Growing up poor (everyone was in the war years) we ate what was grown/canned from the huge garden. They always butchered a hog so we always had meat, milk, and eggs. Meat, potatoes, vegetables, and home made bread and churned butter.

We always ate together but not so much now at my childrens's homes..they all get home before parents...do homework..grab something from frig or MW then off to some kind of practice or activity. I get concerned about "family time" but I am only a grandma :-(

My Mom was from Ireland & cooked from scratch, always had 3 balanced meals. You always ate what was put in front of you, no questions asked. I got married when I was 20 & from that day on my eating habits changed. I love to cook & bake from scratch but almost every meal I have something different then everyone else. My girls knew they were not to eat like Mom & there was never a problem with that. Hubby loves to eat & I love to cook. I don't drink milk, eat any kind of cheese, veggies, fish, salads, eggs or most anything else that is good for you. I have never eaten a pizza. I will be 73 in Dec so my habits will not change. I am very strange but was not brought up that way.

Wow, Mary, what do you eat? I'm impressed anyone could make it to 73 with no veggies! I'm curious what your normal everyday diet is, if you're willing to share.

I'm older than dirt - was born in 1943. In those days, and for many years after, one either ate fresh veggies in-season or canned. I remember when my mother was able to start buying frozen veggies!

My mother cooked a hot breakfast every morning - usually oatmeal for me as I hated eggs (adore them now!). And she made homemade buttermilk biscuits every single morning for decades.

Lunch (we came home in elementary school) was canned soup or a peanut butter sandwich. I was a very picky eater and lunch was a trial for her. There were always homemade cookies for dessert. She often tried to get me to eat a piece of fruit, but I insisted it be peeled and quartered (apple) and she sometimes didn't have time - remember I walked to and from school for lunch.

Dinner was some form of roast meat and 2-3 sides, one always a starch. The veggies were canned and I refused them. At dinner, there were either hot biscuits or if my mother had had time, homemade yeast rolls. There was ALWAYS dessert - pie, cake, and cookies were always in the cookie jar for snacks.

If there was a sale, it was chopped up iceberg lettuce with bottled french dressing on it. My father liked blue cheese with his bottled french dressing.

It was pretty much like most of America ate in those days - simple, home cooked food. Less expensive cuts of meat, canned veggies. Pretty plain fare, but oh, those homemade hot breads and desserts!

I didn't cook that way - I got married in 1966 in Julia Child's hay day and she taught me to cook. Veggies were usually frozen unless it was corn or tomatoes when they were in season.

I rarely cook Julia's way anymore - too fattening and too time consuming for one old lady. I eat omelets, soups in the winter, salads and fresh veggies in the summer. And one rarely homemade or any other kind of dessert. I'm still not a huge veggie eater. Never met a potato I didn't love, but I try to ration them and not eat them too often. Tonight may be a baked potato night!

It's a totally different world out there today, especially in the kitchen.

Both of my parents were adventuresome eaters and so the only normal was there was always salad, usually always veggies (mostly fresh, rarely frozen, never canned) and then almost anything else. Never dessert. My mother's aspirations in life were anything other than just being a wife and homemaker so the made from scratch, baking, yada yada, if happening in our neighborhood, was going on in someone else's house, not in ours. A few nights a week, my mother's busy schedule meant dinner was Chinese or Mexican takeout or pizza. Or, that my grandmother came over (she lived not too far away) and made dinner.

We all became unpicky eaters like my parents. My wife's parents followed a narrow diet but she was happy to experience new things with me and now has a broad enjoyment of different kids of food. Our kids in turn will eat and enjoy just about anything. I think eating habits and styles are no different than other preferences and habits learned as children that kids take with when they go out into the world as adults.

Mom always fixed us a relatively light, but healthy, breakfast before school, gaprefrit was a staple as was cinnamon toast or poached eggs with toast. Sometimes malt-o-meal, more rarely oatmeal and almost never prepared cereal. Sometimes an orange juice or banana' as well.. Housekeeper cooked lunch -- we came home from school from lunch most days, was a meat, beef, chicken or fish, a starch and a vegetable (sometimes canned, but often fresh, like greens, and if local tomatoes were in season, they were usually on the table. Dinner varied, but much like lunch, and streaks at least once a week. Always had to drink milk for dinner and I hated it then (lke it now). Salads occasionally depending on the rest of the menu. Rarely had bread with meals other than breakfast except cornbread or homemade rolls on special occasions. Desserts a couple of times a week.

Rarely frozen food, unless home fresh frozen veggies, but when a chicken pot pie came out of the freezer, we soon learned that a babysitter was on her way and our parents were going out.

Afternoon snacks -- cheese and crackers or fruit (ocassiinally ice cream).a Coca Cola every Sunday afternoon. And of course we lived close enough to grandmother, that we didn't run low on extra treats.

i don't eat breakfast now because I am just not hungry in the morning. Since I work, lunch is usually out, but primarily heathy, soups, salads, veggies, etc, but occasionally a burger and fried (a couple of times a month) I also skip lunch a day or two a week. Dinners used to follow my parents example, but we've gotten a bit more experimental and are eating healthier these days. Also we both drink lots of water. I often do have a cookie or two at bedtime.

Our blood work is generally pretty good and neither of us are over or under weight -- our weights are average (me on the low end of everage for my age and height and DH in middle to upper end).

It is odd, but I only remember bits and pieces. Great tacos, breaded pork chops, chicken and scalloped potatoes. Don't remember leafy green salads except when we picked stuff grown in the garden, and veggies were usually canned. My eating habits changed drastically in high school, when my father decided I needed to purchase my own food, and only use the flat side of an electric waffle iron outside to cook on. I recall eating a lot of inexpensive round steak during that period.

Now I eat a lot of meat, fruits and vegetables, and pasta; used to eat more potatoes and rice, until just a few years ago. Some things changed, others didn't. I still hate potato salad and am not fond of pork-n-beans. But I like vegetables much more than when growing up.

I think at least as important as what is fed to children is teaching them how to prepare foods. Cooking is a learned skill, and those that leave home without having acquired it, tend to turn to fast food and processed food for sustenance. Sometimes they can move on to self-teach cooking, and sometimes they don't.

gyr falcon, not to butt in but as you mentioned it, that sounds like you were on the receiving end of abuse. Or, at least the demands of a sick person. How awful.

My belief is that kids who aren't fed fast food or processed food don't turn to it, as you describe. Our own kids wanted to learn skills (like knife skills) and how to make what they liked before leaving home and still, a decade plus on, will call to ask about certain things we make that they haven't made before or at least not recently. I'm sure others here who have kids have experienced that too.

My belief is that kids who aren't fed fast food or processed food don't turn to it, as you describe.

ok. But that isn't what I said. I said those that have not learned how to cook and prepare food, even if they were raised on nutritious fare, often turn to fast or prepared foods when they are responsible for feeding themselves.

It seems like you said the same thing again and I don't agree with you. What I'm suggesting is that I think necessity is the mother of invention. If a young adult newly out on their own, as for example when at college or even when older, wants to continue eating a certain way or certain things and Mom and Dad aren't around to do it for them, they will figure out how to have what they want. Whether it was learned in advance or not. And I think few will resort to fast food and prepared food if these were not part of the dietary program they followed as kids at home.

I don't care if you don't agree with what I wrote.

Thanks and ditto.

We have a lot of general enthusiasm and interest in food, and I think our kids have picked that up. One kid (its her personality) ... if you're eating it, she wants to eat it too. Stuff she wouldn't necessarily choose to order, but if its on someone else's plate, its irresistible. Which has got her to try an awful lot of foods! The other kid has learned to eat with an arm to put up, to stop the first one from trying hers (they are teens).

I don't know how to describe it, but my parents are respectful of food, take care in preparing it, and really enjoy mealtime. My kids pick that up. Other relatives eat just so they don't expire, but that's about the level of interest, and they see the difference. When we visit, my sister has made a big deal out of helping the kids to plan a menu and then prepare it, and everyone enjoys whatever they choose...they take a lot of pride in that and it has improved their kitchen skills and confidence.

grew up knowing that saying you "hate" any food item you've never even tried is totally illogical and WRONG. If you taste it and don't care for it... ya really don't hate it?? Dad was a beef guy and knew good steaks should be seriously pink at a minimum. he also liked shrimp. pink steak and shrimp were not favorites but if that's what dinner was, that's what you ate.

dessert was for holidays. cake & ice cream was for birthdays. soda, chips, and other junk food was pretty much non-existent. dad had a rule... fruit before cookies. by the time you work your way thru an apple, orange or banana... not that hungry any more.

veggies... good/canned (rare), better/frozen, best/fresh.

survived chicken left out on sink drainboard to thaw all day.

My mother was a good but not fancy cook. My dad was mostly a meat and potatoes sort of guy. Every night she made either cornbread or biscuits and a pitcher of iced tea. I don't recall her using canned vegetables, unless it was corn when out of season.....back then you couldn't get fresh corn in the winter..when she made stew. We always had a garden and she always had fresh fruit in the house. I liked fruit but I was a picky eater and most vegetables I didn't learn to like until after I was grown. Every other Friday was pay day and we would go buy groceries and we would have our favorite....fried fish, and my dad would have ham and scrambled eggs. I had no siblings at home, growing up. My dad loved milk and for a long time we had a milk cow but they couldn't get me to drink milk, and eventually sold the cow. I think my mother was tired of milking too. No one made me eat things I didn't want to eat. We never had soda in the house but drank tea with meals. I liked sweet tea back then...unsweetened tea now, if it is iced. Sweet if it is hot. I am still a little picky about food....I don't like anything that is over cooked....vegetables, seafood and beef.

My mother let me start cooking when I was five years old. I remember standing on a chair in the kitchen and making a cake. She would tell me what to put in it and let me measure. I am sure I made a mess but she was very easy going and accommodating back then. She had grandchildren when I was born and she treated me more like a grandchild, I think.

My daughter was never a picky eater....but I think the reason that is...I never gave her baby food. I didn't give her any food other than breast milk until she was 8 mo. old. I fed her table food that I finely minced up. I recall broccoli was her favorite food....we called it "green things". I tasted baby food and it was horrible. I bought one jar of the stew, because someone told me that she would like that...she didn't. I also never forced her to eat anything. To this day, she is much more adventuresome about food than I am. When we eat out, I will always go for something I've tried before and like and she will always order something she has never had before.

Like Mary, I don't drink milk...or eggs...or very much cheese....although I cook with them. I don't eat anything over cooked and some things I only eat if I made it....potato salad, usually, because, honestly, most I have tried isn't very good....and I like mine. I don't like to eat seafood out....my husband and his family are all in the seafood business....so of course, it is better at home.

I eat anything I want now. I don't use an abundance of salt but I do use salt because I am outside most of the time and I sweat a lot. I don't have high blood pressure or high cholesterol and I could lose a few pounds but I am not very overweight. I am active for my age....I just walked 12 miles leading a horse and it didn't tire me out...although the old horse had to stop and rest.

I don't ever use sugar free anything. I drink RC every morning and sometimes during the day. Don't drink alcohol except one drink very rarely, never smoked and take no medicine. I am not afraid to eat fried food....if I want something fried...I eat it. I just went on a fried oyster binge that lasted a couple of days and if I hadn't run out of oysters, it would have lasted a lot longer. I do eat a lot of salad....my favorite is lettuce, tomato, cucumber, bacon, walnuts, French's fried onions, purple onions, avocado, and sweet banana pepper rings. I put raspberry dressing or ranch with bacon or blue cheese or make my own french dressing.

Yes we had the meat and potatoes all overcooked as well as children. The veggies were mostly fresh although we did have canned corn and frozen peas. I liked the French style beans in a can and I think mostly that's because of the salt. Small orange juice and a small milk were our drinks with the meals. We would have dessert of ice cream and fruit fairly frequently but not every evening meal. Breakfast was porridge, cream of wheat rice pudding all of those were talk with almonds maple syrup and a dab of butter. Sometimes we would have eggs but not the way I do it which is just about every day now.

Our children ate what DH and I ate. We were poor and I was ill so there was neither energy nor money for extra fuss food-wise. I did all of the cooking we had simple food and the children had sandwiches for lunch to school. We never forced either child to finish their food. They both had good appetite so just ate until they were full.

Nowadays for the main meal it's noodles topped with steamed veggies mixed with a bit of chicken, fish or and shrimp and store-bought salsa. Breakfasts are either eggs or a piece of toast with creamed sardines. We have some fruit at breakfast. usually I have bananas. DH drinks tea and coffee. I drink grape juice and mineral water half and half or milk mixed with water half and half and cinnamon in it. Otherwise I drink water. No dessert and rarely any snacking. I have a very limited diet due to migraines, kidney problems, and bad body cramps.

Growing up, my Mother always cooked for us. There was never fast food and no frozen food for a very long time. We had home canned stuff in the winter. Summer time lots of strawberries, cherries, black raspberries and later apples from the farm. Breakfast was usually eggs, toast or oatmeal or Coco Wheat or pancakes or French toast. Hot tea or cocoa to drink. We had potatoes at least some way twice a day. We also had milk as we had cows. I was in my mid teens before I had a soft drink. No fast food for us. We bought our lunches at school. I always cook 3 meals a day for my kids. I was and always have been a stay at home Mom. I still eat and drink whatever I want. I forgot to add, now, I only cook for myself and all I cook for my husband is oatmeal, apple sauce and sometimes pudding, rarely he has some cake. He can not swallow other things. And now, I eat more fast food stuff, never did before, but I enjoy it. My biggest meal is breakfast and do not always have an evening meal.

Sue

I was raised on 3 well-balanced meals a day with few desserts. That is how I cook and my children ate everything on their plates happily. They knew nothing of junk food or fast food. My adult children now cook this way. The one blip here is my sister. She decided decades ago, that she hated cooking and it was cheaper to just get take-out as she lived near many of these places. So, she gets breakfast sandwiches or donuts for breakfast with a container of juice and a coffee. There is an early dinner of take out or drive-thru pick up food. She says the cost is less that keeping all those foods in her house. She has downsized to a tiny refrigerator for cold drinks and the accidental thing her husband might bring home. She shops every few months for paper and soap, etc.

We ate three meals a day at the table. The table was always set and we filled our own plates. Mom bought every little processed food, almost all of it was fresh meat and vegetables. We ate at least one piece of fruit per day. As for snacks we were allowed 2 cookies or 1 piece of cake if we had it (mom never bought cookies or cakes, she baked them all). We had a glass of milk with all three meals every day. We ate healthy and none of us were fat.

FF to when I left home: I ate fast food often. I worked in a restaurant so I ate there when I worked. I bought packaged cookies and snacks. I gained 30 pounds within a year of leaving home.

When I had my kids, we used to eat at the kitchen table, but for some reason none of us remembers, we started just filling our plates at the stove rather than setting the table, and we ate while watching tv in the living room, a habit my husband and I still do and I really don't like it. While my kids grew up on a lot of processed foods, my husband and I have greatly reduced the amount of pre-packed foods and eat mostly fresh meats and vegetables.

I grew up in the 60's and cost was a big issue in the family food budget. So was my Dad's dislike of anything spicy or robustly flavored. A common meal: Mom would boil a big pot of spaghetti noodles, add a can of tomato soup and a tiny sprinkling of browned hamburger meat, put the green canister of powdered parmesan cheese on the table, and that would be the main course. We'd have salad with it -- always iceberg lettuce torn up into little pieces with an oil/vinegar dressing. Fresh tomato in summer. And we each got three home-made cookies for dessert. Dessert with every meal :-)

Mom was aware that too much sugar was bad, so we never ever had sugary breakfast cereals or soft drinks. But I do remember her letting me have a scope of vanilla ice cream instead of milk on my breakfast cornflakes for a special treat -- it was good to be youngest, sometimes!

I always drank powdered milk, mixed on the thin side -- so much cheaper than "real" milk and tasted great if you weren't used to the fatty stuff. I fondly remember waking up early on Saturdays, to ride along with Dad on his weekly supermarket rounds. He'd get to the grocery store right as the manager unlocked the doors for the day. Dad would rush to the discounted meat counter, I'd get a cart and meet him there. Then we'd look at the day-old bakery items. Then coupons. Fun times!

That was my cheap & bland childhood. Today, both husband and I love hot, spicy, strongly flavored food. We both enjoy cooking from scratch, and avoid sugar, salt, and fat-laden prepared foods. The budget's not quite as tight, so we indulge in tasting new cheeses, different fruits & veggies, more expensive chocolate, coffee, and craft beers. Our daughter is a picky eater -- she really can detect a molecule of a flavor she doesn't like! But she's always had a balanced, if not adventurous, diet. She's an adult now and when we visit, sometimes she surprises us with the variety of food she's choosing to eat. Yay!

My dad was a country club manager, we ate at the club. There was never snack food in the house. My mom(she only ate chef salads) knew how to cook about five things: red chili, spaghetti, beef stew, chicken chow mein, soft boiled eggs/toast, OH....and I made cinnamon toast. I hated cold cereal. We had Cream Of Wheat. Campbells vegetable beef soup & PBJ's. At the club I ate: Prime rib, chocolate cake, Chicken a la king, melon balls, club sandwiches, whipped honey butter on those little loaves of fresh baked bread(it was on every table while we waited for our food). Every Friday was a seafood buffet.

Now....we love Mexican food, green salads/avacados, spinach/sausage lasagna, pizza, turkey pot pie...

I still don't eat potato chips or cold cereal. Once a year I eat a hot dog or mac 'n cheese.

This has made me miss my mother's cooking tremendously. I didn't appreciate it back then, but her fried chicken was the best! I have spent the last (almost two decades now) trying to recreate her recipes - she was annoyed when I was in the kitchen with her watching so I missed out on what made her food special...

Growing up we always rented an apartment, so there was no garden for fresh veggies. We had a tiny fridge with an even tinier freezer compartment, big enough only for the two ice cube trays and not much else. There really were no frozen foods to buy other than an occasional pint of ice cream. By the time I was 10 or so, my mother went back to work, Breakfast was either a piece of white bread toast or corn flakes or Rice Krispies. I have no recollection of lunch other than when I was very little, my mother would make me a plate with a scoop of cottage cheese topped with a half of a canned peach, carrots for bunny ears, raisins for eyes and a piece of something red (maraschino cherry?) for the mouth. Dinner was usually made in the rotisserie oven...chicken breasts, minute steaks or London broil ...always overdone like shoe leather. Rarely she would make meat balls and spaghetti or a roasted chicken. Sometimes she would bring home some sort of fish from the well-known fish store she passed when she got off the train...I still haven’t been able to duplicate her meat balls...she never let my sister or I assist with cooking. Baked potato with a canned veggie every night. Dessert was always a canned fruit...peaches, pears, fruit cocktail. In season would be cantaloupe or honey dew. We sort of forget today that fruits and vegetables were not available on a year round basis.

A British friend of ours once recited the family menu for us. I can't remember all of it, but it was the same thing every day of every week, year round. It started with a Sunday roast, slices of which returned to the table another night, with the remains finished as hash. Friday was fish -- although they were C of E, not Catholic. There was no need to ask, "What's for dinner?" if you knew the day of the week. Breakfast was always the Full English Breakfast Fry Up of bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes, and a slice of tomato.

This man avoided meds for diabetes in middle age by deciding he didn't need half a pound of bacon every morning. His wife, my friend, had already disabused him of the notion that she would strip their bed, wash and iron the sheets and make the bed fresh every day -- like his SAHM did.

It's amazing, the things an isolated wife can think up to do around the house.

Chi, you asked what I eat so here goes. Breakfast is a cup of coffee with a bowl of rice krispies & very little milk, the only reason I have cereal is because of the medications I take. No lunch but I do have a cherry coke around that time. Dinner for me is some kind of beef or chicken & potato or pasta plain. I have a glass of water with dinner.

I don't drink alcohol, never smoked but did have lung cancer 23 years ago. I have arthritis in almost every joint in my body but other wise I am healthy & most times don't get sick.

I don't mind your question, even my Doctors just shake their heads at me. There has never been any proof in my book that if I ate better I would not have gotten cancer or have all the arthritis that I have.

Maybe in my next life I will eat better but i doubt it.

A diet of too many white carbs, no green or other veggies, no fish and no fruit isn't contributing positively to your health, you can be sure of that. That's too bad.

If you want to have a book with proof, pick up anything that has the word Nutrition in the title and you'll find it.

Thanks for sharing, Mary. The problem with wanting proof for something like diet is that you would have had to eat a well-balanced and nutritious diet for years to see if you felt better. You might feel fine but that's because your body doesn't know any different. But you're an adult and can choose your own diet. I appreciate your honesty! My mom had lung cancer but she wasn't lucky enough to beat it. I'm glad you did.

Anti-inflammatory diets are suggested for arthritis relief but they are literally the opposite of your diet. Fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts and beans. Might be something to consider if the arthritis is bothering you. Your diet is very inflammatory. Apologies for the unsolicited advice but I'm not sure how much you know about it.

When I grew up, breakfast was a family affair and mother prepared it. We all sat down before we could begin - BUT WAIT- we were not allowed to take a bite until a prayer was said thanking the Lord for the food, Who does that anymore?

Typically, the day's activity was discussed and plans made. Food intake for the remainder of the day could be hit or miss mostly to fit the individual's activities. At the end of the day, a central meal was made and the family again gathered together, this time, not all members may be present or stay for the full meal time as evening activities might pull a few away.

I've known Mary for a very long time...I even think of her as "Mary of the Shells", because she would often cite her meal as pasta shells, even though she would prepare the most delicious meals for her family.

Mary loves to cook and has shared some great recipes with us over the years. I'm quite certain that she is well aware that her own eating habits are not the best, but I'll bet that she doesn't need to be reminded of it. I appreciate her contributions to the forum.

If you know better because you've gotten advice from an expert, then ignoring that advice is a personal choice that doesn't make the advice wrong.

(Edited to soften the comment)

I grew up on a family farm but my Dad was a college educated engineer...first in his family......I had never had canned soup until I went to college. We ate what we raised and had grown. But there was probably a lot of pesticides? Also, we had chickens by the many thousands and there is an issue with that (we had a very "clean" farm but I know the issues). I still prefer fresh food, although I do like to remember the college days with a frozen pizza and if I am under the weather some canned soup.

I remember when Chef Boy-ar-dee "invented" the boxed pizza kit -- man, that crust was awful! We'd make it and cut up hot dogs into little slices for "pepperoni." I remember it wasn't quite a hit, but we did eat it more than once, so not sure who in the family liked that one! We ate out rarely when I was a kid, although that was the era of the "Galloping Gourmet" and my parents were keen to cook and try things.

Mary, you are an adult and certainly free to eat however you choose. You say you have eaten that way since your 20's yet you prepare healthy meals for your family. Do you know why you eat differently? Please know, I am not judging, just trying to understand.

"“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”"

That is a partcularly uncharitable statement and rather offensive IMO. I have no doubt that the recipient of that rudeness is quite aware that her dietary habits are not ideal. So what?? It is of no concern to anyone else other than her or her physician. Extremely judgemental assessments like that, written with an implied degree of moral superiorty, are simply uncalled for.

Perhaps. Truth is truth, facts are facts.

(Edited to soften comments)

Growing up breakfast was oatmeal or cream of wheat, eggs and bacon on the weekend. Lunch canned soup and a sandwich. Main meal was meat, potato and a veggie. Rarely had dessert.

Still eat pretty much the same but home made soups, have meatless days and rarely eat dessert.

Brazen? Stubborn? Stupid? Not only is name-calling breathtakingly rude and obnoxious, but it is against gardenweb rules. As intelligent as you say you are, no doubt you already knew that, so why did you do it?

Maybe I crossed the line of good judgement, I'll edit out (something I never do otherwise) stronger comments in response to the polite and well-intentioned advice.

It's funny to read about eating "fast food" as a child. When I was a child, there was NO fast food! The closest thing was Winstead's Drive-in in Kansas City. We went there 3-4 times a YEAR, but we always ate inside. And the food was excellent. The first "Frosty" I ever had was at Winstead's - guess Dave copied it for Wendy's.

Being born during WWII when there was rationing, and to parents who came of adult age during the depression, certainly affected how we ate. I remember as a young child that butter was still not available - just those disgusting blocks of what looked like lard, and a small packet with orange powder in it to be mixed with the block of white gunk and turned into oleo margarine (people usually referred to it as "oleo" in those days). Fruits out of season were unheard of other than oranges and grapefruit. The same with veggies. Lettuce was iceberg unless one grew ones own - we grew Bibb's lettuce for lots of summer salads. People today have no idea just how limited the selection of foods was in a grocery store in the late 1940's and even in the 1950's. Especially if one lived in the midwest. I remember when I got married in 1966 and moved to Washington DC, I was blown over by the incredible selection even at Giant, let alone the small markets in Georgetown. Nothing like that in St Louis at that time.

We're all quite spoilt today for choices and take them for granted. What a shame so few people actually take the opportunity to fix wonderful food at home anymore. They have no idea how creative people had to be during the Depression and WWII rationing. And yet they actually cooked. They cooked on tiny stoves, their refrigerators were tiny, and their kitchens, even in rather grand houses, would be condemned today. And yet they cooked.

Shame on all of us.

I don't think people should feel shamed about not cooking as much. I feel very lucky that I'm not expected to cook 3 meals a day like women in the past had to do out of necessity. I enjoy cooking and do it frequently but I also like going out to eat, both for fun and for convenience.

It's also a lot easier to cook every day if you don't work outside the home. Not all that long ago, it was rare to find a woman working. Nowadays most households have two working parents.

And millions of people are employed in restaurants. I'm sure they appreciate the change!

One Summer my parents drove us all to Houston to visit her sister and brother-in-law. It was late and there was a big discussion over what to have for dinner...and my aunt's husband made an executive decision to go out and get a "bucket of chicken". It sounded simply horrible! A whole chicken stuffed into a bucket yuck! A few minutes later, he returned with a big red and white striped cardboard bucket filled to the brim with pieces of fragrant Fried Chicken. And that was my first experience with fast food LOL.

H B, we did hot dog "pepperoni" too, lol! Bisquick for the crust, good ol' canned tomato soup for sauce, and green-can powdered parmesan cheese on top. We'd had a real pizza at my uncle's house and wanted to re-create the experience, but the grocery stores in our area didn't stocked pepperoni or mozzarella cheese, and we didn't even know what oregano was until my older sister came home from college with this remarkably fragrant dried green weed in a baggie. Like Anglophilia said, supermarkets were much more limited then, and even into the 60's and 70's. Some parts of the 'good old days' weren't so good!

Sylvia, lucky you, KFC! you win the first fast food experience, hand's down!

Hmm, common thread here ... uncles make the best food choices!

I'm getting to be an old thing but I sure remember fast food outlets from my childhood!! Drive-in restaurants with carhops were quite common and there are even a couple that I remember from the 50's still in active operation in my area to this day! I don't remember any KFC's around until I was in high school but I do remember tagging along with my older sister on a couple of her dates to a Shakey's pizza parlor and getting my dad to bring in a bunch of $0.19 burgers and bags of fries for slumber parties.

Nineteen cent burgers - OMG!! I paid $9.00 for one yesterday!

I enjoyed reading this thread..I was born in 1955..consider myself as growing up in the 60's (from birth to age 5 don't remember much)..our family had fairly healthy eating habits..rarely ate out..meals at home were cooked from scratch..my grandparents had HUGE gardens, chickens and pigs..they gave us eggs and vegetables..I don't like to cook..there's room for improvement for healthy meals..I buy produce but a lot of it ends up in my compost bin..

Mary..thanks for commenting about what you eat (I was curious)..just wondered if you've always eaten just a limited variety of foods?..how long?..most of your life?..just not much of an appetite?..funny how each of us have our likes and dislikes..

I find this thread to be very interesting too...My Betty Crocker cookbook is rather old and some of the recipes (and photos!) are less than appealing to me. It's a fascinating peek into the past, though.

Thank you for sharing your stories. I found them very interesting.

nicholsworth55, I will answer your questions, most have already been answered above. My Mom was a great cook & years ago you ate what was on your plate, no questions asked. Our meals were always nutritious meat, fresh veggies & things like that. For 20 years I ate what was put in front of me then I got married & was able to make & eat what I wanted, I am 72 now so for 52 years I have eaten just what I like. I have a good appetite, no problem there. Hope this answers all your questions.

Mary..sorry..NOW I remember you saying that once married you would eat what you want..I assumed incorrectly from the description of your meals that you were a light eater (seemed like a modest amount of food)..thanks for the reply..no criticism intended..

nickel_kg,

..."we didn't even know what oregano was until my older sister came home from college with this remarkably fragrant dried green weed in a baggie." LOL! I found this description very funny!