPLT
 
My Mom also served up that Chung King Chow Mein sometimes. Never was very crazy about it. At least when I drowned it in soy sauce it became more edible. Normally Mom made everything from scratch but this was an exception.

One thing I miss from my childhood was a salad dressing called Buccaneer made by Seven Seas (I think). To my memory it tasted a lot like Caesar does now.


Cheers,

RR
 
Love Peter Pan PB with marshmallow fluff or pickles (guess it is a NY state thing)
 
I've been eating pickles with my PB sandwich since childhood. The cold-cured type found in the refrigerated section. It's one of those unexpected, all-time great flavor and texture combinations, at least in my life experience. Seriously. A top five for me. I never set out to eat peanut butter as often as I do, but that childhood epiphany to fantastic state-supplied peanut butter in our school cafeteria that was out on a table and self-serve/eat as much as you want to adult snacking to a simple-make, satisfying work lunch to great energy camping/backpacking food. I bet I've eaten a PB something 300+ days out of the year my entire adult life.

And you don't even need bread. A flour tortilla is a great substitute (learned in my backpacking days). The Mission Extra Soft flour tortillas (fajita size) is a top pick.

an all-time favorite:
flour tortilla
all-natural chunky PB (the kind you have to stir went you get home from the store)
honey
2 x 1/4 sliced cold-cured pickles

roll up and enjoy


*standard potato chips with standard yellow mustard as a dip is another great flavor combination.
 
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